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I headed to the Wallis Collection where Grayson Perry’s show is packed full of so many curious onlookers. Grayson had created Shirley Smith a mentally challenged artist. This work ’Hospital Queen’ has supposedly been painted by Shirley Smith while in the Claybury Mental Hospital. Does Shirley Smith really exist?
more recognisable of course, are his wonderful, magnificent pots
My cousin Hilary making an entrance
In the evening was an important moment for us it was the (re)opening of 176 now called the Camden Arts Projects. Lizzie and I adored being back in our universe and feeling such a good vibe making us so happy
The great hall was filled like heaven with some big great white balloons
Outside Martin Creed's iconic work continues, his Neon tells us ‘Everything is going to be alright’ - giving us all a sense of hope
Charlotte Colbert - the new proud owner of 176
It was fun to see Martin back in the building again...
And managed to catch a moment with the very zen Philip Colbert outside before we flew off to another opening, happy as anything to see 176 in safe hands
One of my favourite memories of 176 - Donna Huanca back in 2016 ‘Scar Cymbals’
We headed then to the show ‘Who Runs the World’ a great technology driven exhibition in an off site location for Archway’s Bomb Factory. Here we are with former ZC Invites artists 00 Zhang and Lawrence Owen
I loved the work of 00 Zhang the work questions the how physical art making today is created using human and technological collaborations
We enjoyed a great visit to the home of Paul Ettinger and Raimund Berthold - Paul welcomed us amongst the work of Franz West and Paul Mcarthy and introduced us to the incredible programme the British Council provide to patrons. It is my favourite patron group in London
We dropped in for a conversation between Jay Jopling and Tim Marlow discussing the late Koyo Kouoh’s vision for the Venice Biennale - which was to be pan-global, covering Africa’s influence all around the world
Then back in Dover street at Richard Saltoun. We witnessed ‘Olimpia,’ an incredible performance by Anna Perach, where a carpeted machine and women performed together – bowing and blending into one being. Threading the line between the beautiful and grotesque. The sculptures are in rococo inspired dresses – to our surprise - one is clockwork and one is human. She is referring to the Western system of control and the impact on the female body. Olimpia is from E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Gothic fiction ‘The Tales of Hoffman’ where a mechanical woman becomes the object of a young mans obsessive desire
‘The Uncanny Valley’ comprises of twelve of Perach’s incredible masks – or tufted heads mounted on wooden structures. Inspired by the severed heads that surround Baba Yaga’s house in the Russian folktale Vasilisa the title also refers to Robotist Masahiro Mori’s term coined in 1970 to describe a figure that almost seems human, but disturbingly is not quite
I visited the exciting works of Eli Ping at Bernheim Gallery who investigates how objects function, he has the most refined sculptural sensibility, and the works must be seen to be believed. Really worth visiting
Finally I jumped on the Eurostar and got to see David Hockney at the Louis Vuitton Foundation. Loved the works ‘Portrait of an Artist’. ‘Pool with Two Figures’ clearly shows Hockney addressing the issue of perspective and finding the solution
Was exciting to Tabita Rezaire's new work Des/astres, 2024, where they explore science and spirituality drawing upon ancestors from their Danish-Guianese heritage. The work was commissioned and co-produced by Fondation Louis Vuitton and TBA21
The installation is an invitation to welcome the universe inside ourselves
Can’t help but look back happily to 2022 and one of my favourite shows: ‘Among the Machines’, curated by Paul Luckraft were we installed our work touching on Afrofuturism and gender rights: ‘Sugar Walls Teardom’ by Tabita Rezaire. Like the Bomb Factory the show and Helsinki Biennale – this work is about how humans interact with machines and non-human entities
A big treat was to visit the Pompidou and discover the artist Eldzier Cortor and the work ‘The Couple’ was my favourite. Painted in 1949 the same time as he travelled to Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti where he settled and taught art
Also it was good to discover the work of Beauford Delaney in particular this painting of ‘Marian Anderson’ 1965 who was a key figure in the civil rights movement. Delaney quotes that the work ‘vibrates like strange music’. The use of impasto captures the texture of sound evoking a style of a Byzantine icon.
