Disney and Other Hyenas

I was confused by the title of the current Tate photography show and after my first visit last week I’m thinking I still don’t quite get it. Street and Studio: An Urban History of Photography is actually about portraiture and claims to highlight “…the crossovers between the genres [Street and Studio] and their influence on each other.” So, sounds interesting but women under hypnosis? I’ll need to read the blurb to see where they fit in.

Not that I didn’t enjoy it. There was plenty I hadn’t seen before as well as some old favourites. The picture that had the strongest impact was this one by Pieter Hugo. I’m a little worried that I’m just impressed by the size of the hyena. I thought hyenas were more reasonable, dog-sized creatures (Max agreed and said this was because we’re informed by Disney films). They had the book of Pieter Hugo’s series (I don’t think the web gallery shows them very well) which I just about managed to resist buying. The printing looked great and even the non-hyena pictures seemed to have a strong other-worldly quality.

The show is on until 31 August so plenty of time to revisit.

See Also

Cooke

5DWII - day two. I forgot to mention that the theme for the week is ‘Landscape’ or ‘Landscape is Dead’ if you want to be provocative. Nigel Cooke at the South London Gallery is well worth seeing. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this so try not to judge by the web pictures, ignore the references to graffiti (or anything else that might put you off) and make the effort to travel beyond Camberwell. We also went to hear him talk eloquently and entertainingly about his work later at the Tate. So it turns out painting isn’t dead either.

Meyerowitz

Back to diary mode: I went with Tom to a talk by Joel Meyerowitz at the Tate Modern last night. JM is an impressive speaker on photography as well as a great photographer. When I saw his Ground Zero show at the Museum of London I was amazed to learn that it was his first solo show in the UK.

Silvertown

Another wander with Jawed and Jiri, who suggested we go to Silvertown. Strange place, probably waiting to be demolished. This picture was taken outside the Tate and Lyle refinery. We ended the day at the UK premiere of Eggleston’s Stranded in Canton. I wanted to enjoy it but it was too much like watching home movies. In fairness, most people seemed to be clapping enthusiastically when it finished so maybe I dozed off one time too many.

Sculpture Comes Down

Maybe it doesn’t look as significant as other sculptures coming down in Baghdad but here’s Anish Kapoor’s Marsyas in the process of being removed from the Tate Modern at the same time. Another view.

If you didn’t see it while it was up, here are some 3D versions that you can fly through. [Update: not any more]