GK Art Notes

Of course the Saatchi gallery has long existed, but I have only got round to visiting it. The over-zealous Saatchi PR machine achieved the opposite of what it was supposed to and built up an adverse and resistance in me. But recently without any prompting I sauntered along to see the gallery’s Newspeak: British Art Now exhibition.

In the absence of the threat of a public flogging forcing me to, I will bypass the need to comment on the paintings in the show and focus on what got my juices flowing, the sculpture. This is not to say that the future of painting in British Art is in dire straits, I will just suggest that you do not stand in any of the rooms in the show and picture the future. However one painter did press the right buttons, for me.

Now if sculpure was to be the future, staring into the horizon of that future you will spot works by Steve Bishop, Marcus Foster and Des Hughes.

Untitled 2010 by Marcus Foster

I felt rewarded and affirmed when I spotted Marcus Foster’s Untitled 2010, having seen his work at the RCA Show Two Battersea last year, 2010 and commented on his entries. Foster describes Untitled as “a hot air ballon-like form….made from steel and painted in an industrial tone…”. It was definitely industrial and that is what intrigued me. It’s spherical form made it invitingly organic but it’s industrial finish gave it a futuristic overtone. One slight disappointment was,  Foster and his piece were missing from the bulky catalogue that was published to accompany the show!

Newspeak: British Art Now, Part 2 is on at the Saatchi Gallery until 30 April 2011