Tat at the Tate? Living (it) up to your brand values...

Heron would be turning in his grave...
Exhibition Artwork for the Simon Fujiwara Show at Tate St Ives.
Image: Tate St Ives

So, I spent Bank Holiday weekend having a lovely time exploring Cornwall, something I've never really done before (having grown up on the stunning Pembrokeshire coast - or Cornwall's introverted cousin as I like to think of it - it wasn't something I had ever really needed to do).  So, discovering some wonderful spots in Cornwall was just a lovely, relaxed thing to do and it really didn't disappoint...apart from one thing...and that was the Tate Gallery in St Ives...

Now, I make an effort to go to Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London whenever I'm up there because I know I'll always find some of the permanent collections I love and also some challenging or interesting new stuff to see - but whatever is there I always know it will be the best.  I expect the highest standards from the Tate - they have a reputation to uphold, and so when I visited St Ives at the weekend, the Tate outpost there was top of my list of places to go.  What an immense disappointment it was.

I know that the gallery has some excellent pieces in its collection, but the whole gallery had been given over to what I can only describe as some self-indulgent, navel-gazing, pretentious rubbish from someone who happens to be a local boy and who happens to have managed to dupe a curator into believing that his work is good.  The fact that Simon Fujiwara grew up in St Ives seems to have been enough to have gained him the whole of the gallery space for a major show that, quite frankly, has so little substance it left me feeling utterly disillusioned with both the art world and in particular the Tate.

As you can see, I'm not holding back here, but that's because I expect better from the Tate brand, which for me stands for great Art from the last century or so.  I don't wish to offend  Simon Fujiwara (I'm pretty sure he will have grown a thick skin by now) and if Tate St Ives want to give him a room for a week then fine, but people travel a long way to get to that little outpost on the Cornish coast, and they have certain expectations from the Tate and from a place that has been home to the likes of Nicholson and Hepworth, whom I believe to be true fine artists, so to make them pay to get in then show them so little that meets their expectations of a Tate gallery felt a bit like being defrauded.

As an aside here I must mention what I felt was the shameless exploitation of works by Heron and Bacon in Fujiwara's exhibition, and that the almost throwaway hanging of major works within this show (and his use of the Heron piece in the promotions - see above) is utterly unforgivable on behalf of the curators at the Tate.  I know art is about challenge, and there is a place for irreverence, but this, in my view, is just poor judgement on behalf of the curation team.

In branding terms this is a major failure in my eyes.  For me, the Tate brand is tarnished by not meeting my expectations in a consistent way. When I go to Tate Modern in London I  expect:

• To be awed, inspired, and challenged
• Free access to the permanent collection
• The finest 20th and 21st century art
• Carefully selected and beautifully hung special exhibitions (for which I am happy to pay)

My experience in St Ives was none of these things.  In fact what I got was:

• Annoyed, agitated and disappointed
• No access to a permanent collection (except for a very few pieces that happened to have been exploited  in the special exhibition)
• Poor quality work where the only high points were two (very poorly hung) major works from a permanent collection
• Ripped off

The take-home message here is that you need to deliver on your brand values and your core offering, wherever you use your brand.  Tate St Ives should provide me, the visitor, with the same value that Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool do, or I'll lose faith.  All brands need to pay attention to delivering on these core values and protect what they have or they'll lose the loyalty of their supporters.

So take note Tate curators, you're on the cusp of losing a loyal visitor, and perhaps many more out there like me,  Brands are important in any organisation, whether profit-making or not, and every person who engages with your brand deserves the same set of value experiences wherever that happens to be.  It's one of the great challenges and benefits of having a strong brand, but it's achievable with good judgement and clear principles.  The funny thing is, your customers really want you to do well, they want you to deliver, and they want you to be a good brand...you just have to show them that you are.

So, it's with a genuine sadness that I say the Tate brand didn't live up to my expectations last weekend...but one brand's loss is another's gain, and if you're going to Cornwall, and the lovely town of St Ives, this month, my advice to you is skip the Tate and go to the Hepworth sculpture garden instead...beautiful...and worth every last penny. A brand worth protecting.