Today a friend sent me a copy of a review of the newest exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. It is good to have one’s prejudices reinforced by the arts correspondent of the BBC, Will Gompertz. Apparently a new work on display there by Joana Vasconcelos consists of a gigantic cockerel in brightly-coloured tiles, augmented by flashing lights. Sounds dreadful!
I don’t know the work of this artist, but the review did contain a very useful general discussion of “conceptual art”, tracing the idea back to Sol le Witt. I must say that it is nice to have my own views (less securely based in the history of art than those of the author of the review) thoroughly endorsed.
It was particularly striking that another piece in the exhibition was dismissed as “tasteless in the extreme.” You will have guessed that I don’t think that it will be worth my while to drive down to West Bretton to see it. I do have to admit, however, that we are fortunate indeed to have the Yorkshire Sculpture Park so close at hand. It is the case that the shows there can be hit and miss, but that would be true of any large gallery. There have been some first-rate ones, however, including a large retrospective a few years back of the work of Andy Goldsworthy that was particularly memorable.