"what attracts me in such a manner of seeing is that, as far as the eye can see, it recreates desire." _ Andre Breton, Mad Love, 1934

'In a sentimental mood' _ acrylic on board.

i'll love you forever/ i'll like you for always.

The Surreal House

The most delightfully crass piece was contemporary artist’s Noble and Webster’s ‘Metal fucking rats’ (2006), in the Panic Space room

I am more than partial to the tantalising fantasies of Salvador Dali and the baffling explanations of Freud so I took myself along to the Barbican’s Surreal House exhibition to savour the delights they had brought together.

The pieces were located in various ‘rooms’ of the house and you explore, stopping to examine various installations, paintings and film footage, constantly feeling excited and on edge. I was studying a remarkable sketch by Dali of a obscure face, propped up by poles and prodding a female breast, whose head looked not dissimilar from a light fixture, when a loud crash of distorted piano notes echoed from deeper inside and tore me away to investigate. A baby grand piano hangs upside, suspended from the ceiling and the keys horribly bent and stretched, emitting off key twangs before returning to its un-tampered form until another two minutes had passed and so it repeats itself. This was Rebecca horn’ Concert for anarchy,(1990).

It was beautifully curated in the way you were swept unexpectedly on to the next room by a flicker of light from a film, or a glimpse of a half finished staircase ahead. It felt rather like that nervous, enchanted tickle of apprehension you get at the start of a rollercoaster ride or at a poignant moment in a horror film. It made itself particularly known in the small dark space showing Jan Svankmajers’ ‘Down to the cellar’ (1982), where a small blue eyed girl explores an underground cellar. There is coal everywhere, one man scrapes it over himself to mimic a duvet, a woman breaks eggs and mixes the sooty concoction in to black cakes, and the little girl watches, entranced. This nightmarish quality where you can’t quite tear your eyes away encompassed the entire exhibit and brought some remarkable pieces to light – a must see this season! It certainly got me thinking about dreams and their distortions and rationalising of the obscure in the subconscious.

C.Pettman

The Surreal House, Barbican art gallery 10^th June- 12^th September 2010

Barcelona art

French Band busking in Park Guell.

Leonardo.

art archive

frank gehry.

Matt's Balda baldina.

Rob Machado.

WORKING ON A NEW SERIES OF PAINTINGS -> 'INSIDE THE COFFEE POT' |

AND BOOK ->'AS BLUE EYES START TO FADE'

Snoopers Paradise

7-8 Kensington Gardens
Brighton, East Sussex BN1 4AL
01273 602 558

At first I disregarded the crowded windows and unorganised chaotic displays as a wasted space filed with unwanted junk and a lingering musty smell. But something lured me in as I saw other onlookers stray from the bustling side streets of Brighton with an intent to satisfy a nagging insistence that a certain object was waiting to catch their eye and speak to them alone from amongst the disorderly stacks of forgotten things. It is literally insane, every gap is filled with piles of jewellery, records, photographs, slides, toys, lamps, clocks, clothing, ornaments, suitcases and guitars, an endless lists of ‘things’ that make up a visual evidence of a persons life. You can wander at ease around the different rooms, carefully organised despite the jumble of objects. It is a maze of space bulging with trinkets and ‘bits and bobs’ that could supply endless inspirations for fashion shoots, paintings and interior styling. Aptly named, you can snoop through another’s past, dipping in to a paradise pool of stories. Recommended for an inquisitive mind seeking inspiration or if you want to replace your old junk with someone else’s!