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.
… and if you are in Edinburgh, two remarkable exhibitions at the Dovecot Studios.
Woven yarn cascading down the stairwell.
Dovecot are an internationally known studio of weavers and rug makers, who since their inception in 1912, have made a point of working with contemporary artists of the day. They are now based in the renovated Victorian baths in Edinburgh. The space has been used in a very creative manner, allowing the public to get close to the weavers, while still retaining an air of calm concentration throughout. This was a real nostalgia trip for me, as the building was still a swimming pool when I was a student.
The first exhibition, " Follow the Thread" on the top floor is a gallery of collaborative works between contemporary artists, to make bespoke rugs. I loved this exhibition, although there are no more than 15 rugs on display, as there are full explanations of the rationale for each piece, and an explanation of how two of the most complex pieces were transferred from the painted image to the tufted rug. The samples of blended yarns was particularly instructive and made me look much more closely at each finished surface. No photography allowed so images of the rugs can be found here. The weavers and tufters are working below as you go around the gallery, so there is a terrific understanding of how the pieces are made.
Downstairs, a much quieter, almost monotone exhibition" From Fleece to Fibre" charting the making of a tapestry of a painting by Victoria Crowe. This tapestry has taken over a year to weave. It is a masterpiece of understatement, and it is wonderful to now view both the front and the back, as the back is labelled with the names of the different sheep whose wool contributed to the final piece.
Much more challenging to see were two exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, " Witches and Wicked Bodies". I had been looking forward to this one, but found it all a bit samey and rather hard to concentrate on. The preponderance of engravings, etchings and lithographs made it hard going and I wasn't really taken by many of the modern pieces. Not a must-see for me. Then across the road to see " From Death to Death and other Small Tales". I suppose the clue should have been in the title, but this consisted of some very gory and odd pieces ( a comment in the visitor's book was apt and pithy - "usual conceptual kak"), so much so that it was a huge pleasure to go in to a room to a piece by Ernesto Neto, " It happens when the body is the anatomy of time". I should have suspected that a piece of his was coming, as the whole exhibition was pervaded by the aroma of cloves, cumin and turmeric.
It really felt like meeting an old friend and brought back so many happy memories of this exhibition. It is too boring to wonder what state that parquet will be in after having several kilos of turmeric on it for a few months?
Coming after a couple of days of skies like this, life is full of many good things.
