Cornelia Parker At Tate Britain

September 23, 2022 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

I had only vaguely heard of Cornelia Parker before my brief trip to London last week (primarily to see my dentist and my football team). Long-Suffering Wife informed me that this artist had done a work involving an exploding shed and I did vaguely recall that. It was enough to encourage me to book a visit to her current exhibition at Tate Britain and, yes, the exploding shed (called ‘Cold Dark Matter: A Exploded View’) is indeed on show as part of a career-to-date retrospective.

*^{Cornelia Parker’s ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’}*

My visit didn’t start particularly well. After a now familiar, but nonetheless lovely, breakfast of kedgeree at Ozone, I strolled to Tate Modern. Once inside, I floundered around like an idiot for a few minutes before realising that the Cornelia Parker exhibition was at Tate Britain not Tate Modern. The upside of this rookie error was that, to even get close to my ticket booking time, I had to travel by Uber-boat down the Thames to get to the right side of town. It was a very pleasant ride on an almost deserted ferry.

*^{Views Of Tate Modern And The Houses Of Parliament From The Thames Uber Boat}*

The Cornelia Parker was at the back of the Tate Britain building and the route to it took me past an enormous display by Hew Locke called The Procession. I was late and in a hurry but as I walked past I could see that the installation was full of a sense of carnival but also images of slavery, colonialism and imperialism. It was certainly an impressive and very colourful use of the main, central space in the gallery and I spent a little more time viewing it on my way back from the Parker exhibition.

*^{Views of Hew Locke’s ‘The Procession’ At Tate Britain}*

The Cornelia Parker retrospective was a bit of a surprise even though I only had hazy ideas of what to expect. It was posed those perennial questions about ‘what is art?’ through display of part-manufactured goods, used products and repurposed objects. It was an exhibition revealing process as well as end result.

For example, she worked with a police force to obtain a shot gun that they had destroyed by cutting it up. The several parts had been placed alongside a strip of rust grains from another rusted and destroyed gun in a way that implied blood caused by firearms. Violence was implied by a number of other objects such as the steel template of a gun from the earliest stage of gun manufacture.

Other works included piles of black lacquer cut from discs to produce vinyl records (‘Negatives of Sound’) and piles of silver left over from engravings (‘Negative of Words’). Another weirdly attractive set of works were cloths stained from rubbing silver spoons belonging to famous/infamous persons such as Davy Crockett and Guy Fawkes (see below).

In one room there were a series of suspended pools of crushed silver objects apparently collected from flea markets and then collectively flattened by a steamroller (‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’). Another similar exhibit was of flattened brass instruments hung in a circle like a huge silver mobile (‘Perpetual Canon’).

*^{‘Thirty Pieces of Silver’ By Cornelia Parker At Tate Britain}*

*^{‘Perpetual Canon’ By Cornelia Parker At Tate Britain}*

‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploded View’ was the centrepiece of the exhibition and was an arresting sight. As the accompanying blurb pointed out, it both looked like a moment of explosion but also, as one stood back, felt like an implosion; like a moment in one of those films of something exploding put into reverse.

*^{Close Ups ‘Cold Dark Matter: An Exploding View’}*

It was great that the exhibition wasn’t crowded and I spent quite a while peering into the exploded shed at the diverse and disintegrated contents. The explosion, when organised by Parker with the Army School of Ammunition and a chunk of Semtex, had clearly followed some degree of cramming of the shed with strange objects from toys to clothing and from tools to cable. As with some other works on show, the shadows were as impactful as the substance. Nicely done!

On my way home I stopped in opportunistically at the White Cube Gallery in Masons Yard which I had not visited before. This gallery is smaller in scale than its bigger brother White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey but follows a similar pattern with very large, starkly pure white rooms.

*^{Leon Wuidar at The White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London}*

On the walls were numerous works by a Belgian artist called Léon Wuidar. The works had a pleasant simplicity and some had very warm, comforting colours. It was a more straightforward art experience than that Cornelia Parker and the Tate had provided earlier in the day but I’m glad I popped in to see it.

*^{Graffiti Mural (By Morganico, Apparently) Near Mason’s Yard. I Love How This Stuff Pops Up In London}*

Seeing Football, Missing Football

September 15, 2022September 15, 2022 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

To Long-Suffering Wife’s (LSW’s) occasional frustration, I have been careful up to now to ensure that our trips to Edinburgh to see First Grandchild and his parents haven’t clashed with home fixtures for my football club, Forest Green Rovers (FGR). I have a season ticket and, quite apart from my desire (obsession?) to see my team play whenever I reasonably can, I’m the sort of person that wants to get full value from my season ticket investment.

However, I am not going to be able to keep this up since First Grandchild (FG) has a birthday around a weekend when FGR are playing at home. Even football doesn’t take precedence over celebrating the end of his first year with us.

That birthday is in November but I am already going to miss another home game later this week when I am accompanying LSW to her long-weekend college reunion in Buxton, Derbyshire. I regret missing the game but, in truth, it is going to be nice to get away for a change of scene again given that we haven’t had a proper holiday this year.

In any case, I have just been able to engineer seeing an away game at Charlton in London during a trip ostensibly to attend my annual dental check-up and to fix a recently broken tooth. So, I have managed to keep up my support in person at a good number of FGR’s games so far this season.

Unfortunately, following promotion as Champions from English Football League 2 last May, this season in a higher league is a struggle. The scale of the clubs we are playing, the impressiveness of their stadiums and the quality of the football is all much greater than in the past. As a result, positive results have, so far, been hard to come by.

*^{A Minutes Silence For The Queen at Charlton Athletic}*

So, it was great that I was able to see us wobble through to secure a draw and a well-earned point at Charlton Athletic – one of the ‘big’ teams who were once in the English Premier League but who now have to cope with us in English Football League 1 (EFL1). Even better, I was able to meet up with a great Australian friend of Youngest Son (and devoted supporter of FGR) at the game and catch up, and sing along, with him. Based on the performance in our last two games, I remain hopeful that we can consolidate our position in EFL1.

