The Hayward Gallery: First Impressions

My first experiance of the Hayward Gallery came in September 2006, when I visited the exhibition, 'How to Improve the World: 60 Years of British Art, a show which I very much enjoyed. After being here, I wrote the following:

'Whilst viewing the exhibition, I found myself attracted to the pieces which had the highest stigma of fame in my opinion attached to them. The pieces by Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Damien Hirst were immediate attractions, they are names I know, they have acheived a fame which I would like to establish. I didn't particularly like or understand Hirst's work, yet I spent a long time viewing it purely because of who he is. I think I am obsessed with fame.'

This is very true, and became even more apparent the next time I visited the Gallery, on a special events day for this show. The day was entitled 'Being There', which seems to be the most important notion in the current art world, if not in life in general. Being in the right place at the right time, speaking to the right people and making your face known is much more useful in become well known as an artist than putting time into work for it to become respected and famous for its own merits. But anyway, back to the show. The day was billed as an afternoon of live performance, featuring the artists Bob and Roberta Smith, Jessica Voorsanger, Aaron Williamson, Gavin Turk, Adam Dant, Stuart Brisley and Dean Brannagan. At the mention of Gavin Turk I became very exited. The idea of seeing him was very appealing. This made made me raise the question, am I more interested in the figure of the artist than of the work they do? However, I realised although I was looking forward to being around several practicing atists for the day, the only person I really wanted to see was Turk, because I was already familiar with his work and liked it very much. Perhaps I am not too fame obsessed.

A brief word about the work of one of the artists on this day, Jessica Voorsanger and her piece where several young girls could be hired to follow someone in the gallery around and approach them with autograph books, screaming their name in what was called a fan-o-gram. It is instant fame, recognition for no reason, not unlike the situation of the celebraties of today. This was organised this for my good friend Richard, much to his shock, and resulting in him never wanting to become a celebrity.

Side Note: Marcus, you are wrong, it is Antony Gormley on at the moment at the Hayward, not Andy Goldsworthy, what a patsy