Cathy's Art Diary

Strange exhibition at Somerset House which appeared to be an exhibition of work by Josef and Anni Abers and Gary Hume but was as much a show of rugs based on their work by Christopher Farr. There was one of Gary Hume’s big shinny picture based on a hospital door then a big room of rugs in that design. Don’t get me wrong I liked them and wished I could have afforded one but it seems a little odd. In another room there was a selection of Josef Arbers square pictures and rugs based on them too! However the show also told you a lot about the artists and I was quite intrigued by Anni Arbers who had spent some time designing fabric which was reproduced here.

Small display at Somerset House from a project dedicated to producing limited edition tufted rugs of art works. The rugs are produced by Christopher Farr and they are beautiful objects. I particularly liked the Terry Frost rug and William Scott’s “Permutation 2”. However I was unconvinced by the quote “Editions of prints, sculpture and video have long been an important aspect of an artist’s oeuvre and now we can add to these the limited edition rug.” I think this can be true if the artist designs the rug but not if a rug design is based on their work. Sorry but it smacks slightly of trying to create a new form of art for investment.