Just an Art Tangent

My visit to the Tate Modern yesterday was an interesting experience. Admittedly, I've seen some pretty crazy contemporary art, such as a bare, taped-off corner of a room at the Maxxi (Rome), or even an audio of screaming voices in the foyer of MOMA (NYC). But never have i heard such horror, such disgust as i did at this renowned London gallery. Artworks like an erotic silent film featuring a mother & daughter (ok, maybe a little strange) along with stick figures of a girl seated in a bar, provoked frustrated observers to giggle and mock, questioning, 'why is that in the Tate Modern?', and sigh, 'well... that was f&^%$ing weird.'

That's when i realized really how open-minded you have to be when it comes to post-modernism. To see the un-expected or to be shocked by an artwork, in my opinion, reiterates the artist's creativity. Not to say that it's always any good, but it definitely conforms to this notion of originality and infinite imagination. Art nowadays is really drifting away from the conventional canvas-in-a-room. It's branching out into a world that exceeds the limitations of the interior space of a gallery, questioning the form and function of our everyday lives.

This was pretty much confirmed by the Alternative Free Walking Tour i did yesterday, which had a heavy focus on street art. Walking in the trendy East End neighbourhood of London, we were shown a variety of street art pieces that went beyond the meaning of the word, 'graffiti'. We were taken to 'Alphabet St', with all 26 letters painted on the sheds of a strip of shops, one letter per garage. We also saw an eagle sprayed on the side of a building, five-storeys high, not to mention Banksy's beaten-up care that once had a skeleton at the driver's seat, with Banksy's name sprayed across the steering wheel.

Basically, this tour has led me to believe that London is a fine example of what i like to call 'inclusive art', allowing anyone to participate in it's creativity - free of charge. It eliminates any social boundaries that are introduced through costly museum tickets, with admission fees as high as $20 (Tate Modern, London) or even $28 (La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona). This ultimate accessibility to art can also be accounted for in other cities, such as Buenos Aires (what a great place!), NYC, San Francisco, Berlin and Melbourne.

A spray-painting, would you believe!