Louise Bore-geois

On Monday, the three classes took a trip to Edinburgh to visit the Louise Bourgeois Exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I didn't really know what to expect as I'd only seen one picture of her previously through Robert Mapplethorpe's work. I did a quick look on Google Images the morning before the trip and thought it could be interesting. I really like the idea of us going out as a class to places, it's something that should happen more often.

Upon entering the building I could not help but roll my eyes. The initial works that lined the walls were exactly the type that I personally, would not deem fit for an exhibition. To me, art is a skill and through that, skill should be shown. The red scribbles that depicted the female body felt very lazy and reminded me of Tracey Emin's work; who was clearly inspired by Bourgeois. My tutor made a good point later in the day about people getting where they are, ultimately by who they know. Looking back through the days viewings, I think this was somewhat the case.

One of the rooms contained a series that was done on musical paper. Lucinda's first words were: "these are a bit shite John" and I tried for a moment to disagree. I took a closer look and could not find anything even remotely appealing. I did wonder if blood had been used as a medium, as some of the red was browning and quite thick. That was a point of interest, but the pieces on a whole? No. The same was to be said for another room, with pieces that were created near the end of her life. They were just awful.

Some of the later rooms contained sculpture and these I had a little more time for. There was one that almost reminded me of Cerberus, a three headed sculpture that was locked away in a cage. Three sides of the structure contained hazy glass and I figured that was to enforce the direction of viewing. Closer inspection of this red faced form, revealed it was made from material and quite tightly compact too. Red was definitely the reoccurring theme throughout the exhibition. 

A brighter room further along housed a sculpture that was held down by a set of phallic shaped weights. Maybe that was the point, she wanted to represent being held down by men. Rising from the weights was a large arch, which at the end contained a bristly object that had various droplet shaped glass hanging from it. I pretty much turned my nose up and moved on.

I hate spiders, they are in my top three of most feared things. I didn't however, mind the large Spider sculpture that filled one of the end rooms. It had a robotic feel to it and in a certain sense, came across as quite punishing. One thing that immediately stood out to me was the size and for a little old lady, I did wonder if she herself had put this together. The obvious answer being no, which brings up another annoyance of mine with so called "art". The "Artist" may have the idea but really, who should get the credit? The person that thought it up, or the person that did all the hard work? This is why I cannot stand the differential work ethic of people like Andy Warhol or Damien Hirst. I might be wrong and it'd certainly be an opinion changer to see Louise at work.

The wall inside the Spider room had a large framed embroidered canvas and while I don't care for textiles or the proposed message, the time and energy gone into perfecting the typography was certainly noted. I don't think it could have been done any more perfect than the end result and for me, that was believable.

I know this may have sounded quite negative, but at the end of the day it's just my opinion. I went into this exhibition with an open mind and still I could not connect with any of the work, thus why I haven't narrowed down to a specific piece. I did enjoy the day out, but I wouldn't attend another Bourgeois exhibition.