BluBlu “Evolution of life” Video

I came across this amazing piece of work on Vimeo today…..  stop frame animation on a scale so huge it takes your breath away.. and the ambition and skill on show is awe-inspiring… No idea who you are, but thank you for this 10 minute masterpiece…..

Daydreaming with…. James Lavelle

Yesterday afternoon we went to a part of London we haven’t been to before, the streets behind the Royal Academy, where the Haunch of Venison Gallery has made its new home. We’ve been fans of James Lavelle for many years and were looking forward to seeing this “pop-up” exhibition curated by the man himself, and featuring works inspired by his music.

The work on show was in my opinion, generally very good. Special mention should go to the films of Jonathon Glazer and Oswaldo Macia. Both had as their “stars” shiny dancers (spinning disorientatingly in Jonathon’s film and rotating impressively in Oswaldo’s) whose movements were beautifully choreographed and captured to great effect.

Ian Monroe’s work was also very strong, with his trademark architectural aluminium and vinyl constructions easily holding their own within this very eclectic collection..

Perhaps the main draw for me though was a chance to see some original work by 3D/Robert del Naga and Futura. Neither disappointed, with 3D’s work benefiting from being seen at full size, and Futura’s Pointmen still looking fresh after at least 10 years of familiarity. Sadly photography was not allowed anywhere within the gallery, so these images are illustrative only.

Shame it was only on for 3 days….. People I know who were away for the Bank Holiday weekend were gutted they wouldn’t be able to make it.

Mr Bean’s new house…

Despite recommendations from virtually everyone to refuse it, I read yesterday that the Oxford Planning Dept. had finally approved Rowan Atkinson’s application to build a new house on a 25 Hectare plot near Ipsden.

Mr Atkinson is obviously a man of taste, as he has chosen Richard Meier as his architect, and although it’s difficult to see from the single image I found on the web, the new house looks very much like it’s business as usual for the White Knight: double height spaces, clever geometries, large areas of glass and his wonderful knack of placing elegant white buildings within pristine landscapes that look as if they have always and should have always been there.

Congratulations to the Oxford Planning Dept. I honestly believe that they got this one right.

This may well be the first “proper building in the UK by Mr. Meier…

Do Not Alight Here…

Yesterday I had cause to go to Queenstown Road Station for the first time since I moved to London more than 22 years ago. Tucked away in the backwaters of Battersea, I was amazed at how run down and ramshackle it seemed, a place somehow forgotten as everything around gets gentrified.

The platforms still look like I imagine they did back in the 1920′s with wooden panelling and ornate cast iron supports, and the whole feeling of otherworldness is completed by the swathes of grass growing out from the surrounding tracks…

I felt as though I’d stepped onto the train at Waterloo and 7 minutes later got out at some abandoned branch line in Yorkshire (an effect only marred by Battersea Power Station’s iconic chimneys in the distance)

“Do not alight here” the signs tell you, but if you fancy a step back to a pre-Beeching time, then why not take a chance.

The Westray Wifey

The intriguing Dr. Alice Roberts introduced me to a windswept archeological dig in Scotland last night. Westray up in the Orkney Islands is a 5000 year old Neolithic village which is thought to be one of the oldest farming communities yet found in Britain. The dig has unearthed many interesting things including a stone wall with 40 cattle skulls built-in to the foundations, evidence that barley was being grown in an organised system of fields and this wonderful figure, the Westray Wifey

She is thought to be the oldest representation of a human figure found in Britain, and because she was found in a specific location in one of the homes, there is a suggestion that she is a goddess or has some unknown religious connotation, possibly connected with the abandonment of the village at some unknown point and for unknown reasons….

It’s typical and disheartening that religion always has to rear its ugly head as an explanation for everything. I would rather think of her as a child’s toy, carved by one of the farmers as they sat around the fire one evening talking about the days events and how they would manage to survive yet another Orkney winter.

Ai Weiwei

An email this morning from WAN introduced me to the Chinese artist Ai WeiWei and his wonderfully simple, yet evocative sculptures…. I especially like this one of bikes called Forever……..

I’m amazed at the strength and commitment of some people. Ai appears to be hounded by the Chinese authorities, and gets beaten up for his beliefs. Ai was also instrumental in the design of the Beijing Birds Nest Stadium… beauty from adversity.

Life Wall & the “arbitrariness of the designer”

Whilst looking for materials to clad the redevelopment project I am currently working on, I came across this stuff… Life Wall.  Can’t quite fathom how it works from the little info I have found, but it definitely looks interesting… I also like the spanish translation taken directly from the site:

“LIFEWALL ® achieves to place easily the vegetation on the buildings facades with great advantages for the designer and the environment. LIFEWALL ® are 1 sqm panels where any vegetation can be placed. The plants are watered by drip, optimizing water use. The panels can be placed designing the facade to the arbitrariness of the designer”

http://www.ceracasa.com/51164_en/CEVISAMA-2010:-ECOEFICIENTS-SOLUTIONS-SOLUTIONS-OF-FUTURE/

Charles Schridde

I watched a TV programme last night about the “Admen” on Madison Avenue in the NYC in the Sixties.. absolutley fascinating, those guys really believed they were kings of the world…

I particularly liked the work of  Charles Schridde whose wonderful drawings combined romanticism, rampant materialism and overtley optermistic futurism….. no mean feat!

Tiny Japanese House

Daily Icon sent me this amazing house today…..

“House in Minaminaci 3 is a residence for a couple with 2 children. It stands at a place where an old shopping street and houses are still kept. The site area of the dwelling is only 55 sqm, and has a square form. Houses in the local area sit close to each other, a condition which makes it quite difficult to make the residence both private and open to the outside.

The unique design of the house creates a relationship between the building and its exterior elements as the house, which has a footprint of only 29sqm, stands at an angle to the exterior walls and site. Through the gap between the walls and the inside construction, sunlight filters down creating reflections between the two structures.

Impressive how much space can be wrung out of a small site when your culture is geared up for it. Beautiful though it is though, I’m not sure I could live there, where would all my stuff go?

Tremaen Pottery

Whilst looking for something else I came across Tremaen Pottery. A small, very stylish pottery studio started in the mid 1960′s by Peter Ellery and based in Newlyn, Cornwall. We really must make an effort to get down there as another favourite ceramic artist of mine Eric Leaper, was also based in Newlyn)

http://www.tremaen.com/sculptural_bases/page_0.html

We then tried to buy this rather fine 45cm high Tremaen lamp base from Ebay and very annoyingly lost out in the last 10 seconds by 50p….  I really must learn how to use sniping software…