Anticipating the internet, as Paik did, clearly makes him a visionary. Further, with his often lighthearted works that combined electronics, engineering and what we now call IT, he pioneered the genre of video art. Some of his work was obvious but the best scintillating, foreshadowing that what he called the “electronic superhighway” would unleash a torrent of images and remake our culture.
There can be costs to being good at just one thing. Stubbs’ paintings of horses were of unparalleled anatomical accuracy and notable empathy. When he brought them to London he was a hit with wealthy horse owners. He liked their horses more than he liked them. They noticed. Britain’s greatest painter of the equine form was pidgeon-holed a “sporting painter”. Full membership of the Royal Academy was denied.
Gauguin’s reputation rests heavily on his Tahiti portraits. Why then are so few included in this major show? This writer suspects a “nervous cop-out” to avoid controversy coming from their evident misogyny. That’s a disservice to Gauguin. To his credit, these works show his respect for Polynesian culture, in the face of prevailing European colonialism. “If we can’t see art, we can’t debate it”.