Anish Kapoor

An amazing exhibition at the Royal Academy in London - so pleased to have found some tickets for its penultimate day as it finishes on the 11th December. The sheer scale of the pieces was awesome, the creative mind behind this inpiring. Each work could have so many interpretations and meanings: the 'Svayambh' was an installation of a 30 ton vast block of red wax, slowly moving through five galleries along tracks at such a slow pace - the most obvious parallel was an underground train moving through tunnels- the red wax symbolising blood and suicides - but who knows?  My favourite was 'Yellow' - so simple, yet so strong. 

Inspiration from Art

I was hoping to come away from the Pop Life exhibition at the Tate Modern inspired by art that translated into ideas on the drawing board for my current garden design, but they were not forthcoming – there was so much bling and pornographic imagery that detracted from the art itself.

The topic was the commercialisation of Art over the last 30 years with the concept that - the artist has to both make and sell their art, and to sell their art they have to sell themselves. One artist took this to the extreme, literally selling herself for sex and then filming the event. A video tape of the act was playing in a very small room with a guard sitting right next to monitor – why I’m not too sure?

All in all – an exhibition worth seeing for the lasting impression it made – among the many artists exhibiting, it was good to see the work by Damien Hurst which included the calf with painted gold hoofs, which was part of the selection of works sold by Sotheby’s for £120 million last year. Andy Warhol was the king of self promotion – selling his face to advertising and branding himself with his trademark dark glasses and silver wig. The philosophy behind this applies as much if not more today than then in this competitive world.

I did not get the inspiration I was expecting from the exhibition, namely to be inspired by shape, colour and form when designing– but what I did take away was the understanding that in my business as a landscape designer, regardless how talented I am, I have to market myself and my design business, building my own unique style and identity. 

And sell myself…

Motorway culture...

...travelling the M5 down to Devon, at junction 24 - the huge Willow man sculpture by Serena de la Hey fascinates me every time.  It appeared in 2001 and standing at over 12 metres is the tallest willow figure sculpture. Whenever  I pass it reminds me I still need to visit the Angel of the North by Antony Gormley, one of the best known in England.

The impact of sculpture in both public places and private gardens is immense and underestimated...

My blog...

...inspired to start this blog as I just qualified as Landscape designer - having passed my Post Grad Diploma in Landscape Design from Oxford College of Garden Design - and with a distinction. All that midnight and weekend working finally paid off and the course gave me everything I needed to start my own practice - it feels great.