The Art Brut Man

I booked myself a ticket to the Jean Dubuffet exhibition at the Barbican for the day after museums and galleries opened up again. It felt good to be in a dark, quiet space and to be able to look at art - in real life. As soon as I saw this smoking lady I knew I was going to like it. Dubuffet was a French artist and sculptor who, as a teenager studied painting at Académie Julian in Paris only to quit after six months, ‘believing that traditional easel painting was a sterile language unable to articulate the texture of real life’. He was greatly inspired by the work of those ‘untouched by artistic culture’ and self-taught artists in psychiatric hospitals in Switzerland and France.

Dubuffet was born into a wine merchant family and after having sold the business off when he was 41 he could dedicate himself full time to art. He also started the Art Brut movement, collecting thousands of artefacts by outsider artists, some of which were included in the exhibition, which is a separate blog post of itself.

This portrait was one of many that he made of the guests who’d attend a weekly literary salon of a wealthy American lady in Paris. He would look at the attendants carefully for hours and then go back to the studio and only work from memory. I’d love a portrait of myself in this style, wouldn’t you (ha, or maybe you wouldn't)?

In the early 1950’s he spent some time in Algeria and began creating landscapes of the Saharan desert. Some of his work reminds a me a lot of phone doodles (do you still do them? I hardly ever do them anymore; I think they happened more when we only had landlines and had loooong phone conversations. Not really 21st century, what with FaceTime and Zoom and everything) - you’ll see what I mean further down in this post.

He wasn’t afraid of using unusual materials in his work, and in this collage series he used butterfly and moth wings. He found the colours of them too subtle and added watercolour to them to make them more lustrous.

Dubuffet experimented with all sorts of materials, and would deliberately mess with them to get different effects. This painting was amazing close up.

Who makes a sculpture out of the remnants of a burnt car? Dubuffet.

Who makes a sculpture out of tin foil? Dubuffet.

But he didn’t stop there. Inspired by Jackson Pollock and looking really closely at rocks, he made large drip paintings that replicated rock surfaces, which in turn, more than a half a century later, made a certain blogger think “Hmm, I should really start looking closely at rocks again, because rocks are crazy amazing.”

Took a step back to show the whole painting.

I loved this painting, which I’ve cropped here to show his cars, which I thought were so cool. I love how seeing art like this reminds me that art doesn’t have to be ‘classic’ at all.

So, back to phone doodles. This period of Dubuffets work from the 60’s and 70’s was actually based on a phone doodle he made using one of those four-colour ballpoint pens (he skipped using green), that were all the rage many moons ago. He found the doodle fascinating and developed it further into paintings…

… and walk-through installations and architectural environments, with people wearing costumes designed by him walking around inside them. He called it Coucou Bazar, made some music to go with it, and it looked a lot like this.

I really liked these posters from that era from different galleries. I think my fave is the Pace Gallery one (middle, first row).

From Coucou Bazar he progressed to just black and white work.

I wouldn’t mind a couple of these in our house.

Quick! The gallery attendant looks really cool silhouetted like that. Click.

He painted his last series of paintings in his early 80’s, in the 1980’s, and two young artists seeing his work in a gallery in New York became hugely inspired by him: Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. You can see it, can’t you? I’m so glad this exhibition opened, as I’d never heard of Jean Dubuffet before, which is ridiculous, seeing as I went to see an Art Brut exhibition in Paris two years ago. You live and you learn my friends, you live and you learn.

Highbury Fields Forever

My exploration of architectural London continues. On Monday I brought D with me to Highbury to have a look at the buildings around Highbury Fields. My other friend H brought me here in the summer as I’d never been before, so I thought I’d pay it forward. But before getting to the Georgian houses (again! I know! I like them! a lot!) this caught my eye. I couldn’t really translate what I saw in this into a picture, and sometimes that’s just how it goes (oh the many times I wished my eyes could take pictures where I’ve not had a camera). Shrug.

Birthday remnants I reckon. 81 on the outside, 18 on the inside.

