What a great way to end my working week. We ventured out to Wapping on Maundy Thursday evening to attend a reading in a greenhouse. A clear, cold evening, and after a couple of wrong turns we eventually arrived at our destination: The Wapping Project Bookshop - yes, a bookshop in a greenhouse, located in …
Category: London
a fair fortnight
Two weeks since we returned from Melbourne, and here are a few things that have eased my adjustment back into London life: The weather. We've had a spell of glorious, almost summery weather. Clear blue skies, temperatures into the low twenties, hazy sunshine. Crisp mornings and balmy evenings. Warm enough to sit outside a pub …
not quite dispelling the blues
A brisk walk around Battersea Park. Looking for signs of spring, and for the rhyme or reason that I'm still wedded to London. I need to gaze at water but The Thames is low, the tide right out. The brightest thing in the park is an out of place wattle tree, shaking its yellow blossoms …
playtime!
I can't resist fresh snow. I have to be out in it, scuff through it, touch it, crump it under foot, marvel at it. I love how it transforms London - ever so briefly - into a magical new place: dazzling, crisp, quiet. Hardly any traffic, and what there is slow moving and muffled. And …
art in a cold climate
'Tis bitter chill at the moment, but I've warmed myself on a couple of inspiring exhibitions this week. This lunchtime, a brisk and bracing 15 minute walk got me to The Serpentine's Centre for Possible Studies for a proper look at the Fabelist Imprint show. We'd gone to the launch the previous Friday (I'm a …
a bunch or two of cheerfulness
I'd lived in Battersea for years before I discovered there's a traditional greengrocer's just seven minutes' walk from my block. And even though I've been frequenting Thurgood's for a good few years now, I still get a tingle of anticipation each time I set off for their small but invaluable establishment. A proper greengrocer's in …
a quick (late) sketch from the rear stalls
To a seat in the rear stalls at the Royal Festival Hall last night, for the T S Eliot Prize readings. This was the hot ticket on a very cold Sunday night. Nearly 2,000 in the audience. Eight shortlisted poets reading for 10 minutes each (give or take a rambling digression or two). Compered by …
big paintings, small review
Well, hardly even a review. But I've been thinking about the Gerhard Richter retrospective, Panorama, on at Tate Modern at the moment. I've been twice now, and there is so much to see, and the work is so varied, which is one of the things I like about Richter. The same artist can produce bleak …
less is more, more or less
To Kings Place on Friday evening for a concert billed as 50 Years of Minimalism: Europeans & Experimentalists, featuring the sibling pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque, alongside musicians involved in Katia Labèque's 'contemporary rock band'. It turned out to be quite a varied programme, ranging from incredibly quiet and delicate pieces to the cacophonous. Now, …
immersive states
On Friday evening, we went to see the Pipilotti Rist exhibition, Eyeball Massage, at the Hayward Gallery. 'See' is not quite right; 'experience' is more accurate. And what a joyous, enriching and somehow also calming experience it was, and a wonderful transition out of - far away from - the working week. I'm worried now …
