Am on Easter break now until the end of the month which is extremely exciting. Have so much work to do it's rather ridiculous but I'm hoping that resurgent boosts of enthusiasm and organisational chutzpah will see me through the 4000 word essay, 20 minute presentation and 600 word exhibition review I have to get done before the 27th. While I work, nanny and pack up my room to move out on the 26th. Why do one thing at once when you can do 25 I ask?
So yes, I gave notice last Friday and felt instantly better about the state of things. Have been house hunting all over London and am within moments of taking a lease on a divine little apartment in Shoreditch within walking distance of Colombia Rd, Broadway Market, Shoreditch High St, Hoxton Square and Curtain Rd - so flowers, food, cocktails, art galleries and more food and cocktails. A pretty heady combination. It will be one less thing to stress about if we do get it so my fingers and toes are all crossed.
Yesterday I went to a couple of art exhibitions with the vague hope of finding inspiration for assignment #2. Hauser & Wirth gallery was a tad uninspiring but thrilling for the brief encounter we had with Mario Testino as we walked out the door. Oh London.
The gallery is located on Piccadilly, right across from the Royal Academy of Arts - and next door to the Picadilly Markets - a fairly tawdry attempt to rip tourists off with overpriced 'antiques' and hideous glass-blown figurines but I was enamoured - I love love love Magnolia trees and the church square was home to the most glorious one I think I've ever seen:
It was ENORMOUS. And in full bloom.
Sigh. So beautiful.
Wandering through the Burlington Arcade on our way to the next gallery Cleo and I stopped to paw nearly every window of grossly over-priced antique jewellery. Window licking was taken to new levels of extreme and it's a small miracle we didn't actually wander in to any of these shops to ask about the possibility of long-term layby. Surviving the gauntlet of sparkly beautiful baubles our next gallery stop was the new Haunch of Venison in the old Museum of Mankind at Burlington Gardens. Part of the British Museum, when they decided to re-integrate the Ethnographic Department back in with the main site in Bloomsbury this exquisite building was left for the taking and Haunch of Venison, thanks no doubt in large part to its controversial purchasing by Christie's in February 2007, was able to take over this ridiculously huge space.
I don't think I've ever been to a commercial art gallery before that features a sweeping grand staircase and ladies loos with expensive hand lotion. As Cleo said when we walked in, "Well Thank You Christie's".
Thank you indeed. An up yours to These Trying Times if ever there was one, "Mythologies" was a hugely impressive exhibition littered with both historically significant works and recent creations by some serious contemporary art world hard hitters. A homage to the history of the building, the exhibition was so wide-reaching and museum-like in its curation you couldn't be further from the experience of a staid contemporary art exhibition in a sterile white cube commercial art gallery. That said though, as a contemporary art gallery, I'm not sure how you go about selling works of such historical import - I'm not even sure if they were for sale. But fuck it was tempting to wander up to the gallerina on the front desk and say with upmost nonchalance, "I'll take the Kienholz, the Kounellis, the Nauman, and oh, what the heck, throw in a couple of Sophie Calle's while you're there." Methinks not.
Anyway - the sun is shining today, we're looking at a place in Islington this afternoon (always good to have a back up plan...) and I'm off now for a swim before heading in to school to get my last essay back. That should be interesting...
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