Sk-etchbook

Had a bit of downtime in London last weekend and took in a bit of the culture. I spent Sunday around Hackney area where there is a flower market every weekend on Columbia Road. This was an experience. Loads of flower stalls, huge hustle and bustle of diversely dressed, alternative people and a plethora of bellowing stall holders with stereotypical cockney accents.

There is a ton of independent art shops, galleries and more bric-a-brac shops than you can shake a stick at. Some of the artists creations were not to my taste, they just seemed to lack uniqueness or inspiration however there was some amazing stuff. One of the shops (Ryan Town) had a fantastic painted ceramic tile tingy on the wall and had beautiful paper cut outs (that wanna be beautiful, they were selling at over £3000 a pop).

My favorite had to be the Nelly Duff gallery. They were exhibiting some screen prints by Patrick Thomas (this was his first solo exhibition in the UK). There was a piece entitled "American Investment in Cuba" which I thought was ingenious, I have attached a picture. I thought this stood out because it works on several levels, it has the aesthetic appeal and simply looks good yet it is also saying something, encouraging people to think and raising awareness of taboo issues. The artist communicates and realizes his concept very well, manipulating and combining iconic images to completely change the meaning.

www.nellyduff.com
www.affordableartfair.com
http://ryantownshop.blogspot.com
www.dominiquebb.com