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| Parker Ito in Beware Wet Paint at ICA (photo by me) |
Beware Wet Paint
at ICA
ICA, aka, Institute of Contemporary Arts in London has a
show on view entitled Beware Wet Paint,
featuring about one work each of the artists, Korakrit
Arunanondchai, Isabelle
Cornaro, Jeff Elrod, Nikolas Gambaroff, Parker Ito, David Ostrowski, Pamela Rosenkranz, Ned Vena, and Christopher Wool. The concept of the exhibition is to show how these
artists use painting in singular ways while also having wider practices. It
also distinguishes linage amongst peers, recent groundbreakers (specifically
Christopher Wool) and bonafide heavy hitters like Duchamp. Oh wait, did you say Duchamp? Him and a
bragging bill of other names are included in the short press release. These names include; Richard Prince, Richard
Hamilton, Jan Verwoert and yes, Duchamp.
The press release is only 200 words long.
I am going on about this press
release because this is evidence to a larger symptom in this show and in others
I have seen in London. There is such a
curatorial concentration and pedigree here that it seems to be a total reliance
on that merit (or the history of that merit) alone.
For instance, in this show it is
truly a plopping down of one work by a trending artist amongst other trending
artists. It feels like a carpet sample, a showroom of fancy cars, a display
that is not about space, time, material in any sort of relationship to a whole
(the show) but more fixed on the focus of one artist and having a sampler piece
of their art. I don’t know who organized
this show, it leaves no official accountancy for this so I’m going to assume
that is was the “Creative” department’s overseeing. Whoever it was, I think that they did a lax
job of a potentially ripe concept. The selection
of artists is great on paper together, the concept as a general (albeit too
vague) sounds great on paper. What seems to have been forgotten is that
exhibitions, curation, works in a room together are not just about being good on
paper.
Who gives two craps about how
fancy, brainy, smart, deep, theory driven, names inserted for validation a show
is if the actual show feels like a somber funeral room where the works inside
are just waiting to die or just getting further dehydrated of any content?
Well, I don’t and I’m sorry ICA and London but I want to see some sizzle as
well as institutional and academic smarts the next time I come into an
exhibition room.
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| Bone Daddies Spicy Miso Ramen (photo by me) |
Bone Daddies Ramen Bar
This hip joint located in Soho…Stop. Just. Stop. So the
proceeding sentence just about sums it up. You know how this place is going to
feel like, smell like and you are just curious to know what it tastes
like. Well I did just that thing because
I went to the Japan Matsuri festival this past Saturday (sorta cute, sorta
boring), and I was planning on eating some ramen at one of their stands but
people love Japanese things and people love waiting in line for food so I had
to scoot out of there to fix my ramen craving. So I walk about and I find this
ramen place across from the Supreme store and I think, ‘this will not end
well,’ but proceeded anyways because by that point it was 3:00 or as they like
to say here 15:00 and I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. I sat down, it took a while to get any
service, and then when a waiter came by I ordered the Spicy Miso Ramen. I’m
Korean so spicy ramen and me are very close friends. Anyways it comes, it is
very attractive looking, the broth is nice but could use some more punch. Then I start investigating further.
It has a nice piece of pork, some general veg filler like
bamboo shoots and bean sprouts and it has those amazing orange yolked eggs that
are just the ‘normal’ eggs in London town. So it looks good, the broth is
passable but then you get to the noodles. THE NOODLES! The noodles are no good.
They are good, but they are not how ramen noodles should be. They are stringy, yellow and lack that wave
that helps the broth and oils to stick onto them with each bite.
I ate the ramen because I was ravenous and it wasn’t the
worst thing to eat but here’s a word of advice. Just because something may look
good, it does not mean it tastes good. This is doubly true when it is trying so
hard to be cool.
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| Columbia Road Flower Market (photo by me) |
Columbia Road Flower Market
This is the best place ever!!! So, I exaggerate but
seriously this was such a great way to spend a Sunday. It is a short walk from
the Hoxton Overground (yes I am getting much better at using this thing), it is
a small strip of a few blocks but it is probably one of my more intense and fun
flower market experiences I have had. I
went late, it closes at 3:00 and I went there around 2:00.
As you walk closer to it you know it because there are
streams of people holding bunches of flowers in blue plastic bags. Then you see it, not the flowers and plants
but the mass of people. The set up is on
a street that is very narrow. Two cars would not easily be able to pass each
other. On either side of the street are small stands and they are brimming with
amazing blooms and plants. The sellers
are either good looking young things that probably don’t know much about what
they are selling or they are the true hawkers with a voice that booms and a
ready tip of what to do with what you are buying.
The variety on display was fabulous. Native plants, lots of
small shrubs and delicate things along with hardy winter enduring plants were
piled high. Each stand had some focus;
loose stems, orchids, potted plants but there was variety within each and it
felt more like a continuous line of lush living things then some other markets
I have been too.
It was also packed with bodies and they were all buying one
thing or another. Whether it was a
student or a granny or a couple with kids in tow, everyone was buying flowers
and there was the excitement or purchase and the marvel of something newly
discovered that made the almost unbearable density of bodies mildly
exhilarating.
This buying and body density frenzy was probably due to the
must-sell-now slashing of prices but even the starting prices seemed more then
fair for what you received. At the end
of my trip I purchased a potted orchid and some pink anthuriums for my lovely
host in London. I don’t have a room of
mine own yet, (soon!) and after coming to this market it makes me even more
excited about when I do because I can fill it with all of these amazing plants
and flowers.
