Cathy's Art Diary

Colourful, fun installation on The Tide at the O2 by Ian Davenport. The work, on the staircase, looked like paint poured down the stairs in parallel lines which then pooled at the bottom. It was bright and brought colour and life to the area. I must admit I’d not come across this former Turner Prize nominee before so looked up his work which is often similar and ranges from wall paintings where the paint appears to run down the canvas to other staircases. Having said that I found an exhibition of his work a week or so later which I will blog soon.   No end date given  

Gentle installation on The Tide at the O2 by Marwan Kaabour. A series of poems and quotes about rivers, in all the languages spoken in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, are printed in bright colours on the glass facades of the raised levels of The Tide. They are printed against graphic fragments from nautical charts. The whole thing reflects the proximity of the River Thames which you can see through it from various angels. Kaabour sees water as “a space of promise, inspiration, and possibility” as well as a way of addressing global issues such as climate change and migration. The whole thing is an interesting way of reinterpreting this space. No end date given.

Disappointing new public space at the O2 at North Greenwich. As a regular Thames Clipper user I’ve been diverted round these building works when walking to the O2 for at least two years so I was excited that the quicker path was going to reopen and be a park area with a high level walkway with river views. It is great to have the path back but when the Tide opened there still seemed to be a lot of building work going on and temporary barriers and sadly even Morag Myerscough’s bright murals “Siblings” couldn’t disguise the tube vent shafts. The whole area need tidying up a bit. The high level walk way is quite fun but I’m not sure it gives much better views than from the riverbank and it was obvious from a sign that they’d already had some health and safety issue with raised sections and I spotted another accident waiting to happen with a run of shallow steps which looked like a slope as you set off from the top. I fear the effect will soon be ruined by yellow tape. On t...

Fun installation at the O2 by jewellery designer Tatty Devine, commissioned as an alternative Christmas tree by Greenwich Peninsula. This installation brightened up a dull day as it was made up of nine coloured stars in the colours of the rainbow which each represented a theme celebrated at Christmas such as love, peace and joy. The stars were being sold after the event with the proceeds going to charity. They’d each look good on someone’s wall but it seems a shame to split them up. Closed on 6 January 2019

Small display in the Icon Outlet Centre at the O2 to mark National Album Day. I must admit I saw this at the end of December and the day had been in October so I guess this was quite old! Even so it was an interesting display of iconic album covers over the last 70 years and looking at their history. It was nice that it began with a classical music album from 1949 and it would have been nice if had included a bit more from this genre. However it was great to see many records from my own collection including Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, of course, and Night Clubbing by Grace Jones but frightening to realise how few of the recent covers I recognised. A fun display to discover while shopping!

Fun exhibition at the O2 using costumes, props and art works from the Star Wars films to explore the idea of where our identity comes from. The identity bit was fun as you go round with a clever bracelet on and making choices and recording the answers which then creates a character for you at the end. I went round being fairly true to how I am an felt quite pleased with the outcome. If it hadn’t been so expensive it would have been fun to go round as an evil character to see what happened! There were interesting videos at each stage looking at nature, nurture, place values etc as elements which help to make up our personalities. However it has to be said most people, including me, were there to see the artefacts. The identity idea gave the show a good narrative but a storm trooper uniform is exciting whatever the context! I think the costumes were my favourite things and It was exciting to see the famous Princess Leia bikini. There was a good mix form the old and new films...

Super exhibition at the O2 looking at the life and work of Elvis Presley. I must admit I had low expectations as some shows at the O2 have been a bit thin but this was well designed and packed with original objects. I liked the layout of being taken through his early life and career up to the point where he bought Graceland then to space opened out to show larger objects and stage costumes with rooms off covering Graceland itself, his film career and the 1968 comeback concert. Some of the objects were very poignant such as a box of crayons from when he was a child. Others were more significant such as a copy of the first single “That’s all Right”, the result of a jamming break at a recording session for other work. I was interested in the section about Elvis in the army and the use the army seemed to make of him. The film of him getting his uniform and having his hair cut was quite touching. I loved the section on Graceland! He seems to have kept everything so there w...

Small advertising exhibition at the O2 on the work Adidas in designing the kit for Team GB for the Beijing Olympics and looking forward to London 2012. They have picked 30 Olympians from the main and Paralympics to focus on and photographed them in a setting which means a lot to them. Each athletic has a stand dedicated to them with a picture , a video about them and a piece of their specialised equipment. A nice touch is that as the events have gone on and the win medal pictures of those medals have been stuck on their stand. It was a nice bonus to find this exhibition on a trip to the cinema!

Exhibition of items from the boy kings tomb at the O2. This exhibition was much better than I expected. I must admit I hadn’t heard good things but it was well set out with some beautiful artefacts. I particularly liked the two children’s chairs, they were so perfect despite their age. The objects were given space to be shown off to their best and often the reflections in the cabinets and across cabinets added to the mystic. I must admit though that the shop must get an award for the tackiest gifts ever! As one friend said “You really shouldn’t do that to a teddy bear”! Pictures Times Reviews Times Guardian Daily Telegraph Evening Standard