Picasso

image on poster is a large sculpture by Peter Carter

I finally got to see the Picasso ceramics exhibition today with a friend and the Picasso Explored exhibition by the LSA, a collection of paintings inspired by Picasso. http://www.leicestermuseums.ac.uk/news/ link to the museum website

I enjoyed the ceramics but his work just doesn't reach me in the way that more painterly works do. They were playful, fun, crudely painted, the combining of form and image was interesting - I've seen cave paintings using the same technique of simplification and using the form of the support (rocks in their case) to enhance the swell of muscle and form of the subjecgt - but better and painted in a much more interesting (to me) way by the cave painters! Standing in front of the cave paintings and seeing the subtle and clever use of colour and form and sheer life of the animals is an emotional experience - the Picasso pots simply didn't have that effect - simply an 'oh yeah, interesting' move on response.

The jug with the bull on was one of the better ones, there were some plates with goats on that I liked and a jug shaped like a bird - most of the rest was, for me, forgettable :(

The work had been collected over many years by Richard Attenborough, his first piece being an ashtray that cost £3! ($6) and generously donated to the museum in memory of the daughter and grandaughter he lost to the Asian tsunami.

The LSA exhibition had some work that I really liked, the sculpture by Peter Carter, shown above for instance. click here to see more work in this show http://www.leicestersocietyofartists.co.uk/leicester_society_of_artist_exhibitions/lsa_projects_template.php?ProjectsCode=6&ProjectsCategoryCode=1

The relief plate below was done by a friend, Glen for the project and the other 2 images are by fellow members.

Douglas Smith the president had done an interesting telescopic sketchbook, handmade by him, of studies that was displayed cleverly in a perspex box with a little paper easel and window on a view on the final page - 3 dimensional and witty - I liked that.

I'm a member of this group and could/should have taken part in the project but the subject just didn't appeal to me. I've been too busy with ongoing projects to go off in another direction as well - there's only so many hours in a day.

I'm glad I went, but the Picasso wasn't, for me, a show that sent me out buzzing.

The LSA show I enjoyed.