Collages by Agnes Montgomery

I'm surprised by how much I love these collages. I'm not quite sure why they appeal to me so much. I suppose it's something to do with the kind of surreal quirky sense of fun.
They remind me a little of Tim Walker's images which also have that kind of stage-set theatrical over-the-top look ............ He is my favourite contemporary fashion photographer.

They also remind me of Victorian decoupage stickers......

Kate MccGwire

I stumbled across Kate MccGwire's Artwork quite recently and was instantly drawn in.

At first look there is usually something a little threatening about her installations, and that's just looking at the images. I haven't actually experienced any of her exhibitions myself but I imagine that must be a slightly more unnerving adventure.

These images taken by Barney Lidster are of her current piece Evacuate, installed in the Framing Identity exhibition at the Tatton Park Biennial in Cheshire. It's curated by Danielle Arnoud and Jordan Kaplin, and runs until 26th of September. As the title suggests you can't help but be intimidated by the concept of the presence of a what appears to be a huge invading beast, trying to disrupt the organized domesticity.

MccGwire who often references Freud's 'Unheimliche' or 'the uncanny,' states that, 'beauty is something that compels you or makes you question the status quo.' I couldn't argue this point with her. I would consider Evacuate to be a beautiful piece and the closer you look, the more beautiful it becomes. That's due to the intricate nature of her work and the natural beauty of the thousands of feathers that it's made up of. Yet as mentioned before although compelling....it did draw me in.....it is also more than a little disquieting.

Reading MccGwire's Artist Statement on her website, which you can check out on http://www.katemccgwire.com/ (note the double 'c') she quotes Freud's concept of home as 'a place where the familiar can somehow excite fear.' This is something she has certainly managed to achieve in this piece of work.

Getting Ready for Artweeks

Satisfaction! Sixteen new pieces of artwork, mounted, framed, priced and named all ready for Artweeks......well not all named......but they soon will be.


Just mobiles to make and I'll be ready. Well mobiles to make and four huge trellis panels to paint and cakes to bake and hors d'oevres to make and labels to print.....and then I'll be ready!

A TAXIDERMIST'S TATE MODERN

Liscious ( I think that's how you spell the name) on Walton Street in Jericho, always has the most amazing collection of vintage furniture, chandeliers, light fittings and contemporary artwork.

The window display never fails to attract my attention. Last month an antique kimono was strung across the window on a broom stick, whilst furniture from a selection of era's were carefully arranged with striking pieces of artwork. There's always something to make me look twice.

But I think the current window display takes the biscuit! I couldn't help but do an about-turn when I dashed past last Wednesday afternoon. The window was a taxidermist's Tate Modern! It was full of stuffed creatures, birds and mammals of all species, carefully nestled in a swathe of white netting. Juxtaposed against the back-drop of a huge nest-like chest, whose drawers, stuffed with grass and moss gave the whole window a kind of Dickensian, Great Expectationesque vibe......

I half expected to see Miss Havisham take a seat on this chair which looked as though it had been pecked by the pheasants. I loved it all......so theatrical...I can't wait to see what comes next

The Grocers Son

We watched documentary French film maker Eric Guirado's first fictional film The Grocer's Son last week and were pleasantly surprised.

Starring Nicholas Cazale as a grumpy young man given the task of looking after his father's mobile grocery business whilst he recovers from a heart attack and Clotilde Hesme as the woman he has a crush on. I found it to be a lovely gentle, quietly amusing film.

It wasn't too soppy or sentimental. Just the thing to watch on a lazy Sunday evening.