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I think this has been the quietest time in my whole life. Still, even in my most inactive moments it never stops.
At the Nicholas Brooks Invites opening we raptured and waved a final goodbye to our wonderful Ellen Mara De Wachter. Here is Ellen with the lovely Lora Hristova and Benedict Drew, who was our first ever Invites artist.
Nicholas Brooks’ shows is both very thoughtful and analytical. There is a whisper of imagination and form running all the way through his presentation with paintedly treated ceramic, an overly sized platform in the form of a table and a film.
Next thing I find myself looking at the wonderful work of David Jablonowski at the Gemeentemuseum in the Hague where I am judging the Vincent Prize.
I also got a chance to check the museum's latest exhibition 'The Anatomy Lesson' where the Zabludowicz Collection's Damien Hirst is on show surrounded by a magnificent suite of Rembrandts! This makes me very proud.
Back home and suddenly feeling terribly left out as it seems all the best stuff is happening in New York, an abundance of joyous art to see and I cannot see it. I missed the Lady GaGa and Jeff Koons moment!
However, a few lovely surprises start to unveil before me. In Zurich at Hauser & Wirth, Rashid Johnson shows his new work and we are able to acquire a fabulous mirror and wax work for the collection.
Managed to pop to White Cube, Bermondsey and see another acquisition by the Zabludowicz Collection in the form of this amazing Mark Bradford.
Stopped by to admire the stunning Larry Bell’s.
A step away and I am in Peckham and mesmerized by the incredibly eclectic landscape.
I drop in to see The Sunday Painter, Richard Sides at Woodmill Studios and Block 336 but I have to say that the highlight for me was Oscar Murillo at South London Gallery.
I was intrigued by his Lucky Dip and super expensive Lottery Tickets.
I was touched by the way the proceeds for the Lottery Tickets went to an incredibly good cause.Materials had been used and were manipulated in the most sensitive way to create a hint of his Colombian humble beginnings.
These concrete ball things, so carefully put together now sold at auction in New York for $40,000 ! How Amazing!
A little bit more of the ‘super real’ was going on at Massimo De Carlo with Rob Pruitt maybe giving us a sense of the hyper-sensitive world we are living into today and questioning if the tools we view our home media with are to be revered and loved rather than ignored.
Meanwhile, with all this was happening I nearly missed seeing this amazing work by Matthew Derbyshire, his work never ceases to surprise me. He is so prolific and shows no bounds.
Of course the highlight of the week was Andy Holden’s bus tour to Bedford. We started our journey at the Zabludowicz Collection for another chance to breathe in the model of his captured late nineties life in the form of MI!MS.
Here’s the motley bus gang just heading out! Including comedian Simon Munnery who entertained us along the way.
We visited the most interesting of Bedfordian places starting with the Panacea Society and Joanna Southcott’s Box of Sealed Writings.
And hey! Did you know Jezreel’s Tower was actually built in Gillingham, Kent in 1880’s and then knocked down!
For the grande finale of the tour we went to the Cardington Hangers, the most humungous indoor space I have ever been too. Scarlett Lingwood and Jim and Andy Holden are here giving a sense of the scale of things.After a fabulous day of blue skies we battled back through the sleet and snow to warmer pastures in London, but not too much warmer.
