Enigma variations

There is a Tomma Abts exhibition at the Sackler Serpentine Gallery.  First, it is great to have a reason to revisit the gallery which we find an uplifting space even if empty.  The architect was Zaha Hadid, and it is the adjacent restaurant which received most of the attention .  The core of the gallery was an artillery magazine built of brick, with barrel roofs, and this meditative space is surrounded by a gallery with a roof of window.  It is now a gallery both dark and meditative, and light and enlightening.  

A space apart, and the Abts exhibition fits the space perfectly.  For me her work is an enigma: I'm not completely clear about what attracts me.

This is the second exhibition of Tomma Abts' work we've seen; the first was the Turner Prize show at the Tate in 2006.

But I certainly enjoyed spending time looking at this retrospective.  The image above buzzes about in the mind, almost like a Bridget Riley painting.  But not quite.  I find that the life-enhancing joyous aspects of Riley's explorations and examinations are not quite there for me in Abts' paintings.  But they intrigue me nonetheless.

The colour, the movement, the intriguing directions, the mysterious almost invisible lines of the under painting (not visible in the size of the illustrations here), a kind of journey on canvas.  But for me without a destination.
(all images from here)