Patrick Heron's show in the new extension.
While I’m very happy for Tate St Ives on winning the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018, I have to take exception to the view that the gallery has a ‘profound’ effect on visitors (as reported on BBC's 'Front Row') – the exhibits perhaps, but not the building.
It doesn’t have that effect on me. I have never liked the clumsy architecture.
On arrival, the exterior of the place, no matter which way you approach it, is downright ugly. Once you have negotiated the clumsy stairs, you arrive at a drab-looking amphitheatre, for no apparent reason that I can see, other than echoing the original footprint of the gasometer from its previous life.
But it is the perfect place for drunks to urinate in. The actual entrance doors are unwelcoming and mean. Once inside, you do have the delight of Patrick Heron’s Matisse-like stained-glass window.
After which, you become aware of the internal detailing: a kind of cross between Rennie Mackintosh and dreadful postmodern fussiness.
The new gallery extension itself is big and airy, as a gallery space should be, but nothing more, and it is certainly not ‘profound’.
When you compare the architecture of Tate St Ives with the work of the brilliant Japanese architect Tadao Ando, you will understand what I mean. If you have ever visited one of his creations, you will indeed find it ‘profound’.
Above Tadao Ando's Benesse House Museum opened in 1992. And below the Punta della Dogana Centre of Contemporary Art in Venice.
The Punta della Dogana Centre of Contemporary Art in Venice is a good place to start: it is a breathtaking space.