The Tate Review project.

authors own, 16/10/2013

Authors own, 16/10/2013

when asked to write a short review of one room located within the TATE modern I wanted to discover a piece or even several pieces working in collision to leave me wanting to know more about the artist and the particular artistic style. Another even more important element of this task for me was the hope of being inspired and potentially being influenced within my own work. 

This was genuinely achieved when entering the last room on the list that was given to us by our tutors. The area was entitled 'Poetry and Dream' and room 5 was home to a large collection, 165 to be exact, of Russian revolutionary posters, contributed by David King. I was immediately gawping excitedly, my eyes scurrying over every image. The almost comic book style was my first appeal, the block colours in contrast with the black and white detailed illustrations gave a maturity to what could potentially be very simplistic almost childlike style. One of the things I recognized and found really interesting was the shift in artistic approach before and after the revolution and how Stalinism had such a dramatic effect on art and design during this period. 

I feel I connected with the collection particularly because of my interest of illustration. I appreciated the clean, simplicity of the pieces and this in conjunction of conveying a significant and important message. This not only revealed artistic talent but gave the art depth and substance. I felt this was something I related to in regards to my own personal artistic style, combining cartoonish images with bold and sometimes controversial statements often through typography or collage.

At the beginning of this task I was hoping to come away finding something that I could take and apply to my own work and fortunately I achieved this. Recognizing the similarities within the collection and my own work and perhaps exploring this artistic movement further within a future project I may embark upon.