Gallery rage is a recent phenomena plaguing our museums and galleries.
What is it? Well, it amounts to too many people trying to look at a famous piece of art and getting mad because they can’t see it properly … blockbuster shows are packed, so having dozens of people blocking your view may just be part of the territory.
If the gallery is showing work by any one artist it is only natural that people will want to see the artist’s most famous work, and so small crowds will form around the work, making it hard for people to see. If you have been queuing in the cold for two hours for tickets you are not going to be very pleased with that situation. The blockbusters attract hordes of visitors. The galleries want hordes of visitors, especially in cash strapped times.
The problem for the art-lover is the shows are so overcrowded that you have no time to stand and stare. You probably can only half see the work anyway because of others in the way.
This is NOT the way art should be seen. You should have time to take the work in, look at it — I mean really LOOK at it and enjoy it. The galleries KNOW a blockbuster is NOT the way to see art but need to attract the punter.
Problem is that some works have become famous in their own right, usually because of what they are WORTH, the work itself is an icon. Everyone wants to see what a £100,000,000 painting looks like and try to figure out WHY it is worth that much.
National Gallery poster
The one time art critic of the New York Times, Robert Hughes, claims that works themselves are now being seen as film stars. People queue not to see the work and enjoy the work for what it is; they queue to be able to say that have they seen it just because it is famous and worth loads of money. This is the ‘been there, seen that, got the coffee mug’ style of art appreciation that our public galleries are now marketing. The artist as a brand. Big Brands equal more punters queuing in the cold to pay 16 quid which allows them to file reverently past the work. No time to stand, stare and savour, just get ‘em through as quickly as possible. This situation began, Hughes asserts, with the Mona Lisa arriving on tour to New York in 1963. The hype around the art became more important than the work itself; it was around this time that investing for profit took off in a big way. The more the work is worth, the more they want to see it.
This is the situation we find ourselves in; celebrity artwork that everyone wants to see. The problem for the real art-lover is that your favourite piece may normally be in a private collection or owned by a museum a long haul flight away, so you have to take your chance with gallery rage and crowds if you want to see it.
If you MUST go to blockbuster; don’t go on opening or closing day. If you can, go towards the end of the run, midweek and in term time so much the better. Going in term time is not always a good idea though, you might be unlucky and pick the day Mrs Arbuthnot has chosen to take class 3b from the local Comp, but with luck you might be able to see over 3b’s heads.
Good luck!
