Sculpture Remixed

Untitled by George Baselitz

Sir Joshua Reynolds by John Henry Foley

Sculpture Remixed is one the rooms in the DLA Piper Series : This is Sculpture at the Tate Liverpool. Was my favourite. Very cleverly mixed pieces contrasting each other. Take the John Henry Foley sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Amazing marble detail, glorious stuff to see up close.

And next to it an untitled piece by George Baselitz.

One made by one of the hardest stones and looking so soft and delicate I wanted to pull his cloak back to keep it out of the way of his palette. The other with no aspirations of deceit. It’s a figure coarsely made of wood, no disguising the material.

You had to enter through blackout curtains. It made me feel this was a private place – not yet ready for the public. Lots of contradictions. This was the first of the rooms that had a dark purple background, and pieces more noticeably lit with spot lights.

We were greeted by two machine workers, scared to death by two Redeemers and entertained by Degas’s beautiful Little Dancer.

Ghost

But perhaps the most spooky for me was Ghost. She’s an enormous seven foot tall teenager, gangly and evasive. She was ultra-realistic. I so wanted to touch her, or tidy back the strand of hair that had fallen forward.

Here she’s pictured on a white background, but in the gallery with the darker colours and spotlight, she seems even more vulnerable.