Shoreditch!

My new favourite place, as far as an afternoon wandering around can tell.

Since we last talked, I have been selling a few portraits (oil on canvas), soon to be posted, and working on a large painting for my uncle, also soon to be posted. BIG NEWS-->

This Wednesday I am up and moving from the southern sticks into the big city, the capital herself. A few days ago curiosity culminated into a little exploration of the East side, where I went to hunt out galleries and artists and generally people who might wish to befriend me. Shoreditch sounds like the place I would least want to visit in most of the world, but, ignoring the name and going on other superficial things, like what people look like and what type of over-priced creative outlets there are, how many tacky shoes you can buy, how many galleries are around and the fact that a couple stores cater for artists, I'd say it's the first place in London that I'd wish to be.. based on one visit.. based on being an outsider who knows nothing.  Based on the fact that I'm not actually going to be there. I felt very comfortable walking around and making conversation. People seemed nice and not like they were out to attack me with guns and knives. I like this.

I checked out White Cube, a gallery in Hoxton Square (ok, so not Shoreditch), and had the pleasure of seeing the first exhibition in the UK by Mark Bradford, an artist from LA. I was struck by the construction of the large artworks, though I left wanting some bigger movement across the canvas (boards) to be felt (in a compositional sense). A piece that drew me in consisted of 44 blocks organised in a grid, each one plastered with built up layers of newspaper sheets and graphite ink, then sanded back to expose monochromatic tones and physical depth. Though the materials are reused and man made, the overall effect for me eluded to something organic, like the layers of bark on a tree. I sincerely enjoyed the experience of looking and trying to figure out what this work was saying, if anything, and if looking was just enough.

To top it all off, I happened to find Bar Kick, recommended to me by a friend, for any football table/fooseball enthusiast who considers it illegal to spin the handles when playing a serious game of football (that is, every game).

ps) If you look up any Mark Bradford work online, like a Rothko, it's better seen close up. Maybe make the rest up in your head..