*^{Edinburgh’s Inverleith Park: Picnic Panorama}*

More on my brief London trip another time….. Earlier, our August trip to Edinburgh was, as usual, lovely. It was, of course, great to see how much First Grandchild had developed since the last time we have seen him some 6 weeks or so previously. It was nice too to see how Eldest Son (ES) and his partner have settled into their new flat (including a newly decorated kitchen) and have got FGs sleeping at night more under control.

A major change since visits earlier in the year was that, whereas we used to take FG out in his buggy when it was time for him to sleep, now we take him out between naps to keep him awake. That makes the walks around Edinburgh more interesting for him and us. I can envisage that by the time of our next visit, FG won’t be so content to be in his buggy and will want to try out his embryonic walking skills.

*^{Aerial View Of Part Of The Royal Botanical Gardens, Edinburgh}*

We did our usual trip to, and around, the Royal Botanic Gardens. The gardens are interesting all year around and FG particularly likes the running water and waterfalls in the Rockery. For me, the highlight was the Kitchen Garden in front of the Botanic Cottage which was planted with wild flowers. The mix was varied cleverly throughout the planted space so that, when standing in the middle, the colour palette shifted as one turned around.

FG was much more impressed by our visit to the National Museum of Scotland. I’m going to love taking him here every time I get up to Edinburgh. For a small child, there is so much going on, so many buttons to push and so much movement. At this stage, FG seems more interested in the other children than the exhibits but I can see hours of fun ahead.

*^{National Museum Of Scotland, Edinburgh}*

We also had a lengthy walk to The Meadows to the south of Edinburgh centre. Because the timing of our trip coincided with the Edinburgh Fringe – a gathering over a few weeks of a staggering multitude of performance artists from all over the UK and, indeed, the World – the central streets and cafes were crowded.

The streets were also dominated by piles of rubbish because our visit also coincided with a strike by rubbish clearance workers in Edinburgh that had been going on for over a week. The huge piles of trash everywhere underlined how much rubbish we generate in a typical big city and how dependent we are on public services to hide the issue of rubbish disposal from our day to day lives.

Although the overflowing rubbish bins were not a great advertisement for Edinburgh (the workers dispute is now resolved), the city remains a great attraction for LSW and I. The architecture in the centre is stunning, the galleries and museums are befitting of a capital city, the area ES and his partner live in is close to interesting shops, and even the playgrounds we took FG to seemed better appointed but more accessible than average.

We are both looking forward to our November birthday party visit hugely – even though I will miss the delights of watching Forest Green Rovers play live!

Three London Exhibitions

March 16, 2022March 16, 2022 / fgrtommo / 3 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, during visits to London to meet up with friends I hadn’t seen for the couple of years of the pandemic, I slotted three art exhibitions into my schedule. Exhibitions in the great cultural centres of London are almost invariably well thought-out, well presented and well worth seeing. These three were no exception even though I didn’t enjoy them quite as much as some of the truly outstanding exhibitions I have seen in London over the last few years.

For the first exhibition, I followed in Long-Suffering Wife’s (LSW’s) footsteps by attending an exhibition of Louise Bourgeois’ recent work at the Hayward Gallery; LSW recommended it having visited with an old friend a couple of weeks earlier.

*^{Variety of Typical Work By Louise Bourgeois (Note The Cow Bone Coathangers!)}* *^{At Tate Modern}*

The exhibition, called Louise Bourgeois: The Woven Child focuses on her use of textiles. She often sewed fabric to create sculptures set in mobiles or in large vitrines or cages. I found those on the first floor of the exhibition rather oppressive but, upstairs, the colours were brighter and I warmed to the themes of her work.

I particularly liked the sets of print and fabric compositions based around spiders’ webs and the concept of spiders as a weaver and repairer of its woven lairs that dominated the second half of the exhibition. The large sculpture of a mother spider, surrounded by a cage and a host of artefacts hinting at threat, protective motherhood and Louise’s own childhood memories, seemed to reflect and oversee a number of other nearby works. I ended up really enjoying the exhibition and the way it was laid out.

*^{Spider by Louise Bourgeois (1997) At Tate Modern}*

I then went to the latest exhibition at The Barbican: Postwar Modern: New Art in Britain 1945-1965. Again, it took me a while to ‘get into’ the content of the exhibition. As usual, it was very well curated and presented with, I found, just the right amount of information in a great space for art. Many different themes were portrayed with each allocated a room or distinct area of the exhibition.

*^{Bronze Figures By Eduardo Paolozzi (1957/8)}*

Perhaps I didn’t quite get the overall point about a ‘rough poetry’ that underpinned and, apparently, linked the work on display. But I certainly could see some overarching points about dislocation, rebuilding and hope for the future. The location, in the heart of the Barbican, which is itself a remarkable monument to post war brutalist rebuilding, created a perfect context for the Postwar Modern scope.

*^{The Barbican – Such A Wonderful Space For An Art Exhibition}*

There were several artists represented that I am familiar with but there were several others that were entirely new to me. Inevitably I enjoyed some rooms/areas – each given poignant names like ‘Horizon’, ‘Concrete’, ‘Scars’ and ‘Strange Universe’ – much more than others but, overall, it was absorbing and impressive. Given that I saw it on its second day and it is on until late June, I may visit again.

*^{I loved This – A Bowl By Lucy Rie and Hans Coper (1955)}*

Finally, LSW and I visited the ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’ exhibition at the Tate Modern. I went in not knowing much about the exhibition and perhaps it was a mistake not to have read more about it beforehand and not to give it more time than we had.

*^{No Surrealist Art Exhibition Complete Without A Lobster Phone By Salvador Dali!}*

It is a very broad exhibition (hence the ‘Beyond Borders’ title). Although the rooms tried to compartmentalise this breadth around geographies (Cairo, Mexico, The Caribbean for example) or themes (portrayals of dreams, desire and the ‘uncanny’ for example), I struggled to build in my head either a time line or logic to the exhibition as a whole.

