Issue 18
Visiting and Revisiting Art, etcetera
Essay: Lisa Le Feuvre on Failure
Henry Moore at Tate Britain, by Andrew Causey
David Anfam on Dexter Dalwood at Tate St Ives
Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic at Tate Liverpool, by Greg Tate
Private View: Henri Michaux, by Paul Chan
Arshile Gorky at Tate Modern, by Cosima Spender and Mougouch Fielding
Alied Ottevanger on Theo van Doesburg at Tate Modern
Chris Ofili talks to Christy Lange about his exhibition at Tate Modern
and Tate Archive 40th anniversary special with David Page, Margaret Drabble, Shirin Spencer, Veronica Gosling, Louisa Buck and Nina Williams
Andrew Causey writes: “Henry Moore’s was not a Surrealism of the marvellous, but a refined poetic – a search for fresh and vivid expression through traditional sculptural materials.” To coincide with Tate Britain’s exhibition, Causey explores how the artist’s earlier works were inspired by the sculptural revolution led by Giacometti and Picasso in Paris around 1930.
Chris Ofili has used a fabulous array of media in his paintings – from beads to balls of elephant dung, from glitter to map pins. Since 2005 he has lived in Trinidad – a place that has had a profound impact on his art. On the eve of a large survey of his work at Tate Britain, TATE ETC. visited Ofili in his studio.
What is artistic collaboration? What is the difference between collaboration and a collective? Or a collective and a movement? As Anne Ellegood writes, there are many examples of artistic manifestations of collaboration – Gilbert & George, Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat and Group Material.
A turning point in the life of Arshile Gorky came in 1941 when he married Agnes Magruder (whom he called “Mougouch” – an Armenian term of endearment), and this relationship was to have an extraordinary effect on his painting. On the eve of Tate Modern’s retrospective exhibition, the artist’s widow tells the story of her life with Gorky to her granddaughter.
“Perfection is satisfying, but failure is engaging, venturing into the unknown. After all, if an artist were to make the perfect work, there would be no need to make another. To cite Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No Matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
If at first you don’t succeed…celebrate.” Lisa Le Feuvre on Failure.
“Yo Mama so poor she went to McDonald’s and put a milkshake on layaway.” Greg Tate on the role of wit in black modernity from the early twentieth century to today.
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