I finally made to the Modern British Sculpture exhibition at The Royal Accademy. I have read and heard very mixed reviews about it: certain areas underrepresented, some obvious artists omitted, jumpy, sketchy. BBC has an interesting video here. However, I went there not for the fundamental overview of British Sculpture. I have been feeling "stuck"for a little while now. Going to this exhibition was my attempt to plunge into something different.
So what did I make of it.
I did enjoy it. So did my kids, aged 6 and 11. We had audio-guides. I can only assume that we were the right audience for the exhibition: a bit educated in arts, but not experts on sculpture.
Jaob Epstein, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Anthony Caro kind of steal the show. I thought the pairing of Epstein's Adam and Henry Moore's Snake was fantastic. However, I felt like the next room (the one with Phillip King) would have benefited from an Anthony Gormley figure, that would have put Epstein, King and Gilbert into a different kind of conversation (anyway, where was Anthony Gormley?) Three Forms were well set against the backdrop of Chinese ceramics - so painterly!The Duck Weight, neo-sumerian (below) looked unbelievably modern. Early One Morning was beautifully filling the room. Anish Kapoor was missing. I finally liked Richard Long. The last two rooms were a bit crowded for my linking. Gary Webb, Martin Boyce, Rose Finn-Kelcey. Richard Wentworth was showing film Making Do and Getting By, a Selection of Everyday Encounters 1970-85, - a currious documentary of everyday sculptural inventions, which cast a completely new light onto the whole exhibition.
