Consuming Culture: 16-31 Jan 2020

John Grant at the Roundhouse

Here are brief descriptions of the various cultural things I did in the second half of January 2020. Food: 12:51 (Islington, 2020-01-18) Our second visit to 12:51, but the first time we tried the tasting menu. It’s a bit pricy (£75 a head, I think) but it’s well worth it. The food was wonderful. And… Continue reading Consuming Culture: 16-31 Jan 2020

Consuming Culture: 1-15 Jan 2020

Nataraja 1993 Bridget Riley

I want to do more blogging this year. So one thing I’m going to do is to write about the cultural experiences that I have. My plan is to write short reviews of any films, plays, exhibitions and lectures that I go to. To start us off, here’s what I did in the first half… Continue reading Consuming Culture: 1-15 Jan 2020

Dali and Film

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… Continue reading Dali and Film

Gilbert and George

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… Continue reading Gilbert and George

Roy Lichtenstein

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… Continue reading Roy Lichtenstein

Earth From The Air

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… Continue reading Earth From The Air

The Weather Project

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… Continue reading The Weather Project