You guys know what Georgian houses look like right? They have a brick facade with a bricked arch above the fanlight window on top of the front door. They do not look like this. Well someone decided to change the front in the late 1800’s in a Queen Anne style. Altering the front on a Georgian house would never be allowed today, but in a way I’m glad this one is different as it really stands out and makes you wonder. And then when you blog the picture, you remember to Google the house and you find out why it looks like it does. In a way I preferred not knowing. Mysteries are so much more fun than facts.

It’s been raining a lot this month and it’s been great for our urban nature - everything is so lush and intensely green at the moment.

Speaking of which, this is what all of May has been like, sunny one minute then heavy rain/hail the next. It feels like the longest winter ever.

Tucked behind Highbury Terrace is Highbury Terrace Mews, where there is a row of much more modern houses in different styles, but as it was raining at this point I couldn’t really take the pics I wanted. The Mews is gravelled which gives it a totally different feel, like a bit of the countryside in the city - which I think is the perfect combo. I’m all for country life in the city.

Wisteria season is upon us, and white wisteria is always so beautiful.

Regular ol’ wisteria ain’t half bad either.

A classic fanlight window - so nice aren’t they?

Wooden window frames are my favourite (I know, I keep going on about them), and they suit a Georgian house so well. We got proper drenched in the many rain showers that fell in the two hours we were walking around - well, the parts of us that weren’t shielded by our brollies.

Noice noice noice.

We continued on to Aberdeen Park, a street around the corner from Highbury Fields, where this amazing church built in 1866 stands. The last time I was here it was open, and inside are artist’s studios, and there was cool little exhibition on. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me, and this time it was closed. The interior is absolutely amazing, with the decorative brick work you can see on the exterior being just a small indication of what the inside looks like. I found some pictures of it online here. I implore you to have a look!

The rain stopped and we continued walking around the street (it’s in a loop) where there is a mixture of architectural styles; Victorian, Edwardian and post war. I haven’t really documented it that well here. I’m already annoying enough as a friend who’ll stop mid conversation to take a picture, but luckily lots of D’s friends are photographers, so she’s used to it. Still, walking and talking is better than walking and talking and stopping and clicking.

And finally, walking through Highbury Fields to head home, the sun shining as if the rain never happened. How very very London.

Tuesday evening, Wednesday morning

On Tuesday evening I went for my first meal out since last summer. It was a slightly surreal experience, as the streets were pretty empty of people, but the outdoor tables of all the restaurants and pubs that were open were busy (we’ll be allowed to eat/drink indoors from Monday next week). There were no shoppers or people leaving work, something I wouldn’t pay any attention pre-Covid, but their absence was very noticeable. Walking across Waterloo Bridge towards the restaurant looking eastwards felt both familiar and unfamiliar.

I had dinner with my dearest G & D, my old work colleagues who’ve I now known for exactly 20 years. We were too busy talking, laughing, eating and drinking for me to take any pics, but I took this as we were walking back across Waterloo Bridge, seeing them match each other with their accessories.

We stopped to look at the Shard framed by the National Theatre, and felt our love of London swell. It was nice to be back in the centre of it.

G showed us a picture of these carriages that he’d taken on his way over to meet us, and we walked back briskly to see if they were still there. Luckily they were still there. There was a night shoot about to start, either a movie or a TV-series, obviously set in pre-car times. We stood looking at them agog, feeling like we’d travelled back in time.

Nothing like a selfie to bring you back to the present though. Loved the contrast of it all.

Had to crop in here, I mean look at that expression! Brilliant.

We chatted to one of the guys in a top hat, who opened one of the carriages up for us so we could have a look inside. I wanted to take a picture, but I also wanted to take it in. Sometimes it’s difficult to do both. It was a four seater, and clearly people were smaller then - it would be a really tight squeeze these days. Apparently half of the carriages were over 150 years old, and the other half were new builds. Not sure what this one was (did the real ones have mudguards I wonder?). Sadly the guy didn’t know what they were filming, but maybe he was fibbing.

Trust G to show us this old gas street light around the corner. He’s a fountain of knowledge, and knows so much about London and its history (like a true Liverpudlian - haha). He told us that it ran on the fumes of the sewers below which sounded a bit bonkers.

He was absolutely right of course. I mean, wow, just wow! I need to show this to Oomoo, I don’t think he’d ever believe me if I told him that there’s a street light in town that is powered by poo.

