Poetic Pairing: October 2015

Happy Holiday 1999 Agnes Martin

Peace, Tranquility and Solitude

Peace, Tranquility and Solitude

Are the things we all need most

Sit all alone and meditate

Relaxing by the coast.

Allow those sounds to agitate 

And fill your empty head

Help your inner self to meditate

To natures sounds instead.

The sound of wind and water 

Waves crashing on the land

Listen to the tides which turn 

And flow along the sand.

Sitting by the coast

Breath in the cool sea breeze

It helps relax the mind and soul

And you body is all at ease.

David Boyce

Natural History Museum: Spirit Collection Tour

As a Londoner I have stood in awe under the plaster cast of Dippy in the Natural History Museum's ornate entrance hall, cowered in fear clinging to my grandfather's hand when they installed the lifelike moving T. Rex and explored the insect rooms with classmates clutching crumpled worksheets and wholesome pack lunches. All in all I thought I knew the museum pretty well and had relegated it to a place of childhood learning and amusement.

Yesterday I went on the gallery's behind the scenes Spirit Collection tour and I was shown how much more there is to the museum.

Myself and a group of eight colleagues met our charming and very knowledgeable guide by that museum institution, the gift shop, and headed away from the busy hub of the gallery via the swish Darwin centre into the back stage area. 

While we walked she set the scene by reminding us that the natural history museum is not just a reliquary for dinosaur bones and the Victorian's taxidermied animal specimens but it is also an active research institution leading and participating in research into the natural world.

The first stop on the tour was a glimpse into one of the museum's labs where some of the gallery's scientists were busy working in the sort of organised chaos common in lab environments.

Then we moved on to look at the skin crawling 'flesh-eating beetle room' complete with a live feed of the bugs themselves slowly breaking down the body of a python.

Don't worry they weren't anything like the ones from The Mummy...

From here we moved into what was essentially a huge library stack except instead of endless art journals or exhibition catalogues the shelves were filled with animals in jars of alcohol to protect and preserve the specimens. This section included fascinating items like these mice which, through a process which quite eludes me, have been dyed so that the skeletons are red and the organs are transparent. Freaky!

Many of the museum's specimens, particularly the fish and large mammal and reptile specimens, are too large to fit into this section and the next room we journeyed to was designed to store them. It had long metal tanks in the centre where specimens were stored together and the wall was lined with huge glass tanks filled with weird and wonderful creatures. While we were there some of the gallery's very own white coat wearing scientists (or some well paid actors) were moving a sharks head into a new jar.

The star of this space had to be the museum's giant squid. It was caught by accident near the Falkland Islands and gifted to the museum and since it has arrived it has helped scientist to understand more about the elusive species. Oh and she is named Archie.

We learnt a lot about Archie and the other occupants of this room but I don't want to give away all of the surprises.

To book tickets to see all of this for yourself click here it's only a tenner a ticket and I think you will agree totally worth it.

Poetic Pairing: September 2015

Untitled Joseph Cornell c. 1956-58

Stars

How countlessly they congregate

O'er our tumultuous snow,

Which flows in shapes as tall as trees

When wintry winds do blow!--

As if with keenness for our fate,

Our faltering few steps on

To white rest, and a place of rest

Invisible at dawn,--

And yet with neither love nor hate,

Those stars like some snow-white

Minerva's snow-white marble eyes

Without the gift of sight.

Robert Frost

Go and see some installation art this September

It would seem that September is to be the month for striking public art installations in London.

I went a couple of days ago to see the hauntingly beautiful Heartbeat installation by French designer photographer and artist Charles Pétillon in Covent Garden's Market Building.

It is a mesmerising work comprising thousands of white balloons suspended in a clump from the ceiling like a giant man-made cloud. It is fitted with lights which pulse on and off giving the impression of a heartbeat. The installation looks very organic in form particularly when contrasted with all of the brick, steel and glass of it's industrial setting.

It is a work that really benefits from viewing on a couple of occasions in different lightings and moods. The first time I went it was pouring with rain outside and very grey but the work felt really warm and it was calming to just take the time to walk around it and really get to know it. The second time I went was early afternoon and there were some musicians playing which gave it a much more vibrant and energetic feeling and I noticed all the people engaging with the work, posing for photos with it taking photos or videos and posting it on social media.

On my second visit I also had time to go and see the pop up gallery showing some of Pétillon's photographs which gave me a bit more insight into his work. I would thoroughly recommend popping in if you have the time.

