Art exhibition wit naked bodi models get mixed reactions

Visitors to a new Royal Academy exhibition dey squeeze between two naked bodi of models to enta.

Di unusual installation part of career wer concern Serbian performance artist Marina Abramović.

Separate entrance dey for those wey dey uncomfortable to squeeze through di nude performers.

Di exhibition don otherwise get mix reviews from critics - di Guardian call am "vital" but di Times tok say e "no get feeling".

To enta between di two naked performers dey force pipo wit ticket to "confront between nakedness, and di gender, di sexuality, di desire", di Royal Academy head of exhibitions Andrea Tarsia tok.

Dem first stage di unusual piece in 1977 by Abramović and her den German partner, Ulay. Di two of dem stand close togeda bu di door, as dem force visitors to pass between dem.

Di Telegraph critic Alastair Sooke tok say e dey "too careful make e fot no march dia leg" to fit sabi whether e squeeze as pass during di new installation for London.

"E no dey compulsory say make you pass through di naked gates. Bypass, but na cheating," add di Times' Laura Freeman.

"I squeeze through, as I suck in my stomach, dey try make I no march anybody or trying not to tread on anyone's toes or brush against anytin."

Di show take part of Abramović career. She be di first female artist wey get solo exhibition for di Royal Academy principal galleries for im 255-years history.

Di Evening Standard Ben Luke award four stars, writing: "For once, dis no be hype. I no fit imagine any beta display, especially as e be say much of di tin exist as documentation of performances.

"Di staging of dis material on film and in photographs dey exemplary, and na four live pieces from different moments in Abramović career make am happun, reperformed by Marina-approve artists."

E add: "I dey struggle to picture how di very big galleries of di RA fit full by one artist wey her practice no dey too last, wen dem don swallow and reduce more conventional artists. But sense of padding no dey. Di speed dey great: e no dey overdo, and e dey busy and noisy at di right moments."

But high hope no dey from di Telegraph Sooke. Inside two star review, e tok say: "Di issue na di work. E get any shocking case of artist, ova di decades, wey dey miss dia way?

"Doz performances from di 1970s and 80s - many of dem collaborations wit her den-partner, di German artist Ulay - still dey radical and courageous, wit sometin wey e need to tok about shar=sharp, for example, di small relations between men and women, or di gender role wey society force us to dey play."

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Sooke add: "Ova time, though, as Abramović become less concern wit corporeal endurance, and more interest to dey follow her mind, she start to believe di hype.

"Di result? Narcissistic art, wey no get risk, wit none of di hard toughness of old. Ritual cleansing, wey dey in form of scrubbing bones, wey dey one of her motifs - but, ultimately, Abramović don end up sanitising herself."

Freeman of di Times no too put body, awarding two stars and saying "two principal problems dey wit dis stylishly present but unsatisfactory performance."

"First: you tink say performance art dey bad? Old videos of past performance art dey worse. Second: Abramović, who don make her career and artistic reputation teasing, testing and breaching di limits of her own endurance, fit dey hard as nails, but she dey 76 and an honorary Royal Academician, so na oda pipo dey play her.

"I go like to say dem dey fearless as di original but di three young women I dey see performing Imponderabilia, Nude wit Skeleton and Luminosity be like say dem dey self-conscious dey go through pain. Seventies body hair dey out, bikini waxe dey in. Dat one alone go suggest anxiety more dan abandon."

But di Guardian Adrian Searle dey more positive, calling Abramović show "terrifying and vital" for im four-star review.

"We see her dey knit, smoke, hold a candle and waka small small, she carry a bowl of milk," e tok. "Here she lie down naked under a skeleton for one kain video sarcophagus, on top some tin wey one naked live performer repeat di pose.

"Oda performers bring back early work as we go from room to room. Many Marinas plenty here, but only one Abramović, in all her multiple guise.

Abramović dey "redoubtable, special, brave and extreme", e write.

"I dey tok as one wey her endurance and spirit don move and laugh at her joke, and also as one wey don enjoy some of her workshops and run away from anoda," im add.

"But who care about di mumbo-jumbo wen di best of her art dey very strong?"