i like munch at tate modern
Posted: Sun Jul 01, 2012 3:53 pm
I saw a munch show about 18 years ago, before my ruskin interview, and then when they asked which contemporary artist i liked answered munch, who wasnt alive even back then. I remembered him as a bit boring. But these sketchy pictures were good in the now times. There's a large munch bunch in contemporary painting (think thin with brushy bits), doig, dumas, baselitz, daniel richter et al. Munch leaves the faces underpainted which means the paintings haven't dated or at least it adds mystery (like hemingway said, leave a part of the story missing). His pictures don't exactly make you jump for joy, there's a lot of green in them, but they manage narrative without tedium, and their distortions of colour and shape and finish keep you looking and puzzling. Yeh, and it appealed to me that he painted the same picture a few times, why keep making new ones up if you have scored a hit.