Modern Couples: Art-Making and Love-Making for MUSE Magazine

A review of the Barbican's 'Modern Couples' exhibition which extends into a thought piece on the relationship between love and artists. Extract: "The Pygmalion idea binds the artist and the lover, art making and love-making. Hans Bellmer acknowledges that ‘desire shapes the image of the desired one’ and artists are predisposed to image creation. Hence, centering an exhibition on artist couples creates a cultural document with amorous and political dimensions. It provokes us to ask if we can ever fully appreciate a lover, ever truly know someone in isolation from our own projections. It moves us to the same conclusion that we are often faced with when confronting a work of art; In the , subjective perception shapes an artwork’s meaning and our desires shape how we see and interpret our lovers. The Barbican exhibition has as many difficulties, omissions and misunderstandings as any relationship. It forgets some of the important difficulties of history to make the overall message of the exhibition more palatable and it certainly attempts to include too much in the name of diversity. And yet, it does open a discursive space to explore in greater depth how we think about artworks and lovers, to be more conscious of our projections, and to approach love with more altruism and more joy." Article by Tabby Carless-Frost accessible in the link below. https://www.musemagazine.co.uk/blog/modern-couples-art-making-and-love-making