29 October 2008

8.05am. Leaving for work. A phalanx of geese flying in formation cross the sky.

26 October 2008

Frieze weekend

Here are some things which caught my eye at the Frieze Art Fair in London last weekend:

Martha Rosler's revisitation of her 'Bringing the War Home' series...

No major art fair would be complete without at least someone doing a spoof Carl Andre. This year it was Claire Fontaine, from Galerie Chantal Crousel. Bless her.

The new Sarah Lucas sculptures are extraordinary. Here's part of one which was on display at the Sadie Coles stand:

Also on display at Sadie Coles HQ were some new works by Gabriel Kuri. I especially admired these - wire mesh and lumps of concrete. The art-historical references flow thick and fast...

But perhaps the sculpture prize for this year really ought to go to designer of the smoking booths. A truly 'interactive' installation. By the end of the day quite a crowd was gathering around the few happy souls closeted away in their plastic boxes, happily exhaling smoke, heads locked upwards. For extroverts only:

The day before, I checked out the new show of Henry Moore maquettes at Hauser & Wirth on Old Bond Street. The exhibition had been designed by Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher: the sculptures were placed on glistening, ergonomic aluminium plinths - and the Henrys seemed glowing with happiness in their new glitzy environment.

Not so shiny, but equally impressive are the new Richard Serras at Gagosian.

And the Cildo Mireles exhibition at the Tate Modern is also worth an explore....

15 October 2008

on the financial news this morning

Recipe

You have to be stubborn.
You have to turn away
from meditation, from ideologies,
from the tombstone face
of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

You have to keep stubbornly saying
This is bread, though it’s in a sunset,
this is a sunset with bread in it.
This is a woman, she doesn’t live
In a book or an imagination.
Hello, water, you must say, Hello
Good water.

You have to touch wood, but not for luck.
You have to listen to that matter of pitches and crescendos
without thinking Beethoven is speaking
only for you
And you must learn there are words
with no meaning, words like consolation
words like goodbye.

Norman McCaig

horizons

from the shelves in my office to the clouds over the North Sea

10 October 2008

This is my first attempt to embed a Youtube link into this blog - and the potential for musical captions seems particularly enticing. This is Mance Lipscomb, from 1969 - there is a weary cynicism to his demeanor which I find strangely invigorating.

09 October 2008

From the Martha Rosler library at Stills.

This is from a book called 13/13 Vietnam: Search and Destroy - A Photographic Essay, from 1967.

5 September 2008

Am writing a lecture on 'David and the Ideology of the French Revolution' today, accompanied by the Supremes and Lulu. The storm has blown through, so off with J for a short coastal walk.