Cathy's Art Diary

Strange display at the Imperial War Museum looking at two exercises involving British troops in 2015 the fights against Ebola and Isis. I say strange because with the Isis campaign it is still ongoing and it seems far too soon to comment on it in the dispassionate manner required of a museum. Each topic was dealt with in a similar way with an AV display, a great set of photographs and some interesting objects. The section on Ebola was fascinating and it was moving to see things which had belonged to the troops which went out. I loved the ingenuity of an improvised devise called a tippy-tappy for washing hands made of a water container on a stick! In the Isis section I loved the pair of boots donated by Major Stephen Brooks with a list of where he’d served on the sole of one. Closes on 13 November 2016  

Interesting exhibition at the Imperial War Museum looking at the work of political artists Peter Kennard. Like another show I’ve written about tonight this exhibition reminded me of my university days in the early 80s as many of the images came from magazines and newspapers of that time. I’d never thought about the artists behind them before and had just assumed they had been created by the papers themselves. The works from this time were collages of images grouped to me a political point. These were displayed in a great archive room with had original collages on the wall with copies of the ways they had been used in a display cabinet in the middle and in flip displays of posters. Other rooms concentrated on various projects. I loved one which combined “The Reading Room” from 1997, which consisted of lecterns with smudged faces on the financial pages of newspapers, with Newspapers from 1994, again using the financial pages but this time with drawings of hands clawing at th...

Nice exhibition at the Imperial War Museum contrasting images of war from above and underground. The theme was a little contrived but it was a reason to show some great images. It also gave a chance to draw in more up to date images and not just to use First and Second World War pictures. I loved the Richard Carline which greeted you as the first work. It showed Damascus from the air and combined a detailed image with wonderful zig zag fields with wisps of clouds moving across it.   I liked Paule Vezelay’s picture of a barrage balloon in which she say surrealist shapes. I loved a hang of Francis Dodd and Ravillious pictures of inside submarines together as both artists included a lozenge shaped window one looking in and one out. Modern works included pictures of drones as birds a good video installation at the end by Bashar Alhroub, a view of a market he had moved as a child in Palestine which was now cover with mesh to keep out things being thrown in from a...

Fascinating exhibition at the Imperial War Museum about photographer Lee Miller’s work in the Second World War. The title was clever as the subtitle could either apply to the fact the pictures were taken by a woman or that the majority of them were of women. It was a really well organised and presented exhibition and I love the fact that it included paintings of her by Roland Penrose and Picasso. There was also good use of objects and it was very moving to see her cameras and clothes from the time. I loved the first section on her work in Britain. Some of it seems a bit quaint now but they were powerful and subtle images. I loved a fashion shoot of a coat with leopard trim against a map and next to a as hat stand of tin hats and ARM helmets. The show talks about the role of fashion magazines in the war not just to show clothes but to educate and encourage women. I also loved an image of an office worker in the British Red Cross HQ taken off a landing looking down and inclu...

Interesting exhibition at Wapping Hydraulic Power Station of new portraits of women by Annie Liebovitz. There were some lovely images and I liked the way they were presented. The first section gave a quick overview of other pictures of or about women she had done and it was nice to see the picture of Virginia Woolf’s writing desk from Monk’s House. The main section just showed the new pictures with the descriptions off to one side. This made you look at the pictures without always recognising the sitter and then go back and see who they were. It made you think about the person and their setting and had an equalising effect. On the other three sides of the gallery were big screens, two with changing displays and one with her new portrait of the Queen. My favourite images included Doris Kearns Goodwin reading an a study, Sheryl Sandberg curled up on a desk chair, a beautiful picture of Russian model Natalia Vodianova against a huge architectural horse sculpture in a dress of...

