Posts Tagged ‘chelsea’

What an amazing art installation in the Saatchi basement.

I had read the presentation, knew what to expect -  but still your mind tricks you. You step closer and you brain is so confused for a second. How to limit the ceiling, ground, walls? How deep is the place? You’ll find yourself trying to analyse sunshine rays…

Only in a second time will you get back to reality -  a smell tickling your nose.

Yep, this room is filled with a sump oil sea. Not a line on the surface, not a movement – you even have a crazy thought that it looks like one could walk on it. The camera will be the best traitor here.

It will keep you mesmerized for a good ten minutes. Another kind of art sulpture!

Richard Wilson 20:50 installation
Saatchi Gallery
Chelsea
London, SW3 4SQ
Metro: Sloane square

Free! Until May 07, 2010

First – get yourself in the mood with the V&A Renaissance ball on Friday night…

- Try one of Babylone’s Friday night concerts – the restaurant is famous for its roof gardens (if you go there by daylight, look out for the pink flamingos who live there. Yep, real ones. )

- More of a dancing queen? Go to the Abbaworld exhibition! Or @ Proud Camden for spendid pics of rock’n'roll animals, Elvis or Blondie.

Or make it an arty week-end:

- Use your imagination at Visible Invisible…

- Marvel @ ingeniosity @ 1001 inventions….

- Add a pinch of exotism…

- and a little rainbow at the Tate…

Nostalgic? try the photo exhibition @ Kenwood house instead, on lost London. Or dream of other lands with these projections of the Arctic on the Hayward Gallery external walls…

You can also participate to this strange project to recycle works of art…

Much prefer a quiet week-end with the kids? Try the free workshop sessions @ the Somerset house or take them for a bit of Dr Seuss rhyming! Even better? Go and find some dinosaurs…

You’ll find me @ the Saacthi for their new Indian exhibition (and possibly getting some cornbread mix from the nearby Partridges and there’s a Saturday morning market there too) and at Jen’s cafe for a bubble tea.

What about your best plans for the week-end?

Another rainy week-end ahead… Smile! Just take your umbrella on an adventure…

Here’s to put you in the mood:

- The Portobello Winter festival starts this wednesdau and will have thematic nights every Wednesday till Xmas

- Don’t forget to get prepared for those Xmas parties and meals: celebrate Thanksgiving!

Feeling better? Here’s for the week-end:

- Head for the new pop-ups before they blow away with the fashion wind… Nes-cafe @ Liberty and the famous Parisian Colette on Brick Lane

- Need your weekly dose of street art? Hoorray! Mutate opens its doors again @ Portobello.

- Even Damien Hirst is back @ the White Cube Gallery. It’s still time to see his No love lost @ the Wallace collection

- Spendid news pictures @ The Royal Festival Hall…

- Alternatively hum Only you @ Proud Chelsea… Great pics of a young Elvis.

- Kids will find happiness in Covent Garden – there will be a real reindeer to pat Saturday afternoon. Parents will probably prefer the amazing jewel exhibition that flashes magic lights under UVs…

You’ll find me @ the Secret Cinema… and having an underground afternoon tea. What’s YOUR program?

Going through Chelsea? Why not stop at the Royal Chelsea Hospital?

Charles II (you’ll see his golden statue in the main yard) had the idea, 300 years ago: veterans had to be taken care of. Christopher Wren, London’s most famous architect then put his skills at work to create a massive hospital with red and white bricks, inspired by the Parisian Hopital des Invalides.

Pensioners exchange their military pension for a berth (2.74m x 2.74, slightly bigger these days), clothes, 3 meals a day, healthcare and access to a library, a gentlemen’s club, a billiard room, a 6 acres park. Not bad a deal, eh?

Through the open windows, you will get a glimpse of yeasteryear…

300 pensioners live here these days.This stayed a male only environment till very recently: only in March 2009 did a few ladies step in.

Wander from a yard to another – such a quiet place… The gentlemen only wear their scarlet uniform for ceremonies and prefer dark blue clothes on a daily basis. You’ll meet them in the corridors, happy to chat, smiling at young kids…

Look up in the corridors and count the regiments decorations…

You can also stop at the museum to learm more about the suits and medals. The chapel – another of Christopher Wren’s works – is splendid. Do have a look at the dining hall where pensioners still enjoy their meals, how grand!

Just before the exit, turn in the old cemetary. Beautiful graves, very Victorian, with beautifule engravings on some. Brompton cemetary has replaced this one – I’m told it is well worth the detour.

Disappointed of not having seen our heroes in their spendid suit? There’s a surprise for you and a great photo opportunity…

Pssst! Did you know the Chelsea Flower Show is actually help here every year?
Psssst(2): don’t know what else to do aroud here? Have a yummy shopping trip @ Partridge’s… Admire Modern Art @ the Saatchi Gallery… Or have a stroll @ the Chelsea Physics Gardens!

The Royal Hospital Chelsea
Royal Hospital Rd
London SW3 4SR

Mondays to Saturdays 10.00-12.00 then 14.00-16.00
Sundays 14.00 to 16.00
Tube: Sloane Square
Free!

