Yee-Haw!

Congratulations to our dear friend, Liz, on 5 cancer-free years. Our thoughts go to those with less happy news.

• Leonard Rosoman (1913-2012), Figure in Garden with Sunflowers, 1956

Black Book

When I heard it was the centenary of Durrell's birth, I didn't think of the dense soaps and dreary travelogues of his later writing but of this dark little kernel, The Black Book. To re-read it in adulthood may make its livid prose fall limp, though as a teenager I'm not sure what thrilled me more; to recogise familiar places (in south London) or to have them peopled by such unfamiliar characters. Once championed by Henry Miller and T.S. Eliot, you can pick it up these days for a penny.

• Faber's 1987 paperback. Jacket: Pentagram. Illustration: David Gentleman.

I hadn't realised The Comedy Theatre had changed its name, last time I was there was probably 10 years back, watching an old friend Jonathan McGuinness in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Brilliant.

Now it's called The Harold Pinter Theatre and, post production, they flog their props on eBay. This big rug was an even bigger bargain and recently appeared beneath Thandie Newton, you know.

Death & the Maiden received favourable reviews but no special mention for the carpet. Judging by the cat's expression, she's not too sure... suddenly everyone's a critic.

Brrr!

A glutton for punishment, I've been reading seasonally themed books of late. First up was Veleda Vida's Let the Northern Lights Remember Your Name (there must be some glyph I could insert here to imply indifference, a typographic shrug of the shoulders), followed by To Siberia by Per Petterson.


As I read both my mind wandered to a third chilly tome, 12 Days on the Norwegian Coastal Steamer, an old travelogue I picked up from Charing Cross Road. Reidar Johan Berle's illustrations are just-the-ticket!

• 12 Days on the Norwegian Coastal Steamer, Erling Welle-Strand, 1961

Making Eyes

There's quite a large series of these studies from Francis Picabia's mid-career and they're all equally astonishing. If you care to, you can see more here, here, here, here, or even here... though my personal favourite can be found here.

Hope you have your own ecstatic embrace this Valentine's Day.

• Francis Picabia, The Kiss, 1923

Quite White

The UK will be looking quite white to orbiting satellites this morning but you'll find no photos here, I'm staying indoors with the cat. You can have this very pretty picture by Vera Spencer instead. In fact, if you've got a spare £2,850 you could buy the original.

• Vera Spencer, View Through a Window, watercolour on paper, c1940

• Ben Gazzara, 1930-2012

Don't Book Now

There are certain forums where joining the throng is a positive exhilaration and, though experiencing art doesn't number among them, I'll occasionally be tempted by a blockbuster exhibition (Hockney at the RA, say, or Freud's portraits at The National). Ultimately the 'Book now' tag on the poster sounds the final death knell and I'll see a handful of smaller shows instead. A pity then that a recent trip into town didn't quite allow for a quick flit east to take in Renee So's show. Maybe next time.

• Captain, 2010, wool, acrylic, oak
• Bellarmine IX, 2012, ceramic

Renee So, 18 Jan-25 Feb, 2012
Kate Macgarry, 27 Old Nichol Street
London E2 7HR

• Mike Kelley, 1954-2012

Backstamps

 

When I was young the mug making game was pretty much nailed down by KilnKraft, they'd brand the base of the piece in relief and the artwork would incorporate a separate credit elsewhere (usually near the handle on the far side of a right-handed drinker). Maybe that's why we weren't so bothered about having a backstamp of our own, despite everyone's protestations.
 

 

Now we're changing suppliers it seems a good time to capitulate, we've spent all week sketching different designs until forced to surrender, letting the mind go blank and willing the right idea to announce itself sometime soon. It's uncanny how many times you want to use the Dover Street Market or Ordning & Reda logos without thinking. In the meantime, we'll probably go for some pedestrian button motif.

