And yes, the London trip turned out to be marvelous in many ways.
First of all I was reunited with my lovely girlfriends: Joke, Marlies en Mieke. Unfortunate Sofie couldn't join us in the big city because of little Lois who for the time being needs her the most. (but we missed her very much).
From the left: Marlies, Joke, Sofie, me and Mieke
Together in London
Joke guided us through the city and showed us hidden places and great shops. Her company was warm and cheerful, even though see had cold and was eating 'Strepsils' like if they were candy.
Marlies en Joke only stayed for two days and after some fulfilling shopping, a fabulous diner and a visit to Tate Modern, they had to catch the Eurostar back to Belgium.
Joke was still a bit under the weather so we stayed in that evening and drank tea with hot milk while endlessly talking about London, friendship, art, love, movies (Joke went to see This Is It by herself and the movie theater was completely empty so she was singing and dancing while watching the film. When the lights were turned on she heard the crackling of paper and noticed there was an other girl sitting behind her. "You must be a huge MJ fan!", she laughed and Joke nodded, a little embarrassed), photography, cooking (steamer, garam masala, fruit tea with hot fluffy milk), wireless internet (we tried to hack the passwords of secured networks in the area but had no luck).
In the morning, she would vigorously start to 'iron' her hair with a straightener. It seemed like a daily routine during which she would slowly wake up. After a delicious breakfast we would go outside to experience citylife and take pictures.
Joke's boyfriend, Herman, is a terrific good cook who spoiled us with fresh fish and lots of different steamed vegetables. He was very thoughtful and seemed to have a few 'new man' features that women nowadays love so much. Being an abstract painter, their home is filled with colorful paintings. Sometimes the smell of fresh oil paint was overwhelming and it was interesting to life so closely with an artist for a few days.
These are some of Herman's paintings.
De abstracte schilderijen van Herman Maes eisen tijd, en alleen al daarin verschillen ze van de afbeeldingen die andere media dagelijks in eindeloze sequenties aanbieden.
Ze suggereren een vorm net herkenbaar genoeg om je blik vast te houden. Een liggend figuur, een hoofd, een landschap. Dit zijn geen illustraties bij actuele issues, geen politieke statements, maar thema's zo oud als de tekenende en schilderende mens.
Het is de nauwgezette afbakening van een onderzoeksterrein dat iets over verf aan het licht wil brengen.
Verf is keiharde realiteit. Het is pigment en vloeistof, water en steen. Veel oplosmiddel maakt verf waterachtig, erg vloeibaar. Gemengd met weinig verdunner daarentegen is verf een dichte massa, een harde korst op het gespannen oppervlak.
Tussen beide uitersten kan verf op verschillende wijzen aangebracht worden. Het geschilderde teken is een secuur verslag van de kracht en snelheid van de hand die het maakte.
Het schilderij is het verslag van de gedachten van de kunstenaar. De hand is de seismograaf van de hersenen en het schilderij een notitie.
De schilder leert de wetten van de verf kennen door voortdurend te zoeken naar het evenwicht tussen controle over materiaal en gedachten, en de overgave aan toeval en intuïtie.
De schilderijen van Herman Maes zijn het resultaat van metamorfosen.
(Uit Sara Weyns Het is stil in het atelier. Over de schilderijen van Herman Maes.)
Herman's grandfather was Karel Maes, one of the first Belgian abstract painters. Some of Karel's work will be on display at Tate Modern as part of the Van Doesburg and the International Avant-Garde: Constructing a New World exhibition. If you are in london somewhere between February 4th and May 16th 2010, you should visit this exhibit. I'm sure it will be very interesting.
The second reason why this trip was special, is because of Dori Hoffmann whom I met together with Joke and Herman at the Saatchi Gallery. She's an Hungarian girl I first met in Budapest and who is living in London since a few years. It took me a very short time to grow very fond of her. She's joyful and smart and very creative. Together with her boyfriend, Marcio, she designs leather belts and shoes. You can check their designs at Etsy.
Look at these ballet shoes... so cute!
Dori & Marcio
An other reason is that London is stuffed with art. If art was food you could feast every day, without spending one dime!
We visited the Pop Life Expo at Modern Tate, about the commercialization of art.
Joke and Herman took me to see the Damien Hirst exposition: "No Love Lost, Blue Paintings" at the Wallace Collection. I remember that the art critics didn't like these paintings very much. On the subject I have to agree with Herman. Damien Hirst going back to the basics is the best thing that could happen to him; he went back to the very heart of his art. You can see the difference, right?
This would not make it into our living room ;)
This on the other hand would look great:
Joke took me to the White Cube, one of London's most famous art gallery's, where I was saw the work of Anselm Kiefer. Amazing paintings which could keep you hostage in the room for hours and hours.
"The new work continues to confront the violence and paradoxes of human history, its endless cycle of creation and destruction. The paintings are allusive, not illustrative, with an emphatic material and spiritual presence. They seem almost sensuously painted but are the result of a long process during which both the artist and the elements have attacked the canvas."
In the Whitechapel Gallery I saw the work of Sophie Calle. One of the pieces, an installation with photography and film, was very moving and amusing at the same time. The center of this artwork is a breakup email by Calle's ex-boyfriend. Apparently, after a breakup, French women don't get fat...they get even! Calle's work, titled "Take Care Of Yourself" (the last sentence of the mail), includes translations of the email into Latin, Braille, Morse code, bar code and shorthand.
"The exhibition premieres the English language version of Prenez soin de vous (Take Care of Yourself), a highlight of the 2007 Venice Biennale. Calle invited 107 women from a ballerina to a lawyer to use their professional skills to interpret an email in which her partner breaks up with her. The poignant, amusing and poetic result forms a large-scale installation that transcends the personal to provide a monument to the women involved."
I was able to find the infamous email online. It's tragic but hilarious (the guy must be a real douchebag!).
So ladies, next time you get dumped over a post-it, turn the damn thing into smoke signals ;)
I'm looking forward to the next trip the girls and I will make...