*^{‘Deification Of A Soldier’ By Yamashita Kikuji (1967) – Seemed Apt For Our Current Times}*

In addition, and unlike the Louise Bourgeois and Postwar Modern exhibitions, there just weren’t many works that I really liked. Too many were unsettling (as I’m sure they are meant to be) to the point of ugliness; I just don’t think I appreciate surrealist art as much as other styles. However, it’s always good to have the opportunity to visit such exhibitions even if it merely confirms ones predilections.

*^{The Painting I Enjoyed Most In The Surrealism Exhibition, By Alice Rahon (1955)}*

I shall miss the relatively high frequency of my tours of London art and museum exhibitions once we lose our base there (the flat I used on weekdays before I retired), but I’m sure I will find new excuses to get up to London in the future and will squeeze a few more exhibition visits in.

Old Mates, New Gig

March 13, 2022 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

In the last two weeks I have revived two lines of enjoyment that have been very constrained since the start of the pandemic two years ago: going to a gig and meeting up with groups of old friends on London.

^{London – Always A Treat To Visit This Great City}

It was on the 13 March 2020 that Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I went to Bath to see a concert by Faeland. It was a similar length of time ago when I last met up with a bunch of old, London-based friends as part of an ongoing set of get-togethers to visit restaurants representing each, in turn, a letter of the alphabet. We had been stuck on ‘S’ (for Spain as it turned out) for around two years.

It’s always good to visit London and always great to catch up with old friends there. Not only did I get to meet with my alphabetically-sequenced restaurant group of mates (at Donostia) but I also separately caught up with a few other long-standing ex-workmates and friends over lunch at Ombra. Both restaurants were small-dish-based (Basque and Italian respectively). Neither was inexpensive but the food was tasty, the wine flowed and the company was very welcome after such a long break from group conviviality.

^{Views From Our Barbican Flat – Now For Sale (Sadly)}

LSW and I also caught up with some old friends before going on to a concert by Hope Tala at Village Underground. This is a great, medium-sized venue that I have been to many times before, but not since retirement getting on for 5 years ago. We met up beforehand at the bar at Tavla with a couple of female friends from our time living in Kew. At this moment in the Covid pandemic recovery, it’s a very relaxed and convenient bar for these purposes – buzzy but not too crowded with good value drinks and friendly service – and it has become our go-to bar in East London.

*^{Getting Busier Again – Whitecross Street Lunch Market Next To Our Flat}*

Hope Tala is a good friend of the daughter of one of these Kew friends – hence the choice of concert. The daughter is now doing many of Hope’s music videos. This is a line of work that has become more interesting to me since Youngest Son (YS) dabbled in music video as part his mainstream video business (at Wilson Archer Films). Hope played an energetic and vibrant gig that was full of poppy riffs with a Latin tinge. I’ve surprised myself with the extent the songs have stayed in my head for the days since. Based on what I heard, Hope Tala will go far and I hope that creates a platform for more video creation for our friend’s daughter.

*^{Hope Tala And Band At Village Underground}*

While in London, I fitted in a three exhibitions but I’ll take a breath and post separately on those. Following the recent meetings of groups of London-based friends, a gig (at last!), and a few exhibition visits, life seems to be returning to normal. Next week we are off to Edinburgh to see First Grandchild (FG) again. This time we are planning to take my Dad up in our new electric car so he can meet his great grandchild for the first time. We saw FG just a couple of weeks ago when he and his parents flew down to see us for FG’s first trip out of Edinburgh. Now I can’t wait to see his further development since (which seems to include the discovery of his ability to squeal loudly!)

In the midst of the dreadfulness of what is going on in Ukraine it seems incongruous to be having a good time and moving back fully to what I would probably call normality. All we can do is hope that some semblance of normality returns quickly in Eastern Europe too. It seems that maybe only one man can make that happen!

*^{Late Winter Skies On A Local Walk Home}*

London 2 Edinburgh 1; But Edinburgh Wins

February 18, 2022 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I have travelled twice to London and once to Edinburgh in the last couple of weeks. Our trips to London related to our preparations to sell our flat in the Barbican. It is no longer required now that I have retired and our sons no longer have any great need for it. I shall be sad to see it go – it was my base 5 days a week for pretty much 20 years of London working – but go it must.

We got those preparations for sale done very satisfactorily and the flat is on the market. However, we also found time to visit a few exhibitions and bar and restaurant venues; London is always a great place to visit and the flat was, as ever, a very comfortable place to stay.

Our trip to Edinburgh was sandwiched between those London trips. Edinburgh is, of course, a much smaller city than London but it is a national capital and has many of the same sorts of sights and attractions. Above all, it now is home to our First Grandchild (FG) and we currently need no greater attraction. As any parent or grandparent will know, it is amazing how fast babies develop and start to take on a character of their own. We are lucky to be able to see this with FG and it was such an enjoyable trip!

Once again we stayed in the Premier Inn Hub in Rose Street. It is inexpensive, very comfortable, small but perfectly formed. It is close to where Eldest Son (ES) and his partner live. It is central and close to all the main city sights. The Premier Inn Hub chain has become our go-to hotel and, once the London flat is sold, I can envisage us using it in London too.

Once again too, we visited the Joan Eardley exhibition (now finished) at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. I enjoyed it hugely during our first visit. This time we had FG duties (very willingly undertaken) so the visit was briefer but, not having heard of Eardley before last Autumn, she now has a firm place in my compendium of favourite artists. FG wasn’t fussed by the art but seemed to like the ceiling lights.

*^{‘Boats On The Shore’ By Joan Eardley (1963)}*

We also visited an exhibition (also now finished) in the Scottish National Gallery of JMW Turner watercolours. These had been collected by Henry Vaughan , a great admirer of Turner, and then bequeathed by him to the Gallery in 1900. As he did so, he specified that, to preserve their colour, they only be shown in the typically dull days of January. This exhibition was a rare occasion when all 38 had been brought together in a single show.

