But is it Art

The other day I mad a couple of (quick-ish) visits to London exhibitions and thought I could perhaps reflect on these.

First off was..

At Hayward Gallery 

 Aleksandra Mir Presents the Pre Presidential Library, 

"Hello Mr (Pre) President"

it's on until February 7th and is free entry (read about it here), I liked the reminder that UK is not the only country with issues around unsuitable political leaders - it is also a useful reflection on why 'The Donald' might have issues around the  Media.


Mir seems a very interesting (and Global) artist - new to me but her projects are wide ranging and provocative -(as required perhaps) that said it does seem that the phenomenon around coverage of the President pre his political  ambitions is excessive (for some reason).

In some circles a Freudian analysis is no longer the way into a character like the US president but I can't help thinking there are some issue there - maybe he's somewhere on the Autistic spectrum (ASD)  as his relations do not appear to be what many would call normal.

Over the bridge

So am not sure if this was a political commentary or 'Art'?

About  a lot of things

After Trump it was time for another Cartoon Character (or two) ..

Charles Schulz and  Good Grief Charlie Brown 

This one's on until March 3rd and it covers a lot of ground, there's plenty about that guy who made created and drew the characters (biographical), the work (cartoon strips) and TV programmes and  cultural artefacts related to the cartoon (and even some stuff around religion). 

I didn't realise that there was so much going on under the surface of the strip (and perhaps this is now over estimated?) - to me Schulz  might be more of a draughtsman than an artist (but a brilliant and economical one).

A lot of Political, religious and social interpretation seems to be grafted on to a whimsical cast of characters - but I guess Art is (these days) very much about what we bring along to the work?

Through the lens of 'Feminism?'

Consumerism

Even pottery 

One thing I'd say was it is less child friendly than you might imagine - for being quite text heavy, and with regard to content  for the film 'stuff'.

Not knocked out by it but more interested than I was - the two together say something more about America  which is in itself worth some time.

So in Conclusion quite a bit of Art in both shows  but perhaps not the sort that will last centuries..