My favourite @ the moment. Only one room but so worth it.

Like this fold-screen made of  8 digital pannels by Lee Leenam. My picture did not take the colours very well, a pity. So very poetic with these traditional drawings and so very modern: the butterflies travel form a pane to another, disturb a bird that decides to go for a walk, a rain of petals flows towards you. My daugther and I were so amazed we must have been staring a good fifteen minutes, mesmerized.

And how about this work by Whan Inkie, entirely made of Legos?

And how not to smile at this shortened version of a family by Yi Hwankwon?

A treasure of creativity. I want more of those! Do have a look at the other floors too…

Korean eye: Moon generation
Until Sept 15, 2009
Gallery King’s Road
Chelsea
London, SW3 4SQ

Tube: Sloane square
Free!

I hadn’t stepped in the Saatchi Gallery since it had moved away from Southbank. Charles Saatchi originally opened it in 1985 to share his huge contemporary art collection with the public.

A new building, then, very classical from the outside, almost a Roman Temple, ideally situated a t Sloane Square, a new partnership with Philips de Pury & Co and free entry for all. Calls for celebration!

And what a marvelous place!6500 square meters of exhibition space dedicated to art. You cna only admire the use of the rooms, the luxury of space: sometimes only one huge painting on a single wall… An explosion of coulour, of thoughts, nothing else in your vision field but the work of art…

Do stop by and wander through the rooms. So many artists invited… Matt Johnson (the central pianist), Dan Walsh (the cubes), Eric and Heather  Chanschatz,  Bart Exposito, Joe Bradley…

Love, love, love the unreal figures by Ryan Johnson, out of space and time, as if stepping out from another dimension…

Do not feel guilty anymore of your chaotic bedroom space thanks to Guerra de la Paz

Refrain from reaching out to Jacob Hashimoto’s aerial circles as if they were flowers…

Fall asleep trying to count Peter Coffin’s steps!

Note to parents: ideal for kids and buggies. So much space! Mine ran and danced through the rooms. The only work i do not recommend is the one in the basement: dummies representing old men on wheelchairs going round the room. Not upsetting, but she just couldn’t understand why, what… The again, she’s 3 – up to you. She laughed and laughed at Guerra de la Paz’s!

Pssst: do not miss the Korean room on the 4th floor. Just excellent!

Pssst (2): on the way out, have a bite @ Partridges’. They do have a few tables for customers. On Saturdays, have a look at the yummy market just in front…

Pssst (3): also around here… The Royal Chelsea Hospital and the Chelsea Physics Garden

Abstract America @The Saatchi Gallery

Until Jan 17, 2010
Gallery King’s Road
Chelsea
London, SW3 4SQ

Tube: Sloane square
Free!

Partridges rentre dans ma categorie epicerie chic. Vous me direz, Londres n’en manque pas…

Mais c’est le rayon americain de celle-ci qui m’a seduite – le plus grand que j’ai croise ici et qui couvre sale et sucre – du corn bread, des sauces, meme du riz style New-Orleans!  De quoi sauter de joie dans les couloirs de la boutique…

Et des nouveautes Jelly Beans dont je n’avais pas entendu parler…

Mais aussi quelques biscuits francais…

Mais aussi du pain Poilane!!

Et des gateaux italiens qui me rappellent bien des souvenirs…

Et des produits…hors du commun…

Beaucoup de delicatessen, d’epicerie fine, de produits haut de gamme. Un peu cher, bien sur, mais accessible si l’on souhaite se faire plaisir.

Passez-y un samedi pour profiter du Food Market sur la place juste devant. De tres belles salades, des epices, des meringues marbrees de chocolat et des cupcakes multicolores, du fromage, du poisson et des huitres, des pies anglais a la viande et bien d’autres choses encore… Vous n’aurez pas assez de paniers!

Un jour de soleil, c’est merveilleux. Un peu plus loin, vous trouverez des cafes-restaurants avec terrasse et meme la Saatchi Gallery…

Partridges
2-5 Duke of York Square
London, SW3 4LY
Tous les jours/ Everyday – 08.00-22.00
D’autres adresses sur le site web / check the website for more addresses
Food Market: le samedi/ Saturdays 10.00-16.00

Partridges fits in my delicatessen column. I can see you’re not impressed,  so many of them in London!

But this one has the largest American range I’ve seen here so far – sweet and salted too: corn bread, sauces and even New-Orleans style rice… I felt like jumping in joy.

But also new Jelly Beans I had never heard of nor seen at Harrod’s…

And a few French biscuits…  Even some Poilane bread!!

And those Italian bicuits I used to buy…

And even very unusual products…

A lot of delicatessen, refined or top quality products. A little expensive of course, that was to be expected but still you can afford it.

Go there on a Saturday to enjoy the Food Market just at its doors – Splendid world salads, spices, exotic teas, coloured cupcakes, chocolate dipped strawberries, cheese, fish and oyster, meat pies and so many more treats… Your basket will never be big enough!

On a sunny day, it’s just a splendid place to be. A few steps away are lovely cafes/restaurants with their terrasse and the Saatchi Gallery. Ideal!