Turner is definitely one of my long standing artists and the exhibition demonstrated many of his best traits – the atmospheric glows of storms and skies, the complex colouring and the huge vistas. There were also some more delicate portrayals such as an empty chair indicating the recent death of a friend. No one painting felt great but the ‘whole’ created by the 38 pictures was interesting.

*^{JMW Turner Watercolours From The Henry Vaughan Bequest At The Scottish National Gallery}*

Another highlight from this Edinburgh trip was our first walk all the way to Leith.

*^{Andrew Gormley Sculpture On The Walk To Leith}*

Leith has a rather different feel from the other parts of Edinburgh we have come to know. Whereas large parts of the New Town area where ES lives are unchanged in a hundred years, Leith is developing quickly and has a slightly different, almost East London, buzz about it.

*^{Leith (Old Customs House To The Left)}*

In New Town, LSW and I spent an afternoon perusing the high quality art galleries in ES’s street (Dundas Street) and then had a relaxed drink or two in a relatively new bar called Spry. Incredibly, despite it only apparently having about a dozen seats, we got a table by the window and liked the ambience very much.

*^{Exotic And Rather Lovely Baskets By Gudrun Pagter and Baba Tea Company (Ghana) At The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh}*

As on previous trips, we ate well. ES’s partner produced another lovely meal, we had a surprisingly relaxed evening at Pizza Express with a sleepy FG, and a substantial Indian takeaway. It was great to meet up with ES’s partner’s parents again (especially as the football team I support happen to have beaten one of the teams her Dad supports in the afternoon 🙂 ). And it was especially great to see FG smiling, growing and, between rather sleep-deprived nights, giving his new Mum and Dad some real joy.

Back in London, I visited the National Maritime Museum to see the Astronomy Photographer of the Year exhibition. I’ve seen this exhibition in previous years and, while I don’t understand the techniques used in taking the photographs, I love seeing the results. It’s a little-known pleasure.

*^{Astronomy Photographers Of The Year At The National Maritime Museum}*

LSW and I also had another pleasant (and, incredibly, free) dose of Isamu Noguchi; this time an exhibition of his relatively recent work in the large spaces of the White Cube Gallery. It was, of course, a much smaller exhibition than that we had seen last month at the Barbican, but it reflected many of the same themes which I found reinforcing and strangely comforting.

*^{Works By Isamu Noguchi At The White Cube Gallery}*

On the way, we discovered a good new breakfast venue: Watch House at Tower Bridge. Ozone, which is our normal breakfast haunt is also very good and both are open early. Edinburgh has some excellent breakfast places but few open early enough for us. It’s a small area for potential improvement in the comparison between London and Edinburgh. However, First Grandchild puts a gloss on Edinburgh that makes it the go to city for me at the moment!

New Year Resolution Trips

January 24, 2022 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Since retiring over 4 years ago, I have been pretty diligent at making and tracking progress against annual New Year resolutions. Progress this year was patchy. I met my alcohol-free days and alcohol unit reduction targets. I also exceeded my target of an average of 15,000 steps a day, and my weight has just about stayed within the target range. However, intentions to step up organisation of the vegetable garden and composting facilities have remained unfulfilled and I read a woefully small number of books this year.

This time last year, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I made a new, joint resolution to travel around the UK more. Covid has, of course, restricted overseas trips and our sons are now living all around the UK – in Belfast, London and Edinburgh. So perhaps inevitably, we have done more travelling around the UK than in the past, culminating in our Christmas on Skye, Scotland.

Our joint New Year resolution this year is to step up and renew our familiarity with the UK even more. We have already started with a few trips this January and are lucky enough to have the prospect of many more this year.

*^{I Never Tire Of London And Views Of The Thames; This One At Dusk}*

We had to travel up to London briefly to prepare the Barbican flat for sale. There is another such trip later this week. London is always a pleasure for me; there is so much going on to see and do (even in a pandemic). This time, as well as seeing Middle Son and his partner for dinner at one of our long-time favourite restaurants (Moro), we went to exhibitions in the Barbican and in Tate Modern. Plus, I managed a couple of hours in the Imperial War Museum.

*^{Lubaina Himid Exhibition At Tate Modern}*

Lubaina Himid’s exhibition at Tate Modern was substantial and well done. The vibrant colours and range of work were impressive but I can’t say I was entirely convinced or entranced by the pieces on show. The pictures sometimes captured movement but didn’t generate dynamism for me and the sonic works, while interesting and atmospheric, weren’t arresting. However, we both liked the bright colours and thought it was an exhibition worth seeing – especially as LSW is a member so tickets were available and felt free.

*^{‘Old Boat/New Money’ (Accompanied By Sounds of Sea And Ships) By Lubaina Himid At Tate Modern}*

We both thought that the Isamu Noguchi exhibition at the Barbican was much more interesting. The Guardian newspaper review of the exhibition rather poo-pooed the exhibition as being more like a luxury lighting show room. Certainly there were a lot of lovely lighting exhibits on show but there was so much more. I enjoyed a lot of the sculptures, some of the ceramics and, especially, the way the exhibition juxtaposed these with the light-based works.

*^{Views Of The Noguchi Exhibition At The Barbican}*

As usual, too, the Barbican had put together a clear explanation of the progression of Noguchi’s ideas as they developed through his life. I thought it was an excellent exhibition.

*^{More Views Of The Noguchi Exhibition At The Barbican}*

A friend in our village recently recommended a visit to the London Imperial War Museum. So, when I found myself nearby, while LSW was shopping near Borough Market, I took myself off there to investigate the recently commissioned Holocaust Galleries. These build up a picture of the Second World War Holocaust through hundreds of photos and the telling of many stories of Jews and other minority groups persecuted by the Nazis in run up to the war and then during it.

This bottom up approach required time to absorb but had a layering and relentlessness to it that I found very powerful. The portrayal of the seemingly inexorable drive to horror, from before the First World War to the Final Solution, was well done and did not shy away from the relative indifference of the world until it was too late. The history is well known but, nonetheless, rather depressing and the exhibition’s intermingling of the stories of individuals with items indicating the sheer scale of the atrocities was as shocking as ever. My brief tour of some of the other sections of the museum showing uniforms, planes, tanks and rockets felt a bit trivial afterwards and I’ll have to revisit those another day.

