It has taken me a few days to fully process the impact of Salts Mill on me - there was so much to take in. Where to start? Well first of all the negative. It has a lot in common with Walt Disney World - there is every opportunity to spend a lot of money of things you may well never use again but seem like such a good idea at the time. The second similarity is all pervasive character where ever you go with the mill. David Hockney is all around. His works are on display through out the public areas of the mill - whether it is in Gallery 1853 or in the restaurant or gift shop and so on. There is just no getting away from the man.
Now that is the negative here is the positive - well actually it is the same as above. I cannot think of any living artist who could carry such a display of his work and personality. Hockney can. His work's enlighten the drab, dark Yorkshire day like no other. The art work on display at 1853 is wondrous. The photo montage, the main reason for my visit, were even better than expected. You have to stand close to them to realise what acts of virtuoso they are. In an age of digital cameras it is so easy to ensure that photographs marry together if you are shooting a montage - how Hockney's were recorded on film so he had to shoot them from memory - yet they work so well.
Beyond the main gallery perhaps the most intense and rewarding experience is on the top floor. Here we have Hockney's stage designs displayed in a blacked out section of the mill floor sandwiched between another restaurant and an antique and cloths store - yet none of this distracts you from the power of the work on display and indeed the way they are displayed adds to the power.
What a great day out, great art well presented in a magnificent building which, when you consider the size of the place, somehow seems so intimate and yet is the size of a super tanker. One final note - the food is excellent as well. What more could you want?
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