If you're in Fitzrovia and walk past this large white building, the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre, make sure you look up and see the suspended music. It's the entire musical work of Bach deemed to be one of the most extraordinary expressions of musical creativity. It's on the Howland Street side and the building is designed by Ian Ritchie architects.
These works look to me like two dragons facing off 🐉🐉. The works are by Qin Feng and part of a two person show (with Ed Moses) that's on at Blain|Southern until 14 September. His works remind me of a Rorschach test in that each viewer will probably see something different in the work.
Summer may feel like it's already over but there's still time to catch The Colour Palace at Dulwich Picture Gallery. It truly lives up to its name and you can climb up inside it to see it's lattice like sculpture up close. It's designed by Pricegore Architects and designer Yinka Ilori, and it'll be up for another month until 22 September.
I can't be the only one who loves a good staircase? Here's the Nelson stair at Somerset House with a bit of dramatic filtering for fun.
Where do you stand on conceptual art, love it or hate it? Whatever your stance all roads lead back to this signed urinal by Marcel Duchamp. A replica of the original is displayed at Tate Modern. By placing a urinal in a gallery the statement was made that it's the artist and the idea that can make an artwork rather than the physical skill of creation. It changed the nature of art and is behind every one of those 'but is this art?' debates. The controversy around this work continues today as there are claims that it wasn't Duchamp's idea and it was actually the work of his associate Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, with Duchamp taking the credit.
My stars have aligned and you may find them on Underground posters and in newspaper adverts everywhere. My stars for Londonist were spotted for Culture Under Attack at IWM London (at Bank station), The Moon exhibition at National Maritime Museum (in the Evening Standard) and for Food at V&A (in Time Out and on Underground posters in lots of places). It gives me a lift every time I see one of them 😊. I got into visiting and then reviewing exhibitions through posters and adverts I used to spot in my commute. And when I joined Londonist, who took a chance on me, we rarely got mentioned on these adverts. It's amazing to see how far we've come on this journey together.
Proud to announce that I'm on the selection committee for this year's Art Rooms London - a unique art fair where each artist gets a hotel room to display their work. Art Rooms will be on in November and the deadline for artists to apply is 6 September (link in bio). It'll be my second time judging for Art Rooms and I'm looking forward to the responsibility. Best of luck to the artists who choose to apply.
Did you know there's a T-34 tank parked in Bermondsey on Mandela Way? It's affectionately known as Stompie and artists regularly give it a new makeover, when I walked past a few weeks ago it was sporting this Mondrian look. Its origin story is a local businessman bought the plot of land and wanted to build on it, but this idea was rejected by the local council. So he asked for permission to put a tank there instead, the council thought he meant a septic tank and duly approved it. Now it's a permanent feature of the area and it's said that the tank's gun is pointed at the council office that rejected the initial application.
The traditional floral still life has been given an abstract twist by Justin Mortimer in his series of paintings on display at Parafin gallery. Here the flowers look like they're dying and possibly mutating into something more sinister. These large paintings are part of his solo exhibition, which runs until 21 September.
An image of a bloodied girl being lifted out of a bombed out building in Basra, Iraq has been transformed by painter Paula Rego by using animal heads for the humans. It's still a dark and disturbing image, but it's been made surreal in a major exhibition of Rego's paintings at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes. Check out my saved story for more snaps from the show. The exhibition is on until 22 September.