A Modern 'Tate' on Art

   

     After going to Shakespeare's Globe and having a delicious meal of fish and chips, I made my way down the banks of the Thames and arrived to the Tate Modern. Just looking at the outside I thought to myself, how is this a museum. Maybe I'm just used to looking at the beautiful architecture of LACMA and MOCA. I've always heard that Tate Modern is one of the most popular modern art galleries in the world but looking on the outside I was thinking how could this be the place. But after I stepped inside I felt completely different. It was amazing. The open space and the talented artists work filled the rooms. It was fun getting to sit on the floor of the basement and soak up the surroundings. After learning that it was an old factory it made this experience even more interesting. I have never been in a factory building so it was eye opening being able to see how they transformed it into something so eye pleasing.

     I connected with many of the pieces. There were so many beautiful pieces of work but also many pieces that confused me and made me think, how did this even make it into this museum. Like that one art sculpture that really just looked like piles of poop on the floor. Two pieces that caught my attention were, Upright Internal/External Form 1952-3 and Full Moon 1988.

     When we went to St. Paul's Cathedral I thought the sculpture, Mother and Child was exquisite. Henry Moore was able to create such an interesting sculpture. Being able to look at it from 3 different angles and seeing something different each time is crazy. When I was walking around the museum I saw another sculpture that reminded me of the sculpture from St. Paul's. Guess what? It was by the same artist, Henry Moore. This sculpture was much different but still amazed me. Right when I saw it it made me think of a mother and child. A mother protecting her child. Honestly, it made me miss my mom. Going on this trip I feel like I don't have that protection anymore but after looking at these sculptures it made me see that your parent is always protecting you. Some may think (Kayla) that this sculpture looks like a peanut but I automatically felt a connection to it. This just shows how everyone sees things differently and no one will have the same perspective of things. This sculpture made me feel safe and happy. It must have been hard making all those curves and shapes with plaster.

     The second piece of art I connected with was by Alex Katz. When I stood before it I had a flashback of one night when I was camping in Sequoia National Park. It was so dark and the only light we had was the moon. This piece of art made me go through many emotions. Just this one piece can mean so many different things. To me it represented dark vs. light. When you're in a dark time you shouldn't give up because the light is always there and we should follow the light. Art is a way the artist expresses themselves so after seeing this painting it made me think, what was he going through to have such a dark painting.

      This experience was very important to me because it helped me see that we really do see things differently than each other. This museum is definitely a spectacle itself. It would take days to get through all the amazing floors of artwork.