Event on Westminster Bridge to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on 27 January 2016 during which Clare Twomey gave out 2000 ceramic spoons she had made. Each spoon bore the words “If humanity is in our hands it needs” and different word to finish the sentence. These were based on a survey she had done on the same bridge the year before asking the public for their views on what humanity was. She had made spoons following a conversation with Nisad Šiško Jakupovi, who survived the Omarska concentration camp during the Bosnian War. During his time in the camp he and other prisoners had carved spoons out of wood with a piece of glass. A spoon is a universal tool. I went into work early to cross the bridge and try to get a spoon and I was successful. As soon as I climbed the stairs up on to it I bumped into people handing them out. Sadly I’d picked the opposite side of the road to Clare herself but as it was around 9am she was surrounded by news crews. I thought this was a lovely...

Small exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of new work but Rugman. I’m afraid I found these too like the posters I might have had on my walls at University on the early 80s so I found them a bit retro and stylised rather than new and cutting edge! The commentary says they “explored the relationship between mankind and the natural environment” but I’m afraid I didn’t get it! They were female figures with tattooed figures with birds’ heads. I did like the gold circles and discs behind many of the heads giving a nod back to early religious painting and the muted colours but I’m afraid I didn’t connect with them. Closes on 2 February 2016.  

Fantastic exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of new work by Aidan, a Russian artist. I loved the sculptures in black and white marble particular three draped figures walking across the room. My western art eye took these to be nuns but reading the commentary they are a take on Islamic women. I also liked the black marble wall plaques with white marble hands coming out of them. Oh and also the set of marble books called “Without words”. Each one was slightly different with ruffled pages and turned down edges. The paintings of drapery were beautiful. They went well with the sculptures but were lovely works in their own right. The video installation of veiled female figures dominating a group of men had a certain charm too! The later works were more realistic and I loved a male figure lying on the floor in a cruciform shape and the contrast with the rougher marble of the drapery and the smooth of his body. Closes on 28 February 2016

Fun exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery of work by contemporary female artists. There was some I liked and some I didn’t like so much but it was presented in quite a sparse almost “see what you think” way so I felt that was fine. I was pleased I bought the small leaflet for the show as that told you a bit more about the work than the very brief labels. On the whole I feel you should be able to get an idea of what the art if doing just by looking at it but it can add a bit more when you understand the reasoning behind it. I liked the room with the huge pieces in it by Alice Anderson of a ball of wire and a piece like a huge cotton bobbin. The detail in them up close was wonderful. Also Jelena Buiajic’s huge detailed portraits of older women which include marble dust, ground granite and limestone in the pigment giving an added gravitas to these ordinary women. Who can resist the stuffed horse on a bean bag by Sohelia Sokhanvari! I’ve no idea what it meant but it was a stu...

Interesting exhibition at Foyles’ Bookshop on Charing Cross Road curated by curated by Futurecity in partnership with Price & Myers’ Geometrics looking at how the design process is changing with the growth in digitized/computerized deign. The commentaries were a bit long and wordy. There were some interesting exhibits but I was not always clear from the commentaries whether they were just designs or had been made. I think a show which would be fascinating for designers but is a bit confusing to some of the rest of us, well me! I did however love the arch of chairs which and been made for a housing development in Wycombe. The chairs were made, and the arch was put together by volunteers and when it was taken down the chairs were given back to them. What a lovely thing to have been involved in. I also liked Slip Stream which had been designed for Heathrow. It’s a huge sculpture based on the movement of planes. I hadn’t heard about it and now I can’t wait to see it. ...

Nice selling exhibition at the Bankside Gallery of prints and watercolours   by artists from the Royal Watercolour Society and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers. I loved the visual overload of this show with small works shown four of five deep at times. You eye picks out the works you like really quickly and you quickly recognise the artists you like. On the whole it was the print work which appealed. I pick out a lovely bright lino print of a station by Gail Brodholt, Brian Hanscombe’s stunningly fine engravings and Margaret Sellar’s bright silkscreen works. In the paintings I’d pick Wendy Jacob’s simple but lovely gouache works such as one of three quinces and Neil Pittaway’s picture of autumn light on St Paul’s Cathedral which makes it looks like it’s on fire. Closed 24 January

