Recently in culture Category

Yesterday we went to the Dali and Film exhibition that is currently running at the Tate modern.

Alongside many of his paintings they were showing a number of Dali's experiments with film. Most people will know about Dali's work with Buñuel[1] and the dream sequence from Hitchcock's Spellbound but there's plenty of his lesser-known work on show too.

My favourite was Destino, a short film that Dali worked on with Walt Disney in 1946. The film was shelved and was only completed in 2003 using computer animation. It's fabulous - in at least two meanings of the word.

If you have any interest at all in surrealism, film or Dali (and who isn't interested in one of those things?) then you should really go and see this exhibition. You'll love it.

[1] Confession time. I hadn't seen Un Chien Andalou until yesterday.

Gilbert and George are on top form again. Their new exhibition is called "Sonofagod Pictures: Was Jesus Heterosexual?" and it opens at the White Cube gallery today.

Even before the opening they've managed to grab just the right amount of press coverage by getting rent-a-bigot (and Tory MP) Ann Widdecombe to describe them as "blasphemous in the extreme". The Guardian quotes the artists' response:

Gilbert: Christians are abusive to humans - to women, to queers. They threaten us with hell.
George: That's offensive, not us.

Yesterday I went to see the new Roy Lichtenstein exhibition (warning - Flash and sound) at the Hayward Gallery.

As an avid comics fan, my earliest memories of "proper art" are of Lichtenstein works like Whaam! or Image Duplicator. This exhibition has lots of that stuff, but also a lot of newer[1] works that I hadn't seen before. My favourites of these were a number of paintings from Landscapes in the Chinese Style (which I can't find pictures of anywhere on the web[2]).

All in all, it's an interesting retrospective on one of the best artists of the last century. I recommend that you see it.

[1] I say "newer" but Lichtenstein died in 1997.
[2] The biggest respository of Lichtenstein's paintings on the web seems to be the Image Duplicator - but it can be a bit hard to search.

I spent some time yesterday at the Natural History Museum. In the grounds they have an exhibition based on Earth From The Air, a book of fabulous photographs that have been taken by Yann Arthus-Bertrand. There are some examples online here.

The book containing the photos was in every bookshop late last year, but the photos in the exhibition are far bigger. Seeing them at this size gives them far more impact. I'd really recommend going to see them before the exhibition closes in "late spring".

I finally went to see The Weather Project yesterday. I think that of the four large works that the Tate Modern has had in the Turbine Room this is my favourite - with Kapoor's Marsyas a close second.

The Turbine Room is such a huge space that any work of art built on that scale is bound to be impressive in some way. It's been a great addition to London's arts scene.

I made a massive screw-up this week.

My step-daughter is doing her GCSEs next year. One of the plays she will be studying is Romeo & Juliet. As it's currently playing at the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park and the Open Air Theatre is one of the best places to see any kind of theatre we decided that we'd take her along to see it there.

So I was put in charge of buying three tickets, which I did via their web site on Monday. I book tickets for last night. Saturday, 17th. Except I didn't.

When we got there, I went to the box office to pick up the tickets. I gave the chap my name and showed him my credit card. "Did you book on the internet?" he asked. Then he showed me the booking he had found on their database. It was for the previous night - Friday 16th.

"Please tell me that you still have tickets for tonight", I pleaded - dreading going to tell my family that we wouldn't be seeing any theatre. They were sold out, but he did have a group of three returns. They were better than our original seats.

"I'll have to sell them to you", he explained, "As it wasn't our fault." I agreed. He as they started to complete the transaction he had a change of heart. "Tell you what", he said, "paying full price twice really sucks. I'll give you these for our cheapest price." So he sold us three £17 tickets for £8.50 each. It's really nice to know that there are people like that still about.

Shame about the play tho'. Romeo & Juliet isn't one of my favourite Shakespeare plays. And this production really wasn't very good.