Cityscape by Evol

Street art by Berlin based artist Evol. Using stencils and spray cans he creates miniature cityscapes on familiar everyday objects such as these concrete blocks. These pictures were taken in Smithfield meat market.

"Give it away".

Just seen these bass guitars in a gallery in Bond Street. Flea, the bass player with the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, has teamed up with Damien Hirst to create a limited edition of fifty spin painted bass guitars. Each sell for £50,000 with the proceeds going to the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, which provides free music lessons and instruments to underprivileged kids.

National Gallery - Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan

"The National Gallery's Leonardo exhibition promises a once-in-a-lifetime chance to view the artist's finest paintings and drawings". Jonathan Jones- The Guardian

Leonardo’s London Blockbuster: The Movie - New York Times 15 February 2012

The ghost of raves past

The ghostly remains of a deserted East End warehouse used during the London rave scene. The artist is Gary Miller. 

Tower Of London

Construction started on the Tower of London in 1078 and was completed during the reign of Edward I almost 200 years later.  It was once the tallest building in London, designed to dominate the population and provide security for the Norman invaders. This was provided by the 90 feet high and 15 feet thick walls of the White Tower.

Today visitors are welcomed with open arms, including potential Norman invaders. The Tower is strictly for the tourists with Londoners taking the building for granted having only visited on school trips or when Grandparents took them to see the Crown Jewels.

The 18 acre site has had a new lease of life with concerts being held in the surrounding moat. It also has the obligatory ice rink at this time of year. Not sure that William I would have been that impressed.

'Surrounding modern buildings show no respect for theTower of London' -Simon Jenkins, Guardian, Friday 20 January 2012

Borough Market

Christmas is coming but unfortunately not for this selection of wild fowl at the Borough Market.

Rival Sons

Thursday night – O2 Academy Islington. Saw Rival Sons play this good little venue. The 800 capacity was sold out. Get to see this great band while tickets are still only £9 because soon you will need to pay stadium prices.

Art Deco in Oxford Street

 

Found this wonderful building in Oxford Street, which is now unfortunately an O2 store. Must have walked past this spot a hundred times and never noticed it. 

Psychogeograph - "just about anything that takes pedestrians off their predictable paths and jolts them into a new awareness of the urban landscape". - Joseph Hart, "A New Way of Walking,"

Concours d'Elegance - Regents St

The start of chilly November is synonymous with many traditions that Londoners revere. Bonfire night, the Lord Mayors show and the London to Brighton veteran car rally. These events, while no longer celebrated or attended as they once were, are part of the London mind-set. We may not want to take part ourselves but are glad that others do. A very London attitude.

The London to Brighton rally, the oldest motor car rally in the world, held a ‘Contours d’Elegance’ in Regents Street of at least 100 of the 500 cars entering into the rally along with a display of E-Type Jags, Mini Coopers, cars of the future and Bluebird.

I’m not a great fan of ‘veteran’ cars (why are they called veteran and not vintage?). The thought of being stuck on the side of the road, half way to Brighton with water pouring from a 100 year old radiator is not my idea of fun. But that’s just me and from the size of the crowd in Regents Street yesterday my cynicism is not shared by many.

I love E-Type Jags but found yesterday’s display a disappointment. A thing of beauty is usually a thing of rarity and to see so many of these vehicles side by side seemed to turn Regents Street into just a glorified car park.

You should never let light in on magic or get to meet your heroes. To see the interior of these cars, with their wooden steering wheels (certainly no air bags) and buttons and switches just waiting to come off in your hand raised fears that you would soon be parked up ‘half way to Brighton’ behind the leaking veterans.