5 contemporary artists... says Tate Britain

apparently the choice was random... 5 contemporary artists...at Tate Britain. There was absolutely no recollection of the Venice Biennale earlier this year. Clearly, these 5 british artists are not avante garde in the european sense. In fact there was very little distinct or unique about these pieces of work. I only really appreciated two of the five; Tomma Abts and Gillian Carnegie, but sadly I learned very little about either... but then, not sure if I was meant to!

unmoved by Art Under Attack at Tate Britain

The renovated front entrance to the Tate Britain opens up a new and open friends room under the dome, and a stylish marble spiral staircase. It was fun to create new geographical connections and I was keen to visit the new exhibition, Art under Attack, which aimed to describe the history of British iconoclasm, through three main themes of religion, politics and aesthetics. There was quite an effort to define iconoclasm, as image breaking, but also conversely meaning innovation.

It was difficult to interpret the dissolution of the monasteries as innovative, rather than the egotistical machinations of a crazy king. The children of King Henry VIII were variously catholic and protestant and sought to impose their new found laws as religious leaders. Therefore, it seemed inevitable that they would abuse their new and misunderstood power. While I detest the wilful destruction of art, I wonder where to draw the line between art that is propoganda, in the form of educational paintings and political statues, and art that conveys an accessible artistic message. When the message is no longer important, is destruction of art just another form of clearing out?

Further, what exactly is vandalism? In the streets of Berlin and other edgy cities, it has been described as art, but when it interacts directly with traditional art, that is not so acceptable. But then, so little of current art is in any way interactive, that it seems inevitable that tensions will overheat. While the concept offered so much, the actual exhibition seemed a little bland and conservative, representing the current status quo of repaired materpieces with photocopies of patterns of dissatisfaction.

inspired and impressed by Paul Klee at Tate Modern

We begin with the quote "Art does not reproduce the visible; rather it makes visible...and so begins the journey tracing the life and art of a truly gifted man. Paul Klee was born in December 1879 near Bern, in Switzerland and was an accomplished violinist before becoming an artist, teacher and writer. He lived through a tumultous time in German art and history, which has surely influenced his life and art.

He joined the expressionist 'Der Blaue Reiter' group near Munich in 1911. Here he was influenced by the bright colours and move towards abstraction of Wasily Kandinsky, Franz Marc and Gabriele Muenter. I remember visiting the Yellow house and Museum in Murnau, in the beutiful lakeland hills south of Munich.Such a pity this idyll was dismantled at the start of the first world war.Ten years later, he joins the teaching staff at the Bauhaus in Weimar, relocates the school to Dessau in 1925 and eventually resigns in 1931. He is named as one of the degenerate artists by the Nazis and moves back to his native Switzerland, where he dies early from a degenerative disease in 1940.

This history merely provides a backdrop of world events which also mirror some amazing changes in his creative strategies and work. It seems that he was pre-occupied with lines, squares and colour gradations from the beginning. It is not clear whether his ability to teach influenced the logic and repetitive rigour of his work. What is clear is his creative experimentation with styles and techniques. He loved texture and experimented with mixed methods in so many ways. He demonstrated the magic of the square, and interspersed them with rectangles, triangles and other shapes, in simple and complex tonal patterns, with impressive effects. I am particularly fascinated by his oil transfer technique where he traces over a wet oiled paper for a stunning effect.

He also uses small motifs to create patterns and stories. It feels like some of his pictures are visual dairies, and then I realised that he did actually write and reflect on his work. He seemed to be able to mix the logic of design and colour with the spontaneity of abstraction and surrealism in a visually balanced and aesthetically pleasurable manner. I felt that he was able to connect art and science in his work, and wonder whether being a teacher helped him to make that more transparent for others. I especially loved his quote "where intuition is is combined with exact research, it speeds up the progress of research". The current retrospective exhibition at Tate Modern is brilliantly curated, across 17 rooms, with works from public and private collections across the world. It is both moving and educative. I had trouble choosing one favourite, as I would have liked one form each room, or genre of his painting.