Days Like These – an unpretentious title for an unpretentious exhibition – opened at the second Tate Triennial exhibition on February 26^th at the Tate Britain in London.  Days like These does not attempt to do anything more than present a survey of new trends in contemporary British art. This is an exhibition that allows the artwork to stand for its self without claiming a stance on the state of the world or attempting to shock its audience. As such, Days Like These is a breath of colorful and good-natured fresh air. 

The curators, Judith Nesbitt – head of exhibitions and displays at Tate Britain – and Jonathan Watkins – director of the Ikon gallery in Birmingham – have put together a show consisting of 23 artists of all ages and artistic disciplines.  According to the official Tate website, the curators have steered themselves away from selecting works that could be curated under any specific theme, choosing instead artists who “do not all speak the same artistic language.” They have managed, however, to put together a very colorful and visually cohesive exhibition. 

This quiet show is eclectic, composed of works from a wide range of media including traditional painting, ceramic sculptures and even video and sound installations.

Days Like These showcases works from grandfathers of the contemporary British art world such as Richard Deacon and Richard Hamilton as well as young artists such as creative duo Nick Ralph and Oliver Payne.

Although the Tate Triennial does not discriminate in terms of style and genre when presenting the most influential trends in contemporary British art, the critics have not held back their judgments having already picked out a few stars. Turko-Brittish filmmaker Kutlug Ataman seems to have made a splash throughout the U.K. and has graced Days Like These with his documentary style eight-screen video installation entitled “The Four Seasons of Veronica Read” (2002). Ataman points the camera at British eccentric and horticulturist Veronica Read who goes on and on about her concern and passion for growing Amaryllis bulbs. Through these interviews Ataman explores “how identity is formed through talking.”

Established contemporary artist and 1997 Turner Prize nominee Cornelia Parker has also made the critics buzz with a piece that comes from the opposite end of the technological spectrum. In Parker’s temporary piece, she wraps a mile of rope around Rodin’s timeless sculpture “The Kiss” (1904) and re-names it “The Distance (A Kiss with Strings Attached)”. Parker is interested in working with pre-existing objects that are either very familiar or cliché and changing them somehow to add new layers of meaning.

Another feature of this exhibition that adds to its eclectic nature is the re-emergence of painting.  The popularity of painting in contemporary art has been on the wane over the past several years as artists have been more interested in exploring new media such as video and sound programs.  While video and sound do compose a large portion of the exhibition, about a third of the exhibitors are painters. It seems as though painting is beginning to break away from its stigma as being an out-dated medium.

Margaret Barron turns painting into something new by exhibiting a series of 15 paintings on adhesive vinyl tape displayed both inside and outside the gallery completely unprotected.  Meanwhile Ivan Davenport displays “Untitled, Poured Lines” (2003), his largest painting to date.  Davenport squirts household paint out of a syringe from the top of the gallery wall and allows it to drip down in lines.

Although there are no lofty pretexts to this exhibition, the curators are not just throwing together random works under the vague title Days Like These.  Indeed this exhibition is quite liberating in the respect that it displays works of differing media under the context of contemporary British art.  We are not being forced to believe that videos are the only progressive form of contemporary art or that painting is dated or purely decorative. For the most part Days Like These stays away from the trendy sensationalism that characterizes most of the contemporary British art world.

“That is why the title Days Like These seemed so appropriate,” said Nesbitt as quoted by The Guardian.  “Because it is not about something necessarily extraordinary, about art claiming a special case for itself.  It is much more about art being a way of experiencing the here and now.  So there is a kind of ordinariness there but also the possibility of reverie and discovery.”

Days Like These shows at the Tate Triennial Exhibition of Contemporary British Art 2003, Tate Britain, London SW1, until May 26.

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