A Little Fresher, A little Hou

Ok, I've been seeing a lot of art lately. We went to the ICA on Friday for Martha Rosler's Garage Sale and some of her earlier films/videos. I was not in the mood for such conceptual stuff, though. On a hot day in the summer, I like to look at pyschedelic colors and pop detrius. Because shopping is a chore for me, this exhibition also became a chore. Teri made the observation that it's much more fun to look at someone's collection of junk from their own house, rather than the stuff that Rosler has collected. Later, she bought a 2 pound art surprise from a vending machine in the cafe. It turned out to be a plastic bag which traps the air you breathe into it. Then you can sign it and give it to someone as a gift. Or I suppose keep it on your shelf to remind yourself that you exist.

Sunday we made the journey to the Camden Arts Center, where we found some brilliant Verne Dawson paintings, an Urs Fischer installation, and a David Cunningham sound sculpture. Given 10 minutes, I could've spent about 1,000 pounds in their bookstore.

We also saw Cafe Lumiere, or Kohi Jiko, the new Hou Hsiao-Hsien film this weekend. It's kind of like Lost in Translation, except the two leads are Japanese and have stuff to do during the day. Since it's also a tribute to the Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, there are a lot of homage shots.

Today was a great day. I randomly stopped into the Chelsea school of art and design, where there were a lot of student exhibitions on display. Then I headed next door to the Tate Britain, where I brushed up on every Briton's favorite painter, J.M.W. Turner. I also looked at some modern stuff like Antony Gormley and Tracey Emin. Emin's work seems to be a very all-encompassing self-identity project. Using sculpture, writing, and drawing to establish a narrative of personal identity. Gormley is more of a deconstruction of that.

Then it was off to the National Gallery, where I looked at all those old guys, like Lippi, Raphael, Holbein, Rubens, and,ok, fast forward to Seurat.

Wow. That was a lot of art. I had to cool down at the pub tonight with Teri, Tim, and a couple more Wapping guys whose names I don't remember.