All that glistens isn't gold.

[rhythmaning]

I went from the Gagosian to the British Museum. Mostly to look for presents in the shop, but I had a look around, of course. Prompted by delilly I wanted to see the Rosetta stone, which I must have seen many times before.

I also looked at a dispersed exhibition called Statuephilia, featuring works by Antony Gormley, Marc Quinn, Damien Hirst, Ron Muerk and Tim Noble and Sue Webster.

The work by Quinn is a gold sculpture of Kate Moss, called Siren. I like some of Quinn’s work – I loved his statue of Alison Lipper which stood on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square - but I didn’t like this piece at all. Why Moss? Because she was famous? Why gold? Did it matter? To me, no – but it was the only statue in a room of priceless Greek statues that was sealed away, presumably at the request of the museum’s insurers.

Frankly, it seemed a bit tacky to me: like showing off in gold.

The Damien Hirst consisted of painted skulls. I have no idea if the skulls were reall or not. It didn’t grab me at all – like much of Hirst’s work, I was left thinking “so what?”

It won’t surprise you at all that I loved the Gormley – a maquette of the Angel of the North called “Case for an Angel I”. This angel seemed to be female – I thought I saw a hint of breasts (I could be wrong – I thought Gormley based most of his work on his own body). The angel stands on a plinth in the main entrance, stretched out across the atrium. Wonderful. Really wonderful.

Comments

[frumiousb.livejournal.com]

The Moss thing just seems cynical to me, otherwise pointless.

[rhythmaning.livejournal.com]

Possibly; but I like other work by Quinn, which didn't seem cynical.

Also, the sculpture was shown by permission of the sculptor - it is still in his collection.

But - well, I don't get it, either!