A TRIP TO THE TATE MODERN

COLLECTING INSPIRATION

On the 6th of January, we went to the Tate Modern to complete the given commission:

TATE MODERN

During the course of your visit to Tate Modern you will need to do the following:

• Select three works of art.
• Photograph your three pieces making note of the title of the piece, the artist, the year of creation and any other details and notes about the piece.

In response to this commission, I chose three pieces of art after exploring the gallery on two separate days. Here are three of the main pieces that I found most interesting, and that I have chosen to further explore as a stimulus for 'dreams and the subconscious':

1) 'Lobster Telephone' by Salvador Dali

This piece was created in 1936 by Salvador Dali, a Surrealist artist. Before my trip to the Tate, I was actually already aware of Dali and his work. I knew that Dali, a Spanish artist, is well known for depicting a lot of his dreams and eccentric imagined visions into implemented surrealist art. This specific piece of art was displayed in the exhibition display 'In the Studio' under the title 'International Surrealism' and is the only art work I have picked that is explicitly classed as surrealist, as I didn't want to interpret the commission too literally. It is an object, with a lobster placed on a telephone and was made out of steel, plaster, rubber, resin and paper. I found this 'surrealist' object very interesting as a classic example of surrealism made from the conjunction of incongruent objects and associations. Dali thought that this these incongruences reflected in the surreal equally reflected and insinuated deeper desires in the human nature. Dali as an artist thought that both the lobster and the telephone reflected sexual desire and had very sexual connotations, and I thought that due to this, this piece was interesting as an exploration of the sub conscious and the different needs and desires that could fall into our subconscious. 

2) 'Violent Incident' by Bruce Nauman 

Created in 1986, this art installation consists of a video taking place across 12 monitors with use of colour and sound. It is a 'simple scenario, in which a cruel joke escalates into bickering and violence, and is played out four times by professional actors'. When I first saw this piece, I remember being somewhat confused. It didn't seem to make sense, and was quite disturbing to watch the 'simple bickering' transcend into such abrupt violence. In this way, the piece was initially effective. When I saw this piece again with the commission in mind, it resonated with me more. The way in which the scene is played out many times across the monitors, in a sort of nonsensical and random order, was almost evocative of a dream like reality, where nothing really unfolds chronologically or understandably. The use of the monitors also really added to the poignancy of the piece in its sudden and quick escalation and the fact that the scene plays out in different ways across the different monitors also evoked in me the sense of distinction we have between how we perceive and examine events through subconscious evaluation versus how situations play out in reality. Moreover, I think that the 'violent incident' portrayed in this incident could be more so understood as a dream or a vision that someone has in their imagination as opposed to an actual reality, because the way in which it suddenly escalates so dramatically seems almost too exaggerated to be reality. Because of this, the incident could be reflected as someone in a confrontation imagining and envisioning the possibilities of what could happen next. 

3) 'Good Boy Bad Boy' by Bruce Nauman 

This piece is also by Bruce Nauman and was created in 1985. Again, it is a video installation and takes place across two monitors with colour and audio. The duration is 60 minutes and 52 seconds, therefore the effect is different for various audience members across time. Two monitors are displayed head height: the head and shoulders of a young black man are shown and the one represents a white woman - both are professional actors. They both deliver the same 100 phrases repeatedly, transitioning gradually from a flat, neutral tone to becoming increasingly animated and intense. The 5th time the actors say the phrase is quite aggressive, and seems quite instigative of some sort of conflict or struggle. At this point, the viewer is confronted by a barrage of contradictory phrases going from simply monotonous to very aggressive. The continuous loop of the phrases and the various ways in which the actors deliver the lines means that the speed varies, resulting in a slippage of time and the two tapes being out of sequence. Consequently, as a spectator of these pieces, I found it very disorientating and disturbing - it seemed like a nightmare, and the slippage of time of the two sequences made it very surreal and dreamlike. Equally, the use of the monitors in an almost 80s theme made it even more surreal and made me feel more alienated as a view. This effect was intensified by the increase in intensity of the lines and the direct eye contact. I felt quite disorientated and anxious the whole time I was watching it, almost like I was in a nightmare. This piece was the most evocative and immersive for me, and equally I believe that this is the piece I am most enthusiastic about exploring in a theatrical context by not using monitors. I think that within our experimental piece, the opportunity to disillusion and disorientate viewers using similar techniques that this piece uses would definitely evoke the symbols of a dream/nightmare, and would be very potent. 

In the same week, I also made an impromptu visit to the Tate Britain. Although this didn't cover the commission, I wanted to document more interesting pieces I saw and found interesting, as although this might not be directly used within our experimental work, it can still somewhat inform and inspire the way in which we interpret dreams and the subconscious: 

'Study for a Portrait', Francis Bacon, 1952

I was really captured by this Bacon's style primarily because of the really raw, grotesque and macabre depictions of human nature and our basic emotions, which are often ignored in art or romanticised. This particular portrait was one of my favourites: it depicts an old woman and I loved how powerful her mouth was in perhaps depicting suppressed anger and pain (which I thought was very apt for the themes of the subconscious, or even a nightmare). Bacon used sand to make the painting rough and add to the sinister effect, which I thought made it very evocative.

'Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion', Francis Bacon, 1944

I was also fascinated by this triptych by Bacon because its so dark and powerful in its effect. It was produced in 1944 when the first photographs and footage of the Nazi concentration camps were being released, and it draws on the pain and suffering in a post war world. The painting itself is so macabre and disturbing and I thought that this was evocative of a potent nightmare, and the most intense and deep painful emotions that we keep suppressed as the human race - these must have been externalised during periods of absolute horror such as the Holocaust, and I think that Bacon's art really represents this. 

'Green Tea Form: Interior of Woods', Graham Sutherland, 1940

I also liked this piece by Sutherland, whom had associations to surrealist art, because instantly it reminded me of a grotesque nightmare, depicting abstractly an insidious transformation of what seems like a tree trunk into something monstrous.  Graham Sutherland commented that 'the prototype in nature has got to be seen through the terms of art. A metamorphosis has got to take place.' This 'metamorphosis' that Sutherland comments on is further evocative of a nightmare.