Generation exhibition

About two weeks ago,  we went the National Gallery in Edinburgh to see the Generation exhibition. It was really good to see some real work as most of the time, we only see images on computer.

I like the On Form and Fiction room by Steven Campbell. When I first went in, I didn't know where to look, I just felt the whole room was very beautiful, especially with the music and the lights. I walked around, had a roughly look. Then I walked around again but slowly, trying to see each of his paintings and drawings. The individual work is beautiful, but I more liked the way how the whole room was installed.  It reduced the weight of each individual work but enhanced the installation as a whole.

Another work I liked was the six clay portraits by Christine Borland. She asked six different sculptors to create a portrait for the same person by giving them the same Information. The outcome was six completely different portraits. I liked her idea and I was sure the outcome was what she expected. This work reflects the fact that how we look at things affects what and how we understand. It is fascinating that artists always questioning and finding ways to identify the truth. And I think this is a very pure intention.

The work I like most was the Callum Innes' Exposed painting. The whole room felt very calm. The color was beautiful. The orange was so bight and felt cheerful. The paint remove method creates depths and lights inside the painting. I watched two short videos about his studio in Edinburgh after the exhibition. His studio was very big, very neat and clean like his paintings. He also does water colors. He demonstrated how he apply paint and constantly washed his bush.I guess to keep his bush clean is very important.

I am looking at Rothko at the moment. They both paint on large canvas, using rectangles, using layers of paint. But the feeling of their work are completely different. Rothko's work feels less controlled although I am sure everything was under his control too. His edges were rough, there were hidden lights in his painting. The depths and the way he mixed color make you feel a kind of uncertainty. While Innes' painting are very neat with hard edges. He uses bright  colors. His work make you feel calm and certain. He said his work are not abstract, they are figures to him which I cannot quite see it that way at this moment.