Cathy's Art Diary

M oving installation on the South Bank to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. I came across this lovely work, sponsored by Ancestry, while walking along the river. It consisted of a long table, laid with vintage China, to resemble a street party. At each of 80 place settings was a plate with the picture and name of a veteran or someone who had helped on the Home Front and above was a short description of what they had done. From listening to assistants on duty I gather in the morning descendants of the people featured had been invited along. I have idea how long the piece was due to be there as I can find nothing online about it but I was so pleased I found it.

Thought provoking spontaneous public memorial on the South Bank opposite the Houses of Parliament to those who have died of Covid started by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice UK. T his memorial has been there for a long time but this was the first time I had been in that area of London to go and take a look. You are struck by the charming home made feel to it but more so to the sheer length of it. I’d assumed from pictures that it was just a couple of sections of the riverside wall but it goes on for 200m or more and hopes to have a heart of ever fatality. It was interesting to hear people talking about it. I heard one lady say that all the pink hearts were bright red when they were first added. I hope something will be done to preserve this and make it the official memorial before they fade completely. This is an important public initiated statement in a significant place, close to St Thomas’s and opposite Parliament.

Moving outdoor exhibition around the Southbank Centre celebrating the contribution key workers and frontline staff during the pandemic. This was a mix of photographs, reproduced paintings and poems. The pictures looked striking, shown at a huge scale on the buildings. My favourite was the one shown here of Elaine, an assistant in a bakery,   by Caroline Walker but I also loved the huge picture of a nurse on the back of the Royal Festival Hall and the series on various religious groups and their responses. Most moving though were the poems. It was lovely to take a moment in the public space to stop and read them and many of them brought the reality of the pandemic into focus. I loved Jackie Kay’s poem Missing which starts “You find yourself doing the missing for them - the ones you look after as your own.” Closes in November 2020. Review Guardian

Stunning installation on the roofs of the Good Morning and ITV Studios by Mark Jenkins and Sandra Fernandez   to highlight the issue of male suicide. The work consists of 84 figures to represent the 84 male suicides in Britain per week. The 12 figures on the Good Morning studio reflect the 12 men a day who kill themselves. The figures are dressed in ordinary clothes and their heads covered in draw string hoodies. It’s uncanny how the clothes gentle blow in the breeze making them look more real and alive. I found the work very moving and thought provoking. You read the figures in a paper and just move on to the next articles but actually seeing 84 figures and that that only represents one week of deaths is shocking.

Disappointing exhibition on the South Bank of sculptures in Lego by Nathan Sawaya. I say disappointing because I much preferred the previous show in Brick Lane. This exhibition concentrated on DC comic heroes and villains which made the models a bit samey. I thought the previous show had much more variety and was cleverer. It did give a great overview of the characters from DC Comics including lesser known figures as well as the iconic Superman and Batman. But as I’m not a big fan this was slightly lost on me. I did like one of the first rooms which had a round display of all the main figures made to the same scale. It gave a good view of the different costumes and was really colourful. I liked the way Sawaya created the effect of the curve of buttocks and breasts with square bricks. There was a room devoted to Superman with various models of iconic poses.   My favourite was a life sized flying figure hung at eye level. I loved the way the clock was breaking up at ...

Installation of illuminated inflated rabbits at the Royal Festival Hall by Amanda Parer. They are made of paper so there is fragility to the work which makes them seem rather vulnerable. I am sure I saw them displayed outside earlier in the month but I guess they didn’t cope too well with London weather, or that might have been launch night. Anyway I have no idea what they mean, but who can resist a giant inflatable rabbit!  

Nostalgic exhibition on the South Bank as part of their Festival of Love season which marks the 50th anniversary of Jackie magazine and looks in particular at the agony aunts, Cathy and Claire. I loved the montage of covers on the walls and kept spotting ones I remembered. You could pick up phones and listen to members of the editorial team and readers. There was also a wall of replies to the letters and a board where you could write down what you wished you’d known at 15 of which my favourite was “Don’t grow up it’s a trap!”    

Interesting exhibition at the South Bank as part of their Festival of Love season which a collection, brought together by artists and ex-lovers Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisi, of donated objects which reflect people’s split ups and divorces. It is strangely moving look at the ordinary items which have been given and to read the explanation which say where they were and how long the relationship lasted. There was a cabinet of tickets, concerts and travel, one of teddy bears and one of hats! I picked up on the man who had given his vegetarian girlfriend a leather handbag! Also the ‘her’ towel from a ‘His and Her’ set where he’d take the ‘him’ towel with him! Review Times  

Sweet display on the South Bank of a mini wheelbarrow garden organised by The Edible Bus Stop. Each barrow was planted and it tended by a volunteer who gets to keep the barrow and it’s contents at the end of the display. This display is very restful and has upturned barrows among the planted ones to use as seats.  

Series of installations and events on the South Bank examining how art is changing the globe. It also includes various small festivals and weekends. I just had a chance to do a quick tour of some of the outside art works around the site including “Under the baobab” a baobab tree made of fabric rings and a series of clay dwellings which I can’t find listed on the site. My favourite though was “Perspectives” a series of large children’s building blocks with letters on  which make up different words depending the direction you view them from. Looking at the web site now I realised how much I missed so I’m definitely making a return trip and will report back!