Spotted: Arshile Gorky poster at deprivation division line in London

Deptford Bridge train station in South-East London. This station is like a separation line between Greenwich area with its traditional or new developments and a very deprived Deptford area. Make one step towards Deptford, and you could literally feel the deprivation and you could immediately sense that you entered not the safest part of London, to put it mildly.

The fact that they didn’t change the advert poster for a year-old Tate Modern exhibit of Arshile Gorky, may indicate that the advertisers are not exactly interested in promoting their services or whatever in the area. On the other hand, the very fact that art poster appeared there, even if a year ago, could be a hopeful sign that one day things could change for better. With the help of Arshile Gorky... :)

Arshile Gorky - the very Armenian art cafe in the heart of Tate Modern, London

It’s been ages I wanted to make this post - my reflections of last year’s Arshile Gorky’s major exhibit at my favourite art venue in London - Tate Modern. [Don’t ask me re the reasons for delay. I simply do not know. This is the way I write. It has to come to me - inspiration, weather, mood...]

I’ve seen Gorky before, at various art venues worldwide, but I’ve never seen such a big retrospective of his works concentrated in one place. What made this especially dear to me was the chosen venue for the exhibit - Tate Modern.

In some of Arshile Gorky’s abstract works I clearly noticed the Armenian shape of nose. Or may be it was just my imagination :)

I have to say I am not much fan of his abstract paintings as you could not find an individuality, a ‘signature’ there. They look more like studies after various artists. However, I like his portraits. This is where I can recognise ‘signature’ Gorky.

These two small paintings were so cute that became my instant favourites.

*self portrait 9 yrs old (above)

*my imaginary wife (below)

Outside the exhibit halls there was Arshile Gorky themed cafe space in the heart of Tate Modern. That was an exhibition in its own self, no less exciting, with pictures of Gorky I’ve never seen before, and his bio details. It was kind of surreal to have an Armenian corner on such a prominent display inside the Tate Modern.

And this ‘posing’ picture of Arshile Gorky, displayed in the cafe, was a revelation to me. He looks like a pretty sexy model there.

UK airport closures forced Atom Egoyan to cancel personal appearance at Tate Modern, but he will be speaking via webcam

As part of the Arshile Gorky exhibition (my brief review with pictures to be posted soon), independent Canadian Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan was due to London tomorrow to talk about “a number of his installations and short films that relate to Arshile Gorky's life and artistic legacy in relation to the Armenian massacres, which are widely regarded as a genocide.” (quote via Tate Modern).

However, due to volcano related UK airport closures, he won’t be able to fly to London, but instead, as Tate Modern now reports, “will be speaking at this event via online broadcast”.

I phoned Tate Modern, and confirmed this info. The event will go ahead with Egoyan’s webcam appearance. However, what I think is not fair, ticket prices - £10 (£8 concessions) - will stay the same, as Tate’s representative told me.

Arshile Gorky in London, Tate Modern 10 Feb - 3 May 2010

*Thanks to Dave for passing this info:

Cool - the Arshile Gorky Restrospective is coming to the Tate Modern in Feb http://tinyurl.com/arshile - Extraordinary Armenian artist

@davechapman 

*Tate Modern, London

Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective

10 February  –  3 May 2010

About | Visiting information | Book tickets

This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary life and work of Arshile Gorky (c.1904-1948). Along with Rothko, Pollock and de Kooning, Gorky was one of the most powerful American painters of the twentieth century, and a seminal figure in the formation of Abstract Expressionism. The exhibition includes paintings and drawings from across his career, and a handful of rarely seen sculptures.

The Armenian-born artist first arrived in the US in 1920 fleeing persecution in his home country. He adopted the name Arshile Gorky with reference to the Russian writer Maxim Gorky. First in Boston and, after 1924, then in New York, he studied the Modern European masters in books and galleries, teaching himself art by combining this with art classes. His early still-lives show his reliance upon the examples of Cezanne, Picasso and others, but his portraits in the 1920s and 1930s, especially the two versions of The Artist and His Mother, show how Gorky was able to pour his personal experiences and his studies into a highly individual realism.

During the 1940s Gorky encountered Surrealists exiled from wartime Europe. Stimulated by their ideas of free flowing, automatic painting, he rapidly developed the style for which he became famous. Works such as Waterfall 1943 are evocative, layered, and translucent, with a liquid glowing quality. Gorky's characteristic paintings of this final period include biomorphic forms in strong colours, shifting abstract elements and the energetic line that he developed in his drawings. They capture a sensual enjoyment of landscape as well as the mood and memories that the subjects can evoke. Just as he came to be seen as a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism, his career was cut short by a series of personal tragedies, which ended with him committing suicide in 1948.

Organised with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles


*picture: Arshile Gorky, Waterfall  1943, Tate © ADAGP, Paris and DACS, London 2010