Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Arty day
Started off with the pond, finding that you get very interesting effects if you drop a small drop of liquid yellow mud into clear still water. It balloons out and looks, to all appearances, like one of those strange underwater animals you get in places like the National Geographic. If I was industrious, I could follow up by adding small amounts of dye to the small amount of mud to get a three dimensional version of the sort of pyschodelic effect that used to be obtained with coloured oils, bubbles, and overhead projectors in the discos of my youth.
Then off to the Wigmore Hall to hear a very slender Russian lady play Bach on her violin. Very impressive stuff; a mystery how someone so small and weedy looking can pack so much punch for so long. At times I had aural hallucinations, thinking that I was hearing several instruments playing, rather than one. Sell out with a proper Wigmore Hall sort of audience, with a reasonable number of older people who looked as if they took their music quite seriously.
Followed up with a visit to the Canadian High Commission in Trafalgar Square to see an exhibition of the photgraphic work of a Croatian lady domiciled in Canada about women in Afganistan. I learn that the High Commission started life as a club and a very grand club it must have been too. Built in 1825 or so but refurbed for the Canadians in the 1920s by one Septimus Warwick, according to Wikipedia. Ground floor full of large pink marble pillars and the remnants of fancy brown woodwork. Exhibition scattered around the ground floor a bit disappointing. Very few shots of Afganistan itself but a lot more portraits of eminent Afganistan ladies. Directors of this and that. What few shots there were made the place look a bit bleak and barren. No wonder it has stayed so rugged for so long. Bit like the wilds of Scotland 300 years ago or the wilds of Wales 500 years ago. I also learnt, from a pamphlet about their reconstruction work there, that the Canadians could relate to winters in Afganistan - so perhaps they have the edge on our chaps, in that department at least.
Wound up with a visit to the South Korean cultural centre to see some work commemorating many years of something or other by an artist who specialises in using recycled materials. This illustrates the tricky divide between objects of art and objects of household. A floral theme and some of the peices were good fun, it not exactly fine art.
Last but not least, having defected from the baker at Cheam for the day, bought a very fine small round white loaf from the Italian grocery, I think in Brewer Street. Just along from the white marble place which used to be a near-French charcouterie and is now a near-French fish resaurant. The odd thing was that this loaf was only 70p or so - significantly less than I pay in Cheam. Very light, white fluffy bread; quite differant from my normal fare. Goes very well with butter.
Then off to the Wigmore Hall to hear a very slender Russian lady play Bach on her violin. Very impressive stuff; a mystery how someone so small and weedy looking can pack so much punch for so long. At times I had aural hallucinations, thinking that I was hearing several instruments playing, rather than one. Sell out with a proper Wigmore Hall sort of audience, with a reasonable number of older people who looked as if they took their music quite seriously.
Followed up with a visit to the Canadian High Commission in Trafalgar Square to see an exhibition of the photgraphic work of a Croatian lady domiciled in Canada about women in Afganistan. I learn that the High Commission started life as a club and a very grand club it must have been too. Built in 1825 or so but refurbed for the Canadians in the 1920s by one Septimus Warwick, according to Wikipedia. Ground floor full of large pink marble pillars and the remnants of fancy brown woodwork. Exhibition scattered around the ground floor a bit disappointing. Very few shots of Afganistan itself but a lot more portraits of eminent Afganistan ladies. Directors of this and that. What few shots there were made the place look a bit bleak and barren. No wonder it has stayed so rugged for so long. Bit like the wilds of Scotland 300 years ago or the wilds of Wales 500 years ago. I also learnt, from a pamphlet about their reconstruction work there, that the Canadians could relate to winters in Afganistan - so perhaps they have the edge on our chaps, in that department at least.
Wound up with a visit to the South Korean cultural centre to see some work commemorating many years of something or other by an artist who specialises in using recycled materials. This illustrates the tricky divide between objects of art and objects of household. A floral theme and some of the peices were good fun, it not exactly fine art.
Last but not least, having defected from the baker at Cheam for the day, bought a very fine small round white loaf from the Italian grocery, I think in Brewer Street. Just along from the white marble place which used to be a near-French charcouterie and is now a near-French fish resaurant. The odd thing was that this loaf was only 70p or so - significantly less than I pay in Cheam. Very light, white fluffy bread; quite differant from my normal fare. Goes very well with butter.
# posted by Jim @ 3:44 AM 
