Paul Mellon’s Legacy at The Royal Academy
In an effort to do something other than stay at home playing with my guitar or XBox, this morning I went to see part of Paul Mellon’s collection being exhibited at The Royal Academy with my Dad. I’m not a great fan of Stubb’s horses or Turner’s seascapes but having dragged my farther round a Georg Baselitz exhibition earlier in the year I thought I’d return the favour.
I was pleasantly surprised by some of the work on display, especially Turner’s softer water colours - something I knew he did but had never really seen much of. There was also a few of Blake’s illustrations in a rather crowded corner of the penultimate gallery, I wish I’d had longer to look at them but the display case had become quite a bottle neck.
I’ve said before that, in my opinion, art begins where reproduction ends. This is why I’ve never been a fan of the classic portrait in oils, but another (almost contradictory) reason is traditionally portrait artists were expected to embellish what they were reproducing - to make prize bulls beefier and daughters more attractive. Surely that is Craft not Art? Looking at some of the incredible farm yard animals this morning, it struck me that perhaps this ‘embellishment’ is equivalent to our modern day Heat magazine retouchers…
Afterwards we walked up to Tottenham Court Road to have a look at cameras as my trusty Coolpix S1 seems to have given up the ghost. We had lunch in the Fitzroy Tavern which is a pub I used to go to a lot a few years back. The more I read about London the more (in)famous characters I find that used to drink there - George Orwell being the latest. It hadn’t changed at all since my last visit, which was nice.
New Year’s Conclusions
I like my demons, I consider them close personal friends.
It has always struck me as odd that at the end of each year it is customary to draw a list of resolutions to enter the New Year with. I’ve always thought of a resolution as an answer to a problem that existed in the past, not something with much relevance to the future (unless the same problem were to present itself).
So with this in mind, a long time ago, I decided (resolved - you could say) to instead draw a list of conclusions from the passing year. A conclusion has some added advantages over a resolution, for one it can’t be broken - which casual observation would seem to suggest is a major fault with the majority of those currently planning to stop smoking (for instance). Some will argue that setting your self goals is a good thing, but why compete with yourself? There can only be one winner after all…
I do not intend to discuss any conclusions drawn (or written) from last year here, but to prove I didn’t just use Google, I will show some of my working:
The above is a photograph of my spare desk, I used to use this desk a lot - keen observers will see paints, a multi meter, TShirt printing chemicals and guitar parts to name only a few… but now the desk has become a Limbo Of Infants for everything I’ve started but never finished.
So, with this is in mind perhaps, I wonder what 2008 will hold?
And need I ask?
Manson’s Return to London
It’s been a long time since Marilyn Manson has done a London gig, favouring festivals instead, he hasn’t been here since 2003’s Grotesque Burlesque at Alexandra Palace. In that time we missed the Against All Gods world tour and the first leg of the current tour aptly called The Rape of the World.
So it was with huge anticipation that I made my way down to Wembley Arena last night to see what I’d been missing… and I had been missing a lot.
The show was absolutely amazing! I had deliberately avoided any online discussions of the tour once I was sure I was going to get to see it, so I had no ideas as to set list or what theatrics to expect… Other than a certainty that the show would open with If I Was Your Vampire and end with The Beautiful People, I had a completely open mind.
The opening was incredible - only surpassed by the full rendition of Antichrist Superstar at the end (complete with suit, banners and spontaneous bible combustion.) The band played pretty much everything you’d want them to, from old favourites like The Reflecting God (which almost stole the show) and Lunch Box through to Manson staples like Disposable Teens and Rock Is Dead. New tracks were surprisingly sparse but very well received… There was more than one girl wondering round in Heart Shaped Glasses!
The only way I could have been happier is if they’d played The Nobodies and Great Big White World… But I’m far from complaining! The set list was:
- If I Was Your Vampire
- Disposable Teens
- mOBSCENE
- Tourniquet
- The Irresponsible Hate Anthem
- Are You The Rabbit?
- Sweet Dreams
- Lunchbox
- The Fight Song
- Putting Holes In Happiness
- Heart Shapped Glasses
- Rock Is Dead
- The Dope Show
- The Reflecting God
- Antichrist Superstar
- The Beautiful People