This is my first visit to the new Saatchi Gallery on The King’s Road in the grounds of the former Duke of York’s barracks and it’s bloody impressive I have to say.
Less impressive is the sheer volume of ‘modern art’ on display that is so incomprehensible, disjointed and lacking in any cohesion, force of movement and artistic direction it’s frankly completely overwhelming on the eye, a bit like walking the wrong way down an escalator and trying to read the adverts whilst listening to Tangerine Dream on your I-pod (hang on a minute what a brilliant idea for an art installation, I’m in the wrong job) or wandering through IKEA, total crap but every now and then you come across something so well designed and thought out you want to take it home with you.
Catching the eye as you enter the gallery is the striking ‘Pink Cher’ by Scott King, another ‘Warholesque’ screen-print take on the Che Guevara iconic image. What is it with the fascination of every student generation in Che? The real story is that he was actually from a privileged upper middle class family and like all good fledgling Socialist Dictators, proceeded to try and wipe out anyone in Cuba with a brain or an education (dispatching 50 people personally in one day with his revolver) before Castro packed him off on another ill judged and laughable rebel suicide mission in South America – had he made it back Che would have given Stalin a good run for his money but then Castro had his card marked.....Now where was I? ah the exhibition.
You have to love John Wynne’s ‘300 Speakers’, reclaimed from a recycling plant, that tower in the corner of a room and spread out across the gallery, and tucked away is an old upright piano playing a piano-roll from a 1909 Operetta playing random notes seemingly powered by the vacuum- cleaner hose that snakes around the room and groans and slithers. It’s impressive stuff but I can’t be the only person that is really just overwhelmed with nostalgia seeing all the hi-fi speakers from our youth, a 70’s Wharfdale, an 80’s Kenwood.....
A big favourite at the gallery is ‘It happened in the corner’ by Littlewhitehead featuring a group of lifelike hoodies huddled in a corner as if engaged in some nefarious activity, hilarious and very popular for a photo opportunity with all the youngsters but you could equally see this as an attraction at Madam Tussauds if they were a bit more off the wall?
There is an awful lot of ‘Art’ to get through good, bad and indifferent but despite the criticism Saatchi inevitably receives for his support of certain Artists like Hurst and Emin and with eclectic mixed bag exhibitions like this you have to admire the sheer scale, location and beauty of this gallery and guess what? It’s all free as all Art should be! It make’s my blood boil when the Tate Modern put on an exhibition by a relatively obscure Artist to the man on the street and then charge 12 quid admission, only for it to be viewed by the ‘Art Elite’-rather defeats the object doesn’t it?
I was going to award my ‘Pretentious Modern Artist of The Month’ to Ged Quinn’s ‘Dad With Tits’ who features in this exhibition, although I quite like his punk faux 18th century landscapes, but it really must be awarded to Swiss artist Daniel Spoeeri, who has dug up a banquet featuring tripe, smoked udders and veal lungs buried 27 years ago as an art installation where various artists, gallery owners and critics enjoyed this ghastly meal in a Chateau garden outside Paris before burying it in a 40 foot trench rather than clean the dishes and to be exhibited at the Pompidou modern art museum before being reburied – absolutely bonkers.
Mr Spoeeri, in case you didn’t know, was the founder of the ‘Eat Art’ movement in the 60s, opening his first restaurant in Düsseldorf serving python stew and elephant trunk steak, and I thought the Swiss were just Germans in human form.
Words - Dave Cairns / ZANI Media
