Tag: Archive

Laura Gascoigne – A Way with the Pixels

Laura Gascoigne In April Lionel Messi put a signed pair of his adidas football boots up for auction at Christie’s. Customised with the names of his wife and sons, they were the ‘game-worn’ boots in which the Barcelona striker scored his 644th goal for his club, beating Pele’s previous record of 643 for Santos. Perfumed… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne – A Way with the Pixels

Dick French: On The Town – November 2020

Dick French November/December 2020 Rebecca Cains has died. She was only 50. “Death lies on her like an untimely frost.” Also known as “Becky the Scrapyard Queen” on account of the subject matter of her paintings – mostly wrecked cars and vans on roads or in scrapyards. She showed occasionally at the Royal Academy and… Continue reading Dick French: On The Town – November 2020

Laura Gascoigne: Institutional Rationalism – November 2020

Laura Gascoigne November/December 2020 In the introduction to his 1951 book The Greeks and the Irrational, the classicist E R Dodds recalled a chance meeting in front of the Parthenon marbles with a young man who confessed: “This Greek stuff doesn’t move me one bit”. When Dodds asked him why, he replied: “Well, it’s all… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Institutional Rationalism – November 2020

Dick French: On The Town – September 2020

Dick French September/October 2020 It’s not true that King Juan Carlos is hiding out in Bradley’s Spanish Bar. He only used that cupboard under the stairs while waiting for one of those posh penthouses over the road to be readied for him. Although it is true that he was reluctant to leave after falling for… Continue reading Dick French: On The Town – September 2020

Laura Gascoigne: Uncomfortable Truths – September 2020

Laura Gascoigne September/October 2020 Six weeks ago, a Hampstead neighbour left a book on our doorstep. We have got used to acts of kindness from strangers; at the start of lockdown another neighbour posted a book of poetry through our door to cheer us up. My husband read it, and it did. But this book… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Uncomfortable Truths – September 2020

Laura Gascoigne: Desperately Loose Ends – July 2020

Laura Gascoigne July/August 2020 You’re a curator working at the V&A, and the place shuts down. What do you do? You’re at a loose end. April comes around and you’re stuck at home with your furloughed partner watching your gerbils spin around on the rolly wheel of life when an idea strikes you. Why should… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Desperately Loose Ends – July 2020

Dick French: On The Town – May 2020

Dick French May/June 2020 It’s interesting to read the letters of John Ruskin alongside those of Vincent van Gogh. Most people are aware that Ruskin became rather unbalanced with age, but from reading his correspondence with Euphemia (Effie) it seems to me he was quite mad from the start. It’s the manic density that impresses… Continue reading Dick French: On The Town – May 2020

Laura Gascoigne: Pox On All Our Galleries – May 2020

Laura Gascoigne May/June 2020 At the exit to Tate Modern’s Andy Warhol exhibition, the gift shop tills were barricaded behind an airport queue management system. “You’re preparing for an invasion,” I joshed with a cashier as I emerged from the press view on 10 March. “We’re prepared for anything,” he replied. What they weren’t prepared… Continue reading Laura Gascoigne: Pox On All Our Galleries – May 2020