6th November
Someone switched the lights on briefly so I dashed out to the Botanics on Friday 6th to catch some vitD and orangey leaf photos. Being pretty grey and dull outside most of the time these days, the queue to book online (free) entrance tickets has shrunk, and you can usually score same day bookings no problemo. So I printed out my QR code, jumped on my bike and 20mins later was enjoying the excellent Autumn colours.
Or would have been if I hadn't taken a diversion in St Mark's Park to see the duckies. No goosanders just some mallards and they weren't impressed I was only carrying nuts (for squirrels) rather than bread for duckies. Not wanting to miss the weather window I took a few photos then hurried along to the Botanics.
Now one of the the things I was interested to check out was the large art installation clinging to the side of the gallery like a cheap inflatable King Kong. I had seen a photo on facebook and put a one word critique underneath... "eyesore." There was about an equal amount of online love and hate for this particular marmite monkey and I wondered if my gut reaction of a solid thumbs down would change or be modified by actually seeing the thing in real life. My brother had seen my reaction and felt differently; that it was something of a coup for the Botanics to get this sculptor's work displayed here. Was it not in the manner of the temporary light show they have put on the last few christmases? About 75% of the light show stuff I find really well done and have enjoyed wandering through the gardens at night with them illuminated.
I googled the artist and what she hoped to achieve with this piece. There was a slightly less clumsy version put up in Beijing although judging by the youtube hit count the artist isn't quite as acclaimed as it is claimed.
My opinion of the work after visiting it, did not change. (If anything, I liked it less.) Although I think it is my high regard for the surrounding gardens that might be guiding my feelings. If this was displayed in a shopping mall or outside a tartan gift shop in the High Street a bit like that Virgin money temple a christmas or 2 ago, I wouldn't have an issue with it. Just another slice of christmas crap served up to the unthinking populous who love endless christmas junk in their shops / houses / offices from about September till mid Jan. I mean they must love all that shite and tinsel otherwise why is there so much of it about? I feel this artist has aimed this piece directly at the great unwashed that love Saturday night TV. A big splashy shopping mall bouncy castle figure in trashy gold that is a very poor and graceless resemblance of the elegant creatures it crudely resembles. It is ugly. The inflatable nature seems to rob it of any delicacy or charm. The sausage limbs are crude and the colour is trashy. It doesn't represent something worth saving.
And about that. I doubt this large whuzzing kong (there is a inflating motor on constantly to keep it from sagging) is going to do anything to save these creatures. You might as well worry about the weather on Jupiter for all that China is likely to be swayed by a bouncy castle in Edinburgh. I remain unmoved by this plight. Much as I like wildlife this is a cause I won't be buying into. Just another voice trying to guilt-trip us into giving a hoot about something we didn't even know existed until 2010. And that I'll never see outside of a zoo.
While I was there there were plenty people taking pics and enjoying it in a lighthearted way. So maybe that is a better attitude than mine, which is just a series of complaints. The artist says she works with blah blah blah to work in a way that is environmentally friendly and carbon neutral. Which seems unlikely given the amount of plastic and steel cables and that generator running 24/7 just to inflate this polished turd. But hey maybe I just don't like ugly tacky sculptures. I still have that old fashioned idea that art should be aesthetically pleasing and not just a shovel of caca on a gallery floor. Or a protest. Or an idea someone phoned in. Not that I care (or am going to direct you there) but the artist does have some small scale old fashioned sculptures of primate heads and hands on a poorly maintained website that aren't as bad as this balloon baboon.
My opinion of the work after visiting it, did not change. (If anything, I liked it less.) Although I think it is my high regard for the surrounding gardens that might be guiding my feelings. If this was displayed in a shopping mall or outside a tartan gift shop in the High Street a bit like that Virgin money temple a christmas or 2 ago, I wouldn't have an issue with it. Just another slice of christmas crap served up to the unthinking populous who love endless christmas junk in their shops / houses / offices from about September till mid Jan. I mean they must love all that shite and tinsel otherwise why is there so much of it about? I feel this artist has aimed this piece directly at the great unwashed that love Saturday night TV. A big splashy shopping mall bouncy castle figure in trashy gold that is a very poor and graceless resemblance of the elegant creatures it crudely resembles. It is ugly. The inflatable nature seems to rob it of any delicacy or charm. The sausage limbs are crude and the colour is trashy. It doesn't represent something worth saving.
