Hockney at about 77

Having enjoyed the Heroes and Villains exhibition at the Halcyon Gallery I went on to see some recent work by an artist who is arguably the most important living English painter - David Hockney.

Up to the 3rd & 4th Floor for Hockney

I suspect the Cherokees

On my way to see the Hockneys I passed who I think was Film Director Tim Burton rocking a slightly 'boho' outfit (see below).

Hockney's 'Painting and Photography' is at what I'd describe as a low key setting, Annely Juda  in Dering Street (just near Oxford Street.

I'm someone who does like the iconic works that Hockney produced in the 1960's (A bigger Splash for example), so was interested to see where he's arrived at now.

Hockney has become known for his Photography as well as his painting and much of the exhibition showed what is characterised as-  Photographic Drawing, I liked it but the reviews of this in general are not good attacking Hockney's 'Photoshop' skills.

For me the paintings were perhaps less exciting although across the works the self-referencing within frames  was entertaining - definitely worth a visit in a surprisingly quite and un-hurried space  (as before I'm not sure if many members of the public are effectively intimidated about visiting private galleries like this).

As Helena Bonham-Carter has, I too think I've seen  the back of Tim Burton

Art in London,Wow- we're lucky (some of us)

Wow- we're lucky (some of us)

After a somewhat puzzling couple of hours on the subject (I think) of Philosophy and Logical Positivism  (where I felt the pull, perhaps intended by our leader Scott  of Wittgenstein) I went on my Tuesday  semi-routine hunt for 'Art' today's target being the new (-ish) Hockney exhibition .

Halcyon days and a gallery to mmatch

Well I had prepared by printing a map and headed for my quarry, but ahead of the navigation serendipity brought me to Halcyon Gallery in New Bond Street and it was a blast.

The Gallery's showing some work under the banner of Heroes and Villains (mainly Heroes I'd say).

I'm not really sure what the rules of the game are that mean these places don';t get flooded with ne'er-do-wells but this one trooped in anyway - Ground floor featured many works from Marvel Comics that had been slightly ponced about with and had 'Stan Lee' Signatures on along with Andy Warhol's Ads (1985) 

More Heroes than Villains

Also on the Ground floor and in the basement are several Russell Young works that had a shimmer of Diamond dust (both metaphorically and literally) - Young a British born  artist I'd not heard of has a fascinating back story and is much taken it seems by heroic icons.

Stan Lee in reflection

The basement also had work by Bob Dylan (the 'singer') he's got a table (Iron Work Table)  and a car door  (called I think 'Car Door') on display along with a Film Noir video for the classic song he's covered  'The Night we called it a Day' (at the bottom of this post  - but even better on a great HD screen) really made me smile - he's a battered old bugger but a 'great' in oh so many ways.

There's work too by Raphael Mazzuco of many legends - including a rather nice Bob Marley quote Some people feel the rain others just get wet.

 Quite a few Santiago Montoya  as well as lots of three dimensional works by Mauro Perucchetti

The show was neatly summarised by the  Spanish artist Ernesto Canovas- The Beginning (2014) - as far as I'm concerned it's all  great variety of fun items (more on Hockney show to follow v. soon).

Turtle Bay and bye to referenced artist Chris Burden

Turtle Bay- Open since last year but still has a buzz

This weekend we made it to the Caribbean in Ealing (well a  Caribbean restaurant anyway).

It wasn't our first go at dining at Turtle Bay but such is the popularity of this restaurant/bar that previously we couldn't get in - so this time we booked.

In fact looking up the name  I see it's a bit of chain (a surprisingly high 15 so far) but that here I wouldn't consider a disadvantage and what could be too individual a view on the theme might not work,

As a short review I'd say it was good - really nice to have something that's a little out of the ordinary, some questions about authenticity but I'm sure that there's some regional variations over what's called the Caribbean.

A competition too

Plenty of what you'd expect with Rothi, 'Jerk dishes', Goat and of course lots of referencing of rum - music was loud and  decoration bright - try it once at least.

Quite a mixed crowd, on the table next to us was a gentleman alone reading a book about religion as he ate- the friendly waiter pretty much yelled at him (twice) 'a noisy place to come and read your book.'

RIP  Chris Burden

Sadly now dead, I'd not heard of the artist Chris Burden until Open Culture pointed him out to me - seems a great character and has been the subject of songs by both  Laurie Anderson and David Bowie (Joe the Lion).

St Pauls and Ealing residents stop the Wheelie Bins

It seems that I'm keeping in touch with a small group of Ex-EuroNews friends on a fairly infrequent but regular basis - on this occasion first meet was at the front of St Paul's (London).

Wesley with a good book (perhaps the good book?)

It was interesting to see a statue to the founder of Methodism John Wesley near by - I would have thought that he was a little beyond the normal Christian experience for many (in fact the truth is of course some what different) .

Village people airbrushed from History

Also nearby is a more modern commemoration to the  founding of  the YMCA  (by George Williams and friends) it's an inscribed  stone - but doesn't mention the Village People song at all.

One for Nicola?

There were (and through the day) a plethora of Shaun the Sheep statues around  which are  now beginning to get a little wearing( to me).





Having dallied a little while we made a breif trip to Tate Modern - had a look at some of the more popular works which include Whaam! (a personal favourite but only just realised it has two 'a's)


It's nice to sometimes try a different watering hole and this time the place we gave what was new to me, just by Cannon Street and called The Vintry - very nice food and a great place to chat.
Near the pub/restaurant is a lovely little Wren Church, St Mary Abchurch and sticking our heads in there we were very luck to have a mini-tour from one of the 'Friends of the City Churches' who was there.

A part of the church ceiling

After this, some time in the  Museum of London another free Museum and dry - all in all generally a pretty good day.

Ealing Residents Stop The 'Wheelie Bins'

If you don't want to have those awful bins sign the petition - you've only got a few days!