Cathy's Art Diary

Fun public sculpture trail around London of decorated eggs to mark the Easter holidays. The trail was organised by Elephant Family to raise money for their conservation work and had a total of 147 eggs scattered around the city. It was accompanied by a good app on which you could log your egg sightings and learn more about the designers and sponsors. The map was a bit difficult to read at times particularly in locations on various levels but that adds to the sense of it being a hunt. The eggs seem quite delicate as quite a few had been taken away for repair. I collected 46 mainly over four sites Covent Garden, Marylebone, Battersea Power Station and Canary Wharf. I’d hoped to do Sloane Street which seemed to be packed with them but I ran out of time. It was a good excuse to have a wander round these areas and some of them took you into strange locations like pharmacies and hotels. I think my favourite was this shell egg in Covent Garden by interior design company Campbell-Rey ...

Effective new public sculpture at Canary Wharf made by artist/architect duo Jason Klimoski & Lesley Chang (StudioKCA). The work is a large leaping whale made from plastics from the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean sourced by the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund. It looks very effective in emerging from Wood Wharf and dominating the space. I love the fact the concert base is made from old coffee grounds from cafes around Canary Wharf but I would question the environmental impact of bringing the waste plastic from across the Atlantic. The gesture might have been more meaningful if more local waste plastic had been used, maybe from the nearby Thames? Permanent but new

Fun outdoor exhibition in Granary Square of pictures highlighting the lives of ordinary women by artist Hanna Benihoud. The 16 works were mounted on benches around the square and each featured a picture of a woman juggling life with a caption. The pictures are based on conversations the artist had with various women and many of them make you smile with the truth of them. I’d love it if you could get cards of them to send to friends. My only moan is that because they are on benches and it was a lovely sunny day there, there were often people sitting on them so it was hard to see the image. Maybe the picture could be a bit higher. Closed 20 April 2025    

Touching new sculpture for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square by Teresa Margolles. I say touching as it is made up of the plaster casts of faces of trans people from the UK and the artists home country of Mexico. From a distance they create a pleasing shape that compliments the Plinth. Close up they look out at you and seem to watch as you pass despite the fact they are concave. They are arranged to resemble a Mexican tzompantli or pile of skulls. I like the idea that, being made of plaster, it is planned that they will weather and potentially disappear over the course of their two year display but do worry what they might look like by that point. Reading the website it says the artist did every cast herself talking to the sitters for the couple of hours it took about their experiences. It would be wonderful to have an accompanying book of those stories. After living with them for two years I think we will want to know more. I’m always intrigued by the sculptures on the Pli...

Striking large scale public sculpture at the Serpentine Gallery by Gerhard Richter. The work was inspired by his strip paintings but used large ceramic tiles to create the effects. It consisted of perpendicular sections forming a star shape with different colour combinations in each section. It looked dramatic in Hyde Park with Kensington Palace behind in the distance and I loved the smooth texture of the tiles.    Closed 20 October 2024  

Dramatic installation at the Barbican by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama. The work was a huge pink, handwoven covering for the top of the building with 100 ‘batakaris’, robes worn by Ghanaian kings, embroidered onto it. The pink and purple panels were made by hundreds of craftspeople from Tamale in Ghana and in the foyer is a fascinating video on the making of it and a chance to feel the material. Close up it was more nuanced than it looks at a distance. I loved the dramatic effect, particularly the way that it reflects on the buildings around it and the way it is shaped around the architecture of the building. It is also fun to see it from inside in the upper floors. Closes 18 August 2024 Reviews Times Telegraph

Delightful sculpture trail around Canary Wharf of guide dog sculptures decorated by various artists. The trail was to raise awareness of Guide Dogs and had been organised by them and Wild in Art. A number of the works were designed by artists with experience of sight loss and some featured tactile elements such as the black and white “Guide Lines” by Sue Guthrie where the back stripes were in a rough finish, or braille elements. I managed to see all but two of the works. I loved Becky Smith’s “Life is Golden” which looked lovely on the sunny day when I went. I think my favourite was the Sherlock Holmes dog “Baskerville” by Mik Richardson. An added bonus was chalking up my 10,000 steps, partly as I kept getting lost! Closed 17 May 2024  

Delightful sculpture trail around London Bridge City of works by Gillie and Marc Art. The trail features wild animals interacting with their trademark figures of Dogman and Rabbitwoman from a rhino playing chess to a gorilla photographer. I’ve seen a few Gillie and Marc trails now and they are always fun. The trail is part of the broader ‘Love The Last’ project, a social movement driven by public art to raise awareness, funds and support for endangered animals across the world. This one is organised in conjunction with Zoological Society of London (ZSL). It’s on for a long time so do pop along and see it. There are two more works to appear in November. Closes 18 September 2024    

Interesting open air photographic display at London Bridge City organised by the United Nations Refugee Agency UK (UNHRC-UK) highlighting community projects that have welcomed refugees to the UK. It was a small selection of photographs on four display stands highlighting initiatives from a community choir in Greenwich, through a walking group on the South Downs and a wall climbing club in Liverpool. The web site has other moving stories of other groups and the effect they have had on peoples’ lives. An interesting read while having a wander in the area. Closed 9 November 2023 Project website  

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.