On Wednesday morning my friend M took me on a 28k bike ride along the River Lea, somewhere not that far from where we live, but somewhere I’ve never been before.

We hadn’t established beforehand whether the bike ride was to be a workout or a pleasure ride, so M was all kitted out for exercise and I was in my jeans and jumper. Also, my bike is a 6 speed step through with a basket on the front.

It’s a bit strange how I haven’t explored the east part of London that much, considering I’ve lived in the city for 28 years, and don’t actually live that far away from it. It’s probably because it became the place to be just as I stopped going out. As a result, being there feels like being in a different city. Handy in these times.

We stopped for a hot drink on top of the neighbouring Dutch barge to this boat. This area is heaving on the weekends and evenings normally, but at 10am it was really nice and quiet.

Funky details on a house boat.

We continued on to Stratford and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, but as I’ve said before, cycling and taking pictures is tricky, and I feel bad about wanting to stop all the time to take pictures. I had to take one here though, as it felt like we were suddenly in the countryside. We cycled along the other split of the River Lea on the way back home, where you could sense huge industrial estates beyond the tree lines and the water, but they were hidden well enough that we could pretend we were somewhere much further out.

I did make an exception at one point and made us stop to have a look at these guys for a little while. So ridiculously sweet.

I’m definitely going back here soon; I want to show the guys what we have so near us. Thanks London for constantly surprising me! It’s nice to know that I still have so much here to discover.

Leaving the lockdown cave

I’m finally coming out of my lockdown funk, and last weekend I went for a walk around Bloomsbury with my friend H. I’d been craving a trip to the area for a few weeks, as I really wanted to have a look at the Georgian architecture there. It’s also pretty empty of people, so it was a perfect warm-up for getting back out into the world again.

This hotel was little further along the street from the first picture. About half of the buildings there were hotels.

I really liked the contrast between the colours radiating away from these windows.

Sticking with a window theme: we walked past this one and couldn’t really figure out whether it was someone’s front room or a book shop, as there was only a residential door next to it. The room itself was my perfect idea of a living room, full of book shelves and quirky framed prints hung on wooden walls, like in a rustic ski chalet. You can see a bit of the pine wood to the right hand side of the window. So cosy.

Another window with what has to be the best looking blind I’ve ever seen.

Later on we walked through the Brunswick Centre as it’s been years since I’d looked up at the flats there. I love how white it all is apart from plants and other balcony paraphernalia.

I did a little research beforehand and made sure we went to St George’s Square, which was the first burial place in London that was located away from a church in 1714 (the graveyards in London itself were getting too full at the time). Back then this area would have been the countryside, which is hard to imagine as it’s in central London now. It was still very quiet and peaceful; I imagine it’s a great place to go on your lunch break if you work nearby.

The brick letters caught my eye here. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it before, but such a simple way to add a bit of spice to a building.

At one point we came across a narrow street that led down to this mews. We simply had to check it out.

Mews houses usually don’t have gardens, so you have to make your own any way you can.

I bet you get to know your neighbours reeeeeeeeeally well as a result.

Sigh. Georgian houses are just so lovely, aren’t they? I don’t know anyone who lives in one. I need to befriend someone who does so I can see if they’re as great on the inside. Shallow, I know.

Charles Dickens lived in one - this one in fact. And it’s now a museum, so actually, I CAN go and see what one looks like on the inside. And funnily enough I’m reading ‘Great Expectations’ at the moment, so it would be extra interesting right now.

This office building is definitely not Georgian, but probably Art Deco. It’s also a house that looks like it’s coated in caramel. Yum.

This place looked really interesting, and caught my eye because I’m a sucker for green. I just had a look at their website, and once they’re up and running again I hope I can go to one of their events and have a look around. For the past month I’ve gone from feeling slightly anxious about the lockdown rules easing to feeling ok about it, and realising that I just have to start booking tickets to different exhibitions and try to recover my former sense of self that way. This last winter lockdown we had was pretty scarring, so coming out of it feels very different from the first one. Anyway, I promise I’ll bring you guys with me on my arty excursions, but maybe with a wider lens on the camera next time 🤪