Retracing Reggae Record Sleeves in London

A Cockneymentary

The Wild West.....end

I have no idea why a posse of cowboys are in town. Welcome to the West End.

The Serpentine Pavilion

This year’s Serpentine pavilion is constructed from fibre glass blocks by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels. It works brilliantly

Raqib Shaw - White Cube gallery

The White Cube Gallery in Bermondsey is currently showing a terrific exhibition by Raqib Shaw. The work references old masters from collections at the National Gallery, London and Prado Museum in Madrid and feature self-portraits and the artist’s studio in Peckham. This being a Peckham I would not recognise.

The work is highly detailed using porcupine quills to apply enamel paint onto birch wood panels. The effect is fantastic.

A must see exhibition.

Crossrail tunnelling: Drone's eye view of Crossrail's completed rail tunnels

Summer solstice timelapse footage from top of London's Shard – video

Switch House - Tate Modern

The new Switch House at Tate Modern. What a building!

The 'chainmail' brickwork allows light into the building and views out from within.

The interior

The members room

The evening panoramic view from the upper viewing gallery

Residents overlooked by Tate Modern extension should 'get net curtains' - Guardian 21 Sept 2016

Forza Italia

Three Soho icons in one shot. Bar Italia, Ronnie Scots and Soho’s support for the Italian national football team.

Forza Italia

Yayoi Kusama at the Victoria Miro Gallery

The waterside garden of the Victoria Miro Gallery in City Road. Yayoi Kusama has created this fantastically peaceful installation in the heart of busy London.

Jeff Koons ‘Now’ – Newport Street Gallery

The perfect exhibition for the me, me, me generation. Not only can you look at the art but with the giant polished stainless steel  ‘Balloon Monkey’ you can look at yourself looking at the art. Jeff Koons is always good value but with this “large, loud and explicit” exhibition he certainly pushes the boundaries of sauciness with intimate pictures of Jeff and former Mrs Koons ‘La Cicciolina’

 Not for the faint hearted.

Muhammad Ali in Brixton

Argentinian Tango Social Dance

 

This is what the Ballroom at the Festival Hall was designed for. Dancing.  Dancing the tango to be more precise.  This was billed as an ‘Argentinian Tango Social Dance’. It had a few live musicians but the music mainly came from a lap top. It inspired hundreds, literally hundreds, of people to start dancing. Husbands and wives, husbands with other men’s wives and young children standing on Dad’s shoe laces in order to keep in step. Women dressed as femme fatale’s, men dressed in t-shirts and jeans. Some leading, some following. The bold, intertwined legs with their partners before sliding into the next position. A complete hotchpotch of people simply enjoying themselves.

Some could really tango. Dressed to kill, like a scene from a Jack Vettriano painting, these dancers showed all the others how it should be done.

The Festival Hall is a fantastic place. High art to simple pleasures, it is still the peoples palace.

The Garden Bridge

London fog

I realise this photograph looks as though I have taken it from the top of a tree but it is actually taken from Hither Green station on a foggy London morning. Always surprising to find little patches of wilderness in the heart of the city but they do exist. How long before developers move in?

Shoreditch - Boundary - The first council estate

Still Here – A Decade of Lazarides

The Lazarides Gallery in Rathbone Place is always worth visiting. It is currently celebrating its 10^th anniversary with a group exhibition from the gallery’s most acclaimed and ground-breaking artists.  

Farringdon - a London homage to Adam Magyar’s New York Subway video

Farringdon - a London homage to Adam Magyar's New York Subway video from oli newton on Vimeo.

Beigel Bake - Brick Lane

The Beigel Bake in Brick Lane. An East End institution. Freshly baked bread and beigels pulled fresh from the oven 24 hours a day. Mmmmmmmmmmm........

The Art of War - Hackney Museum

Interesting little exhibition on at the Hackney Museum. ‘The Art of War – Posters & Propaganda from the First World War’ features original recruitment posters designed by graphic artists and creative agencies of the day. The exhibition runs until 28^th May.

Tubby Hayes - Soho history

A nice slice of old Soho in this short clip about Tubby Hayes

John Hoyland – Power Stations. Newport Street Gallery

An excellent new gallery has been opened by Damien Hirst in the back streets of Vauxhall. The first exhibition features work by John Hoyland, 1964 to 1982

Well worth a visit to see both the gallery and the work on display.

The space and work from the upper gallery

The Gallery and a portrait of the owner left for posterity