Prior to our London trip we made our first visit of the year to The Newt Garden in East Somerset. As readers of this blog will know, we have been a few times before. We love it because it is already a spectacular garden and it is continuing to evolve so there always seems to be something new to see (this time, a Japanese Garden and a ‘Beezantium’ – an exhibition about bees). There is also a lovely restaurant.

*^{View Of The Newt Hotel From The Gardens}*

We are now members and to justify the cost of membership we will have to go a few more times this year – what a hardship!

Then, after London, we had a day out at Compton Verney which is an exhibition space and park that we had not visited before. LSW had seen a recommendation on one of the many social media connections she has. Specifically this was for two exhibitions that were coming to a close. One was of Grinling Gibbons, a master woodcarver (2021 was the 300^th anniversary of his death) the other was of paintings by John Nash (younger brother of the more famous wartime painter, Paul Nash).

*^{Sea Of Aconites In Front Of Compton Verney House}*

Both exhibitions were popular, a little crowded and worth seeing. Grinling Gibbons’s background (initially around the docks in Holland) and his drive to network and commercialise as he built up his business in England was described clearly and interestingly and the pieces on show were terrifically detailed and impressive. However, the full impact of his work would be best appreciated in the houses where his carvings still decorate walls today and I’d have liked to have found out more about how the work was done.

*^{Example Of The Detailed Carvings Of Grinling Gibbons}*

The John Nash exhibition was also well put together and illustrated carefully how his career developed through the First World War, through his love of the countryside, then as a War artist in the Second World war and finally as a retiree travelling the UK and settling in his rural surroundings (as, among other things, a seed catalog and gardening book illustrator). Unfortunately, apart from a few notable exceptions (see ‘Over The Top’ below), I didn’t like the paintings as much as I had hoped (or expected); insufficient liveliness of colour in too many of the works for my liking.

The house grounds, designed by Capability Brown, were lovely in the sun (though muddy underfoot) and the lunch in the restaurant was very reasonable. It was another good day out very much in line with our New Year resolution to get out of the house and our immediate locale rather more. Later this week: London and Edinburgh!

^{January Sunrise At Home. Trips Are Nice, But Home Is Too!}

Momentous November

November 30, 2021 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

It’s been a very good month for me. Early in November, our new, first grandchild arrived safely. We were able to visit his city of birth, Edinburgh, to congratulate the new parents in person and hold and cuddle the little fella for the first time. Even in those first few days we saw him change and settle into a routine that is destabilising and sleep depriving for his parents but which looked normal. We miss him already and can’t wait to return to Edinburgh just before Christmas and again in 2022.

*^{The First Of The New Baby Congratulations Cards}*

I’ve been looking forward to being a Grandad for a few years. So far, it is just as I expected. I feel proud and loving, but glad I can feel all that emotional warmth without all the challenge and awkward practicality of having to be a new parent. That looks as demanding as ever but Eldest Son (ES) and his partner are more than coping and their rewards will be immense too.

It is so great that I’m now retired and so we can pop up to Edinburgh without having to slip the visits between any work commitments. Also, the fact that the pandemic has curtailed any plans for exotic holidays abroad over the last year or so means that we can splash out on the rail travel and hotels without feeling too extravagant. If our other sons have children too (say, in Belfast and/or Bristol) than I can see these sorts of lovely, spirit-lifting Grandad visits are going to become a major preoccupation!

We saw Edinburgh this time in cold but mainly sunny weather – the haar was nowhere to be seen. As before, we were impressed by the number of small independent shops and cafes. Two of our three breakfasts (at Urban Angel and Union Brew Lab) were really excellent. We even managed a lunch and a coffee break in a couple of cool and friendly places with a completely relaxed grandchild.

The Royal Botanic Garden and Inverleith Park were also lovely and the preparations for the Christmas light show in the former looked very promising. We had a very pleasant time walking miles around the city and practicing our pram pushing skills. We also were able to meet with the other grandparents again over a tasty Indian takeaway meal they provided while the little one snoozed in his Moses basket. I understand that he snoozed a bit less after we left!

This month was also momentous for the passing of my Dad’s 90^th birthday. I was able to visit him briefly in Nottingham to celebrate this big milestone. We marked the occasion with a very substantial and very satisfactory meal at Côte, which is an old favourite, and with a tipple or two from my Dad’s impressive collection of liqueurs. He misses my Mum, as we all do, but we had a quietly relaxed and convivial time comforted by the knowledge that at least she was aware, earlier this year, that her great grandchild was on his way.

In between all this celebration, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and I also managed a rather ad hoc visit to London to see LSW’s sister and then our Middle Son (MS) and his partner. I love going up to London to catch up with developments around the City and the East End, visit the galleries and just absorb the bustle.

^{I Won’t Ever Tire Of The London Skyline}

Of course, that bustle is reduced during the ongoing pandemic. Nonetheless, the restaurant MS took us to (Sager & Wilde) was busy and had a great atmosphere (as well as good food) and the exhibitions at Tate Modern were booked up. Still, I loved meandering around the Tate Modern. The Turbine Hall had an interesting mobile exhibit and the general collection I walked through on the 3^rd floor was, as usual, a little staggering in terms of the quality of the art.

*^{‘In Love With The World’ By Anicka Yi In The Turbine Hall Of Tate Modern; Like Floating Jellyfish}*

*^{Works By Emily Karne Kngwarreye And John Mawurndjul In An Exhibition Of Australian Art At Tate Modern}*

Back in Gloucestershire, in the gaps between all these excursions, I have managed to sustain the normal routines of watching my football team (Forest Green Rovers still ‘top of the league and having a laugh’), walking, cooking, a bit of garden clearance ahead of winter, and some activity around our local Horsley Climate Action Network (HCAN) group.

