Rosemary Trockel at the Serpentine…what?

I have admired the work of Rosemary Trockel for many years so I was excited to see her show at the Serpentine Gallery. I really enjoy her approach to feminist ideas.  Rosemary Trockel-A Cosmos felt lacking, probably because the audience at the Serpentine seems to be either the wealthy collector looking for a name, or the ignorant tourist walking through the park. I also thought it failed in its curatorial aspects through the needless addition of other artists or the lack of taking that idea to the right level.  It was a few of her strong pieces & then some other filler work. The show incorporated a few other artists work alongside Trockel’s and I’m still perplexed as to why..or who thought it would work, and also, was this a mini retrospective because the work spanned a few years?

Trockel’s work is juxtaposed with various pieces from “self taught” artists that “provide models of dedication to their chosen field that, for Trockel, are exemplary and inspiring”.”Many of the objects and artworks, selected by Trockel in dialogue with curator Lynne Cooke, produce a context for the artist’s work within other fields of inquiry, such as the natural sciences and natural history.” All these quotes can be found in the Serpentine Gallery write up. These other artists & the natural museum-esque display seems to be an attempt to further play on Trockel’s tension of art & craft. I think the art/craft dialogue is already accepted as part of Trockel’s oeuvre. If the curator wanted to use this display/juxtapositioning as a key idea in the show they should have taken a page out of Damian Hirst’s book – oh lord, I can’t believe I’m referencing him…but he is a master of presentation for his audience. The curator could also have better used the idea of incorporating the environment like for instance Jason Rhoades (maybe and extreme example) who made experiencing the whole room/gallery part of the art with his clustered mishmash of items. I just felt like the show was incohesive & this made the work look random & dated.

Maybe I just don’t understand. In reading the other reviews of the show I found one that I can relate to from Waldemar Januszczak at The Times. He writes: “A Cosmos is so uncommunicative, so inconsequential, so horrible, that no words of mine can do it justice“. Meow! He does suggest going to see for yourself…& I did, & I agree, but I much rather have a bad reaction to a show than none at all. Touche Rosemary.