Review of Structure and Clarity at the Tate Modern

Review of Structure and Clarity at the Tate Modern

Ian Dykes

AW1

10th September 2013

Review on Structure and Clarity Exhibition

Today I went to the Tate Modern to view various exhibitions and I chose to review a room in the structure and clarity exhibition. The room had work done by Ellsworth Kelly with themes of form, colour and scale. In addition to the artist, the room was curated by Ann Coxon.  This exhibition of Kelly’s work was not current with pieces ranging from 1951 to 2006 and the pieces were not laid out in a chronological order.

My original reaction to Kelly’s work was that it is very simple and beautiful, Kelly used very clean lines and mainly primary colours which creates a calming effect on the viewers. In my opinion, there is an air of the dada movement infused into Kelly’s pieces by the way of the strong lines and the fact that it is so minimalist. I believe that the work portrayed in the Tate conveyed a message of “beauty is Simplicity” which I can relate to because I believe that simplicity is much better than complexity. The moment I walked into the exhibition of Kelly’s work the pieces creates a physical feeling of calmness and a psychological feeling of relief which is what his pieces were made to do.

I like this exhibition because Kelly’s pieces and themes have a connection to the work that I like doing. I believe that the use of form, colour and scale tie very well into my work and my beliefs, I love working with clean lines and distinct colours, which in reality should not work but seem to accentuate and enhance each other. 

(Kelly, 1991 (Orange Relief with Green)) 

Above is one of the pieces featured in the exhibition put on to commemorate Kelly’s ninetieth birthday. I love the way the green and orange work so well together and I love how the orange section protrudes from the green canvas creating shadows.

To view this exhibition one needs to enter it with an open mind and then fully embrace themselves and their view of art to get the full meaning of the pieces done by Kelly, these pieces will help inspire all artists, including me to look harder into form, scale and colour. I believe that Kelly’s work has already helped me with my work because I now have a greater respect for colour, form and scale.

Bibliography

Tate Modern 10:09:2013

Ellsworth Kelly | Tate. 2013. Ellsworth Kelly | Tate. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/ellsworth-kelly. [Accessed 12 September 2013].