Bakary Cafe

 Elephants are everywhere…

I know, I know… it’s in Bristol… but it’s the exhibition of 2009 as far as I’m concerned so worth treking west for!

Banksy has got to be the most inspirational artist of our time.

The  Banksy Versus Bristol Museum exhibition at the Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery is a delight. The main Banksy room is packed full of ideas and thought-provoking works. And then… it’s a massive treasure hunt for Banksy works throughout the rest of the museum… Great fun.

It’s a great way to see the museum to be honest. There are a few interesting bits and pieces there but frankly, that’s about it. It feels a bit like a museum from the dinosaur era. My finds include a couple of Richard Long works (an artist worth looking into I think).

But back to Banksy. Photography is allowed and so you can take photos and then when you’re back home, you can add them to the Banksy page on Flickr! (And see whether you missed a few out or whether you found them all!).

Be prepared to queue. I got there just after 9:00am (it opens at 10:00am) and queued for just over an hour. The first room is quite crowded but after that, it’s not so bad.

Banksy Versus Bristol Museum is on at the Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery until 31 August. FREE.

Elephants are everywhere…

Elephants are everywhere…

Now… that’s an exhibition I would highly recommend. The Foto8 Summer Show and Award 2009 exhibition at the HOST gallery is worth negotiating your way around Old Street for.

According to the catalogue, there are about 120 photos. All in one room; arranged hap-hazardly. There’s a lot to take in. Some of the images are beautiful. Others are thought-provoking.

I paid £1.00 for the catalogue, which entitled me to vote for one image only. I didn’t vote. I couldn’t. I narrowed it down to about five images… but then how do you pick one? And some of the images there have been selected for press reviews or for the promotion of the exhibition even… How much of this influenced my perception and decision?

There’s still plenty of time for you to go and see this exhibition. Go. I urge you.

The Foto8 Summer Show and Award 2009 is on at the HOST gallery until 5 September 2009. FREE.

I know, I know… I did say there would be only one exhibition left to cover… and then I remembered this one! So… this is now the penultimate one.

What I really enjoyed about viewing so many exhibitions during my week off is that the art was very different; I went to different parts of the city; all exhibitions were free; I discovered new galleries I didn’t know… and I came across some great art.

I kicked off the week with Jeff Koons: Popeye Series at the Serpentine Gallery. I went, I saw, I stared and I left… puzzled.

Fashionable? Trend-setter? Really great artist? An Art fraud? A waste of my time?

Castings of inflatable toys? I’m not a fan. But I’ll leave you to make your own decision.

Jeff Koons: Popeye Series is at the Serpentine Gallery until 13 September. FREE.

This is the penultimate exhibition I have to tell you about from my London week. I came across it by chance… having made it to SOAS to visit the secret garden.

Kazakh Craftswomen of Mongolia’s ‘Rich Cradle’ is a specialised exhibition about Kazakh craftswomen who live in the western-most province of Mongolia.

Textiles feature heavily in the lives of these women. They make embroidered wall-hangings and panels, woven ribbons and felt carpets, working from traditional designs but also incorporating new ideas and colours. It’s hard work but the results are vibrantly colourful and more importantly, practical.

They are some textiles on display, a video montage of the women at work and background information about the techniques used and about the lives of these women. And… you get to go inside a yurt!

Kazakh Craftswomen of Mongolia’s ‘Rich Cradle’ is on at the Brunei Gallery (SOAS) until 19 September 2009. FREE.

Okay… not technically an exhibition… but it’s art so who cares!

When you can go somewhere like the National Gallery and have a look around, it’s easy to look at paintings without looking at them. There are hundreds of them, and after a while they all blur into one. Well, during my London week, I decided to join one of the guided tours that they organise daily.

The tour lasted an hour. During that time, we looked at four paintings (in four different rooms). The guide was extremely knowledgable (of course). We spent about 15 minutes on each painting and during that time, she explained the painting style of the time, fashion, the story of the painting and she also told us about relevant myths and biblical implications. Yep… she packed a lot in (she talks very fast). Here’s a hint however: the tour are popular so you need to be strong-willed to get a spot not too far away from the guide as the galleries are busy and it’s easy to get distracted by other voices.

Guided tours take place every day 11.30am–12.30pm and 2.30–3.30pm, Sainsbury Wing Information Desk. FREE.

I always try to catch the Press Photographer’s Year exhibition at the National Theatre.

The standard of photography, as you would expect, is very high. You come across major stories which you’ve probably forgotten all about and make you go ‘oh yeah… I remember’. You come across stories which you haven’t forgotten about. And then there’s always something obscure such as a photo documentary about a community or a way of life somewhere in the UK. This year, for example, there were photos of Somerset cidermakers (by Graham Trott) and of bridesmaids at the wedding of Irish travellers (by Jess Hurd).

There are always a couple of photos that stay with me such as the photo of the bodies of children of the Beichuan Middle school caught by the earthquake in May 2008 (by Dan Chung) or the photo of the Chefferie IDP camp in DR Congo (by Andrew McConnell).

If you go… just make sure that you time your visit well… it’s pretty hectic there just before or after a performance. Oh… and make sure you look out for the photo of the year…

Rosie Hallam – The David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, Nairobi, Kenya.

And if you can’t make it to the NT in time, do not panic. You can see them here - Press Photographer’s Year.

The Press Photographer’s Year 09 is on at the National Theatre (Lyttelton Exhibition Space) until 31 August. FREE.

Okay… last week was one crazy week. I must have gone to four or five galleries.

I’ll attempt to cover these over the course of the week, starting with Ablade Glover at the October Gallery. I confess: I’d never heard of Ablade Glover or the October Gallery until I came across a feature in one of the free London papers. The show sounded interested so I made a mental note to go and check it out.

In true Bakary fashion, I got there the day before the exhibition finished. I’m glad I made it though.

The work on display was exquisite. Large canvases, full of colour… with strokes not entirely dissimilar to Pollock… but more meaningful than Pollock’s. Looking at Red Market or The People for example, you can see individual people at the market, you can almost hear the voices and the haggling… A few of Glover’s work really brought Africa back to me… I know I may be going a bit far… but I could almost smell the market!

Hugely enjoyable… (and free).