Polkadotty

I think it's about time I wrote about my weekend visiting my friend Rachael in London. I haven't been down to see her since March so it was awesome spending the weekend with her and just chilling out. We spent most of the weekend somewhere along the southbank where we visited the tate, the Haywood as well as various other galleries in the city.

We went to the V&A again as she has never been before. Rachael loves Tracey Emin and we spotted this amazing holdall that is one of a limited 2o0 for Longchamp!

To walk all around the V&A, it would take probably take a whole week! I always make a point to visit a certain section and this time, I made sure I took Rachael to the Cast Courts part of the museum. They house some amazing plaster casts of various monuments, frieze work and tombs. Some are hugeee as these photos show! The feelings of amazement and awe never quite go away from the very first time I visited the museum years and years ago. These are casts of Trajan's Collumn, Rome which shows a narrative story and commemorates Trajan's reign and originally erected in Ad 113. I remember briefly studying these when I took a Roman art and architecture course at Uni....quite magnificent even if it is just a cast!
Look how big it is compared to that little person! I couldn't even fit all of it in a picture.On Sunday we also visited a gorgeous little gallery called Project Space 176 on Prince of Wales Road, Camden. My friend is so lucky to have this gallery practically on her doorstep! I found out that it was originally a Methodist chapel and it was sympathetically renovated when it became a gallery. I was amazed at the original fittings and it's new uses as a gallery, a video installation was in place of where the altar would have been! I've never been to a gallery quite like it as they did not choose to white wash the walls and in fact, some rooms still had strips of wallpaper! It's an awesome gallery to visit as it is such a wonderful and unique space. Definitely a gallery I want to revisit the next time I go down to see Rachael. As you can see it is an amazing building...

We also went to the Haywood Gallery and the exhibition, Walking in my mind was on. The exhibition explores the inner workings of the artists mind through collage, large scale installation and other mixed media. It was a great exhibition. Yoshitomo Nara with his moody cartoons exhibited as well Thomas Hirschhorn who made a cave out of masking tape which you were allowed to explore! I only have photos of Yayoi Kusama installations as they were outside and only then could I sneak a few photos in!Yes that would be a rather phallic, spotty shaped sculpture. There was another one which was even larger than this one!
Kusama also had an installation outside the Haywood. The red looks so good next to the green of the trees. So fun!I took this after I had a very filling Wagamamas (Yasai Katsu Curry- my fave) and admired the pretty fairy lights in the trees which were along the south bank. It was definitely a weekend filled with culture and one where I was glad to have been able save the pennies and stay away from shops. Even though I am always so tempted to buy loads of postcards when I visit art gallery shops, the one at the V&A is my favourite gift shop!