Disappointing exhibition at Tate Modern looking at Alexander Calder’s sculptures both mobiles and mechanical works. I say disappointing as a number of years ago I went to an exhibition at Calder’s work from when he was in Paris which was delightful and at which the works were allowed to move but sadly just under 10 years on they are too fail. It seems to be strange to be in an exhibition of works about movement where there is no movement. However, as last time, I really liked his wire portraits which were displayed well to allow their shadows to add to the effect. I loved the one of Josephine Baker with spiral boobs but again such a shame that it was no longer allowed to dance. There was a great room near the end of the classic mobiles and some floor sculptures.   It was lovely to see a room with most people looking up! Closes 3 April 2016. Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Independent Evening Standard  

Lovely open air exhibition at Canary Wharf of light sculptures and installations. There were about 15 pieces on display the weekend we went round and although it was very cold it was fun to look for the different works, popping into shopping malls as we went to much needed hot chocolate. Our favourite wasn’t that exciting to look at as it was a column on lights in red, white and blue but when you read the commentary it said it reacted to mobile phone signals so we phoned each other up and found that it moved in rhythm with our speech. Even better our laughter at this sent it into overdrive. It was called Totem by the Bitone Collective. I also loved Bit.Fall by Julius Cope on Middle Dock which was illuminated drops of water falling to create words from news stories. It’s hard to describe but it was a magical cascade of words in the air. Also worth a mention is Fantastic Planet by Amanda Parer, a large inflated crouching figures. This is the second year I’ve b...

Complex and difficult exhibition at the Barbican looking at the life and work of Charles and Ray Eames. I admit I came to this show with very little knowledge of the Eames’s. I knew about the chair designs but that was it and I loved the section on the development of the different chairs. I hadn’t realised the original techniques were developed during the Second World War for glider parts and leg splints! I loved the displays of chairs with many rare and unique examples. I hadn’t realised they had also designed house and there were good sections on the two houses they designed for Art and Architecture Magazine, one for themselves and one for the editor. There were nice scale models and phots of both houses. More difficult, although interesting, were the sections on their work to get ideas across such as their displays for the IBM Pavilion at the World Fair in 1964. We are so used to multi-screen delivery of information now that this did not feel innovative but I gues...

Interesting exhibition at the British Museum looking at hoards of coins. It looked in particular at a British Museum and Leicester University study into why so many hoards date from the period AD 260 to AD 296. This was a period of change in the Roman Empire. Many of the burials were in significant places such as near burial mounds but they are unsure if this ritualistic or just a way of remembering where it has been left. Some hoards had been added to over time with coins of different dates. The Bear Street hoard in Bath was fascinating as it had been sorted into eight bags of different dominations. Just like me when I save change and take it to the bank! It was also interesting to see hoarding is not just an ancient habit as one had been found in 2007 in Hackney of coins taken from a bank during the Second World War and buried in a garden but the house had been destroyed by a bomb. I loved one hoard which had been found in Muswell Hill complete with a money box like...

Small exhibition at the British Museum looking at shoes from the Islamic World examining the idea that shoes reflect identity, profession, status and lifestyle.   There was a useful map showing the extent of the area the shoes came from with pictures of the distinctive styles from each place. I loved a quote from a North African proverb “Luxury begins the day a man starts wearing shoes.” There were some lovely pieces in this exhibition such as a pair of red tapestry boots from Morocco and gold paisley loafers from Pakistan but I didn’t feel any sense of narrative just a collection of interesting pieces. I’d often noticed that shoes from these areas of the world seem to have flattened backs to them and this show pointed out it’s so they can be slipped off easily when entering a home or the mosque. Obvious really when you think about it. I loved the fact there were two pairs of shoes owned and worn by some of the curators, a pair of loafers hand made in Aleppo ...

Interesting display at the British Museum investigating the mummified remains of a crocodile. The crocodile had come from one of the temples at Kom Ombo dedicated to the crocodile god Sobek who was venerated for fertility and for its association with the annual Nile flood. This creature had been bred there and kept in a sacred pool. Over 300 crocodile mummies had been found there. I loved the animation of the scan of the mummy which ran constantly which built up and stripped away the layers. It revealed cow bones, the remains of its last meal, and stones, which it swallowed to aid digestion and as ballast. Most moving however was that it had been mummified along with over 2000 hatchlings which covered it’s body. If you looked carefully you could see these tiny crocodiles all over its back. Closes 21 February 2016.  

