Kate and I had our annual visit to the show which this year seemed to have a better layout… more spacious and easier to move around. As usual it was a great mix of the interesting, amusing, thoughtful and pedestrian. It always provokes but this year I felt there were fewer standout pieces. Even the Gorman didn’t really inspire me although the Emin pieces were wonderful.
We played our usual bingo game and this year cats seemed favourite.
As I go around I am always struck by the derivative quality of some of the larger contemporary pieces which seem as if painted for the foyers of corporate offices or museums and full of a sort of hubris as if specifically something for posterity, they have a coldness about them. Somehow they were a little arid and didn’t seem to have much originality, emotional content or intellectual rigour. Maybe thats my lack of knowledge or maybe they are difficult to engage with. On the other hand you could pick out a handful of some of the traditional tropes of still life, landscape or portraiture which had some real dynamism.
The layout of small sculptures and found pieces was better this year though as usual some were a little predictable.
A really enjoyable show but after two hours I felt like this …..
Escape to myself 
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