On a day trip to London one should never plan to do too much because there is never enough time. Three galleries in one trip sounded like a lot as we would be looking at four different exhibitions - but we were game.
NPG:
First stop NPG - no nothing to do with Prince and the New Power Generation - get on.... But the National Portrait Gallery to see the finalists of the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize. Red head with red guinea pig was the winner - better known as 'Harriet and Gentleman Jack' by Jooney Woodward. Up close and personal this is a stunning shot. There were two other portraits that caught my eye. One was the boy in shower 'Oliver' by Kelvin Murray and 'Happy at 100' by Karsten Thormaehlen. Before looking at the exhibition I went and had a look at my favourite portrait Johann Christian Bach by Thomas Gainsborough. It is a lovely painting.
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| Harriet and Gentleman Jack, 2010 - Jooney Woodward |
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| Happy at 100, 2011 - Karsten Thormaehlen |
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| Oliver, 2011 - Kelvin Murray |
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| Johann Christian Bach, 1735-1782 - Thomas Gainsborough c 1776 Oil on Canvas |
Lunch:
Next was time for lunch which we enjoyed in an Italian around the back of the National Gallery. Then after watching Charlie Chaplin, Batman and a unicyclist entertain the crowd in Trafalgar Square (and also try to work out which rooftop they shot the reluctant bomber from in Spooks) we set off across the Thames to the South Bank and the Hayward Gallery.
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| Charlie Chaplin begging for money |
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| The sun was making weird things happen to the Thames |
Hayward Gallery:
Here the shows by George Condo 'Mental States' and Pipilotti Rist 'Eyeball Massage' were enjoyed. I had seen the interview Alistair Sookes had with George Condo on the Culture Show about this exhibition so it was rather startling to see this work for real. It is frankly disturbing, funny and challenging in equal measure. I don't like the demonic glee associated with the portraits he has created over the last decade - but I love his abstract work from the 80/90s. My favourites were 'Nothing is Important' 1985, 'Pink and Orange Abstraction' 1997 and 'Expanding Canvas' 1985.
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| Pink and Orange Abstraction, 1997 - George Condo Image curteosy of www.pbs.org |
Pipilotti is an artist who enjoys moving images and playing with how we view those pieces. It was all very entertaining, interesting and challenging. I loved the way the huge space was broken up into smaller spaces with the use of voile hanging from the ceiling. This separated her earlier work from the current work. My favourite was the small projection on the floor as a spot of light this drew the crowds because of the way it was viewed. Clever artist.
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| Heads waiting to go into the Hayward Gallery |
Somerset House:
A stroll over Waterloo Bridge looking for the Shard and we were at Somerset House.
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| We were not entirely sure which building was which |
The Dazed and Confused exhibition 'Making it up as we go along' is what we had come to see and very interesting it was. Intriguing portraits and some great ideas.
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| Dazed and Confused Show |
Spent a lovely 15 mins watching the ice skaters and if I can work out how to download the video off my Flip and onto here I will show you it.
And then the journey home.
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| The jewel that is London at night |
Conclusion: you can do 3 galleries in one trip and not feel worn out at the end of it.
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