Interesting exhibition at the Cartoon Museum looking at the work of the 18th century satirist, James Gillray and the influence he has had on subsequent generations. It was useful to see this so soon after the show at the Queen’s Gallery on Thomas Rowlandson as they covered roughly the same period. I must admit I preferred Rowlandson as I found Gillray crueller but I think that is the difference between a cartoonist and a satirist. This exhibition was however quite different in that it mainly looked at Gillray’s influence so there were lots of examples of where modern satirists such as Steve Bell quoted and reused earlier images by Gillray. The main example used was the Plum Pudding in Danger which Gillary had used to show Pitt and Napoleon carving up Europe in the guise of a big pudding. Later examples showed Johnson and Kosygin, Blair and Kohl, Blair and Chirac, Cameron and Sarkozy and many more! It just shows that nothing changes! I hadn’t realised that Gilray inven...

Fascinating exhibition at Somerset House looking at the effects of the current explosion in data and the effects it is having on society, culture and politics. I will admit I thought this would be quite dry but I’d seen good reviews and was intrigued partly because my work involves data and how you can get different data to work together. The show presented complex ideas in a really imaginative way, for example there was a section on the cloud explaining what it was and pointing out it isn’t as ethereal as it sounds. It showed the data centres involved as postcards of the buildings hanging over a map of the world. I was fascinating by the section that talked about how the internet has given us the tools to record the minutia of our lives which made me realise how much I record online, this blog just being one example! I found myself fighting the urge to look up some of the interesting apps it mentioned as part of the point was that this isn’t necessarily a good thing. ...

Interesting exhibition at Somerset House shortlisted entries for this global award in photography and sustainability with the theme this year of disorder. There were some beautiful images. Oddly enough two photographers played with the idea of the classic still life. Valerie Belin drew on vanitas and momento mori paintings but using modern decorative but functionless mass produced articles. Ori Gersht played with floral still lives doing photos of flower arrangements being blown up. I saw a work by him at the Science Museum and they are very striking as bits of roses appear to fly towards you. Many of the works were very hard hitting and moving such as Alixandra Fazzina’s picture of Somali refugees wading out to a boat to take them to Yemen the title of which records that only 11 of them arrived alive. My favourite was a stunning picture of a man neck deep in water by Gideon Mendel which is part of a project called Drowning World in which he travels to flooded area to...

Fun exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery looking at the work of the 18th century caricaturist Thomas Rowlandson. The exhibition was well laid out with a short section telling you the artists and the main characters in the pictures, the nice section looking at how he treated specific events then a final section looking at how the prints were sold. There were good descriptions of the works telling you about the events many of which are now forgotten. They were so good that when you then looked at the picture you did chuckle. They still worked partly because they played on basic human characteristics and stereotypes which don’t change. I was lucky to be in the gallery at the time a short talk given by one of their always friendly attendants. She talked about the scandal around the Duke of York and Mary Ann Clarke and a fraud trial against him at   which she was star witness. Rowlandson did over 30 works on this story which was one of the stories featured in the show. Sh...

Delightful exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery using the Royal Collection to look at Dutch art of the 17th century and the relationship between the British and Dutch royal families at that time. There were some beautiful pictures in the show and a few old friends from previous exhibitions. I loved a Rembrandt of an old lady which showed lots of different textures in dark paint and a wonderful studies picture of age. It was a gift to Charles I and the first Rembrandt to leave Holland. Also another Rembrandt of a woman where you felt you could see the starch in her collar! I also liked a small picture of Charles I and Henrietta Maria with Charles II by Hendrick Pot. The figures were small and exquisite but the composition was rather sparse and open with them an either end of a long table. There was a useful room to the side which focused on the links between the Houses of Stuart and Orange using portraits prints. I must admit as usual I grasped it at the time but five min...