Prior to our Blain Southern gallery trip I entered the hallowed doors of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall and was instantly overwhelmed with sound and a vibration from the Philippe Parreno sound installation ‘Anywhen’. This was a totally immersive experience challenging your perception of time and space with acoustics, lighting, flying objects and film.
Up to the second floor and into ‘The Studio’. Only having a limited time at the gallery I tried to see as much as possible but was stopped in my tracks on more than one occasion from the Antony Gormley ‘Untitled for Francis’ to the Mark Rothko room. Each and every piece was stunning and inspiring but in different ways. The Rothko’s because of their scale and singularity, looking simple but with a depth of feeling that they left you speechless, the ground braking works by Mondrian and delicacy of Degas ‘Little Dancer’. One of the pieces which inspired one of my own works was Gerhard Richter’s ‘John Cage Paintings’, the heavy and thick layered paint, peeling and rough, scraped on and rubbed off was very exciting to experience.
My very short visit came to a sudden end and it was time to depart but I will absolutely revisit and would love to explore the rest of the Tate as well.
Michael Palmer 