Outside

I like the idea of the Serpentine Gallery’s summer pavilion each year, a large sculpture that people can walk in, but I wasn’t feeling light-hearted enough today to enjoy this year’s playful offering. I probably needed a child with me. But I loved the ‘still life’ I found round the back of the gallery (extras) and the attitude of the parents whose small child tried to eat it.
 
I hadn’t planned to go into the gallery but Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s sombre paintings pulled at me: I was fascinated by her black faces against dark backgrounds, not only for the way she uses light but also for all the political/cultural implications. Something for me to explore.
 
Next I went to a small exhibition of Vivian Maier’s photographs (Beetles+Huxley till 5 September) where the light was doing just the opposite – dark faces against blown-out skies (not that she would necessarily have processed these photos in this way). Something else for me to explore.
 
I’d found very few pictures to take before I went into the exhibition but when I walked out I discovered that the world was suddenly crammed with street photography. I took far too many photos on my walk from there to the Hayward Gallery for the Carsten Höller exhibition. I surrendered my camera before I went in so I could exit down the slide. Mistake. I would have enjoyed it much more if I could have taken pictures. And the slide? Meh.
 
The impetus for my day in London was a talk a friend was giving at the Marx Memorial Library this evening about Ellen Wilkinson. What an interesting woman.



A lot going on just now so apologies for lack of comments. A quieter time will come.