*^{Watching The Village Football Team On Weekends When Forest Green Rovers Don’t Have A Game}*

A particular relief is that, following the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), I have managed to write and publish our quarterly HCAN newsletter. LSW and I plan to travel to Edinburgh on a more frequent basis next year to watch our new grandchild develop and we will also visit MS and Youngest Son when we can. Therefore my commitment to HCAN may reduce to simply sustaining that newsletter routine. It’s been a momentous month and momentum around family is going to continue to be the priority as we move towards, and into, 2022.

Overstepping The Mark To Normality?

October 29, 2021October 29, 2021 / fgrtommo / Leave a comment

Over the last couple of weeks I have done a number of things that have pushed my risk of catching Covid 19. I haven’t caught it – presumably thanks to being double vaccinated – but have felt in jeopardy on a few occasions. With the exception of our planned trips to Scotland (lockdown restrictions permitting) when Eldest Son and his fiancés’ baby arrives and then for Christmas, I plan to reduce my exposure to the pandemic a bit in the next few weeks.

For the first time since the pandemic struck, Long-suffering Wife (LSW) and I went to a large indoor event. We attended two very interesting talks at the Cheltenham Literary Festival along with a few hundred others who were mostly masked and who were, by and large of the age that would have been double vaccinated. Any feeling of risk of contagion was quickly overtaken by my interest in what was being said.

*Feargal Cochrane And Patrick McGuire Discussing Northern Ireland At The Cheltenham Literary Festival*

The first talk was about the Labour Party and whether it has any chance of winning an election any time soon. The conclusion between three Labour party sympathisers seemed to be a resounding ‘no’ but the reasons and the possible deflections to that verdict were well set out in arguments that seemed to spill new thoughts and ideas every few seconds.

The second talk concerned the recent history of Northern Ireland. This is of particular interest because Youngest Son (YS) and his Belfast-born partner are now making their careers and lives in Northern Ireland. Having visited a couple of times, we love the country and want it to succeed. The risks to that success are rooted in history there, recent disinterest in Westminster, and the touch-paper lit by Brexit. It was a fascinating talk and increased my wish that the current difficulties around the new Northern Ireland Protocol agreement with the European Union can be resolved soon and relatively painlessly.

Then, last week, I travelled up to London. I hunkered down in a corner on the train up and then walked across London to our flat. On the way I visited the new Marble Arch Mound. The Mound and the view from it was a lot less impressive than the scaffolding on which it is built but the light show inside was a nice bonus.

*One Of The Lightshow Exhibits (Left) Mirroring The Scaffolding Underpinning The Mound Itself*

The main purpose of my London trip was to visit my dentist there for a check-up and hygienist appointment that had been postponed several times over the last year due to the pandemic. The Covid protocols in the dental surgery made me feel very safe and I got away with just a couple of bloodied gums and some new dental hygiene advice.

I felt less safe on the tube to and from a football match (it wasn’t quite coincidence that my football team – table topping Forest Green Rovers – were playing at Leyton Orient the day after my dental appointment!). Despite guidance that masks should be worn, only a minority did so. Fortunately I only needed to be on the tube for four stops each way.

At the match itself, masks were completely absent but the excitement of the football always swamps any feelings I have of Covid risk during games.

*Celebrating Shared Spoils After A Tight Game (Nice Orient Mascots!)*

The visit to London was a lovely break. I visited an unusual and stimulating exhibition by Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama at the White Cube gallery in Bermondsey. His art there incorporated old maps (which I love), ideas about colonialism and the story of his renovation of a bat infested grain silo complex. The White Cube is a wonderful space and it’s free to visit.

*Variety Of Ibrahim Mahama’s Work At The White Cube Gallery, Bermondsey*

*Ibrahim Mahama’s ‘Capital Corpses’ – 100 Rusty Sewing Machines That Bash Away On Vintage Desks (Its Quite a Noise!)*

I also got to see Middle Son (MS) and his partner at the football match but also for dinner and lunch. It was great to catch up with what they are up to. Dinner at Bottega Prelibato was excellent and felt pretty safe.

However, it was during that dinner that I decided that I would forgo another planned London trip the following week during which I was scheduled to see the band Tourist with MS. The idea of being in a cavernous, enclosed space with several bouncing and singing, young and partially vaccinated people felt like an overstepping of the Covid risks. MS and his partner were able to use the tickets and I’m left with regret but well-being.

Other safe events were a visit by YS and his mate on their way to a holiday in Wales and a simultaneous visit by a couple who have been decades-long friends from London. All had gone beyond the call of duty by having recent lateral flow tests – something I need to get in the habit of doing – before visiting us. It was an extremely convivial weekend full of chats, walks, good food and a local art exhibition by a West Country chap called Stuart Voaden. His day was made too by the fact that our friends purchased some of his work. We all had fun.

*Stuart Voaden’s Exhibition At The Three Stories, Nailsworth*

What felt less safe – although it was fun too – was a visit to the local pub last week. For a few weeks now, since the weather got colder, I have been drinking inside rather than in the pub garden. Even during the busy recent Quiz Night the environment felt relatively Covid-free. However, the ‘Jam Night’ last week was a night of full blown sing songs and, as I left after a few noisy beers, I wondered if that had been my peak risk of infection during the last few weeks. I’m going to go to the pub on quieter nights for a while.

Everyone has a different feel for the balance of risk in relation to Covid. I know that I’m lucky that I can choose how much risk I take. The last few weeks have been interesting in helping me determine what is and what is not ok for me in advance of my booster jab and, one hopes, a final decline in Covid cases.

Postscript: Just one more shout out for our Café-au-Lait dahlias which have given me so much pleasure as cut blooms over the last few months. They will continue for a little while yet until they are blasted by the first frost.

Also, I am pleased that my limited range of vegetable harvest has been decent again this year. I can’t grow a lot of things since I struggle to protect them from mammals both large (deer, badgers) and small (voles, mice). However, some basic fencing and conservative plant choices have meant we have plenty of squash, chard, beetroot, onions and potatoes stored in the old stables as we enter winter.

