Orchard Café West Ealing

Orchard and Open 

The Orchard Cafe as a part of OPEN Ealing (Arts)  in West Ealing has been operating for a couple of years or so but now I see the catering contract is out for tender and no classes scheduled.

Prior to the posh premises OPEN operated first in Uxbridge road and then next door to Cherry Pie in Drayton Green Road.

As well as Art classes with Nick Pearson I took a photography class there and Mandie Wilde has been really supportive of my activities subsequently.

Will hopefully find what plans are in the future .

Open Was next to Cherry Pie for a while

where does The ART OF PERFORMANCE come from?

Sometimes it may seem that there's a 'new idea' and so it is that many on discovering 'Performance Art' consider it a revolution with little linking it to the past (as we are perhaps guilty of with other revolutions).

I have been intrigued by Marina Abramovic as an individual for some time.  initially I thought of her as The first Performance artist but having read her autobiography and learnt a little more about Art I now realise that she herself would not claim this and the very ephemeral concept of originality is  of course  like quicksilver and forever impossible to nail down.

There was a bell that rang (internally to me) when I heard the story of how 'Great Wave' artist Hokusai had a Chicken  with its' feet having been immersed in red paint run across one of his partly  completed works (in the court of Shogun Tokugawa Ienari around 1804)  - this was an example of his ability to use self promotion where a commission was to be decided amongst competing artists.

Reminded that that, in earlier times during the 13th century  the artist Giotto was able to win a commission by submitting a near perfect hand drawn circle to the current Pope.

Now fast forward to another performance pioneer Yves Klein (also famed for creating his own version of the colour blue)   and his 'Leap into the Void' - sadly Klein died at the young age of  34 in the early 1960's - goodness knows where his career would have taken him had he lived longer.

With the greater longevity that Joseph Beuys enjoyed a Performance art career built and his association with others in the Fluxus group helped legitimise the discipline (which was often required by its practitioners) amongst the Fluxus group was a Japanese artist Yoko Ono. 

Fluxus was clearly influenced by Dada now the idea of 'performance' being a standalone discipline is of little purpose and routinely many  describe self publicists (perhaps)  like Warhol  as his own  greatest work.

[I thought it'd be nice to do a blog post with no images - and partly inspired by film I saw about Jean-Michel  Basquiat on BBC TV]

NPG and Gainsborough along with DAB Plus - throw out your DAB radios?

A Family Album

Yesterday I was at Museum of Brands in the morning (volunteering Front of House) then I went to see Gainsborough Family Album exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery -


I had not appreciated this artist too much but have spent some time looking at Mr and Mrs Andrews (and I really like this critique of it from Sister Wendy, who died recently).

 I found it a good new way into Gainsborough and his style, very nicely curated and makes one think of parallels with one's own family albums - I'm having a bit of a rethink on English/British art and its place amongst the world's best).


 I was also surprised by very vibrant works from Njideka Akunyili Crosby which were on show.

DAB + (come on OFCOM)

Not 60 years old

one of many DAB stations I listen to is 'Gold' undemanding but okay for half an hour or so - they've been saying that you'll need a 'newer' DAB receiver from January 2nd to hear the channel in London area and sure enough - they've gone!

Seems UK Radio services that are going DAB+ and older radios not compatible - FM radio sets that are 60 plus years old are still capable of receiving High Quality services -A DAB radio that's about 6 years old can't receive the services moving to DAB+ where was OFCOM consultation?

So What's DAB Plus?

As a friend pointed out a cynic might say it's  better for radio manufacturers than listeners

Welcome 2019

Time to take a look forward 

I love a good slogan - let's have more in 2019

I like to take a  look ahead in an optimistic way but my goodness here's one I did earlier (what ever happened to David Cameron?) and I think optimism is perhaps something we should practice in our own personal spheres and hope that it moves beyond this.

I suppose 12 months ago we all thought that Mrs May was unlikely to last as long as she has but she can't still be head of UK government in a year's time - can she?

Equally it does feel difficult to countenance a Labour party struggling in the polls with Jeremy Corbyn at its head - like Cameron, Milliband  has not left politics without a trace and the current leadership system he bequeathed  for Labour is I fear destined to pick someone as unpopular with the right wing media as Jeremy perhaps Sadiq stands a chance?
 
There's an interesting Radio series running on BBC radio 4 currently suggesting things we can do to improve things in terms of 'Climate Change'  on a personal level - plenty of practical tips and perhaps a philosophy that we could consider signing up to - not about despair - 'there's no point'  but actually a bit of a Stoic attitude where we do what we can that's under our control ?

Let's try and be supportive of  each other's best endeavours  help others who are struggling  and thinking before we speak, yesterday I found out a little about Hannah Arendt - there are people who we can (and perhaps  should) seek to emulate she I think had some things to say worth considering (and remained a human famed for her belief in friendship )

Best to all for 2019