Newspeak: British Art Now @ Saatchi Gallery

Newspeak: British Art Now is the new exhibition at Saatchi Gallery which, like Saatchi’s Sensation in the nineties, is supposed to breed new generation of YBAs. The result is rather headache triggering mix of different styles, approaches and not always fresh ideas. Fortunately there are few hidden gems in this visual cacophony that highlight the show.

MacKinven Et Sick In Infinitum

Alastair MacKinven’s Et Sick In Infinitum (End is Forever) series is definitely one of them. The series contains of four vast oil paintings depicting variations of Penrose staircase, an impossible architectural construction familiar from the work of MC Escher. The crooked structure build from vivid colours and thick impasto is contrasted by perfect grid set as the background of the painting. These geometrically chaotic forms remind claustrophobic fortress-like buildings: jails, maybe mental asylums. There is a palpable threat, that if one would be placed inside, there would be no escape.

Quinn Dad with Tits

Ged Quinn’s Dad with Tits is a humorous transformation of the iconic portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. Here the ‘founding father’ is pictured with a pair of boobs as the breastfeeding mother of the nation. The sign on the Washington’s chest reads “PAPA”. Quinn underlines the autopsy of the old painting by picturing the first American president as a rotting corpse. The bird sitting on his shoulder symbolises departing soul. The volcano eruption seen through the window in the background is yet another sexual insinuation.

Daniels William Blake II

Another recycled image is William Blake II by William Daniels. Based on the portrait by Thomas Phillips, the painting is executed in oil and uses very interesting and original technique of working from constructed model. Daniels, similarly to Quinn, depicts his ‘reused’ subject as zombie-like dummy, or some futuristic robot made from origami, but his portrait lacks vivid colours and uses just cold grays.

Wilson 20:50

The only permanent installation at Saatchi Gallery is Richard Wilson’s 20:50, which has been continuously shown in each of the gallery’s venues since 1991. It is an extraordinary illusion created in a space by flooding its floor with thick, pitch-black engine oil, which mirrors the room’s architecture, doubling its size. There is a waist deep walkway that extends into the pool and places the viewer at the centre of the artwork. Unfortunately at the time of my visit the walkway was closed and not accessible to the spectators. Hopefully it is not a permanent decision of the gallery’s management.