Woven Wire

A beautiful and inspiring show earlier this year at David Zwirner Gallery in Mayfair - Ruth Asawa's woven wire sculptures and line drawings. I love the relationship between the two - and how one informs the other. Asawa's sculptures were inspired by a trip to Mexico in 1947, where a local craftsman taught her how to weave a basket out of wire.

Loved this picture of Asawa working at home surrounded by her children

1957

Photo by Imogen Cunningham

Drill

Drill, 2008

Plaster, Pigment, Steel and Rubber

Rachel Whiteread

Pink Symmetry

Roses from Cornwall aboard the London Paddington train

Rachel Whiteread's inspiring casts at the Tate Britain

Grotto

I always enjoy making the journey to Hauser + Wirth, Saville Row and peering in at tailor's workshops below street level.

Mike Kelley takes up two rooms at the gallery at the moment with 'Framed and Frame', aiming to explore the place between reality and the imagined.

Detail from Chinatown Wishing Well

Mike Kelley, 1999

Interested in Middle America's 'diverse and alternative subcultures', Kelley presents two installations that look at Los Angeles' marginalised Chinese-American community. Honestly, it's pretty weird. The grotto-like piece (above) consists of spray painted concrete with religious paraphernalia stuck and frozen on to its facade. It has a small cave underneath it, where a tatty looking mattress is hidden - it all feels a bit dark.

Detail from Chinatown Wishing Well

In some ways I was surprised it left me feeling a bit cold - aesthetically it ticks lots of boxes: the candy coloured spritz' of colour, the gaudy religious trophies - both things I really like. It reminded me of the drug fuelled hippie days described by Eileen Myles in her autobiography 'Chelsea Girls' which I've just finished. (NB: not for the faint hearted).

It also sort of reminded me (in a good way) of Koons piece, 'Play Doh' which you can catch at Newport Street Gallery now.

Play Doh
Jeff Koons, 1999 - 2014
3 Americans working at the same time, there's probably something in that (insert emoticon with rolling eyes here).

Dig by Daniel Silver

Today I went to the exhibition 'Dig' by artist Daniel Silver. Curated by Artangel, the sculpture was displayed in what was once one of the biggest Odeon cinemas in central London but has now been reduced to a building site. The artwork and site worked so well together that even though sculpture isn't always my thing, I found the installation thought provoking and inspiring.

The downstairs dungeon bit is the part you've probably already seen on someone's instagram. I loved the swampy boardwalk around the standing statues.

And I really liked this unintentional art work by the invigilators

 

For more see the Artangel website, here.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, Paris

Stone Faced

This solemn bearded face caught my eye last night while walking along the river at Temple

Igloo

Igloo, 2011 

Stuart Haygarth

Today I saw this sculpture by Stuart Haygarth at Haunch of Venison, Bond Street, in a show that brings together several sculptors over two floors. This was probably my favourite piece in the exhibition, possibly because as Tessa pointed out, it looks like an upside down chandelier. Ever the classy type.

It reminds me of the glasses we have in Cornwall, where no two are really the same. At New Year we had a party in Cornwall, where the conditions could have been likened to an igloo if it were not for an enormous space heater and bonfire. The theme was Fire and Ice.

Quite annoying as I don't have better photos but we decorated in a way that was so icy-looking it would've done an eskimo proud.

 

Igloos are pretty cool. (No pun intended).

Cold Toes

Liverpool last week, and Min's late October Beachwear.