Blossom at Swiss Cottage Library,
EU hat at the March for Europe
Eye-dazzling euphorbia
Crystalline glaze ceramics by Matt Horne
Sunset on the River Thames
School of gentle protest by the Craftivist Collective
Wonderful British watercolour landscapes at the British Museum, free , on until 27th August. Rewards quiet contemplation.
I have a week’s leave to “ use or loose” so am combining a list of household management tasks with attendance at several exhibitions this week. So far:
Chris Beetles Gallery, The Illustrators 2015, on until 9th January
What a treat to see so many original illustrations one place, all framed beautifully and consistently so that the eye was not distracted from the image. There is a superb online catalogue that contains all 354 images, here, and if I had infinite funds, I would have bought Aubrey Beardsley and Quentin Blake - especially “On the Roof” featuring Mrs Armitage.
White Cube Gallery, Mason’s Yard, “Losing the compass”, on until 9th January
Lots of textiles, but I really wasn’t sure about this one. Some if it seemed more like “losing the plot” rather than ‘losing the compass”. Acrylic paint on the top surface of a piece of carpet, then stuck in a frame, not for me. Some interesting historical quilts, but displayed in a rather odd way, lying on top each other on the floor and hung from hooks on the wall such that the whole design couldn’t be seen. I did like the embroidered maps and slogans by Alighiero e Boetti
Sims Reed Gallery, Bury Street, until 20 January. Lovely drawings and painting by David Hockney and beautifully drawn pumpkins by Yayoi Kusama.
Joy of joys, using my Tate membership - thank you mother in law, to see Alexander Calder - Performing Sculpture. ( on until April 2016) I could have sat there all day, watching the shadows, and the gentle movements. Despite the signs asking for no blowing on the sculptures, some people could not resist. The 3D wire sculptures of heads and acrobats were a real revelation, and made me understand some of the comments from my drawing teacher about using the weight of line to show ‘disappearing and appearing space’.
Then, thanks to a tip off from a friend who works in the art word, a visit to Omer Trioche Contemporary Art, where a small show of Calder tapestries and gouaches finishes this weekend. It is a bit intimidating visiting these little galleries, as you have to ring the bell and request entrance but nothing ventured as they say. Photography was allowed here.
Vibrant reds and yellows lit up the gloomy day. These are not tapestries in the conventional sense of weaving, but are rather braids of fibres placed on edge and then attached to a backing. The scale is not apparent here, but this star was about a metre across the widest part.
The braided cords can be clearly seen here.
On my travels, interesting architectural details that caught my eye
Current turbine hall installation “Empty Lot”
Cheesegrater, Walkie-Talkie, Gherkin, and Monument, just appearing in gold, now completely dwarfed by these monsters of commerce.
Worshipful companies’ signs, which due to the wonders of the internet, I can now research. Glaziers here, Scientific Instrument Makers here and Launderers here.
British Museum of Food was new to me
and in the basement, Alcoholic Architecture, only open in the evening.
Shard partially concealed by a tree
Workers on the Millennium Bridge - love those sinuous lines - of the bridge that is, not of the workers
The old and the new - almshouses disappearing underneath recently-built towers
Colour and shine in a shaft of light coming through the gloom
Bollards, and what looks like a giant, upturned, steel mug supporting this building
London getting ready for Christmas, from a balcony at Tate Modern.
Home for dinner, and hopefully tomorrow, if my brain and feet hold out a trip to Goldsmith’s to see the work of Christine Risley, a contemporary and colleague of Constance Howard.
No Morley today, so a chance to catch up on a few exhibitions that have been on the "must see" list for a while. First up, "Threaded Stories" at the Stephen Friedman Gallery.
Painstakingly overpainted woven cloth - the camera focussed on the paint and not the cloth, hence the blurring. Each of those dots is an individual dot of paint and the piece is about 100cm x 130cm.
This exhibition did nothing for me I'm afraid and having listened to Grayson Perry's lectures about not having to like it all, I'm happy to declare that here.
Next a swing in to the galleries on Cork Street. Lovely paving outside Browse and Darby
and a wonderful mixed display inside of 19th and 20th century art. If money was no object, I could have spent a lot in there, particularly on the painting of Euphemia Lamb by Augustus John
Then on to The Redfern Gallery to see the superb series " The Thames Revisited" by Kurt Jackson. I love the fact that his work done in the open air can includes bits of dust and feather that happen to land while he is painting. Several of his paintings are like musings from his sketchbook, with descriptions of the sounds and smells added as annotations on the work. He also doesn't ignore the more gritty, urbanised bits of the Thames, and there is a striking study of the M25 crossing the river. Really worth seeing and on until 23rd January. (There is a very good write-up about his published sketchbooks here.)
Next, to the Bernard Jacobson Gallery to see an exhibition by William Tillyer, " The Watering Place" that seems to have been extended. These are really fascinating pieces of art, but I'm not sure whether they are paintings or mixed media pieces, as the paint is applied to a mesh in various layers, the mesh is then mounted to the canvas, and on occasions, more paint is applied from the front. Very interesting textures that cannot be conveyed in a photo, although there are some good images here that can be zoomed into. The colours were wonderful on a grey day.
From colour to a lot of monotone, at the Herbert Zangs exhibition at the Mayor Gallery. The cloth works here were a lot more interesting to me than those at the Friedman Gallery.
Up to the Royal Academy and some thought provoking bronze and marble sculpture by Kevin Francis Gray. I loved these sculptures, and enjoyed seeing that he works in bronze and in marble. The heads are on an enormous scale, while the figures are life-sized.
Natural sculpture on the tables of the Royal Academy cafe.
Lots of amazing decorations around in London, with snow globes a bit of a theme. The amount of snow in the ones at the bottom depends on the power being expended on the bicycles around them.
Three more squeezed in, Andrew Stock at the Mall Galleries and then at Somerset House, Stanley Spencer and Julian Stair, but they are for another post. Whew!
The Great River Race finishes close to where I live. It is a great event in which to take part, and to watch. So much textile inspiration from the colours and lines of these boats, all paddled or rowed 21 miles upstream on an incoming tide. An added bonus was the appearance of Gloriana, built in Richmond.
A walk along the river to finish a beautiful, late summer afternoon, seeing some brave souls continuing to row home upriver.
