It’s stinky sweaty hot in London right now
and its been this way for several weeks. Frankly, if it carries on any longer
we might actually have to start calling it a summer. But let’s not get ahead of
ourselves.
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| Only in London could pubs and flower baskets seem such natural companions |
It’s been a strange, busy, exhausting
couple of weeks – the heat not helped by the cold I seem to be coming down with
– or the fact that Lovely Boy and I have finally called time on London, having
made the humongous decision to go back to Sydney at the end of October. I
sobbed telling work, absolutely well and truly lost my shit about it. There was
not a single toy left in the pram because I love the people I work with and I
love my job (case in point: they were amazing and supportive and inspired and
wonderful.)
I lost my shit because in a lot of ways I
really don’t want to go – and only part of that is driven by a fear of the
unknown that’s tugging at my guts like a toddler to a t-shirt. It’s been a big
decision to come to terms with and I’ve been overwhelmed and grateful even to
realise how much I love London and how extraordinary this time has been. To
realise how lucky I am, we are, to be going home on our terms and still in the
relative throes of a love affair with this city and not hating its frigging
guts. Though there’s definitely something to read into the fact that we’ll be
gone before the Europeans summer time ends.
Anyway, I’m determined not to be too
maudlin about it, and I am now starting to get excited about the opportunities
and adventures to be had in Sydney, both professionally and personally. But
really, I just want to make the most of this weather and this time and this
incredible city while we can.
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| Miles Aldridge for Vogue Italia |
So yesterday I went with my dear friend
Hannah to Somerset House for lunch and culture. I’ve only ever been to Somerset
House to attempt ice-skating or see an exhibition at the Courtauld. I’ve never
lunched on the river terrace (the service is haphazard and the food not cheap
but the location and atmosphere is wonderful) nor seen an exhibition there so
it was a lovely date, even if we were wilting and unhelpfully jealous of the
small children dousing themselves in the fountain.
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| Miles Aldridge for Vogue Italia |
The photography exhibition, a career
retrospective of sorts of the fashion photographer Miles Aldridge was bright
and shiny and quite stunning. His creative collaborations
with Italian Vogue in particular are pretty impressive – he conjures these dark,
female domestic narratives and tableaux which Vogue then decorate in high couture.
Think super-saturated Stepford Wives and a compelling, creepy beauty.
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| Katharina Fritsch, Hahn / Cock, Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth Commission 2013 |
Because it was a modest show and because we
were already in town, we decided to shadow hop our way to Trafalgar Square to
see the latest Fourth Plinth commission, Hahn
/ Cock by German sculpture Katharina Fritsch. There’s a lot of mileage to
be had in this work in the form of cheap gags but as an obvious metaphor for
all the other male posturing going on in Trafalgar Square – from statues to
street performers – it’s a straightforward enough work to appreciate with
enough visual bang to be an effective addition to the Square. Plus, giving
Boris Johnson the chance to make a complete, well, cock of himself by not being
able to say the word ‘cock’ on its unveiling was just a free gift with
commission really.
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| Katharina Fritsch, Hahn / Cock, Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth Commission 2013 |
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| Also going on in Trafalgar Square yesterday, on the steps of St-Martin-in-the-Fields |
And because we were now in Trafalgar Square
and because Michael Landy’s ‘Saints Alive’ exhibition at the National Gallery
has been on my radar for a couple of weeks, we sought it out amid the crowds
took refuge in the air conditioning.
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| Michael Landy, Saints Alive, National Gallery, London 2013 |
Landy’s been at the National Gallery since
2009 as the eighth Rootstein Hopkins Associate Artist. Bring his interests in
assemblage, destruction and the story of things to bear here, Landy’s seven
mechanical sculptures bring to life the deaths of several saints including
Jerome, Thomas, Francis of Assissi and Catherine of Alexandria who are
portrayed elsewhere in the gallery in paintings by artists including Botticelli
and Carlo Crivelli.
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| Michael Landy, Saints Alive, National Gallery, London 2013 |
These larger than life sculptures are
animated by the pushing of pedals and pulling of levers and there’s something
quite shocking about seeing Saint Jerome thump his fibreglass chest with a
heavy rock in the hope of quietening his impure sexual thoughts, never mind
Apollonia reliving her torture by yanking her teeth out with a pair of pliers.
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| Michael Landy, Saints Alive, National Gallery, London 2013 |
There’s a great beauty to the sculptural,
mechanical elements of these works and Landy’s preparatory collages, which
decorate the walls of the first hall, are just exquisite. It’s well worth a
visit. I haven't been back to the National Gallery since that truly memorable dinner last February and I should probably add a return visit to my bucket list if I'm going to continue to pretend that I work in the arts.
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| Michael Landy, Saints Alive, National Gallery, London 2013 |
Anyway, it was a lovely, albeit steamy, day replete with great art and wonderful company. A Good
Day. Here’s to a few more of them.
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