review

just come back from the whitchapel art gallery, had a chinese, watched a steven seagal movie (the patriot - very silly) and then decided to share a review of part of the show at the whitechapel.

currently the whitechapel is showing the paul mccarthy exhibition. it is a very very very odd show. he is one of the artists from the 60s and 70s who used his body as part of the art process - using a mixture of performance art and action painting. his work drawing from the vienna actionists.

the show at the whitechapel comprises of several elements: sketches, photos, models, models and film recordings of his earlier performances.

it was the films i was watching tonight. now i like the cinema as much as i like art, but when i am in a cinema i want mindless fun pure simple eye candy. but in a gallery situation i can, literally watch paint dry.

the films i saw of mccarthy are solo pieces of him using his body to create "art". so you have one where he dips his cock into a tin of paint and smears that on a plate of glass, or lets it drop on to the floor. then there is him dancing naked with his cock between his leg and a silly mask on. you can also see him spitting on a pane of glass and then rubbing his face and naked body all over it. and for those so inclained he also films himself having a shit and then rubbing it all over himself.

the thing with these films is that once you get over the curiousity factor or the ohmygawd feeling they drag and drag and it becomes an endurance test to see if you can last through to the end of the film. and once you have watched them you wonder just what the fuck was going on.

oddly i was thinking three things: when were they going to end. doesn't the woman in the row in front of me have nice boots on (she had them propped up on the seat in front of her). and finally isn't it weird that this is art, yet in a different circumstance it would be considered porn. that people can sit and contemplate the action and meaning of mccarthy's work and be seen as critics and experts but if you were to be viewing some of his work outside of the confines of the "white cube" you would be considered perverted.

perhaps context is everything.

i don't recommend the exhibition.

while i am in pervy art mode sometime in the next several days i will be off to see the araki exhibition.