Francis Alys: A Story of Deception

On Friday night Andrew and I wandered down to the Tate Modern to enjoy an art exhibition that has been curated by a friend of ours. Neither of us new what to expect, but knowing it was the Tate we were preparing for anything and very excited about it! Over two hours later we left the exhibition fully aware that we had just experienced something rather breath-taking.

I don't want to go into a large description of the art because I do not think I will do it justice. When it comes to visual art, I feel I'm a little bit like someone who goes to listen to a Miles Davis concert but has only ever heard Louis Armstrong's version of jazz trumpet playing! I understand that I'm experiencing something very special and that I'm observing someone of remarkable talent, but I don't quite know why.

Francis Alys creates art that isn't always on the page (literally). He has his paintings, which are intricate and very very beautiful, and then he has what I will call experiences: projects which have involved him doing something a little out of the ordinary which might make us think a little bit more about the world around us (which is what Art is about, some would say.....). For example, pushing a large block of ice around Mexico City until it has melted aptly subtitled 'Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing. These projects are presented as visual recordings.

The experience that I most related to was a visual interpretation of a music rehearsal. A red VW beetle makes its way up a pretty steep hill, but it's progress up this hill is stilted by a recording of a rehearsal that he is listening to. Every time the band paused during the rehearsal, the driver stepped off the acceleration pedal so that the car would roll back down the hill. I felt I was watching a visual interpretation of my emotions as I sit at rehearsal, feeling like I'm almost reaching the end of the piece only to have to start and stop again because it wasn't quite right yet. It was truly amazing to see something I have felt be interpreted by another person in such a visual way. I have often felt this way when it comes to a musical experience, but never before has it quite hit me when observing art.

I will not go into any more detail about the exhibition simply because even as I write these few descriptions I'm aware that I'm not getting across what I saw and felt in quite the right way.
Sometimes we are exposed to something so far out of our realm of understanding that it suddenly opens up a whole new world to us. This is how I feel about this exhibition. It was marvellously special for me.