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Louise Bourgeois
TATE MODERN
At first, before encountering the installations
at Tate Modern, it might seem surprising that this 89 years old
sculptress be chosen for the opening: yet there are few sculptors
today whose work could so dramatically fill the great void space
it occupies, and yet so naturally.
Louise Bourgeois's 'spider' is more than 20 feet high, is called
'Maman', and hovers protectively over what appear to be white eggs.
Close by, the massive work entitled "I Do, I Undo, I Redo", consists
of three steel towers. These towers convey the essence of the three
activities with remorseless logic. Most of us spend large parts
of our lives in one or other such mode. As Bourgeois says, "The
Redo means that a solution is found to the problem. It may not be
the final answer, but there is an attempt to go forward...". Louise
Bourgeois was born in France, but her career developed mostly in
New York. The commission could be seen as a typical arrangement
of curatorial diplomacy -American, yet European: but the installations
by Bourgeois, whatever the reasons of choice, do seem to fulfil
the promise of this enlightened decision. In future years, it may
be a hard act to follow, given these massive spaces, and the manner
in which the ageing genius has filled them, and with what child-like
wonderment. Which reminds one of some other, British options. In
the future, how will Kapoor fill it, or Gormley, or perhaps most
interestingly now, Philip King: save us from Caro, or Moore. Such
installations are also plagued by exposure, or over-exposure. That
cannot be said of Bourgeois. She has christened the space, and magnificently
for today.
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