I went to the Tate Modern yesterday to see the Gauguin exhibition. I don't know why but whenever I go to an exhibition like this I always find the artist's sketchbook work and drawings a lot more exciting than the paintings. I've never seen any of Gauguin's woodcuts before and the totally blew me away, they were so much more interesting. I have always loved the process of print making and love the detail you can achieve with a woodcut, the mark making is much more subtle that linocuts. I would love to give it a go someday...
Also at the Tate were Jake and Dinos Chapman's 'Exquisite Corpse' etchings. I love the detail in their drawings and their playful sense of humor. The Chapman Brothers studio is right opposite my flat so I see them popping in from time to time, one day I hope to pluck up the courage to actually sneak in their studio. They have completely inspired me to do some some drawing today so hopefully I'll be putting them up on here soon :)
Ask them sometime if you could see inside their studio. They may say 'no', or 'come back later', but the direct approach if often the best. A friend of mine tried this very successfully with Lucien Freud and Francis Bacon.
ReplyDeleteAs long as you seem to know something about their work, and don't appear to be 'after something' they may be relaxed about it.
Jeff