It’s that time of year again when the London artworld is happily dozing through the final few weeks of its summer recess and I feel a sudden migratory urge to visit the gray rainy Northern lands where I spent my happy formative student years carousing in bars, dodging lectures, forgetting to write essays and generally … Continued
Head down to Waterloo station and then walk round to the Southbank complex, through the Festival Hall and past the fountains on to the gray, grim brutalist structure that is the Hayward Gallery. Currently there’s nothing to see in the main display space here as it’s closed for a rehang but the small subsidiary annex … Continued
Head down to Charing Cross Road tube station and then slide along the side of Trafalgar Square that gets me to the revolving doors through which I can then revolve into the National Portrait Gallery. The main special temporary exhibition here today is a sort of tribute to the talents of; or celebration of the … Continued
Head over to Swiss Cottage tube station and after what seems like weeks of uninterrupted sunny blue skies, during which time I’ve been stuck in the study reading, writing and researching, when I do finally decide to temporarily interrupt these sedentary sessions of alliterative activity, get off my ‘r’s and take to the streets, the … Continued
First of all some exciting technological news: after an extensive research programme into granular meta-data mining techniques and multi-logistical trend monitoring analysis, the special projects team of the marketing and promotions division of the Unvarnished publishing empire have set up an official Unvarnished account with Instagram – hence forward given the official address of unvarnished_official. … Continued
Somehow I seem to have pulled a muscle, twisted a ligament, ripped a cartilage or otherwise mangled one of those important bits of connective gristle that hold the bones and muscles together. Consequently, my right leg doesn’t seem to be working as smoothly as it’s meant to according to the owner’s manual and, in fact, … Continued
Start off the day at Oxford Circus tube station and, after the oppressive unremitting heat and drought of the past few weeks, the usually lush green pastures and cool damp water meadows of central London have been turned into a parched desert wasteland where the wind whistles over the bleached white bones of a dozen … Continued
Head off to Finchley Road tube station and then trudge up the hill to get to the Camden Arts Centre where the main show here today is Peter Fraser’s Mathematics. Now, I have to confess that I’ve never heard of the artist before but I like the sound of the exhibition title. It makes me … Continued
Head down to Pimlico tube station today which, of course, means that I’m going to be visiting Tate Britain but this time en route I make a couple of interesting diversionary detours, initially prompted by a sign outside the small @ work gallery that boldly announces a Frida Kahlo jewellery exhibition. While I’m not actually … Continued
To Bank tube station and then follow the street signs to get to the Guildhall. But I’ve not come here to examine the archeological displays nor peruse the permanent art collection, though both of them are indeed worth taking a look at. No, the reason I’ve happened upon this august institution today is to pick … Continued