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26 August 2016

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2016

Last Monday, prior to the RA Summer Show, I spent a lovely birthday day in glorious sunshine Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park and got to see Bjarke Ingels' marvellous pavilion outside the Serpentine Gallery.

This one is particularly good I think. It's a beautiful, yet simple, structure and has a function – there is a cafe within it.
A short stroll away there are some other smaller pavilions worth checking out:


Until 9th October.
More info here.

23 August 2016

M F Tarling/C&S Electrical, 48 Blackstock Road – Old shop sign reveal



These photos taken earlier this month (5th August) show the burnt old shop header panels for "M F Tarling" and, underneath on the windows, the gold lettering for C&S, Electrical Fittings & Installations.
if I was a proper sleuth I would have found out what Tarlings sold. But I am lazy and just wanted to share the observation.
I very much doubt this is still there – these things get covered or painted over fairly quickly.

18 August 2016

Royal Academy Summer Show 2016

On Monday I went with a friend to this year's Summer Show at The Royal Academy. It's an annual tradition; every year we I try hard to choose our favourite pieces in each room, money and space no object. This year we found it harder than ever to fill our large imaginary houses.
Every year I hope the selectors, judges, curators or whatever they are called might have removed themselves from the kindergarten our out of the arses of the RA artists, but no. This year seemed to be full of more poor stuff than ever before.
It's arranged differently. That seemed to good on first impression but our optimism subsided. Rooms that used to be jam-packed floor to ceiling have gone, one room is totally filled with not for sale works by the same artist like some kind of showcase for them, there are hangings for artworks high above the doors when I doubt they are even noticed, and as mentioned lots of super-expensive pieces with silly price tags on them.
Rows of dots on some artworks begged the question, was this a named artist like Tracey Emin or something so cheap (i.e. under £400) that people who go there intent on buying something have scant choice?
Sigh. There's always next year...
Here's my account from 2013
Below are some of the things I did like including, at the centre, one of the metal grilles on the floor:

The orangutan's face sort of says it all – furry muff, egg on his face, screw it!
Hurry hurry hurry... see for yourself – ends next weekend!!! More info here.

One of the best things there is in the courtyard off Piccadilly and is free to see – Ron Arad's "Spyre' – a marvellous and mesmerising tall metal kinetic sculpture.

9 August 2016

Holloway Road; Then and Now – No's 108 and 140

Please compare the black and white photos on the top with the colour ones on the bottom taken in 2013.


Such a change, yet in my opinion, not for the better; in a visual and architectural sense we clearly have not improved on what was there before.
When asked about time travelling, I usually reply that I would like to go back in time to the Late Victorian / Edwardian era in order to see first-hand the high streets and their shops; the pride taken in the splendid shop windows, the shapes of windows, the displays within them, the doorways with their mosaic'd floors, the hand-written or gilded signs, the merchandise, the uniforms worn by the staff. etc.
These two archive pics explain that effectively.

See all the posts in this occasional series about Holloway Road here

2 August 2016

Ideals in Industry – a book about Burton's

Delivering my cards to Oxfam bookshops is a dangerous process – shelves of delicious old antiquarian titles are always beckoning me. Keep away from the books Jane; keep away from the books!!
Last month I was in the Crouch End shop with a friend and he* found for me a wonderful little book by and about Montague Burton and Company telling us how bloody marvellous they are/were.
It's a fabulous bit of self promotion:

That's Monty on the top row next to an aerial shot of the Workshops Estate at Hudson Road Mills, Leeds, showing how big some of the factories were
Benefits of being a Burton's employee included; sing-songs while during work hours at the factory, dentists, doctors and nurses on site, morale-boosting visits by VIPs and royalty, plus social events, outings, theatre and dramatic associations, indoor sports facilities at work, a variety of external sports clubs, and much more.
The clothes were then distributed to Burton's distinctive and imposing shops. Their store at 118-132 New Oxford Street (end of Tott Ct Rd) was, in its day, the largest tailoring establishment in the world. Oh yes; this was a big company, make no mistake.
The back section of the book shows page after page of illustrations of all the Burton stores. I can see this is going to keep me quite absorbed for some time yet.... :-)

*Luckily I found him Pevsner's Middlesex Guide in the same shop.