I was keen to see the Gauguin Exhibition this morning (on until 16/01/11) but had completely forgotten about Al Weiwei's 100 million ceramic Sunflower Seeds and was floored by them.
The Gauguin entrance fee was £15 each and was overpriced. I am beginning to think that Exhibition prices are edging towards £20 a) Because of the scandalous cuts to the Arts from the coalition government (though the DCMS ministerial team has no Lib Dems) and b) because the Tate would rather you joined as a Friend which given you can take a "friend" with you to all the Special Exhibitions is clearly a much wiser choice.
Of course, The new Tate Modern extension (I suspect the Tate Modern will shortly become Tate M) is underway and it is much needed as there isn't enough adequate exhibition space in the current building. The Gauguin suffers from far too many people craning their necks to see his paintings. Given this is his first retrospective in the UK for 50 years overall I was disappointed by the crush. And once again apart from one single mention it was difficult to find who had curated it.
I've never been as certain about Gauguin's genius as others and though I understand his travels and influences I left slightly disappointed.
On the other hand, I simply loved Al Weiwie's Sunflowers and left wanting to find out much more about his other conceptual work.