And about that. I doubt this large whuzzing kong (there is a inflating motor on constantly to keep it from sagging) is going to do anything to save these creatures. You might as well worry about the weather on Jupiter for all that China is likely to be swayed by a bouncy castle in Edinburgh. I remain unmoved by this plight. Much as I like wildlife this is a cause I won't be buying into. Just another voice trying to guilt-trip us into giving a hoot about something we didn't even know existed until 2010. And that I'll never see outside of a zoo.
While I was there there were plenty people taking pics and enjoying it in a lighthearted way. So maybe that is a better attitude than mine, which is just a series of complaints. The artist says she works with blah blah blah to work in a way that is environmentally friendly and carbon neutral. Which seems unlikely given the amount of plastic and steel cables and that generator running 24/7 just to inflate this polished turd. But hey maybe I just don't like ugly tacky sculptures. I still have that old fashioned idea that art should be aesthetically pleasing and not just a shovel of caca on a gallery floor. Or a protest. Or an idea someone phoned in. Not that I care (or am going to direct you there) but the artist does have some small scale old fashioned sculptures of primate heads and hands on a poorly maintained website that aren't as bad as this balloon baboon.
I have over the years become quite accustomed to this Reg Butler bronze in the small pond next door to the gallery. I recently realised the best way to take its photo is in the reflection in the water. It comes from back in the day when you had to use craft, skills and aesthetics to make something vital and attractive. Before the dark ages of the art world: when the idea of art being beautiful or dynamic morphed into art being undisciplined trash and poorly realised ideas that nobody except the artist likes or understands.
I listened to Jeremy Paxman's The Lock In podcast recently. He was interviewing Katharine Birbalsingh, an educator and founder of the successful Michaela Community School, who put forward the notion that children need boundaries and discipline and more old fashioned learning. And much less dicking about on phones and devices. She spoke lots of sense, (although some of it I am not particularly keen on - singing nationalistic and monarchist songs,) and I couldn't help thinking that the world of art and art education has been blighted similarly.
With the replacing of formal skills such as drawing, painting, composition, and colour harmony, with "oh just do anything you like," the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. As a result galleries are full of a mish mash of poorly thought out ideas, badly painted paintings and stuff that doesn't communicate its intention or have anything of value to replace the lost aesthetics. How many working artists can anyone name these days? Ten? Five? Compared to how many musicians and bands? 50? 100? Art has gone down the toilet. I don't see it making a recovery in my lifetime.
With the replacing of formal skills such as drawing, painting, composition, and colour harmony, with "oh just do anything you like," the baby has been thrown out with the bathwater. As a result galleries are full of a mish mash of poorly thought out ideas, badly painted paintings and stuff that doesn't communicate its intention or have anything of value to replace the lost aesthetics. How many working artists can anyone name these days? Ten? Five? Compared to how many musicians and bands? 50? 100? Art has gone down the toilet. I don't see it making a recovery in my lifetime.
Despite the ugly inflatable I really enjoyed this visit to the Botanics. There was plenty of sunshine lighting up amazing leaves of every autumnal shade. I wandered around a few favourite places checking out likely plants for butterflies but there were none. Even the bees and hoverflies were in short supply, although there were a few wasps in that sunny spot in the rock garden near the buddha's eyes stone. Best wildlife was a shield bug I found sunbathing on a red-green leaf.
These (growths on leaves) appear to be hairy Beech galls or midge galls
-midge eggs that the leaf forms galls around before they drop to the ground
shield bug
that again!
not really any better close up
Now, for a change that Hamilton-Finlay sundial near the cafe was actually fairly accurate. The "fairly" is to allow for the hour out. (It was 1.25pm) But the clocks were moved back an hour recently so I'm guessing that accounts for it. Not sure how you would change a sundial. Or why it would be aligned with BST rather than GMT. I suppose there are more Summer visitors and sunshine then, than Winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment