Cathy's Art Diary

Beautiful exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel of contemporary art works relating to contemplation, compassion and wonder. All the works were from the collections of David and Indre Roberts. I’m not sure I understood the theme but there were some beautiful pieces which looked fabulous in the ornate space. My favourite piece was a ceramic triptych by Rachel Kneebone. I love her work so I came to the show specifically to see this piece. Berlinde De Bruyckere’s sculpture made of the skin of a horse placed in the altar space was haunting and I was drawn into Gabriella Boyd’s ambiguous painting trying to work out what it showed if anything. I’ve only just noticed from reading the handy leaflet again that only one of the art works was by a man which was refreshing. Closed 9 February 2025 Review Guardian

Sweet exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel looking at the history of nurses’ uniforms. The chapel is in the old chapel of the Middlesex Hospital and the show is based on uniforms lent by former nurses there plus some museum loans. It ran from a reproduction of the matron’s uniform at the hospital at the time of Florence Nightingale, though First and Second World War outfits to scrubs made in the Covid pandemic. A particular call out for the great mannequins which were used, made of stuffed hessian but with remarkably realistic stances. Closed 1 December 2024  

Touching small exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel of photographs of David Bowie by Kevin Davies. Davies rediscovered these photographs taken over one day in December 1992 for the album “Black Tie White Noise”. The original collection was over 400 images of which 20 are shown here. There were a mix of styled images for the album and a series shot late in the day when Davies asked to capture Bowie “just as you are.” All the images were beautiful but I think my favourites were the informal ones. The official ones didn’t make the final cut for the album which was photographed by Nick Knight but were used for publicity for it. I was also interested as last year I went to an exhibition on photos by Brian Duffy for the “Aladdin Sane” album 29 years before so this was an interesting comparison. The works looked great in the space and it’s always good to have an excuse to visit this beautiful venue. Closed 20 March 2024 Review Evening Standard  

Glorious exhibition at the Fitzrovia Chapel celebrating the life and work of performance artist, Leigh Bowery. This show was so moving as the venue was the chapel of the Old Middlesex hospital where Bowery died on New Years Eve 1994. It’s gold mosaic walls and ceiling were a fabulous backdrop for the opulent costumes which were on show. The title comes from what he asked his friend Sue Tilley to tell people after he had died. I’d seen Bowery’s costumes in an art context before and they look amazing. If you are an art buff it is easy to just see Bowery now as one of Lucien Freud’s models so it is always good to be reminded of his own work. I loved the a pink tunic decorated with crystals and a very Cruella Deville short number worn as part of a weeklong performance at a gallery in 1988. The outfit shown here was made for a TV appearance. I don’t always have the patience for watching a video in an exhibition but in this case, like most other people who were there, I sunk down to w...