Art News (Bad):
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| In our house this installation would be called "Who's left all these stupid balls all over the place", or "Come here this instant you wretched children and put your confounded toys away" In the Hayward Gallery it glories in the title "Work No 1636". |
The spirit of the defunct Exmore Group lives on as its principles are being upheld by an artist, Martin Creed, who is described as 'a self-deprecating 47 year old', and well he might self-deprecate as he was the perpetrator of that absurd Light Going On and Off which inexplicably won a prize once. He calls his, er... antics... 'Work No 1', 'Work No 2' etc. and they are all as irritating as hell. A room with 39 metronomes all at different speeds; a piano with instructions to play interminable chromatic scales; a doorstop that lets the door only open 45 degrees; and a tiresome car that keeps suddenly sounding its horn. You get the idea. Other stuff includes a piece of paper crumpled into a ball, which he has kept since 1995 (Work No 88), and a room half full of balloons... He must drive his wife, or mother or whatever he's got, to distraction. A lot of these are being shown at The Hayward Gallery (£11 plus booking fee) if you would like to see them. Which I doubt. And I warn you - according to the newspaper there is some quite unpleasant rude stuff as well. Not recommended.
Photography News (Good):
It is of another Afghan refugee girl but this one has been deliberately covered in mud; I suppose it's meant to make her look sweet, but it is unnatural. I mean, what mother whose child was about to be photographed wouldn't wipe it clean first? And if the child is an orphan so we are supposed to think oh poor little thing with no mummy to clean its face, they have got it wrong. It is VERY ANNOYING to have mud on your nose and that child would have rubbed it off straight away, even if it didn't care about the rest of its face being muddy. It just does not look realistic. She's got beautiful eyes though. I'll wash her dear little face for her, if she likes.
This was taken by Muhammed Muheisen, and the girl's name is Laiba Hazrat and she's 6, Lord be merciful unto her, living in Pakistan. I definitely recommend Muhammed Muheisen's excellent photographs which are pictures such as God's own angels take in Paradise.
I'm struck by how many of these photographs from Syria are of children who look western. I am suspicious of a subtle sort of racism here, as if we in the west couldn't be expected to sympathise with people who have dark hair. Well, we can. They don't have to look like us to earn our sympathy, or even have mud on their noses. It insults everyone. And, dear God, isn't it an utter nightmare?
ReplyDeleteHello Anne and sorry I have not replied before. Not being racist, I promise. Yes it is an utter nightmare and it rends my heart. Poor people.
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