Joan Miro Exhibition

DATE: 25th May 2011

LOCATION: Tate Modern, London

EXHIBITION: Joan Miro: The Ladder of Escape

Yet another “the most astonishing of 20th Century artists”…hmmmm?!

My first exhibition of a two exhibition day out, this was the first time I planned and carried out a ‘solo’ day trip, and while it was pleasant to wander round, stop & pause, consider & reflect, retrace steps and generally go at my own pace without worrying if anyone else was bored, waiting etc, it was a little frustrating not to have anyone else to bounce idea’s and thoughts off of.

I chose this exhibition firstly as I wanted to get use out of my ‘Tate Membership card’ and secondly as a ‘compare & contrast’ to my 2nd exhibition visit – Tracey Emin. The long and short of it is that, while appreciating Miro’s work, I don’t actually have a lot in common with a dead Spanish, male, surrealist painter!

His early works, especially ‘The Farm 1921, was highly detailed, and I thought very decorative, in fact most of these early ‘farm’ paintings were so detailed and decorative that I thought them very ‘feminine’ – and was reminded of patchwork & embroidery, and reminded me of Frida Kahlo’s works – maybe that’s the ‘surrealist’ ideals in them?

However, these early works are soon dramatically left behind as we walk into the other rooms – where such fine detail (and any sembalance of realism) has long been left behind.

The ‘Barcelona series’ of lithograths (this is a vast set of 50) are lovely to look at ‘en masse’, all simply hung in their black and whites. Full of sharp jagged lines and swirling circles they link nicely to his prints and paintings – however, their subject matter did little to move me – unlike Emin’s mono-prints and drawings – which I feel more than hold their own in comparison.

His paintings, and there are lots of them, are not really very layered (if at all) and the paint is applied very thinly, almost as a wash. There are blocks of colour applied over the ‘wash backgrounds in mostly unmixed primaries. Red/Black are particular favourites and appear in virtually all works. It was easy to see where Antonio Tapis got his inspiration from and the block work also reminded me of Gabrielle Orzorco’s work seen at Tate Modern only a few months earlier – wonder if he was inspired by Miro also?

On the whole, I’m pleased I saw this exhibition, but realised I spent much more time analysing the materials and processes of this artist rather than reading any great depth or meaning into the work – loved the use of paint, pastels, drawing & painting.