funkypancake

i wasn't sure what i'd make of the new turbine hall exhibit in tate modern. but i thought this was fantastic.

you should go for a look-see

in my job i go to a lot of meeting rooms in different places, and i've increasingly noticed that many of them have picture hooks which aren't used for anything. it happens in pubs and cafes too.

so, i thought, i can knock up a few funkypancake photos in frames and hang them up (and leave them there) when i see them.

yesterday was my first attempt, but i think i chose the wrong venue. it was a trendy bar and i just left the picture on a windowsill. when we went through to the dining area a waiter walked through with the frame and said "do you want this or shall i throw it in the bin". so i took it back looking a bit sheepish.

but i shalln't be put off. Balham obviously doesn't understand art. it's gone back in my bag for the next proper opportunity (and i'm going to stick to wall mounting in future)

the slides have gone - so what's next ?

any ideas what's going on here ?

click for big

here is our friend elton. officially 'funnier than even you and me daddy' according to kezia.

he's developed a very fancy way of turning old unwanted photos in to new pieces of art.

here he's kept the bracken but added a fantastic fire-ball effect

here are his magic materials

and here are two examples of his creations:

before

and after

if you'd like elton to turn one of your old photos in to art, you can send them to Elton, at Betty Tigers, 78 Infirmary Road, Sheffield, England, S6 3DD

Elton asks that you make a donation to your favourite charity and in return he'll 'convert' your photo and send it back to you (if you include a self addressed envelope).

this is funkypancake exclusive so send them to him !

they've cleared away the giant sugar cubes in the tate modern and have a few exhibits at the moment which are great to look at

mind the handles

a few weeks back i had exactly 10 minutes to spare before a meeting so i stood still and just looked at the big mound of sugar cubes (or whatever they are) in the Tate Modern. After a few minutes you start noticing some of the details, like how they big piles 'spill' on to the building structure, and how some of the piles have order.

after a while it nearly turns in to a Where's Wally book of obscure angled blocks. "where is the slightly crooked up-ended one" etc

i didn't post this from last october either.

kezia won some glitter in a bran tub at her pre-school winter fair. bran tubs are funny things. it would be good one time to have a few live hamsters and gerbils living in one. everyone would enjoy that.

anyway, kezia and i then went home and she made this glitter picture which she insisted i photograph to post on the blog. so here it is

this big bit of paper was taped to the floor outside the tate modern a few weeks back. few people obeyed the instructions. initially i didn't but then returned and did. this was noted by two observers who chalked a line on their counting chart.

photo by esther

we had a family outing to Tate Modern yesterday. We originally were planning on seeing the Jeff Wall photos, but on the way esther spotted a Rousseau painting on a Bakerloo tube station (at Charing Cross?) and she said she had learnt about it at school. So we went to that exhibition instead which was very good.

photo by kezia

esther and kezia had little computers which they wore round their necks which explained what all the pictures were about and showed little graphics. it's all very modern and not like museums we suffered as children (sorry mum if you are reading this!)

photo by kezia

we also did some photo practice in the turbine hall of the Rachel Whiteread construction which still hasn't been knocked down (though i noticed some of the base blocks are now glued to the floor)

photo by kezia

kezia drew this lovely picture of her and me. i love the toes and fingers. i'm on the right.

mermaid with funny arms

yellow polka dot bikini

red sunglasses

jellied eel

ice-cream

there's a new giant construction in the turbine gallery at the tate modern. i visited for approximately 4 minutes on the way to a meeting near by and got these photos:

it's nice to see such a giant thing, which appears to be quite flimsy. i really wanted to swing my work bag in to one of the mountains to see it it would all fall down (but i decided that was a bad plan - especially as by that time i only had 2 minutes left of speed-art viewing.

i doubt everything is ever going to live up to the weather project in this space, but this will do for now !

2 days later

this chap was in a caged area doing some sand sculpture.

it was quite impressive (click for bigger version to inspect detail)

random thing on a bollardy thing near Goodge Street station

i've got about 300 photos back logged ready for blogging sometime, but i should have a bit more timely with this, which is kezia's drawing for me for father's day last sunday.

i'm on the left and she's on the right. apparently she drew our heads then panicked as she didn't know how to draw bodies !

i just love how kids photos can be so expressive.

esther has recently developed a more subtle approach to painting. note the bold triangle surrounded by whispy blue bits.

she calls this piece "two clowns getting married".

if i ever go back to the brussels art museum i'm going to track down this delightfully random painting and get a better picture of all of it (rather than just this man in a zimmer frame)

here is a close up of the sign of the brussels modern art museum.

here is jane in a belgian art gallery considering whether this was an exhibit. by the time we'd finished our visit they'd moved this stuff out the way so it wasn't.

sometimes art is so difficult.

some splatty oil painting in a belgian art gallery. worth clicking on to enjoy the coloured moonscape

dali melting clock and big ben big clock

click for big

esther made this fantastic easter art thing at school

click for big

i walked past this piece of board on the floor and a few steps later i stopped and went back to it.

i thought it looked a bit like the back of a cheap picture frame. so i took a photo of it undisturbed then gently lifted it up and leant it against the wall.

who would have thought such a [insert your own adjective here] picture would be left lying in the street.

someone taking a picture of a girl wearing a cardboard box outside liverpool street station.

if you haven't been and seen the tate modern Nauman exhibit i'd recommend a trip. it's not quite as dramatic as the sun but still worth a trip.

a strange flashing thing dangling from a shop. that's art that is.

here is a giant pointing finger floating in the sea in Stockholm.

kezia finger painting:

esther's painting;

esther's vegetable vehicle (driven by her (my) little poney):

this is actually quite cool. walk down charing cross road and look out for it in a window.

here's an interesting thing. it was a reflection on the road from the sun in a name plate on an office.

my first thoughts were that it was a crown with a cross on top. aha i thought. It's Jesus - golden crown, the cross etc.

but then i noticed the legs of the person and it looks more like someone arriving at the top of an escalator, or someone on a running machine.

what do you think it looks like ?

an empty gallery with a bottle a mineral water in a spot light. nice.