Creative Spaces

I went to the Whitechapel Gallery to see the new exhibition A Century Of The Artist’s Studio.

The exhibition is divided in to 11 thematic sections, containing paintings as well as photographs and videos, of varying sizes and not in any particular chronological sequence:

1. Performing The Studio
2. The Collective Studio
3. The Studio As Installation
4. The Studio As Stage Set
5. Research Station
6. The Secret Life Of The Studio
7. The Intimate Studio
8. A Day In The Life Of The Studio
9. The Studio As Sanctuary
10. The Studio As Laboratory
11. Eating The Studio

Straight after that there is “The Living Studio” set up in the small galleries past the exit from room 11, giving visitors the chance to have a go at their own art work in a small work space.

Here are some of the notable items in a show which includes a few big “names” like Picasso, Bacon and Lucian Freud as well as lots of more recent less-known artists.

A large collection of work together:

Scenes from the film Painter (1995) by Paul McCarthy, who is shouting “De Kooning!” a lot in these moments:

Larger installations:

Here’s Cindy Sherman:

“The Murder Mystery” was of course a track on the 3rd Velvet Underground album, so of course they’re facing opposite here, in film footage and also a mass of photos with Andy and Nico and the Factory crew.

Also this guy:

Going upstairs, past a video display of “Semiotics Of The Kitchen” (1975) by Martha Rosler:

In the upstairs galleries:

An array of details and images connected to Francis Bacon:

Other artists:

Part of a long display about the year-long performance work by Sam Hseih:

At the end, the vast display of a work by Walead Beshty from 2014:

The full title is “Prologue To A Partial Disassembling Of An Invention, Without A Future: Helter Skelter And Random Notes In Which The Pulleys And Cogwheels Are Lying Around At Random Around The Workbench“. I wondered about how this could be an installation of a single work if it necessarily had to be rearranged to fit the space available. I asked one of the gallery attendants, who wasn’t sure though she thought there was a large collection of elements which can be arranged to fill the walls. The exhibition guide shows the original presentation as looking like this:

And so to The Living Studio:

Beyond this is the separate exhibition of The Travel Bureau.