Walking Through My Mind: Hayward Gallery

Yayoi Kusama

Is an expedition into the mysterious mental processes of creativity. The journey sees ten contemporary artists investigate the nature of ways of thinking and perception through drawing, video or sculpture. Each environment created can be explored by walking through the artists' mind. 

Thomas Hirschhorn

Chihara Shiota

I liked:

'My Drawing Room" by Yoshimoto Nara

Is part Wendy house, part shack, a recreation of Nara's student room which houses everything needed for a solitary life as an artist. This consists of doodles, drawings and sculptures. Apparently Nara spent many hours drawing alone, with quite an isolated childhood. But he was happy. His inspirations lie with Japanese anime, western pop culture and punk music. 

Overall I really found the exhibition intriguing, how the brain is pictured through dreams and hallucinations. Particularly the idea of a fabricated imagination, memory and childhood. 

Super Contempory: Design Museum

An exhibition celebrating a London!

"London is where the rest of the world looks to check the pulse of contemporary design. Many of the world's most exciting talents are based here. It has become a place to look for fresh thinking in fashion, architecture, communication and product design, as well as newly emerging ideas on installation and interaction. Companies seeking creative talent look to London for design graduates. What has turned London into this hotbed" (Design Museum)

Super Contemporary interprets London's creative diversity through timelines, maps and design commissions. The collaboration with Beefeater Gin (London born and bred) allowed the design museum to explore just what has made design in London special. 

I liked: 

London Rubbish Bin, Paul Smith 

placed in Covent Garden and Holland Park

Being a born and bred Londoner I felt privileged to understand that this was home to such creative greatness.

W.11

"Portobello road, Portobello road

Street where the riches of ages are stowed.

Anything and everything a chap can unload

Is sold off the barrow in Portobello road.

You'll find what you want in the Portobello road"

Over the summer I made my way to one of my favourite destinations. ...to the one of London's landmarks, Notting Hill's Portobello Road. Every Saturday, the market opens its doors to buyers from all over the world looking for second hand clothes and antiques. It's amazing, it's a treasure trove for times past showcasing anything from old teacups and war medals to vintage fashion pieces. I was overwhelmed.

The experience rekindled childhood memories of one of my all time favourite films 'Bednobs and Broomsticks':

Jeff Koons: Serpentine Gallery

The Pop eye Series!

On a recent visit to the Serpentine Gallery, I experienced the showcasing of the celebrated American artist Jeff Koons, his first major exhibition in a public gallery in the UK.

I was particularly interested in how Koons explored notions of consumerism in the early 1980s that draw on a variety of objects and images from American and consumer culture.

This exhibition presents paintings and sculptures from his Popeye series, which he began in 2002.

I like how Koons's incorporates surreal elements into everyday objects, it seems to be one of this signature marks. The trip to the somewhat tiny Serpentine Gallery allowed me to understand Koons's thinking, from inflatable toy sculptures, juxtaposing the everyday and the use of complex and layered compositions.

Peepshow Collective

When looking at design companies last year I remember one website in particular that stood out for me. 

Peepshow are a collective of ten illustrators, designers and animators based in London. Working mainly within art direction, advertising, editorial, illustration, moving image, fashion, textile and set design.  Their site itself is creatively engaging and showcases their work without the use of extensive levels of flash and animation. It's great to see a company of this size that specialises in such an array of design disciplines.

Have a look: http://www.peepshow.org.uk/

El Laberinto Del Fauno

A 2006 Spanish fantasy film written and directed by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro.

The plot takes place in Spain in 1944, after the Spanish Civil War. Also present is the main character Ofelia's fantasy world which centers around an overgrown abandoned labyrinth. Ofelia meets several strange and magical creatures who become central to her story, leading her through the trials of the old labyrinth garden. The film employs make-up, animatronics and CGI effects to create its creatures.

The idea for Pan's Labyrinth came from Guillermo del Toro's notebooks, which he says are filled with "doodles, ideas, drawings and plot bits." These notebooks spanned twenty years and at one point during production, he left the notebook in a London taxi and was distraught, but fortunately it was returned two days later.

The film has won academy awards in Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Makeup and BAFTAs for Best Film Not In English, Costume Design and Makeup and Hair.

A must see!

Poetry and Dream: Tate Modern

I've been to the Tate on a number of occasions but on my last visit I was really fascinated with the display surrounding Poetry and Dream.

With  an interest in surrealism so this part of the exhibition was really insightful.

"The displays in Poetry and Dream show how contemporary art grows from, reconnects with, and can provide fresh insights into the art of the past. The large room at the heart of the wing is devoted to Surrealism, while the surrounding displays look at other artists who, in different ways, have responded to or diverged from Surrealism, or explored related themes such as the world of dreams, the unconscious and archetypal myth. These displays also show how characteristically Surrealist techniques such as free association, the use of chance, biomorphic form and bizarre symbolism have been reinvigorated in new contexts and through new media, often at far remove from the intentions of their pioneers." (Tate Modern)