*Home Grown Veg! The Crown Prince Squash (Top Right And 1 of 5) Is A Whopping Stone In Weight*

London Exhibitions At Last: Paula Rego and Jean Dubuffet

August 24, 2021 / fgrtommo / 2 Comments

One of the things I have missed most during the coronavirus pandemic has been London and one of the things I enjoyed most during my London visits was going to the art and topic-based exhibitions curated there. Last week, at last, Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) visited London again for the first time since the first pandemic lockdown. We both loved the blip out of our relatively rural semi isolation (notwithstanding our trips to Belfast and Edinburgh in the last year).

*Back In London Among Its Familiar Landmarks!*

During the trip, I saw two art exhibitions: one a life retrospective of Paula Rego (a contemporary Portuguese artist) at Tate Britain and the other a similar retrospective of Jean Dubuffet’s work at the Barbican (it’s now finished). It was a welcome cultural binge.

The fundamental reason for our London trip was just to break up our routine for a couple of days. Also, it was an opportunity to catch up with Middle Son (MS) and his partner in their new flat in Haggerston. They recently moved out of their stop-gap rental of our flat in the Barbican, so that was available to us. Although the flat is now bare and looking a little tired, it remains a very comfortable, central and convenient bolt hole for this sort of visit. We are very lucky to still have it until we finally sell this retirement nest egg, probably, next year.

After driving up in our e-car (which in combination with the flat made the trip itself near free of incremental cost), the weather was kind enough to enable us to make a lengthy walk along the Thames Embankment to Tate Britain.

*The Thames: Bridge, Skyline And Unused Tourist Boats*

There, the exhibition of Paula Rego’s work was substantial and comprehensive. What I love about these elite retrospective exhibitions is that one can trace the development of the artists thinking over time while seeing the consistent themes beneath and between the changes in technique and subject matter. Much of her work depicted the sexuality, strength and resilience of women in hardship; the Dog Women series was an example.

I enjoyed the exhibition a lot but suspect that was as much a function of the novelty of being in a classy exhibition as it was the art.

*Paula Rego: ‘The Artist In Her Studio’ (1993)*

The exhibition of French contemporary artist Jean Dubuffet’s work was also chronologically ordered to enable understanding of development of his ideas. The work on show was more varied than that of Rego and I really only liked some of the series of work. Again, though, some aspects of his style were satisfyingly constant – not least the strange, bloated heads on the figures in many of the works and the use of natural materials with unusual paint type combinations.

*Jean Dubuffet: ‘Caught In The Act’ (1961)*

The Barbican presented the works very nicely. Some of the more colourful pieces were lit so they appeared luminous and the pandemic has made London art exhibitions less crowded than they were so there was plenty of room to view everything.

*Jean Dubuffet: Part Of His Performance Art ‘Coucou Bazar’ (1971)*

However, although the Barbican tried, I didn’t really understand the Art Brut movement that Dubuffet first named and for which he was a lead exponent of through much of his career. Maybe the video at the end of the exhibition that explained his counter-cultural aims would have been better placed at the start of the exhibition alongside Dubuffet’s quote (which sounded about right):

“Art should always make you laugh a little and fear a little. Anything but bore”

*Jean Dubuffet: ‘Les Vicissitudes’ (1977)*

The weather was too nice to be indoors soaking up art exhibitions for too long. Apart from the initial riverside walk to Tate Britain, LSW and I also tried out the new Uber riverboat service to get us back to our flat. It was refreshing and it’s always good to see London from the perspective of the river.

*Travelling By Uber Boat And More London Landmarks*

We also went to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London. We followed a newly signposted art trail (‘The Line’) south from the Park down the tangle of man-made and natural waterways leading back to the Thames.

*Old Mill Houses, Locks and New Flats Near Olympic Park, East London*

The area is, of course, changed out of all recognition since we lived in Bow in the 1980s. Everywhere there are new complexes of flats but, in between, there are signs that the environment and leisure activity is being properly considered. Certainly, the Olympic Park itself is a lot less bleak than when I last visited. Now the planting and trees are maturing along the walkways. I’m looking forward to visiting again and doing some more strolling around the Park and along the nearby waterways.

*One Of The Sculptures Along ‘The Line’ Art Trail, East London (Thomas J. Price: ‘Reaching Out’)*

LSW and I ate out at Smokestak which is an old haunt of mine and ours. That was good but better was the dinner we had with MS and his partner at Bistrotheque. East London seems to continue to be almost as well populated with good restaurants and cafes as ever despite the pandemic and the reduced customer numbers. Drinking holes on the way to Bistrotheque at Signature Brew and, on the way back, at Ombra were conspicuously quiet. But that just meant that we could get prime tables and attentive service; very nice!

I have a couple of long and often postponed gigs to see in September and October in London and, at some point, LSW and I will need to decorate the Barbican flat to make it ready for sale. Those should all be opportunities to spend more time in London – even if these visits become swansongs – to take in more of the excellent exhibitions and art and architecture trails there.

*The Olympic (West Ham United) Stadium and The Orbit*

Meanwhile there is the significant and emotional matter of my Mum’s funeral. Thankfully she died peacefully. After a year or so in which she had, regretfully, to come to terms with being in a care home (a very good one as it turned out), in which she contracted Covid, and then in which she gradually faded, her passing was no shock. Nonetheless, Mum’s funeral will be a sad closing of a long and fruitful life. There will be tears and then we are compelled to move on with our memories.

Four Exhibitions, Three Sons, Two Breakfasts And One Gig

December 6, 2019 / fgrtommo / 1 Comment

For much of my working life, I was in London while the family were in Gloucestershire. I usually only got to see Long-Suffering Wife (LSW) and our three sons during weekends when work often intruded and I wanted to rest. Then the sons grew up and each of them spent time with me sleeping on the floor of my London flat while they took their first steps into the world of work. The flat is very small so, although I got to know each so much better, the close proximity and sleeping arrangements were sometimes a stress.

