Leighton House Museum

I have been wanting to see Frederic Leighton's house in Holland Park for some time, having heard about the amazing Arab room, when I finally decided to go I found out it was closed for major restoration work. But last week it re opened and I went along.
Leighton was born in 1830 he was a painter and president of the Royal Academy in 1878. He commissioned this studio house in 1864 and sitting in his studio, most of the upstairs floor save for a couple of small rooms one a small bedroom, I thought how marvellous to be able to work in such a space. Full of practical details artists will appreciate, a huge under the floor space for storing canvases and other items, a gallery so that he could work on the top of paintings with out having to stand on a ladder, and an narrow door opening direct to the outside for moving the large canvases in and out of the studio.
Some of the massive easels were in there as well as china pots of pigments, apparently Leighton loved the whole process of making colours, indeed the whole process of making art.

Downstairs the Arab Hall is amazing, the walls lined with tiles, mosaics and columns, the design taken from a reception room at La Zisa at Palermo in Sicily. Walter Crane designed the gold mosaic frieze, and William De Morgan worked on the tiles , most from Damascus, but as many were damaged, he saw to the repairs and copies if necessary. There is one panel where parrots perch on a fountain, on the left hand side is De Morgan's work while on the right are the original tiles.

In the centre of the floor is a sunken pond and fountain in black marble, and above a dome. Small windows are set with bright mosaic stained glass and sofas are places on each side of the room.
Though the lighting is quite dark inside the room, the sumptuous tiles in their blues and turquoise glow in the light. Altogether I am sold on the idea of such a room.

Hilary Lawson and Video Painting and Bharti Kher

The Hospital Club in Covent Garden is showing Video painting the first decade,by the Open Gallery, info here I have been interested in the idea of video painting since I first heard of it a couple of years ago. Mainly because it is one of the sorts of video work that I'd like to do.

Hearing from Hilary Lawson, who founded the Artscape project in 2001, when he shot the first video paintings, was really good. Video paintings were an attempt to move from traditional narrative in film, to free film making from constraints of editing and structure.

Hilary talked about the process of actually looking more deeply at what you see, how it is a very different way of responding to the world and to filming what you see. I had a sense of connection to my own understanding and the Buddhist perceptions of seeing.
There are a number of different screens and projections on the second floor of the Hospital Club, which seems a very interesting place itself . I particularly liked the large screen showing Lake Baikal by Sarah Turner, slow moving currents flow across the lake and mist rises and clears, though screen size itself can be seductive. More of Hilary Lawson,s work here Collections of other artists videos here

Another show, worth seeing is Inevitable undeniable necessary by Bharti Kher is at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in Piccadilly. She uses the traditional Indian bindis in a range of shapes and colours to transform objects, furniture and upstairs a range of broken mirrors. Here the bindis swirl like galaxies, waves and spirals colourful and mysterious and very seductive in some way. Info on the exhibition here
The gallery has the advantage of being next to St James with the regular market there and lunchtime concerts. The Royal Academy is also just across the road, so it makes a good day out.
I didn't have time for the Royal Academy show this time though.

Strike the Empire Back, exhibitions at Tate Modern

At the Tate for a workshop on how to talk about your work, run by Emerge and Shape. info here Very useful, I took a brief look in some of the galleries and at Michael Rakowitz's exhibition, Strike the Empire Back.
The exhibition posed the influence of science fiction on the American and Iraqi military, especially Star wars. Michael Rakowitz took the symbol of the arch, crossed swords, used in Iraq and made his own arch in the gallery the swords are now light sabers and helmets at the base are cast in resin with components from action men. Review here.

Rakowitz writes that In 1995, Saddam Hussein's son Uday presented his father with a prototype helmet that was an exact replica of Darth Vader's, for the Fedayeen Saddam,( a paramilitary organization responsible for assassinations and intimidation.)

After the fall of Baghdad in 2003 paintings by Science fiction illustrators were apparantly found in Saddam's palaces, including the poster for the 1980 Star Wars sequel.

Billy Childish at the ICA

I went to see the exhibition of Billy Childish's work at the ICA last week. Info on the exhibition here. I didn't know too much about him apart from the fact he lived in Chatham and wrote poetry and music and was a bit of a punk. It was good to see some of his work, artists books, paintings, prints, videos and poetry.
A good article about Billy Childish here.

" you also walk up the sides of trees,
your tiny feet stepping close
to the wings of moth"
from Divine Conception 2007


I enjoyed the thickness of the paint applied directly on linen canvas, paintings of boats from the river Medway, and the figure of Robert Walser, who was found in a field close to the asylum where he had been staying for some years. Walser has been an influence on Billy Childish's work, especially his writing.
The combination of sketches and photographs in some of his artists books gave me an idea for similar combinations. There was also one of his mother's pots in one painting and outside on the ICA desk, they were very interesting and I thought I'd see if she exhibited them herself.