When it comes to many forms of art, it’s hard not to think that realism has had its day. What, for instance, can painting offer in a world in which we are surrounded by photgraphs and other images, and how can it possibly compete? Should it really even try?
Whether it sets out to or not, Hayward’s current exhibition – Painting of Modern Life – provides something of an answer these questions. The exhibition, curated by Hayward Director, Ralph Rugoff, takes its inspiration from an essay by Charles Baudelaire to re-examine the use and translation of photographic imagery in contemporary painting. It’s the first museum survey of its kind, covering developments in modern painting over the last 45 years or so.
Rugoff has a lot to live up to. The Painting of Modern Life comes hot on the heels of the huge success of the Anthony Gormley exhibition. The Hayward shone when it was showcasing Gormley’s sculptural work – his materials complemented the aesthetics of the gallery itself, emphasising the minimalist concrete lines and open spaces. So it’s only natural that the first thing I notice when I enter the new exhibition is that paintings on walls leave the space feeling more closed in, generic and less inviting.
That is one thing. But the absence of aesthetics doesn’t stop there. Indeed, some of the works in the exhibition tend towards the downright ugly – especially in the colour palate. And while I can appreciate the skill, I’m an old-fashioned girl in many ways and like my art to be pretty.
That said, after first impressions it’s not all bad. Some of the works literally took by breath away. There’s a stunning, shocking Warhol of a car crash in Orange County in the first room. You can’t help but be moved, fascinated and appalled by it.
A fabulously gritty painting called A Transsexual Getting Down Stairs from Chinese artist Liu Xiaodong’s series on Transvestites in Singapore is the highlight upstairs.
Other standouts included the several paintings by Gerhard Richter which often look more like photos taken from a moving car with slow shutter speed than paintings. In particular one work depicting nurses, and another of Jackie Kennedy caught my eye.
The vast, larger than life Kippenberger canvases completely eclipse the Hockney they sit beside and are definitely worth seeing up close, for the technique that goes into creating the realist effect, as well as the grand scale.
Robert Bechtle’s series of paintings of people with their cars is striking in its accuracy – you can literally feel the heat reflecting off the metallic surfaces, and smell the tarmac.
Questions and quotes from the artists are printed on the walls, in large type, interspersed between the paintings as well as below the paintings. In addition, the source photos that inspired many of the paintings are printed in the programme. Both these touches enhance the exhibition’s questioning of the line between art and photography, creating a nice dialogue with the artists about photography and painting.
One shortcoming is that the same names are relied upon throughout the rooms. Perhaps this is simply due to the thematic arrangement of the works in rather tired categories like ‘politics and history’, ‘social space’, ‘work’ and ‘family and friends’.
Larger than life, the exhibition is ultimately a journey through versions of reality and questions ways of seeing. You might not like it all, but there are some real masterpieces, and it raises some interesting points about the relationship between modern art and photography.
The Painting of Modern Life runs at The Hayward until 30 December 2007.
