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A wonderful life - we head to beautiful sunny Oxford with BFAMI, one of those crisp spring days with the light hitting the buildings with sharp definitions making the whole world trippy
We head to the Ashmolean where we discover Ich -Du (I-You) in the exhibition ‘Kiefer his early works,' it is a group of winter paintings. The newly married Anselm Kiefer and his wife Julia had moved with to Odenwald, where their child Daniel was born. This work suggests his private dialogue with nature
Afterwards we went to Exeter Collage and were given a banquet in their beautiful Harry Potter style dining hall. It was very grand, and we all felt incredibly privileged. What a treat!
Later that the evening, we snuck into Tate early to see the Ed Atkins show before it got crowded. After Lizzie bumped into another green goddess: Daisy Lewis here they are together with their Nano handbags and green suits (riffing off chroma key Green and Ed Atkin’s early works obvs!)
The show was incredibly serious sad and witty. It was an entirely different universe
We were very proud of our hero of the day Ed - we first showed his work all the way back in 2012
I had a special night in the Serpentine and viewed the work of Giuseppe Penone. His outdoor sculptures were awe inspiring. It was so beautiful and full of wonder, the installation of this work must have been a huge challenge
Then with BFAMI we head of to the Vacheron Constantin Club to view the works by Conrad Shawcross. Conrad's scientific precision works fitted in perfectly with the Vacheron vision
Maia Morgensztern even had a chance to be shown some of the intrinsic craft making moves
Then it was off to the Design Museum to see ‘Splash’ where I meet the curator Amber Butchart
The show showed everything there is to show about Water I loved Pamela Anderson’s red Baywatch swimsuit from the 1990’s based on the real swimsuits worn by lifeguards in California
I also enjoyed seeing the Beach Hat 2019 designed by Adele Mildred for Hood
It was great joy to see an incredible Qualesha Wood show at Pippy Holdworth. This is Qualesha performance during the duration of the opening. A smart way to escape the gathering crowd. She has work in I Sought My Soul - curted by Tyger Tyger (TifZab and Anneli Botz) in Berlin this month
I went to the Hayward to view Linders show ‘Danger came Smiling’ - five decades of Linder’s fearlessly independent artistic journey exploring the power of woman in culture. It’s the Buzz Cocks! One of my favourites and one of the most powerful images created in 1976
The masks were strong and powerful almost fearful and sadistic to the eye
Her most recent work ‘The Goddess Who Lives in the Mind’
In contrast to the cold sterile white environment of Linder’s show was the show of Mickalene Thomas, a total contrast, her show was theatrical, and the work was jumping out at us. The most impressive work was ‘I was born to do great things.’ The artist reconstructs the living rooms from two periods of her life and at the same time shows some stunning art works
My favourite work was the Shrine - it was a show unto itself and deserved much more than the 2 minutes I could give it!
Then it was on to White Cube Bermondsey and Theaster Gates, the show was a journey of his life. His ceramics are very important to him and he is a total Japanophile. This work shows an incredible array of vintage Saki bottles, one bottle one household, They would keep these bottles and refill them when they were empty. He has put his markers on them all alongside the original family’s
My favourite painting was “Two panthers, A Rainbow and a Triangle’ made this year
Then we went to visit Glen Pudvine’s studio. He and his work was incredibly interesting. We were very much engaged and look forward to seeing his presentation in Frieze London. It is going to be epic – with Xxijra Hii gallery
Noah Davis’ Barbican show was poignant, he was so prolific and he died so young. His paintings touched me and I was taken by how observant he was from a very early age. Such as is the work ‘Bad Boy for Life,’ 2007
They based the show around made up words with very specific meanings that feel good in the mouth: I liked ‘Sucrosion’ which is the irritation of the tongue caused by excessive sucking on boiled sweets. This work was made entirely of Sugar and is by Sophie Lloyd
Then we went to visit to Spillâge, curated by HAZE Projects which is a collaboration between to sculptors: Camilla Bliss and Solanne Bernard. They had matching nails for the opening - so cute.
Then it was to a sumptuous dinner at the Tate in honour of the gift by Jorge M. and Darlene Pérez
Maria Balshaw proudly in the background welcoming this new work
Finally, a bonkers visit to Hauser and Wirth to view some Mike Kelly works
