Warhol at Tate Modern England
Reviews

From: Rudi Scholl
Category: Exhibitions
Date: 10 February 2002

Review

Why is art so boring Andy? Even if you take everything you like, everything that's cool, even if you compose it and colour it well, you end up with something boring after 20 years of history elapses. The less you screw around with good material the better the final result should be, for example abstract painting stopped forming paint into pictograms with good outcomes like Pollock and Cezanne. So Warhol stops short of imposing too much meaning on good ideas, which is what makes him so popular, Warhol's definitely got a lot of subject matter but many messages to be heard.

The Tate Galleries are filled with more and more screenprinted images, a few films, collaborations with Basquiat and some pencil drawings. All is dull except for where light glances off a surface, or scale overwhelms. The shadows paintings with their crushed diamonds, and the long camouflage pieces which show how pervasive abstraction is. In the rest any surprise had faded away, and all you are left with is a thin acrylic surface telling you to go away. With light, reflection, or texture we are given a way back, a little delight which is enough to live the images again. Why is art so boring?

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