What art have I seen?
Saints Alive at the National Gallery
and
Memory Palace at the V&A
Saints Alive is as interesting a response to the contents of the National Gallery as I have seen in this long running series of Artist Associates (not that I’ve seen them all). The images, drawings and collages are worth spending a lot of time with, and the kinetic sculptures are as visceral as they needed to be – when Thomas’ finger pokes Christ’s chest it is scary.
The Memory Palace is better than I expected having seen the programme on last week, and I thought it would be good. I have to say that I think the curators could have pushed the idea of illustration harder. There are some exciting responses to the potential of the project, but there are also 3d realisations of what are recogniseable graphic novel tropes and there are parts that are simply graphic novel elements on walls, albeit beautifully done. Other parts, the printing (stereotype?) plates are stunning. It is interesting to see so many hands contributing to the telling of a story, and each brings its own subtle implications.
CHRIS FREMANTLE 
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