278. DOCK by PHYLLIDA PARSLOW

Photograph courtesy of Sarah Kate Wilson

 TATE BRITAIN until November 2nd 2014

The Duveen Gallery - 100 metres long, with a lofty vaulted  roof - has seen plenty of drama. Each year an artist is commissioned to produce work which responds to  the Tate, its surroundings and the Gallery itself. In 2002-3 Anya Gallaccio's massive oak trees, felled and with their branches lopped, became natural, rough-and-ready 'columns' both mirroring and challenging the classical setting. In 2007 Mark Wallinger  recreated peace campaigner Brian Haw’s sprawling Parliament Square protest. A year later Martin Creed choreographed a live performance, making runners speed through the Duveen as if their lives depended on it.
  And 2014 brings a new paradox. Phyllida Barlow says "Considering a body of new work, I was very conscious of two particular contradictory aspects: the tomb-like interior galleries against the ever-present aspect of the river beyond".

Dock is a monumental, exuberant counterpoint to a calm, graceful, neoclassical gallery. 
It is comprised of 7 inter-related sculptures filling the whole space. When the way is almost blocked, most of us visitors seem to prefer to squeeze against the walls, though it's perfectly possible to wander around inside the sculptures. Perhaps its invasiveness reminds us of the terrible floods higher up the Thames earlier this year, powered by the river upon whose banks the Tate stands. 

So you look up at shapes which reference lofty cranes. Vast shipping containers dangle in the air as if ready to be loaded. Untitled: dock: crushedtower, a functionless wooden tower wrapped in paper is a pastiche of the monumental sculptures surrounding it. We can see that Dock is made of familiar everyday materials - timber, metal, polystyrene, canvas, cardboard and rope. Everywhere they are  suspended, collapsed, stacked, wrapped, folded, jambed, crimped and squeezed. 

 Dock  is monumental, awe-inspiring, captivating. It is also light and airy, The contrast makes you dizzy , even vertiginous.. Each step you take reveals a new vista. And I've included the coral/fuchsia colours in the two lower images because they filling the windows of fashion shops in the West End at the moment.

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/tate-britain-commission-2014-phyllida-barlow
www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/anya-gallaccio-2658
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/mark-wallinger-state-britain

www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/martin-creed-work-no-850 

250. GEMINI by EILEEN COOPER

Art First Gallery, Eastcastle Street W1W 8DD

EDGE TO EDGE is open until October 12

Gemini, Oil on canvas, 137 x 168, photograph Justin Piperger

Spring Fever, Oil on canvas, 168 x 137 Photograph Justin Piperger

 The title of this exhibition Edge to Edge draws attention to Cooper’s intriguing use of space. Soles of feet often press down on the edges or are partly obscured by them. A forehead, a shoulder or a toe are mischievously cropped, as if the painter had miscalculated the size of the canvas. The effect is of a snapshot - we are seeing a fleeting moment which will never be repeated. 

It's also playful - women, men and children having a jolly time, while animals casually wander in. Cooper's subjects are often surrounded by artefacts and imagery, part romantic, part commonplace, which defy a neat response. The dogs in Gemini are entering into the carefree spirit of the moment, as are the birds in Spring Fever. Meanwhile the cautious fox in Spring Fever has her eyes on the artist (and the viewer).    Cooper's bold lines and formal composition act as containers for a luscious use of colour, and the candid, alert, intelligent gaze of many of her figures is one of her hallmarks. 

Her previous show at Art First in 2011 was called Showing Off. It’s a wonderful title, packed with meanings. On the one hand you can legitimately ‘show off’ (or showcase) a product or an amazing skill as a pianist or an athlete, but small children used to be regularly castigated for ‘showing off’ by drawing attention to themselves – a pretty dress, a spectacular jump, a clever answer.The people inhabiting Cooper’s paintings have no such worries.  Many turn to gaze straight into the artist's eyes (and ours). The painted observe the painter. No one is discomforted.

Eileen Cooper is a painter and a printmaker. In 2011 she was the first woman to be elected Keeper of the Royal Academy. In the same year Jeanette Winterson, novelist and journalist, was the Speaker at the Royal Academy of Arts Annual Dinner. She said: 
 

Standing still in front of art – letting art happen to us – letting art overwhelm us, gives us the courage to stand still. The courage to look intensely at what we are

looking at. To see. To feel. And after that, not before, comes thought.

www.eileencooper.co.uk/showingoff

www.artfirst.co.uk/exhibitions.html