I went to see the Georgia O'Keefe exhibition the other day, at the Tate Modern. I didn't think I got a massive amount out of it, but my recent painting has made me think differently. Maybe a little bit of Georgia, got through to my soul after all.
Let me explain....
If you know anything about
Georgia O'Keefe, you probably know that she painted flowers, it is what she is most famous for; Large, sensual, magnified
flowers. I was expecting to see a lot of these at the exhibition, but there were only a few examples. There were far more pieces of her landscape work - both of the US and of New Mexico and her preoccupation with painting bleached animal skulls. These were interesting, in fact I saw some parallels in our work, presumably because I have also been captivated by the colours and the landscapes of the United States National Parks. But there is something about her work that I find difficult to get into. I feel like the door is there in front of me, and I can see it, but I can't open it. I seem to find it difficult to connect with her work. I don't know whether it is because it is too smooth, too perfect, too diluted, or whether the colours don't speak to me. It could simply be that I can't see the artist in the work. You can easily get a feel for some people - Miro was playful and bold, about expressing movement and joy, Klee - order, painful meticulousness, elaborate colour palettes and precision. I just don't get what Georgia O'Keefe is trying to show me. But that is fine, she doesn't need to speak to me. Ironically, O'Keefe was an intensely private, self confessed loner, so maybe I am getting her personality exactly through her work. It was for her, and more fool the people that think her flowers are representations of female genitalia. The woman just wanted to paint a flower.
Or did she?
I think in this regard, this was why I thought the exhibition was a little disappointing. It seemed disjointed and needed more of her work - definitely more flowers. How can you understand someone, when the largest and most controversial body of her work is not present? That said, some of her work is right up my street. Some of the more serene landscapes and the city work especially. I just needed more.
When you don't understand something you need more information.
But anyway, after thinking the exhibition passed me by slightly. I just painted this:
That looks like a big flower - right in the middle and not what I intended to paint. I was meant to be painting the tree canopy from a birds eye view, leaves, tendrils, twigs and branches, but not a flower. It looks like she may have spoken to me, far more emphatically than I would have imagined.
One thing is for sure, I definitely do not know enough about Georgia O'Keefe.
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