the last couple of hours have been tedious. there's been too much to do this week and very little of it's been done, so i thought i'd stay a little late, but i've just been staring into middle distance and feeling tired. ho hum. a little update and then a final burst of productivity and then chucking out time...
tuesday night went along to the opening of the Hannah Barry gallery's summer sculpture (and other art) show. i was at their painting exhibition a few months ago and Sven, the co-owner, got chatting and said i should come to it. he was unusually chatty and friendly for a gallery owner... they've made quite a name for themselves in the last year and a little bit since they've been open, with reviews in the FT, outpost exhibition in the west end (2 doors along from Annely Juda), a showing at the Venice Biennale this year (the "Peckham Pavilion") and more good review. both notably young (25 and 30) they seem to just have loads of reasonably talented friends, connections, and aren't afraid of just doing stuff.
so, the show, it is "Bold Tendencies III" and it is on the top 2 levels of the carpark in the Cineplex on Rye Lane, Peckham. Very good indeed, a single scruffy lift (packed with visitors) takes you to level 6 (it's actually only the 2nd floor - they number the half-levels and start from ground) to a dark concrete car-park, with only one car parking there tonight, but dozens of nice-looking bikes looked to every available drainpipe and railing (you know the ones, retro or actually old and reconditioned, racer or touring, that mostly boys with skinny jeans and interesting but not ridiculous hairstyles and plaid shirts ride - oh wait, everyone's in plaid shirts this year) and the occasional security guard in a dark, smart suit. the visitors are all sort of flowing up the ramps towards pieces of gently glowing art, or groups of friends and acquaintances. the low concrete ceiling and plain half-height wall frame the views of a big artist-occupied warehouse across the railway line, and peckham in the sunset on the other side. My favorite piece in this dark space was a big loop of 8mm film projecting (business card sized) a sea view against a concrete column. a metal pipe played the sound of trains from the direction of the railway, but it was a small tape player stuck to the end. Piano wire stretched across vibrating gently, glimmering slightly in a carfeully placed light (how long before someone walks into it though). Big paintings and a bus stop style light-box. Even a small bit of white-walled-gallery installed (Andrew thought he recognised the work from the Camberwell degree show). local kids and older gallery visitors and lots and lots of art students. Circling up the ramps again to the very top, and the art is pretty much inconsequential: it's the top of a carpark, it's summer, there's a sunset happening and a couple of hundred kids hanging around noisily. there's even a bar, very nicely built in timber with a red canopy like the Rialto fish market, but it's too busy and they've run out of beer. the kids the kids, they are all good-looking. is like being on the set of Skins (not really but a little bit). Andrew said "Even the ones who aren't good-looking are good-looking. I don't know how they manage it."
If you're in the area, check it out. it's on til end of September. i think i'll go back, i'm curious whether it will be busy or not.
i noticed it a lot that night but i've been noticing lately that my person-recognition seems to be malfunctioning slightly. i think i recognise everyone, or that they look familiar, or like someone i know. Familiar strangers. maybe it has something to do with commuting where you do see the same strangers day after day, but it might be more than that. i even think i know people in adverts, is a strange feeling.
i was halfway up to kingsx and i was tired, i decided to stay over in london. realised too late that i had left tickets for the next day at home... so did a bonkers run up to cambridge and back down again in the morning before work. gah. i thought i would have more sleep than that.
so yesterday, it was back to hyde park, to see the Tindersticks and the unlikely return of Big Star. i was just heading there when my sister texted - she was on her way to see Take That at wembley! blimey. apparently on my recommendation (even though i've only seen them on TV). anyhoo, she hadn't thought to tell me, eh, but i was heading for a rather more sedate evening. oh, i've woken up a bit now, better do some work for a bit, more later...