1 It was our Gallery Day today so we started off in Tate Britain to see the fabulous Folk Art exhibition (where photos were not allowed) and the Turner galleries, always a favourite.
Tate Britain
2 Next it was off to the Royal Academy for the Summer Exhibition, a feast of modern art, about 1000 pieces of art – some clever, some quirky, those that made us laugh and those that made us gasp, protest pieces and dramatic pieces and in an enormous range of media. The ones that have stuck in my mind are the wonderful Cake Man by Yinka Shonibare, a very moving transcript of an Eddie Mair interview with Dr David Nott, a conflict zone surgeon, made into a huge canvas by Bob and Roberta Smith, an enormous piece of charred sequoia called Tumble block by David Nash where the wood grain was enhanced but the way the charcoal absorbed light and a beautiful little etching called Midsummer which was affordable! Sadly, though the sign said 100 were available and there were only about 50 red spots on it (meaning sold), when I went to enquire they said that the artist, Flora MacLachlan, had only released 57 to the gallery to sell. That was a disappointment. However, as the lovely Mr S said as we left, ‘That was a really uplifting few hours!’
Cake Man
Charred sequoia
All schools by Bob and Roberta Smith
3 On our way round the back of the RA to see the photos of Dennis Hopper , the burst of colour from the sunflowers on every cafe table was a delight to see.
Sunflower