The Sneaky Magpie

I often don’t see any exhibitions for few weeks and then happen to see a number of them in a very short space of time.

I probably mentioned more than once how much I love Tate Modern, however it does feel like a kindergarten if you visit during the weekend. That’s why my favorite time to go is on Friday or Saturday evening when it is open till 22.00.

Inflatable bunny by Jeff Koons at Covent Garden Piazza

A friend of mine and I went to see Pop Life: Art in a Material World. The exhibition is loud, shiny, busy and very pornographic. Andy Warhol occupies three rooms, there is a room of Takashi Murakami’s Japanese ‘fairy-tale’ world, Keith Harings’s Pop Shop, Emin, Lucas, Hirst, Kippenberg, Uklanski and way too much of Jeff Koons – his Made in Heaven series made me wonder: where does art end and porn begin?

There are few interesting works in the exhibition but a lot of it looks just tacky and dated in a bad way.

Feeling bit overwhelmed we went to see John Baldessari: Pure Beauty which also shows at the moment. This is really worth seeing, brilliant and funny visual one-liners. Clever and thought provoking art.

John Baldessari, God Nose

We also experienced Miroslaw Balka’s huge container in the Turbine Hall – you walk into blackness, your senses are confused, you’re walking in space, very unsettling however it does not last long enough, your eyes get used to the darkness very fast and the effect is over.

On Saturday I went to meet another friend of mine to see Anish Kapoor at Royal Academy of Arts.

Anish Kapoor, Tall Tree and the Eye

It was spectacular, his creations are things of real beauty: pigment sculptures (you feel like blowing the powdery surface), polished mirror stainless steel works, and Svayambh which is truly amazing – a door that slowly slides back and forth on wax through three rooms of the gallery scattering wax on walls as it goes through the arches. A wonderful show indeed.

To finish the arty weekend we also managed to pop to The Wallace Collection where the latest Damien Hirst paintings are. This is one of the most beautiful museums in London with a vast collection of old masters, home to Hals’ The Laughing Cavalier so it felt slightly invaded by modern art.

Hirst’s blue period scull paintings looked like badly ripped off Francis Bacon. Say no more.

And that’s it. I swear Hirst and Koons seem to be everywhere in London, I have had enough of them for a while.

This weekend I have gone to the East End (yes, yet again!).

Started with lunch at Albion caff, poached eggs and good toast with blackberry jam. I must say the maitre d‘ was brilliantly professional but the rest of the waiting staff failed to impress, it was one of those places where waiters are trying really hard not to notice the customers.

The caff redeemed itself by selling pancake-sized chocolate chip cookies for 95 pence.

Albion has got a deli section too and it all looked rather tempting.

Then we were off to Columbia Road Flower Market which is one of my favorite places in London. The shops are amazing and the flowers pretty and cheap – especially if you decide to stick till the end of the market day, you can get yourself a real bargain.

The hydrangeas were so beautiful.

Lovely shop – Vintage Heaven. A lot of eye candy and Cake Hole cafe at the back. How fab!

They also have a knitting group on Tuesdays, I must go.

Nice tiles at Supernice

Fun stuff at Treacle

I have got the 50s original of this plate. Copy cats.

Ryantoon at Ryantown.

A real boudoire by Jessie Chorley and Buddug Humphrey. All the pretty things a girl can dream of.

Delicate jasmine

Against all odds I made it to Covent Garden to have a look at the huge inflatable bunny by Jeff Koons. It is to do with the Pop Life exhibition at Tate Modern which I am going to see later this week.

Then it was off to The Lamb and Flag – the oldest pub in London

Next stop – Prince Charles Cinema to see Mesrine: Killer Instinct. He was a bad bad man! Can’t wait for part two, probably only at Prince Charles again, I missed the general release.

NB there is a Polish film season at the PCC with great films like Decalogue and Interrogation.

Evening finished at Taro in Soho for a tasty Japanese dinner.

This morning M announced he had a DIY project to do, all my friends were out of town, hung over, lost their voice or similar. The day turned out to be beautiful and warm so I grabbed my bike and went to Hyde Park.

First stop was at the Serpentine Gallery to see Jeff Koons: Popeye Series. No pictures allowed inside by I photographed the catalogue so here it is:

Parents seemed to enjoy showing their offsprings all those wonderful toys till they got to this image, kids heads were turned right away.

Afterward I had a stroll through the park along the pond, it seemed people were trying to catch the last bits of summer sunshine.

I have spent the afternoon on the common, next to my house, enjoying Nardulli’s super delicious ice cream and Generation X.

Left: strawberry sorbet and vanilla ice cream  Right: raspberry and mango sorbet

In the evening we went to the cinema to see Coco avant Chanel, at last! I loved the film, Audrey was wonderful and the cinematography stunning.

I work in production and therefore I am constantly making lists of things to do, crossing things off the list is my geeky pleasure.

Since I was a tad tired yesterday after Saturday night’s shenanigans I only managed to cycle to the bakery to buy some bread; have tasty lunch of egg salad with chives, tomatoes with spring onions and radishes; finished Vonnegut’s short stories (moved onto Palm Sunday later on); curl up in bed like a cat and have a nap; get up and go for a walk and have an ice cream; watch some silly TV shows, eat dinner and think about things that need to be done. And here they are:

Bring clothes to dry cleaners

Air all cashmere and angora items, I had moths some time ago which left me paranoid for life

List all unwanted dresses on ebay -  have a bagful of items that is getting smaller, luckily! still way to go. Need to flog those MJ wellies too, a very silly purchase given that I love my Hunters

Go to Greenwich Market and try to find a good frame that can be painted, can be done on Sunday only

Frame the fab print that hubs got me for Christmas

Get supermarket delivery of tins, dry goods and cleaning products, am in dire need of the wonderful Ecover laundry bleach

Sort out all old family pictures that use to belong to my grandparents and put them into an album

Go to Gap to buy some socks and undies since Topshop decided they will aim at single 15 year olds

Get a birthday gift for my brother

Buy sandals, I rather fancy these Acne ones, this KG pair is not bad either, or perhaps these Pied A Terre

Plan a little anniversary trip, if the weather is good Whitstable would be perfect

Perhaps pay a visit to the Bristol City Museum to see the Banksy show, looks interesting

Definitely go and see Richard Long at Tate Britain and Futurism at Tate Modern along with any other shows they have. Hey, I am a member!

Make sure to visit Serpentine’s Jeff Koons exhibition, however I should wait till mid July when the Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa pavilion is up

Keep reading the pile of books that I managed to accumulate

Well, this is it for now, I am sure this list will grow.