Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery looking at the life and work of the poet and artist Adrian Henri using work and ephemera from his archive. I had seen a similar but smaller show at the ICA a few years ago but it was nice to see this again in a larger space and with more use made of the articles, leaflets and show bills. It was also good to see it with a large scale film of some of his London happenings showing on a loop so his voice and the poems were in your head as you looked at the works. Also fun to have the art works round the walls surrounding the display cases. All of the work was infused with a gentle sense of humour and I loved this British take on the iconic Andy Warhol image! Closes 9 June 2019

Fascinating exhibition at the ICA on the work of the Merseybeat poet Adrian Henri who had also trained as a painter and who ran ‘happenings’ in Liverpool. I have always loved Henri’s poems and have a beloved copy of the Penguin anthology “The Mersey Sound” so I was really pleased that they included a recording of him reading his work. It was lovely to hear “Without you” read by the author. It never fails to make me smile. The happens sound wonderful and there were lots of posters and flyers for them as well as some of his art works, often Leger like collages using adverts and text. I liked a campaign he ran to memorialise bits of Liverpool which were being destroyed in the 1960s and 1970s and his campaign slogan of “Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust, If the bombs don’t get you, the planner must”! Most interesting was a signed copy of Howl by Ginsberg signed for Henri after Ginsberg had stayed with his on a visit to Liverpool. Also a picture called “Entry of Christ into Live...