Then today I went to see The Rising Tide by Jason deCaires Taylor down on the riverside near Vauxhall. This visit takes a little more planning as the sculpture only emerges or in fact disappears two hours either side of high tide.

If you are a pinterest user then chances are you will have come across the work of Jason deCaires Taylor but it did take me a little time to connect the grim grey sculptures with his usual vibrant work. Such as his famous underwater sculpture park of the coast of Grenada which makes you just want to book a flight and dive into the sea.

The Rising Tide doesn't leave you with quite the same urge to put on your bathers and dare the Thames but it is a fascinating installation none the less. There is a certain comic quality to the work with the one horse with it's head down as if it is drinking or hiding and when only the heads are on display one seems to be straining out of the water. There is also something surreal and a little unnerving about watching just the heads and shoulders in the water. I wonder if like Antony Gormley's sculptures on the edges of buildings there have been any calls to the police with the fear that someone is drowning.

I would be fascinated to know if the artist is going to try to take any underwater photographs like those he has taken of other works.

If you want to visit then do make sure to plan it around the approximate High Tide times for September.

Tue 1 (11.45am); Wed 2 (12.30pm); Thur 3 (1pm); Fri 4 (1.30pm); Sat 5 (2pm); Sun 6 (2.45pm); Mon 7 (3.45pm); Tue 8 (5pm); Wed 9 (6.45pm); Thur 10 (8pm); Fri 11 (8.15am); Sat 12 (9am); Sun 13 (9.45am); Mon 14 (10.15am); Tue 15 (11am); Wed 16 (11.15am); Thur 17 (11.45am); Fri 18 (12.15pm); Sat 19 (12.45pm); Sun 20 (1.15pm); Mon 21 (1.30pm); Tue 22 (2.15pm); Wed 23 (3.30pm); Thur 24 (5.45pm); Fri 25 (7pm); Sat 26 (7.30am); Sun 27 (8.45am); Mon 28 (9.45am); Tue 29 (10.30am); Wed 30 (11.15am)

Painting Paradise: The Art of the Garden

I went to this charming exhibition on a sunny day last weekend and left feeling rather spellbound. The curators have done a beautiful job, the deep colors on the walls, the urns from Hampton Court flanking the entrance and the mini pergola set up within the first room to house the paintings all set the scene wonderfully. And that's all without taking into account the extraordinary array of works on display.

The exhibition takes you through the history of garden design with sections such as the Renaissance garden, the botanical garden and the landscape garden among others. It shows how men and women have interacted and used gardens for leisure, scientific study or to impress foreign courts and it celebrates the pivotal role they play in our existence.

The Royal Collection is rich in objects and for this exhibition they have been drawn from all mediums alongside numerous paintings, prints and sculptures there are ceramics, pieces of jewellery, original books and even a wheelbarrow.

The first work that really captured my attention was this wonderful Jan Breugels the Elder's Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

In the painting the actual figures of Adam and Eve are pushed away and placed in a clearing in the background, they are almost the last thing you see. The scene has been used instead as the perfect excuse to demonstrate Breugel's creative prowess and knowledge of botany and natural history. In the Bible it is written that much like Noah's ark there were male and female counterparts of every animal in the Garden of Eden.

The joy of this painting is spotting the different animals seeing where the artist has understood and portrayed the difference between the two genders and looking at his attempts to paint the more exotic animals he would never have actually seen. Breugel, despite not being well traveled himself, would had a good knowledge of animals because he was able to study the menagerie of animals kept at the court of the Archdukes in Brussels and the zoological library and even larger menagerie of Rudolf II.

It's a captivating work with seemingly endless engrossing details such as the Macaws sitting in the tree, the dogs arguing with the ducks or the little guinea pigs in the bottom right all set in a lush verdant landscape.

From the paradise gardens, courtly gardens, fantastical gardens and early experiments with garden design we rapidly progress to the full blown decorative and ornamental gardens of the 18th Century. Naturally many of the images are of the elaborate gardens of the Royal Palaces such as St James, Kensington and Windsor. 

The painting above by Leonard Knyff is a spectacular example of these it shows us the extensive buildings and grounds at Hampton Court. It reveals the contrasts within the grounds. There is a semi circular elaborately patterned and gated garden with beautiful vistas towards the palace facade and decorative fountains. This is surrounded by large fields divided by lines of trees and which on closer inspection are full to the brim with deer. On the right the artist has of course included the famous maze using the aerial viewpoint of the painting to show it to it's best advantage.

