Stockholm & Revisiting the Tate.

After a wonderful Spring Break week in Stockholm, Sweden I had the wonderful opportunity to go back to London for the day! Jessalyn, Zach and I decided that we would love to go back to the Tate to look around a little more. I felt that last time we went to London that I was rushed, and did not get to spend enough time here. As I was exploring the huge museum, many emotions were racing through my head. I was trying to decide whether I liked the art or not; it is so different from the Ashmolean and from the National Gallery. I felt that these modern pieces went straight to my heart in many cases. 

While in Stockholm, we saw lots of graffiti art, one of which as particularly interesting. It was a black colored stencil of a man eating green peas, and underneath had the statement, "Imagine Peace". This reminded me a lot of Bansky's graffiti work, which is extremely political and makes bold statements that are almost always offensive. The Tate Modern contained many pieces that I had not seen the first time which spoke about war, peace, race, sexuality and many other controversial issues. I do not agree with many of the pieces in the Tate, but I do think it is important to be aware of the things going on in our world. There was one wing of the museum in which slavery spoken about through the art. The pieces were painted in black on a white wall and basically portrayed all African Americans in stereotypes which were not true and were radically offensive, in my opinion. I'm sure that many people who are a part of that culture also, find it highly subjective and offensive. It upset me that this was considered "art". Although I do understand that it is an artists way of expressing his or her opinions about a certain subject, it none the less was disturbing . I liked some of the pieces, but this time walking away from the Tate, I felt angered thinking about the subjects that artists like Bansky and others say about society.