Our London walks of Art, or as we like to say London is a walk of art, are going great guns.
We have nearly completed are London Walking Tour around Tate Modern and today have decided to make a return visit to the Energy and Process wing of Tate Modern.
Having nimbly dodged Richard Serra’s massive work Trip Hammer, which consists of two pieces of steel balanced precariously one on top of the other.
Having ducked as you pass Nikki de Saint Phalle’s Shooting Paintings. Having averted your gaze as you pass through a room in which a film showing nudity is constantly playing, you arrive at a statue of Venus that confronts a huge mound of coloured, and colourful rags.
Now we cover a lot of statues on our various London walks, but this particular one is, to say the least, somewhat bizarre.
Venus of the Rags was created in 1967 and then recreated in 1974.
It is a work by the Italian Artist Michaelangelo Pistoletto, a central figure in the Arte Povero movement.
Arte Povero was an Italian art movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s.
This was a time of great social upheaval, not only in Italy but also across the reat of Europe and in North America.
This was the era of Vietnam, and age marked by mass protests, riots and strikes.
In Italy a group of artists began attacking the vlaues of the established institutions of government, industry and even of popular culture.
They wanted to create art that was free of the demands of the market place.
Thus the Arte Povera movement was born.
In our next blog we will look at the work of Pistoletto, who was a central figure in this movement.
For now why not take a look at the various and varied London walks we offer.? You can join to explore Shakespeare’s London, Dickens London, or even the London of Jack the Ripper.
