Tate Modern to the Tate Britain

A week or so again I took a trip up to London to the Tate Modern and then took a ride along the Thames to the Tate Britain.

First I shall talk about the Tate Modern exhibition "Exposed. Voyeurism, Surveillance and the Camera" which was all about looking at pictures made on the sly, without the permission of the "model". The pictures presented a shocking and witty perspective on iconic and taboo subjects to do with peoples rights within photography. Nowadays, in a world where you need to get permission from thousands of different avenues to be a photographer and photograph people it was a really fascinating concept.

There was one picture, shown below, by Harry Callahan that I loved,
However, generally I found the photography itself poor. Whilst I loved the concept of the exhibition and the whole idea of the "unseen photographer" after the first few rooms I became bored and felt some of the work just wasn't very good. It was intriguing to see the world like a "Peeping Tom", I felt rather invasive looking at all these photographs that had been taken without the subjects knowledge or permission. In a world where the public is obsessed with celebrities every move, causing them to be followed with a camera permanently stuck in their faces, whist the rest of us are watched 24/7 by surveillance cameras it was only time until someone made this form of photography into art and who better than the Tate Modern to display it. Photographs of celebrities fleeing the paparazzi, unknown civilians captured by hidden cameras and even private intimate moments caught on camera by spying neighbours, it really dealt with the idea of how watched we really are.

Thus, whilst I thought the majority of the images were poor, bar the first two rooms, it is definitely an exhibition worth seeing, if not for the images for the fantastic concept behind them.

Exhibition on until 3rd October '10

Next we have the Tate Britain which was holding an exhibition I was desperate to see on Henry Moore.

Moore was one of Britain's greatest artists and his sculptures have always been some of my favourite art with ideas from primitive art and surrealism always seen as key sources of inspiration for his work. The way he depicts the female form to show his new ideas of sexuality is something key in many of the sculptures. However, what I did not realise until this exhibition was his work on the war, with grim drawings of people sheltering underground and sculptures of fallen soldiers and war helmets. I did not realise quite how talented he was at drawing as well as his beautiful sculptures.

The exhibition was beautiful, showing how Moore's career began and developed. The range of materials and different scales he worked with was mind boggling. My favourite works by him was definitely the small bronze statue of figures on rocking chairs, with a wonderful texture and detail compared with the giant wooden sculptures, smooth and beautifully carved. Take an hour out of your day to go see Henry Moore's work. It is definitely worth it!

Exhibition ends 8th August '10