Grayson Perry - Tomb of the Unknown Craftsman

Alan Meales

Live life lightly and in good humour. Creative beauty with your own hands and celebrate the workmanship of those who went before. They provided the inspiration for our creativity. Everything and nothing is original.

Grayson's exhibition in the comforting, circular womb-like exhibition space at the British Museum. Perhaps the shape and the low lighting contributes to the sense of comfort and familiarity but it were the thoughts and the artefacts that really chimed for me.

I've travelled half the globe in search of aesthetics and ideologies that resonate and here, brought together from a collection of disparate artefacts from the BM's archive and from GP's imagination, is a summary, in the simplest terms, of how I feel about the world. 

'Hold your beliefs lightly', there are enough zealots in the world. Accept that everything is just a reworking of all that's gone before, accept that idol makers from the past were no different to merchandisers of the present. Is the cult of celebrity much different from the cult of ancients gods? Aren't CCTV cameras just an update on the threat and fear instilled by the images of hell painted on the cathedral walls?  

Peter Schaffer offered a horse as a god in Equus. GP offers Alan Measles. Who was your god? Who did you make promises to for good fortune as a child? I've always carried my talismen, made wishes and lived by fate. Life should be simple, well crafted, elegant and fun. 

1 October 2011

A warm day in October is like a free lunch and everyone was making the most of it. The early morning coastal mist lifted so we went to Aldeburgh for a swim in the sea and ice-cream. There'll be snow before the month's out. 

Sunrise over Kessingland beach

Work in Progress

I'm not happy with this yet but I like the road it's on.
It feels like I've turned  into Surrey Hills.
I haven't got the flow right just yet.
The lines need to be thicker and more confident.
I did enjoy letting the blue run, it felt like a rainy day in Sydney. 

Berghapton Sculpture trail 2011 - Journey

Berghapton Sculpture Trail takes place every three years in a beautiful corner of Norfolk. Art, gardens, musicians, magic and Parravanis ice-cream - perfect.

You see a thing for the first time only once.

Days out in London

Spring is here at last, time to come out of hibenation.

Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Park on a sunny Saturday morning in Spring. Views, joggers, children and daffodils. Greenwich market is well worth a rummage, especially if you are peckish. The Royal Maritime Museum is free and fabulous. There is ample and cheap parking nearby.

Midday, 18 March at the Royal Observatory

20 minutes away in Nunhead is one of the Capital's great cemeteries. Park free at the front gates. The grounds are maintained but in a very unfussed way. This is Gothic Central as nature and masonry engage in a century-long battle for domination. 

Such a cliche, I couldn't help snapping it.

The Red House at Bexleyheath was designed by Philip Webb for William Morris. It is an Arts and Crafts sampler of a house. We've wanted to visit since it opened to the public in the 90s. Morris' ambiance is still strong in the house. A sense of his melancholy fills many of the spaces. May Morris scratched her name in a window pane and Janey shared her affections.

You can imagine Rossetti climbing standing atop the settle recounting poetry and nonsense.

The design is aesthetically perfect. Airy, high ceilings, big windows, homely and full of such tasteful decoration.

Covehithe

The stump used to be on dry land. We haven't visited this windswept disappearing corner of Suffolk for many years. The pigs have been moved back from the cliff and we kept our distance too. 

Berger and Wyse are brilliant

http://www.bergerandwyse.com/