Fun sculpture trail around Covent Garden of decorated gorillas. You know I love a sculpture trail and I found this by chance while having a wander through Covent Garden. It is in aid of Tusk which supports conservation projects in Africa. I managed 8 works of the 15 in about an hour and hope to get back to find some more on the other side of the market. They are decorated by artists and celebrities. My favourite was Frankie outside the opera house by John and Jen Cleese.   Closed 14 October 2023    

Colourful installation on the Strand outside Somerset House by Simone Brewster. The work had been part of London Design Week which I’d missed and commented on the future of the cork industry. I must admit I’m not sure how other than that the large sculptures were covered in coloured cork. The blurb said that “the future of the cork oak forest will be secured by four key traits: upright expression, drought resistance, regenerative growth and biodiversity conservation.” Each work was meant to reflect one of these traits but I don’t really understand that link. Still the works looked great in the space! Closed 8 October 2023  

Fun installation outside the Royal Festival Hall by Fefe Talavera. The work consists of two large fantastical animals on top of two bars created in the Mexican folk art tradition of Alebrijes, brightly coloured sculptures of imaginary creatures, traditionally made of paper or wood. These were made in collaboration with Glow Inflatables although they look very solid and permanent. I love the way they dominate the space. I hadn’t known they were there and got a pleasant surprise as I came round the corner. A lovely colourful addition for Summer. Closed 3 September 2023  

Fun sculpture trail round the City of London of large and small sculptures of the Aardman character Morph. Morph is a fun reminder of my childhood and a good simple shape to take decoration. Organised by Whizz-Kidz, the UK’s leading charity for young wheelchair users, and put on by Wild in Art, the trail of 79 large and small pieces has step- free access throughout. There is an excellent app which is easy to use and includes a map and the ability to log the Morphs you find via a code number. The figures look particularly good against London landmarks. As I write this I’ve see 43 around London Bridge, the Guildhall and St Paul’s but I’ll certainly be looking for more.   STOP PRESS: My final total was 51 of 79. Closed 20 August 2023  

Striking image outside the Hayward Gallery by Egyptian artist, Souad Abdelrassoul. The piece looks great in the space being a beautiful shade of blue. It’s a nice touch that it shows the Nile and is displayed so close to the Thames. Evidently her work uses depictions of the natural world to reflect on her experience as a woman who is constrained by the conservative society she lives in. This is the latest in a series of large murals in this space which are always worth seeing. Closes 12 December 2023    

Fun light sculpture outside the Royal Festival Hall by Jakob Kvist. Evidently it is a geodesic dome whatever that means. It is an enclose sphere made of different coloured iridescent sides which changes as the light hits it. The piece is left over from the Winter Lights Festival but seems to have become a permanent feature. I did see it briefly at the start of that festival but it looked dull and I’m not sure it had been properly set up at that point. On a sunny day it looked much more dynamic with the surrounding area reflected in it and its colours being reflected back on the plaza. No closing date given  

Stunning sculpture trail in Trafalgar Square of painted globes by different artists exploring the Slave Trade and its effects. These globes had been shown around the world in small trails but all 98 were brought together in the square for two days. There were some wonderful pieces with interesting art but the bulk of the images was the most powerful thing. A lot of artists were there chatting and people were really responding to the work. It was particularly moving to have them outside the National Gallery and they set up interesting dialogues between the architecture around them, each other and the current Forth Plinth sculpture. I was stunned by GE’s “When Colours Collide” which from a distance looked like it had a mirrored surface but when you got close you realised   it was painted. I loved Joshua Donkor’s “Ancestral Foundations” with beautiful portraits and QR codes to recordings of the sitters. My favourite was Alison Turner’s “At the Hands of The Enslaved, Our Societ...

Disappointing sculpture trail around the Canary Wharf site. I say disappointing because I went on the last day and a couple of works had been damaged and removed and I think a couple of others I couldn't find had disappeared too. I didn't have a lot of time so I only saw four works of the 11 in the end. The commentary says the works look at how "play is the overlooked epicentre of the human experience" but I didn't find those items I did see that playful. The description would lead me to think the works might be interactive. This is the 2nd edition of this show organised by Brooke Benington and Canary Wharf and I will give it another go if there is a 3rd but will make sure I go earlier in the run. Closed 11 November 2022

Effective sculpture in the gardens at Palazzo Ca Corner in Venice by Lorenzo Quinn. I spotted this from the vaporetto on my first trip along the Grand Canal in Venice on this holiday,   yes beware lots of Venice coming up, and it grabbed my attention. I had to look it up. I must admit on my initial view I didn’t realise it was a giant pelvis complete with baby but it was a dramatic, large, silver work which filled the space. I will look out for it again in further trips along the canal. Closed 31 October 2022