26/06/2010

Lothar Hempel screenprint

If you're in the vicinity, I can recommend this show from Lothar Hempel at Modern Art. There's still a week left!

• Spiegel (monocomando), 2010, silkscreen on stainless steel

25/06/2010

Allotment Excitement

various lettuces in a window box

strawberries on straw

onions and upturned wine crates

spiraling pea tendrils

Ever the city-dweller, Edward finds gardening Sisyphean yet never grumbles about a cache of organic veg. Okay, perhaps the excitement's not exactly instantaneous, but that's probably why I like it. I'm not even sure what goes through my mind when I'm at the allotment. Here's a few things making an appearance and, if they survive the bike journey, there's even some poppies for the home too.

poppies and David Hockney postcard

20/06/2010

Polke Dots





• Sigmar Polke (1941-2010), Untitled (dots), watercolour on paper, 1963
• Benjamin Katz, Sigmar Polke

18/06/2010

Municipal Murals




I'd often pondered the fate of the ceramic mural on the vacant GPO building, Farringdon Road, though it wasn't until seeing the wall relief on Bexhill's 1970s Sainsbury's that I hoped someone was forming an archive. Luckily, The Twentieth Century Society is targeting those features caught perilously between reappraisal and redevelopment and campaigning for their preservation. While the modernising thrust for constant renewal, admittedly, shapes the future's curios, the UK's recent architectural history (with its faint whiff of civic hope) can't be entirely without lessons for our lives here in C21.


• Works pictured are the innovations of
William Mitchell and form part of a staggering online archive. The site also outlines technical innovations and the groundbreaking use of materials employed in often gargantuan projects.

11/06/2010

New Arrivals




This Brown Bear is something of a revolution for us... well, a 90˚ revolution anyway. Tending to sag after a few days on the mantle-piece, I'm never too keen on landscape orientated cards when they're hinged top. We rejigged the spec a little and squeezed this 'autograph book' type format onto the same size sheet. That peachy colour is new to the collection too. Aptly called Salmon, perhaps it's the reason the cat looks so content.


10/06/2010

Spoil Sport


This is how my heart feels at the mention of football... it's gonna be a long month.

• Gabriel Orozco, Pinched Ball, 1993

02/06/2010

GWS


I'm heading westward this weekend, beneath that behemoth belly of the Westway, as GWS again open their state-of-the-art space to the public. They'll be the usual bargains from a host of talents, with visiting participants—like us—forming an outdoor market. The peckish can also patronise Steve's cafĂ©, whose ingredients often include the fruits (and vegetables) of toil in the kitchen garden.

12-6pm, Sat 5th & Sun 6th June
Great Western Studios
65 Alfred Road
London W2 5EU