Matisse: Drawing Room - more than an afternoon gallery stroll
"Old Masters" - do people call the Impressionists-Expressionists-Surrealists old masters?
The phrase probably belongs to Rebrandts and Renaissance artists but the reason I think of Matisse as an old master is not because of his place in art history or his age or his talent.
The first time I saw photographs of Matisse I was dumbfounded by his appearance - he didn't look like a radical artist that he was. He revolutionized the use of colour and line, composition and shape. He was a man of beautiful vision. But he looked like a banker. I guess he was a banker of ideas.
This realisation gave me heart because I realized then that artists do not have to be "extraordinary" - their work is extraordinary. They may be ordinary people but they see the world differently.
What I find interesting in this exhibition is Matisse's use of charcoal - rather than pencil. Every artist is born to work in particular mediums. I find his simple line work in pencil a little wonky but when he picks up charcoal it all comes to life. Pencil is so starkly unforgiving. Of course, Matisse's pencil drawings are elegant but his charcoals showcase his talent - see the nudes.
We all walk around with a bucket over our heads to hide ourselves from the world and to keep the world out. But sometimes we peep when a writer or an artist says: "Look, look at this!" I have developed a theory that some of the people society labels as crazy-mad actually see the world as it is - they just can't close their minds.
I stood in front of Matisse's large canvas of a woman lying with a bull and thought: "What would his friends (who weren't artists) have thought of this?"
Artists throw away the bucket. It is not possible to walk around with a completely open mind. But if you never peep then there is no "innovative thinking" no real "progress" no real "appreciation" - no wonderment.
This is why Queensland's art galleries are so, so important. Children stake a claim in this place by sticking their dots in the spotty room, by building art from trash to hang in the gallery, by engineering white lego structures, drawing, designing patterns on computers... They own the gallery as a space of wonderment. Free wonderment! Wonderment should be free. Fly, fly, fly and be free... spots on the ceiling... spots on the piano... giggles... with dad... with mum... with friends.
The Gallery of Modern Art may only be five years old but it extends the Queensland Art Gallery's extraordinary efforts to lay the foundations for a Matisse to rise in Brisbane. Who knows what lights switch on in the brains of all those beautiful youngsters who place a dot in the spotty room or stroll through the Pip & Pop Show. Thank God for small wonders!
If you have an open mind, you might even stop in The Drawing Room, sit down at an easel, pick up a pencil and put yourself in the shoes of a banker of ideas.
Here are my entries in the competition to win a trip to Paris - you enter a random draw by emailing your entry on the tablets provided.
