20:50 - A Review (sort of)

I thought I would write a bit about Richard Wilson's oil exhibit, as seen in the Saatchi gallery. Having spent many, many hours inside the installation, I have been able to gauge the variety of reactions from visitors; the dim individuals who walk in, look puzzled and turn around, asking 'is the Richard Wilson finished then?' That one always throws me. 'This.. this is the Richard Wilson', I stutter, pointing emphatically at the reeking square of oil before me. Can they not see it?

At the other end of this scale are the extreme enthusiasts, who literally spend hours rooted before the piece. Yesterday a man with little tinted glasses on lay sprawled across the floor to appreciate the work from ground-level. He was flabbergasted, pacing this way and that and throwing up his hands in silent exclamation. The day before, a woman dunked her silk scarf into the installation, so fooled was she by the 'illusion'. She left a great slimy trail of oil across the glass rail and onto the floor. I stared at her in mute disbelief, expecting to see a woman rocked by her own stupidity - her expression betrayed no such thing. A week before that a girl dropped her phone into it; it's still in there as far as I'm aware.

I should mention that what makes all of this so incredibly annoying is the fact that, to me at least, it is pretty obvious what comprises the piece. You can smell the oil from two floors up, it's very noticeable. On top of that, there is a panel on the wall which states that it is an oil installation - sump oil, specifically. The name '20:50' alludes to the grade of oil used, blah blah blah. If you look down into the piece you can see small bubbles and flecks of dust that have collected on the surface. I think that my Oil Rage has been building steadily over the past few weeks - it's a permanent exhibit, so there's no escaping it.

So for anyone thinking of checking out Richard Wilson's '20:50', remember this: it is oil, and don't you go convincing yourselves otherwise. It is thick and sticky and black and if you go dipping your clothes in it then I will be there laughing at you.