review

was at the interim galley/ maureen paley gallery today. it is one of those spaces that i really like. it is one of the many white cubes that epitomise the art gallery.
showing there was the latest show by wolfgang tillsman - "truth study centre". now i have to admit that i am not a tillsman fan.
when he won the turner prize in 2000 i think that for me more than anything signaled that the turner prize was not about art anymore, but it was about image.
photography is one of those art forms that anyone can do and anyone can do well, especially with the advent of easy to use digital camera. so to be a good photographer you have to have more than just a decent camera. you can have a great technique, such as ansel adams, you can be an innovator, think man ray, you can have a defined style, think mapplethorpe, you can have a special subject matter, such as nan goldin. none of these people are defined by the camera they use they are defined by what they bring to the use of the camera. they bring their eye for what is interesting for what is art.
tillsman just seems to take snaps - not even photos. they just seem to be things that most of us would take to boots on a roll of happy snaps, flick through them once and then move on. not have them displayed in a gallery for everyone to see.
true the art that is displayed on the ground floor is impressive and enjoyable being as it is mainly black spaces that are broken up by "stress" lines that appear in the images. they appealed to me.
the work that is upstairs bored me rigid, all of it was displayed on purposed built tables, all with perspex tops, which meant that the overhead lights ended up obscuring some of the image: no loss really. none of the images appealed, none seem to stretch the art, or question the art - other than saying "hey look i am getting paid a fortune for doing stuff you lot consign to the photo box in the junk room!".
the only images i liked were of a branch outside a window going from bearing fruit to being bare, a nice capturing of the seasons.
the only other thing of note was a blown up extract from an interview of norquist in newsweek where he describes americans as being people who do not want to be european and who have fought many wars to stay that way. and that those who wanted to remain european who were too lazy to move back were called canadians.....
all in all an exhibition that i would recommended you don't go to.