After post-internet art, then what? Pre-internet art, that’s what! I throw on a classic 1950s-inspired Chloe black crepe dress and head down to Tate Modern to check out Henri Matisse’s show of cut-outs that he made when he was a venerable old gentlemen. Appropriately the show is co-curated by our very own real life (at least sartorially, rather than say, chain-smoking) Don Draper, Sir Nicholas Serota. The whole thing plus the new series of Mad Men that’s hit British screens, affirms that the more mature gentleman vibe is totally now. As T.S. Eliot wrote, ‘I grown old! I grow old! I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled! But enough of that, in order to pay homage, first on my wish list is a dress from Versace’s 2012 Matisse-inspired collection.
But of course old fellas can have fun too, as did German conceptualist and enthusiastic imbiber of drugs, Sigmar Polke. Our New Yorker friends are very excited right now as the first major retrospective of the artist’s work has just opened. The opium dens of Quetta in Pakistan proved a major draw for the mischievous artist in 1974. Located near the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and a tribal stonings distance from Iran, the scene is still pretty fruity. Gallery Girl can gladly offer personal tours there lead by the intern at our sister publication, ArtReview Asia, for any intrepid collectors who fancy treading in Polke’s footsteps. Am I serious? Quetta out of here! And to stay on the right side of the law, second on my wish-list is some Wild Lettuce Opium.
What happened before the internet, young artists ask me these days whilst producing ironic, lo-fi, combinations of images that might have been on Instagram once? Well, people got very excited about things like postmodernism which now seem quaint and sweet. One of those people was David Salle, another old guy who is now somewhat mysteriously showing at Maureen Paley. Is anyone interested anymore? Quetta out of here again! In the meantime though I fancy one of those long-lost costumes designed by David Salle and Jeff Koons for the 1989 ballet, Contempt.
Thank god then for funky lady artists like Lisa Oppenheim and Melissa Gordon who will be featuring at Juliet Jongma’s presentation at Art Brussels next week. I’m also looking forward to catching Seher Shah’s work at Green Art Gallery and I definitely want a Dries Van Noten Sardi Metallic Pleated Skirt to fit right in with those understated and kookily perverted Belgians.
And finally it seems that old men can shove right off and let the stage free for fabulous lady artists with the announcement that Joan Jonas will represent the United States at the 2015 Venice Biennale. With Sarah Lucas showing in the British pavilion and Pamela Rosenkrantz representing Switzerland, the Giardini is starting to look lady-tastic and best of all Rosenkrantz is one of those post-internet kids. No post-internetism without post-feminism I say! and to that end I’ll be heading down to a small independent bookshop in Stoke Newington to buy the final item of my wishlist, Laura Bates’s ‘Everyday Sexism’ to hit Tate invigilators on the head with whilst strolling round Matisse.
22 April 2014
Henri Matisse image © Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Jean-Claude Planchet © Succession Henri Matisse/DACS 2013
