Cathy's Art Diary

Stunning installation at Tate Britain by Heather Phillipson taking up the whole of the grand central galleries on the first floor. I’m not sure I understood the description of this show or really understood what it was about, “changed eco-systems, maladaptive seasons and unearthed life forms”, however I loved the way it filled the space and changed the atmosphere. The first room, shown here, was bathed in red light and dominated by a giant papier machete tree, with video screens of parts of animals on an island in the middle. The octagon at the centre of the space had a pool of water surrounded by strange creatures made of old oil cans with papier machete horns drinking from it. The end room was bathed in blue light and Turner like clouds with bombs in sand buckets. You are drawn to a strange hut at the end. Take time to look behind this where there was a mesmerising video of a peach as the sun, rising and falling. Closes 23 January 2022 Reviews Guardian Telegraph Even...

Funky new public sculpture on the spare plinth in Trafalgar Square by Heather Phillipson. I always love seeing the new Fourth Plinth works. I hadn’t been convinced by this one when it was in the competition for new ideas back in 2017, thinking it was a bit twee and simple, however in situ I love it. It benefits from being so big and is perfectly proportioned to the plinth. I love the way you can see the ice cream realistically dripping off the base and the hidden weirdness of the fly and drone on the other side. I liked the fact the drone is broadcasting live footage over the web although I couldn’t get it work when I was there. I’m going back to try again so I can wave at myself! It gives the work an immediacy which we’ve not seen from it since the Antony Gormley piece “One & Other”, which I became slightly obsessed with, when members of the public applied to occupy the plinth for an hour. Reviews Times Guardian Telegraph Evening Standard  

Egg-cellent installation at Gloucester Road station by Heather Phillipson.   I just loved this fun venue for a huge piece of installation art! It took up the whole of an unused platform at the tube station and consisted of a series of egg based sculptures from a pile of eggs, though fried eggs to rotten eggs.   I’m not sure what it was about but I loved it! Let’s have more art on this scale on the underground.   Ends 2018   Review Evening Standard