Whilst visiting the Herbert museum in Coventry, I came across another exhibition created by the artist Ali Cherri. This bizarre and eye catching collection of work was created as a response to art from the National Gallery that had been damaged by attacks.
At first glance, I had no idea these were related to already existing artwork, only after reading the descriptive plaques did I understand the meaning behind each one, without such context, I got the feeling of tragedy, of bittersweet pain, disease and sadness. It seemed to connect the dots when reading the truth behind the pieces.
I especially felt myself drawn to the piece that was titled 'The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and the Infant Saint John the Baptist ('The Burlington House Cartoon'), after Leonardo, 2022. (Last image in the set above) The sculpture is created to represent a drawing done by Leonardo after it had been hit by a gunshot in 1987. The whole idea is sadly poetic, it let me reflect on how people to react to art, how we can deny it or attack it, was this how the bullet met the canvas?
I do believe the whole exhibition was a way for people to express how they thought about art, how they reacted to it and how they feel others can react to it. Theres something philosophical and ethically questioning about seeing artwork based off of damaged historical art pieces.
This exhibition was a pang of sadness but also bore great interest, it was thought provoking and beautiful in its own twisted way.
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