Saatchi Gallery

The Saatchi Gallery offers more ways and vantage points to view objects than the other galleries we have visited.  For many of the pieces, viewers can walk all the way around the piece and see it from multiple angles.  I think this helps viewers interpret a piece more easily because they can gain inspiration from how differently it looks on each side.  For example, the first piece we looked at was the cast of the inside of a block of clay where the artist climbed her way to the bottom.  It was called “Down.”  Initially, the piece did not look like anything.  But once I made my way around to the other side, I began to see places where her feet and hands were protruding out of the mold.  This made the piece much more interesting and I was able to empathize with her struggle inside the block of clay.  Many of the other galleries we have been to put their pieces of sculpture close to one wall and have ropes in front of it so patrons cannot get too close.  I think this causes a separation between the piece and the viewer and makes it harder to get a feel for the object.

Personally, I would have preferred more text to accompany each piece.  The only text in relation to the art that is presented in the Saatchi Gallery is the title of the work and the artist.  If our guide had not told us about how “Down” was made, the piece would not have made sense to me.  It looked like a giant block of messy clay.  I would appreciate it if there was a small paragraph on why or how the artist created the piece.  I think it should be up to the artist’s discretion if they would like to add more text, but for some pieces I think it’s necessary.  It really helps the viewer understand the piece and appreciate it. 

 

The Saatchi Gallery certainly has more adventurous art than some of the other museums we have visited.  I think art should take chances and make people uncomfortable sometimes to make a point.  Some of the art in the Saatchi Gallery, such as “The Followers,” may make people feel awkward.  People may be uncomfortable with the reality that we will all die someday or that the reproductions of the burial ornaments seem so realistic. 

However, I think some of the artwork in the Saatchi Gallery was unnecessarily adventurous.  For example, the piece that was made up of various nonsensical posters had a lot of pornographic imagery that I did not feel was necessary to the piece.  I thought it detracted from the message of the artwork and was put there purely to make people do a double-take and feel awkward.