Julian Schnabel at the Dairy

This weeks art visit was to a 'space' out near Russell Square called 'The Dairy' it's a fairly recent addition to the gallery world and was set up by collectors/dealers Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm as you might imagine the gallery is a former Dairy.

The show we were interested in was Julian Schnabel's  Every Angel has a Dark Side and on first encountering the works it was challenging (for me) to find anything that justified his reputation and the high costs of his works.
Strangely since bursting onto the arts scene in his early thirties he has run a career of several strands including successful film directing (an acclaimed realisation of  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is on his CV) but he returns to painting and for many his work does not develop or improve.

Many of the paintings on show were of an artist at work (often self portraits) and it seems that Schnabel is not without ego - much of the discussion amongst our group was about the frames and I'm not sure that this is as it should be (even if they are signposting something) also many of us felt the use of Resin to coat the works was not altogether successful.

Dairy gallery

References to art history were decoded (like Whistler's Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge) but overall the humour (if there was any) was drowned out be the size and lack of technique and care.
The tour did create discussion and we were lucky enough to have one of the gallery staff adding some more positive readings of the collection.

Part of Julian's rise was as a result of his so called 'Plate Paintings ' here he is talking about one of these and he does appear far more engaging than I anticipated or as some reviewers seem to present him.

Bookshops Closing, high streets change, get over it?

Northfields  Ealing has lost its bookshop (it's not alone in this)- the business model of Amazon has all but destroyed the high street bookshop, Waterstones is hanging in there and W H Smith and the big Supermarkets manages to stock the TV tie-ins and some popular fiction.

Music shops be they vinyl, CD or sheet are becoming a memory for some and the pleasure of flicking through albums is one that will never enjoyed by many.

So earlier today I was thinking about how when I was still in short trousers my older brother used to take me on walks of discovery across Leicester visiting small cafés little more than downstairs parlours where we used to have a Vimto to drink (goodness how much these used to cost), well those  establishments are long gone. 

Now in the local Town centre the dominant players are the coffee shops and banks - the days when a town would have 5 or 6 shoe shops and a plethora of Newsagents has passed but is this something to worry about?
Pubs are it seems in terminal decline apart from those that are almost ironic in their thematic horror, Wine bars were all the rage for a while but now a part of 90s mythology.

Well retailers might rail about how they provided a service but without customers it is a service that's not needed - Nostalgia it's not what it used to be.

Closed bookshops - progress?

Radio 4's 'The future is not what it used to be' and Cauliflowers go out

This morning I listened to a thought provoking radio documentary on the shifting economic backdrop as it's experienced today.
The guy asking the questions was Martin Wolf, who has a day job as the chief economics commentator of the Financial Times as you'd expect from a FT journalist the analysis was very much around standards of living and economic growth - what I came away with was that the economies of the UK and USA are for the foreseeable future  'flat-lining'  as no doubt Ed Balls  would delightedly gesture (I've a gesture for him).

Ed's gesture

My view is that this might be worrying but is doesn't necessarily  have to be, much was made of the improvements that have been brought to our lives by things like Google, Facebook and Wikipedia  all of which cost us nothing to use (there's an argument to be had here of course but the point is they don't  necessarily appear in some measures of economic  activity).

There are also many 'Apps' now and in the future which will/can enhance lives - are these being overlooked?

While many young people will not see year on year improvements the way that their parents generation did we are (I would say) fairly well provided for in material terms and the upcoming crises are about over supply and obesity - so perhaps the future is rosier than some commentators would have us believe.

The subject matter is definitely worthy of thought -you can follow this link to  listen to the programme.

On the plot

Cauliflowers 6 I think) planted out today, they're protected so will water them and care for them until they are well established.

Beatles 50 years after cracking the USA and Allotment tweets

On Friday night/Saturday morning i watched the American produced Grammy tribute to The Beatles, all-in-all I quite enjoyed it and found it (in places) quite emotional.



I do though have a bit of an issue around the artists selected to cover the songs (why was David Grohl featured so heavily?) - how were they arrived at? Are they the best available or on such an occasion is there a certain amount of 'horse trading' going on?
I am also somewhat troubled by the use of camera shots of celebrities - particularly those that have motivations -for example What will Yoko do when Paul performs?

On the allotment

Not early but got the worm

Great day yesterday (weather-wise) and spent a few hours digging and planting - a couple of birds came to visit me - it's amazing how confident Robins are they come really close to you when you're digging (there interest is in the worms)

Rocking Robin

I also saw a blackbird getting stuck in top a late lunch  but generally  I was more  focused on my Squashes and Pumpkins.

I also transfered the location of my Asparagus plants - they're hanging in there but not delivering much of a crop - in fact we've eaten all that 2014 produced  in two bites - not enough to make much of an impact.

Nice Link

Got this link from Jules Evans and his excellent weekly PoW (Philosophy of Well-Being) - the link is about the death of adult education replaced by more work related development  (well that's how I interpret it anyway).

Small Spears

Planting the Butternut squash