CAG on museums: The Tate Britain collections

The Tate Britain has been refurbished and it’s absolutely beautiful. It is a gorgeous riverside building in Pimlico, and the front entrance has been restored. The inside has a real art deco feel and is peppered with beautiful British art pieces in various corners and turns.

Rev Butler Woman 1949

When I visited the sculptor Alison Wilding’s works had just gone up in the Duveen galleries, and it was very interesting. She focuses on bringing different materials together and because of the natural light in the hall, contrasts of the materials, shadows, and colours were highlighted.

The Painting Now exhibition was also on and was a little different than the retrospective shows I’m used to seeing at Tate. Instead of focusing on the historic progression of one painter, it examined the work of five contemporary artists and what painting means today.

Gillian Carnegie Section 2012

Tomma Abts Zebe 2010

Simon Ling

Lucy McKenzie

Catherine Story Lowland 2012

Also taking a walk around the galleries highlighted some interesting objects from the permanent collection. My unknowledgeable approach to art half encompasses loving art that makes me chuckle.

Steven Claydon Joanna (An Unsubstantial Fraction) (Of Substance without Action) 2010

And then there was the weird and thought provoking collections…such as the Chapman Family Collection 2002 of various takes on African sculpture with the faces of the McDonalds characters and branding incorporated.

Blurry but creepiness captured

Hamburglar on the cross? Super weird

And of course I had to grab a snap of one of my favorite UK artworks, and somewhat name doppelgänger, Chris Ofili’s work No Woman No Cry.