 

I still couldn't help doing a little research though, up-ending everything I laid hands on. My favourite things were these scrappy little drawings in a pocket-sized antiques guide. Sketched like occultish glyphs by Stanley Fisher, they have the all the scratchy symbolism of silvery tattoos from the bodies of sailors and convicts in early photography.

• English Pottery & Porcelain Marks, W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd, 1970

From Behind

I've had this folksy little glass painting for years, although I've always hated the frame. This week I salvaged some beading to make another, revealing the simple technique in the process. Built up in layers like old cell animation, the rear reminds me of Color Field abstraction.

Spent the first week of the year in London catching up with the friends we've missed so desperately since moving to Sussex*. Nice as it was, it wasn't all bad coming back to our little house (and Pocket, the cat, was certainly pleased to see us), but I still can't help wishing the tube stopped somewhere nearer the foot of our hill.

* Our thoughts are with one friend in particular right now, whose family last week began to realise their 19 year struggle for justice over the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Hello and Happy New Year! This festive season I learned that Judy Garland's later, faltering rendition of 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas' can make a lot of tears from only a little alcohol; that a wreath on the door scratches like a hungry monster once the wind picks up; and that spontaneous applause, such as greeted Vaclev Havel's casket, is the finest eulogy a person can hope for.

The annual visit to the UK high street also taught me that Navajo prints are just about everywhere. I guess that means a cherished tablecloth (actually Scandinavian) and the cat's favourite throw (acid dyed blue in the bath) will soon seem passé to those in-the-know. If I could have anything genuinely Navajo though, irrespective of trend, it'd be the 1930s monogrammed rug gifted to George Herriman, creator of Krazy Kat (I've been saving a picture of this for years, only right now I can't find it).

Robin Recital

Festive feathered felicitations, fellows!
—
Warm wishes for the holiday season and all-the-best for 2012.

Old Bag

• Scratchy cycling Santa sketches (illustrator unknown)

City-1 / Country-0

Once upon a time I'm sure that setting fire to stuff was the great skill people still pretend. Truth is, matches and fire-lighters have made the process pretty straight forward. This week I've found out all efforts are futile when the wind's heaving right down the chimney. But then who in their right mind would want a cosy fire during a storm?

Coming soon... The Poundshop 5 from Household on Vimeo.

Kiln Cat

Although throwing pots was much more fun, I spent a fair amount of last year slip-casting too. Regrettably we had to stop wholesaling our owl figurine when demand outstripped production and enquiries for outsourcing came to nil (I'd love to transcribe the conversations, but let's just say the death of UK industry is sometimes no surprise).
 

This weekend I'll be selling some of the quality seconds beneath the Westway at Great Western's Open Studio event. The remaining stock proper will be available at Elphick's or via us online soon. This cat was set to be our next figurine but we only got as far as the prototype. I'd really love a kiln... but where to put it?

 

Christmas Open Studios 2011, Great Western Studios
65 Alfred Road, London W2 5EU
Sat 3rd & Sun 4th December, 12 noon - 6pm both days
Café open both days, Admission free

Geek of the Week

Barcelona based illustrator Kavel Rafferty often makes sketches in series, finding meaning through difference, repetition and the accumulation of objects. While shoes, records, cranes and signage are all charmingly collated and catalogued in her work, it's the images of childhood and nostalgia that are somehow more telling.



Freud would reckon on the collector's indexical drive arising from the need to find order in chaos, abate the passage of time and guard against loss. Or maybe collecting stuff is just good ol' geeky fun. Either way, you can decide for yourself as Kavel spreads her archive fever to East London, curating an exhibition of Risographic prints by collectors, artists, photographers and designers at East London's Mill Co. Project. With all the work up for grabs, they may start collecting your pennies too!

• Images courtesy of another of Kavel's exhaustive side projects, Record Envelope.
Collectionistas, 26 Nov, 12 noon-7pm
The Mill Co. Project, Lime Wharf
Vyner Street, London E2