Poetry and Dream Exhibition at the Tate Modern Museum

Upon entering the Poetry and Dream exhibition at the Tate Modern, Bankside, I was instantly overwhelmed with a large room packed with works and big crowds. My eyes were drawn everywhere all at once trying to take in the fantasy and dream seeping through each piece. They all deal with surrealism in different ways whether that is through sculpture or painting. The exhibition featured an array of practitioners both contemporary and succeeded from Jannis Kounellis, a Greek artist and Alberto Giacometti, a Swiss artist best known for his sculptures. The paintings are placed in the in the middle section of the room, around eye level, all the way round so there’s need to strain your neck looking.

The overall purpose of the exhibition was to the showcase the different way artists had dealt with the same subject, surrealism, throughout the years. Even though the subject matter has stayed the same, the outcomes have all been different and the thought behind each has been different as obviously no two people are the same.

My two favourite two pieces from the exhibition were Germaine Richier’s Water, 1953-4 and Man Ray’s Cadeau, 1921. Although both dealt with the same subject matter and are both sculptures they evoke differing emotions and thoughts.

Water depicts a female figure sitting down with her hands by her side. We conclude through the information available that the head of the women is a Roman or Greek terracotta amphora found on a beach (No Author, 2007, www.tate.org.uk,). Richier incorporating found objects in her work was a common occurrence as she lived in the countryside (No Author, 2007, www.tate.org.uk). Water looks as if it had been distressed and manipulated whilst drying resulting in a rough and prickly surface that resembles a rocky mountain. These textures arouse curiosity like what was Richier trying to convey about the women through the textures. There was only one more piece of important information available in terms of context and history. It is metaphorical or symbolic of both a female and water being sources of life (No Author, 2007, www.tate.org.uk,). But the fact that it is located in the Poetry and Dreams room we can only assume that it represents something bigger that a women sitting. It demonstrates her thought process and how she highly viewed women.

Man Ray’s Cadeau features an iron and fourteen gold coloured nails as part of a twentieth century art movement joining juxtaposing everyday objects. In turn rendering them useless in their original forms and transforming them into art pieces. The nails glued to the most important part of the iron eradicate its primary function making it purely visual. The one on show at the Tate Modern is a replica made in 1972 (No Author, 2007, www.tate.org.uk,). I find that it does challenge the boundaries of art and everyday life. It is a controversial piece that is visual as well as cerebral if you don’t accept it at face value.

 Bibliography

Website

No Author (2007) Germaine Richier. [online] London, (publisher). Available at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/richier-water-t00075 (accessed 17/09/13)

No Author (2007) Man Ray. [online] London, (publisher). Available at http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/man-ray-cadeau-t07883 (accessed 17/09/13)

Exhibition

Tate Modern, Poetry and Dream,  02.09.13