Detail from Leonard Knyff's painting of Hampton Court

But it is not just the paintings that steal the show there are also exquisite and often one of a kind objects throughout the show. Through the ages the Royal family have often had the best of things so you can expect to see handcrafted faberge pieces, Porcelain services made exclusively as elaborate gifts for the family or dramatic pieces commissioned by them directly.

One that I found very touching was this gorgeous headdress from the orange blossom parure.

It was a set that Prince Albert gradually gave to Queen Victoria during their marriage. The tradition started with one of his first gifts to her, an orange blossom brooch at the time of their betrothal then around Christmas in 1845 he gave her earrings and another matching brooch and finally on their wedding anniversary in 1846 he gave her this tiara to crown the set. Orange Blossom evidently had a sentimental significance to the pair as Queen Victoria wore sprigs of real orange blossom in her hair and on her bodice on their wedding day as you can see in this painting of  Victoria in her wedding gown by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.

I could have spent hours wandering around and exploring the endless details in the works and I fully intend to return using the one year pass scheme on the ticket.

I would recommend booking as the exhibitions in the Queens Gallery get booked up very quickly during the summer opening of the State Rooms.

My Feminist Fridays: Mary Kelly at Tate and Linda Nochlin at National Gallery

For the last two Fridays instead of popping to a bar or vegging out in front of Netflix (both very good ways to spend a Friday) I spent my evenings listening to two fascinating feminists from the art world.

The Friday before last I was at Tate Modern listening to the artist Mary Kelly in conversation with the adorable Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Then Last Friday I went to listen to seminal art historian Linda Nochlin in conversation with Tamar Garb.

I did not know much about Mary Kelly, I was only aware of her work Post-Partum document because of the furore it created while on display at the ICA. Linda Nochlin on the other hand is a staple part of any good art history undergraduate's reading list. I made sure to brush up on her important essay Why have there been no Great Female Artists? and I have to say I had forgotten how brilliant it was.

Mary Kelly walked into the talk in her leather jacket with her trademark suffragette style hair. She talked largely about her work Post-Partem document giving us various insights into it such as how she now wishes she hadn't included the hyphen. Despite this work naturally stealing some of the focus she also took us through some of her other works, describing how she came up with the idea of using lint as a medium in her later work. Her body of work is an attempt to understand and convey the personal, looking not just at how it is expressed but how it is created. She and Hans talked for a while about how she sees people as creations of the time they were born in and how you carry this with you throughout your life.

When I arrived Linda Nochlin and Tamar Garb were already seated in front of a portrait of themselves entitled Night Taxi. In their conversation they explored how Linda Nochlin's relationships with other art historians and artists that she has built throughout her career have effected her arguments. When drawn into the subject of her 1971 essay on female artists Linda talked about how it felt like everything was falling into place. They went on to talk about the anthology of Nochlin's essays that has recently been published by Thames and Hudson which includes Linda's famous theoretical essays alongside pieces about specific female artists. In discussion of this they touched on how she went about selecting these artists as while they all engage with realism they have very diverse artistic styles and interests. This is now definitely on my book wish list!

Both auditoriums were filled to the rafters a testament to how the issues focused on by these two women remain engaging and compelling to this day. It was a treat to be able to listen to two such inspirational women in person and it reminded me to take advantage of the rich programme of talks that are an offer in London

Poetic Pairing: June 2015

The Italian Poets Shield Antoine Vechte 1851 V&A

Extract from the Iliad Book XVIII
The Shield of Achilles

Thus having said, the father of the fires
To the black labours of his forge retires.
Soon as he bad them blow, the bellow turn'd
Their iron mouths; and where the furnace burn'd,
Resounding breathed: at once the blast expires,
And twenty forges catch at once the fires;
Just as the god directs, now loud, now low,
They raised a tempest, or they gently blow;
In hissing flames huge silver bars are roll'd,
And stubborn brass, and tin, and solid gold;
Before, deep fix'd, the eternal anvils stand;
The ponderous hammer loads his better hand,
His left with tongs turns the vex,d metal round,
And thick, strong strokes, the doubling vaults rebound.

Then first he form'd the immense and solid shield;
Rich and various artifice emblazed the field;
Its utmost verge a threefold circle bound;
A silver chain suspends the massy round;
Five ample plates the broad expanse compose,
And godlike labours on the surface rose.
There shone the image of the master-mind:
There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design'd;
The unwearied sun, the moon completely round;
The starry lights that heaven's high convex crown'd;
The Pleiads, Hyads, with the northern team;
And great Orion's more refulgent beam;
To which, around the axle of the sky,
The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye,
Still shines exalted on the ethereal plain,
Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main.