Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful installation in Covent Garden by Charles Pétillon which fills the market with white balloons. I love the way the balloons change the space. There is a distinctive smell of rubber balloon and the acoustics have changed. A rather fun string quartet whose music would usually have filled the space was slightly muted! It also makes you look again at the architecture as you are looking at it in a different way. It’s also worth going to the pop up gallery next to the Opera House to see photographs of other example of his work and a film about how the work was installed. Reviews Independent Evening Standard    

Interesting exhibition at St Martin in the Fields of art by the clients of Connection, the homeless shelter linked to the church. The work was for sale and the commentaries written by the artists said what the art room at the centre means to them. The work was mixed but heartfelt. I loved a seascape by Andy Manderson and a series of postcards by Robert Mitchell which had sent back to the art group from his travels. There was also an interesting section by the photographic group there mainly portraits of each other. This show showed how important art is to the maker and the transformational effect it can have. In going round looking at art so much I can get quite focused on what a piece looks like, it was good to also think about what it felt like to make it.

Colourful exhibition at St Martin in the Fields of work by three Quaker artists. Oh dear I wasn’t too convinced by some of this work. It was bold and colourful but I felt I have seen better in Brighton Open Houses and yet they were very expensive. I did however like one artist (sorry I’ve written the name down really badly) who did lovely bright mosaics of figures made with carefully cut scraps of china including made 60s and 70s patterns I recognised!

A large sculpture of two white fingers by Revelino which has appeared in Trafalgar Square. This work is great fun and a nice addiction to the square. It’s good to have another contemporary art work alongside the Fourth Plinth. The fingers are huge and made of bronze painted white. They nearly meet in the middle leaving a handy space for people to have their photograph taken. In fact that becomes a bit annoying as it’s impossible to get a good photo of them without some random stranger in the middle and there is a queue of people waiting their turn to try! Review Evening Standard  

Intriguing exhibition at ICA of a set of paintings by Isa Genzken who is mainly known for her sculpture and installations. The monotone abstract pictures had a sense of being urban scenes or aliens landscapes. Your eye made logical patterns from the texture and started to build stories and yet listening to the attendant in the room talking to someone, they were made by rag rolling over a textured surface on the floor. There was no logic in them yet your eye found it.

Dense exhibition at the ICA on this radical architectural magazine. This show was very wordy and basically consisted of copies of the magazine in displays round the edge of the room with poster versions of some of the covers round the walls. I could see that it was a beautifully designed magazine but that it had taken an innovative approach however with the magazines to read and the long commentaries it was just too much!

Site-specific installation at the ICA by Eloise Hawser based on the life span of a cinema organ. I’ll be honest. I’m not sure I understood this, but there were some interesting element which I found rather calming. The centre piece a very slow moving mechanism called the Burbey Wurlitzer which had various cogs and chains moving so slowly it took a while to realise they were. This was somehow linked to the fact that the ceiling was changing colour creating different atmospheres in the lower gallery. The best things though was that I learned a new word “skeuomorphism” the process of making new stuff out of old stuff or as the leaflet describes it “the potential for obsolete objects to be appropriated and transformed for contemporary use”.

Small exhibition at the ICA of recent work by Amy Stephens. I have come late to this party! The ICA are running a different show each work for a year exploring different “modes of artistic conduct”. It sees itself as a statement on visual culture and contemporary practice. It just takes up one room a week. I must try to get there more often. The blurb on this his week’s artist Amy Stephens artist said she looks at the relationship between 2D and 3D surfaces and organic forms. I’m not too sure I understood why there were stones with sticky tape on them but I loved a role of blue metallic wrapping paper representing a water fall.