Now, Eldest Son (ES), Middle Son (MS) and Youngest Son (YS) are all based in London and I have entered something of a golden period as a parent. Now I am able to see them in short spells and in a relaxed way – over dinner, at breakfast, at a gig or in an exhibition. All I have to do is schedule the rendezvous around their diaries and enjoy the moment. I plan to make the most of these arrangements while they last.

Last week, I was up in London again and was able to see all three sons. The main reason for visiting London was to see a gig by Nuria Graham. I first saw her in 2015 at Rough Trade and have now seen her twice since. She is Spanish with some Irish heritage and writes some great tunes with intriguing English lyrics. YS and I saw her at Jazz Servant Quarters which was just the type of venue I like: tiny (capacity for only 40 people) with a great sound system. I loved the whole evening and plan to visit Jazz Servant Quarters again and also see Nuria once more next April.

Nuria Graham At Jazz Servant Quarters

Next morning, having stayed with YS overnight on their ailing inflatable bed, we went with his girlfriend for breakfast at the new Ozone Cafe in Hackney. I love the treat of breakfast in London. It often includes unusual and quality ingredients, it sets me up for the day of city exploration and usually obviates the need for lunch.

Ozone, Hackney

The previous day I had breakfasted at one of my favourite cafes – Ask For Janice in Smithfield – and had felt full most of the day. At Ozone, I was a little more restrained since I was meeting an old friend for lunch at The Coach in Clerkenwell later. Nonetheless, breakfast was ample and excellent and, of course, given its Ozone pedigree already tried elsewhere in the City, achingly trendy.

While in London I also went for dinner at Smokestak with MS, ES and his girlfriend. Smokestak is only one or two steps up from fast food – we were in and out in an hour – but the food was great and the atmosphere was buzzy. As MS said, despite the restaurant being famous for its meat dishes (and I loved the fried ox cheek), the vegetarian plates were perhaps the best. I certainly ate well during my London visit.

Across the two days I was in London I went to four exhibitions. On LSW’s recommendation from the previous weekend, I went to the Royal Academy to see the large Antony Gormley exhibition (now finished). It was certainly impressive – not least the engineering that had gone into making several of the rooms dramatic, single-piece displays.

More Anthony Gormley At The Royal Academy

Iron Baby (1999), Matrix (2019) and Clearing VII (2019) By Antony Gormley At The Royal Academy

One room was filled with seemingly continuous loops of metal (8 kilometres worth) resembling a huge circular scribble. Another was a room filled with silt and water. Another had two huge cast iron baubles hanging from the roof. And then another had Gormley’s trademark human forms, also cast in iron, set at various angles and amongst which the crowds could meander.

Host (2019), Piles (2018), Lost Horizon (2008) and Fruit (1993) By Antony Gormley At The Royal Academy

These were all certainly memorable but, at the time, I confess I enjoyed looking at his numerous workbooks more. These showed how the ideas were generated rather than the final forms and it was more calming to look at these rather than negotiate the crowds in the rooms holding Gormley’s main works.

Some Of Antony Gormley’s Workbooks

Subject II By Anthony Gormley At The Royal Academy

Subject II By Antony Gormley At The Royal Academy

The Bridget Riley Exhibition at the Hayward Gallery was also impressive. Photos of much of her work don’t work because they play with our way of seeing so much. For example, Horizontal Vibration (1961) really does seem to vibrate before your eyes. ‘Current’ (1964) is like an optical illusion that feels destabilising if looked at for more than a few seconds. These are clever and, I’m sure, were ground-breaking in their time but I love her brightly coloured works with stripes and diagonals more.

Though organised by topic rather than chronologically, the exhibition did a good job of tracing her thinking from her early drawings and the influence of Seurat on her work. It covered her black and white visual exercises, her moves into curves and then colour and, finally, recent works that resembled Hirst’s dot paintings but which were clearly rooted in what she has done before. The exhibition was an enlightening and cheering way to pass an afternoon.

Currents (1961) And Stripes And Diagonals By Bridget Riley At The Hayward Gallery

I squeezed in a visit to the British Library to see the Buddhism exhibition there. Most of the exhibits were brilliantly, brightly coloured 19th century picture books showing the events in the life of the historical Buddah. There were also much older scrolls, wood panels and palm leaves inscribed with delicate texts and images. Once more, it was hard not to be impressed but, for me, the exhibition lacked a theme and was little more than the sum of its parts.

A Scroll Depicting Mahakala (A Protector Deity) And Tales From The Historical Buddha's Life In Folding Books

A 16th Century Tibetan Scroll Depicting Mahakala (A Protector Deity) And Tales From The Historical Buddha’s Life In 19th Century Folding Books

Nepalese Buddhist Palm Leaf Texts (17th and 12th Century)

The fourth (and, in my view, best) exhibition I saw was that of a recent body of work by Anselm Keifer at White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey. Anselm had been featured the day before I visited in the Guardian newspaper and the exhibition had been recommended by a friend. I had not heard of Anselm previously and I went with no great expectations.

As soon as I entered the gallery I was blown away by the rhythm and enormity of the work in the central hall and then, as I moved into the adjoining rooms, by the scale of the paintings, their depth and the overall sense of brooding dystopia. The paintings worked from a distance and right up close and I was fascinated even though I didn’t really understand what I was seeing.

Superstrings, Runes, The Norns, Gordian Knot By Anselm Keifer (Here Showing Just Part Of A 30 Vitrine Installation)

The White Cube is a tremendous, huge space; it needed to be to accommodate the work. The exhibition is on until 26 January next year and I would like to go again (unlike the other exhibitions I saw, its free!).

The White Cube Gallery With Anselm Keifer Paintings

The Gordian Knot By Anselm Keifer At White Cube (With A Real Axe And Real Blackened Branches)

Superstrings By Anselm Kiefer At White Cube Gallery

I’m planning one more visit to London before Christmas. I’m looking forward to another round of exhibitions, breakfasts and meeting up with one or more of our sons.

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