forty years on – restaging – return – nostos

I have just received the wonderful photo book of Mike Pearson’s new work – The Lesson of Anatomy 1974/2014. On 5 and 6 July 1974, the newly founded Cardiff Laboratory for Theatrical Research (later Cardiff Laboratory Theatre) presented The Lesson of Anatomy: The Life, Obsessions and Fantasies of Antonin Artaud in the Sherman Arena Theater,…

twelve years on

For twelve years and more I have been visiting a tree, every month or six weeks. And taking photographs – every one quite different. [Link] [Link] An apple tree in Anderson Valley in northern California, and a legacy of an old agricultural industry going back to the 1850s or 60s, now eclipsed by the grape….

ruins – thoughts on the aesthetic

An exhibition currently at the Tate in London is exploring British images of ruin since the 18th century. Ruin Lust, an exhibition at Tate Britain from 4 March 2014, offers a guide to the mournful, thrilling, comic and perverse uses of ruins in art from the seventeenth century to the present day. The exhibition is…

Hockney’s Yorkshire in San Francisco

David Hockney’s “A Bigger Exhibition” is showing at the de Young Museum in San Francisco – [Link] Yorkshire becomes Hockney’s California art world On show is a lot of work from the last decade, especially since Hockney’s move to the house he had bought his mother in the seaside town of Bridlington in Yorkshire. There…

Regency Café

Between Pimlico and Westminster – a remarkable “English” café. Opened 1946, it has the feel of the 60s, but definitely not “retro”. The food is simple – eggs, bacon, beans, pies, chips, bread and butter pudding. Authentic? It reminded me too of a US diner. Definitely another third space – [Link] – Paul (Noble) and I…