Charles Williams NEAC RWS Cert.RAS is a painter, writer and lecturer
Woman Reading, watercolour and gouache, 8x11in (20x28cm). When I was a student there was little interest in theory or even in reading generally. Art college attracted the misfits. There were more dyslexics than I had ever met before. Now, an aptitude for theory is essential if you want to grasp the basics of contemporary art. I wonder what happens to the people for whom art college was a refuge from the world of words, where their own aptitudes were treasured instead of marginalised?
I often go to the Turner Contemporary in Margate. It’s airy and big, the showing spaces are well considered with good light and there’s an excellent shop. They employ quite a lot of people to guide viewers around the shows too, local people who are keen to fill you in on the details. This makes a pleasant change from the grumpy postgraduates employed by Tate Modern who seem to combine contempt with ignorance so perfectly.