'Antelope' Trafalgar Square

The fourteenth commision in the Fourth Plinth Programme in Trafalgar Square is 'Antelope' by  Samson Kambalu. It features Baptist preacher John Chilembwe (1891 - 1915) and missionary John Chorley in 1914, Nyasaland now Malawi.  Chilembwe is wearing a hat in defiance of colonial rule that forbade Africans from wearing hats in front of white people.

 

London

I have decided to close this blog. Being unable to chronicle, comment or re-count the Borough Market and Finsbury Park attacks or the gross negligence of what happened in the Grenfell Tower fire seems like an absence of responsibility for someone trying to write a blog about London.

The picture, taken at the Borough Market, says it more candidly than I ever could.

Ashley Bickerton - Omamental Hysteria at the Newport Street Gallery

From Selfie to Self Expression – Saatchi Gallery

Interesting exhibition on at the Saatchi Gallery on what is normally a boring subject, the ‘selfie’. It features self-portraits, photobombing celebrities, i-phone snaps and old masters in various formats. It also contains what could be the gallery of the future. Large screens displaying famous works by Picasso, Frida Khalo, Rembrandt, etc. that constantly change. Next to each screen is a touch pad on which the viewer can tap, therefore registering a ‘like’ for the work with the number of ‘likes’ displayed in the bottom left hand side of the screen. I have no idea what use this data is or how it is used but if the objective is to make you want to see the real thing then the project is a success.

How do they do this?

Ronnie Scott's, Soho

This is a very tenuous ‘London’ link but the only excuse I could find to include this fantastic clip of Buddy Rich is that it was filmed in Ronnie Scott’s in the very heart of Soho (Ok…..it was in 1969).

Do Ho Suh at Victoria Miro Gallery

Retracing Reggae Record Sleeves in London