Battersea Affordable Art Fair: 

My daughter and I strolled over to this on the Sunday morning, the last day of the Fair, a lovely walk through Battersea on a sunny day.  There was a queue but it was very well managed and we were admitted about 10 minutes after our slot which we had booked on line.  I was there once before and we have something to thank Covid for - it so much more comfortable this time around!  There were 73 galleries from all around the U.K and it really was so enjoyable to be able to stroll around such a variety of work in one space.

When they say ‘Affordable”, they are right, the works start at £100 upwards and you can bag a bargain.   These two were our favourite pieces, large, textured illustrative, painterly and fun - they just seem to have it all - for us!  Apologies, I didn’t get the name of the artist but you can have a look through their Artfair

website if you are interested in seeing more information on the work:- 

https://www.affordableartfair.com/fairs/london-battersea-spring/

I only spotted one Irish art gallery there:  https://www.solart.ie   It was nice to see an Irish representative and they were so busy I didn't get to say hello.  I had a solo exhibition in Sol on Dawson St. in 2007.  Such a great gallery.

THE TATE MODERN

Every trip to London has to include a visit to my favourite gallery  - The Tate Modern, such an amazing space and always so many exhibitions on, many of them free.  My favourite paintings of all time have to be Cy Twombly’s Four Seasons which resides here but is not always on show.  On this trip I visited the Sophie Taeuber-Arp exhibition, more anon, as well as a visit around some of the free exhibitions with my daughter and niece.

GO SEE:  THE Van Gogh Alive -which is an immersive exhibition hosted within a  25,000ft purpose-built marquee in Kensington Gardens (opposite the Royal Albert Hall) from 4 June - 26 September, this family-friendly experience has already become a top ten visitor attraction in London this summer;  it is also on in New York at this time.

Van Gogh Alive is not an art exhibition in the traditional sense. It is an immersive multimedia art experience which combines high definition projections of Van Gogh's paintings with digital surround sound.  The accompanying music is beautifully selected and emotive to match the imagery.

I was really excited to go and experience this innovative exhibition, I have to say I was a tad disappointed.  I envisioned it being in multiple ‘rooms’ and moving between the spaces.  Instead it is really one huge space sub-divided into two with the same videos running in both, probably to accommodate the numbers viewing.  It was a long time standing in one space and many of us took to sitting on the floor as there were very few seats so be warned on that front! 

When you go in initially you are greeted with a lot of reading which I tired off pretty quickly as I was impatient to be ‘immersed’ in the works of this great master.   I really loved seeing the development of his work and seeing his colour emerge was really poignant.  I suggest that, unlike me, you spend a few minutes reading the timeline of Van Gogh’s life, BEFORE you enter the exhibition.   On exiting this room you are brought into an installation with plastic sunflowers (pity about the plastic!)and completely mirrored.  It is a fun Instagrammable set up which Alexandra and I made the most of!

 For more information visit: https://vangoghaliveuk.com/