Rowley Gallery Blog
Today I passed by the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road in London and noticed a banner advertising Mexican Miracle Paintings, an exhibition that opened in October 2011. I don’t know why I’d not seen it before. I pass by here frequently. It looks like a great exhibition. Continue reading “Mexican Miracle Paintings”
I woke last Friday morning to the gentle sounds of James Naughtie and Evan Davis and the amazing story of a cape of golden cloth woven from the silk of over a million spiders. Like something worthy of Jason and the Argonauts. The silk was harvested from female Golden Orb Spiders by 80 people over seven years in the highlands of Madagascar. The cape, together with a four metre long scarf, is being exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum. You can see more pictures and listen again to the story here on the Today programme website. Continue reading “Golden Spider Silk”
This is a beautifully made short film about a kinetic sculpture by Chris Burden that took four years to build. It was filmed in his studio prior to being installed at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where it opened last Saturday. It’s a wonderfully choreographed vision of modern city travel. Continue reading “Metropolis II”
This is The Rowley Gallery in 1933. Business must have been good. It had expanded from a single shop at 140 to double the size at 140-142 Church Street, and the facade had been rebuilt featuring a carved frieze by Frank Brangwyn depicting life size sawyers, painters and carpenters. Continue reading “Brangwyn’s Frieze”
Backstage at the Civic Opera House, Chicago. Wilco, Nick Lowe and Mavis Staples rehearse a classic song by The Band in this inspired dressing room performance. It first appeared on Wilco’s website on 6th January. It is so full of love and good humour, it’s too good to miss. I want to give Mavis a hug!
We framed this drawing of Southwold two years ago. It was made by Ron Fuller and came from the Secret exhibition at the Royal College of Art in 2009. We were recently asked to frame four more from the exhibition in 2011 and so this framed postcard came back to us as a sample to copy. I was a little reluctant to give it back! It is such an evocative drawing and condenses many of Southwold’s most memorable landmarks into one composite image. Continue reading “Postcard From Southwold”
Over Christmas I finally got to see Wim Wenders’ film Pina, a tribute to Pina Bausch and her Tanztheater Wuppertal. I saw them on stage in 1982 at Sadlers Wells, but never again until this wonderful movie. It had felt then that she brought the gravitas of Tarkovsky to dance, though from the evidence of this film she did lighten up a little in the intervening 30 years. I wish I had seen more of her. Continue reading “Pina”
One of the books to arrive in our house this Christmas was Allegra McEvedy’s Bought, Borrowed & Stolen, stories of her travels told through the food she has eaten, the knives she has bought and the recipes she has borrowed or stolen. It’s her follow-up to Leon which has become a household favourite because of its punchy, full-flavoured recipes for “food that tastes good and does you good”. And both books also look good. They are rich and visually exciting, and the art director for each of them was Jonathan Christie who, when he is not designing books, also makes beautiful pictures. See more here.
This Monument designed by Sir Christopher Wren was built to commemorate the Great Fire of London 1666 which burned for three days consuming more than 13,000 houses and devastating 436 acres of the City. The Monument is 202ft in height being equal to the distance westward from the bakehouse in Pudding Lane where the fire broke out. It took six years to construct, 1671-1677. The balcony is reached by a spiral stairway of 311 steps and affords panoramic views of the metropolis. A superstructure rises from the balcony and supports a copper vase of flames.
Continue reading “The Monument”
Here’s one for a New Year’s knees up. Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012. May all your frames come true.