in Which There Is Art & Culture

Having spent a short night on the hardest mattress I have slept on for a long time, and had a rather uninspiring breakfast I headed out to Battersea Park, to go to the Pump House Gallery to see the 'HyperComics' exhibition which includes work by Dave McKean and also of Adam Dant, Warren Pleece and Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

It was a beautiful morning, so the walk down to Battersea Park, past the Royal Hospital was pleasant, and I had time for a coffee and croissant by the boating lake before the gallery opened.I was the only visitor, which was nice, as it meant I got to have the exhibits to myself, and could spend as long as I liked looking at them from every angle. It was a shame, though - it is a free gallery, in the mifddle of the park which was very busy. It made me a little sad to think of all those people missing out, and I can't help wondering whether this is typical, and if so, whether the gallery can survive.

But perhaps I am overly pessemistic. Maybe comic fans just sleep late on Saturdays.

The gallery is, as the name suggests, the oriiginal pump house, built in 1861. It has four floors, and for this exhibition, one aritist per floor.

On the ground floor, Warren Pleece's "Montague Terrace" which incorporated a video plus 4 different comic strips (including one about a talking rabbit) all of which were slightly disturbing and left one wondering what one's neighbours get up to.

 

Up on the first floor was Daniel Merlin Goodbrey's - 3 piecs, about an archve (or is it a labyrinth?) about the Glam Rock Dictator Hieronymus Pop ...

 

Dave McKean's "The Rut" filled the 2nd floor - it is a narrative about an assault / murder - it includes scultpture, photoographs and paintings to tell a stry from he perspectives of victim, perpetrator and witness.

 

It is both beautiful and disturbing.

 

 

 

I spent the longest time in this part of the gallery.

 

It was beautiful, but also uncomfortable, you have to think, and how things are not always as black and white as we think, or would like to think.

 

The final part of the exhibition is Adam Dant's library, which is a trompe l'oeil library of 'Doctor London', a kind of autopsy of london. Odd, but intrigueing.

 

The top floor of the gallery is a mezzanine floor, so from the library one can look down upon Dave McKean's exhibit.

I am very glad that I went.

In Which There is More Culture

After the HyperComics exhibition I had planned to go the the Natural history Museum, where I'd heard tell of a Giant Kntted Squid (or possibly a knitted Giant Squid) but when I got there I found that the relevent exhibition cost £8 and had a huge queue.

 

I could've coped with one or the other, but not both, so the Giant Knitted Squid will have to remain a mystery.

 

Instead, I did go in for a short time, and admired some of the carvings and so on - I love that the building was designed to include representations of science and natural history, so that although it is a little like a cathedral, it is a cathedral adorned with wolves and rats and monkeys and octopi, instead of saints and demons.

 

However, the place was too overcrowded to be able to take much in, so after a very short time I headed next door to the V&A, where I spent a very soothing hour or so, mainly in the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries.

I found some lovely sculptures - this one of Alexander & Bucephalus, from 1515

 

There were also some lovely tapestries (although I missed the Raphael cartoons, as that exhibition doesn't open untilWednesday)

This one shows the Trojan War, and dates back to 1475.

 

And then I turned a corner an foun a little case, containing a note-book of Leonardo da Vinci...

 

There were, of course, also many statues, which I am sure at least one of you will enjoy...