the saatchi collection
I visited the Saatchi Collection at County Hall yesterday, and it left me gobsmacked. I love art that leaves me rattled to the core.
I knew it would be good, but not quite like this. (The Saatchi Collection houses much of Charles Saatchi’s collection of contemporary artwork by ‘Young British Artists’, or ‘YBAs’, as known in the industry.) Many of the works aren't for the faint of heart - mutilations, genetic experiments gone horribly awry, children with genitalia for facial features, mutations...the list goes on. The viewer is left half reeling in disgust, half wanting to see more. As I love artwork that pushes boundaries, I was fascinated. I left the gallery wishing I had my kit so that I could start some artwork again.
There was also an extraordinary installation involving an angular steel walkway leading into the centre of a seemingly normal room. Entering it, you find yourself surrounded by 2,500 gallons of engine oil. The reflection in the blackness of the liquid both reduces the space of the room, and yet paradoxically doubles its volume. If it's possible to experience the feeling of standing on a ceiling, it's here. I'm not sure what gets to you first - the head-spinning odour of the liquid, or that worrying sense of peace and foreboding - standing on that walkway, a mere step away from vertigo.
L'Esthete @ 10:40
