Lingering Whispers

I've just been to go see 'Lingering Whispers' at the Crypt Gallery at St. Pancras Parish Church on Euston Road, London, and it was fantastic, the space definitely lends itself well to this particular exhibition and the layout will spark every element of your imagination.

The exhibition comprises mainly photography with a few cleverly placed items that make the exhibition come to life, and seem to tell a collection of individual stories.

A couple of words of advice however, the images are not for the faint hearted; nudity and a knod towards sado masochism is noticable throughout the exhibition, however I truly felt that every image - despite being challenging - held sincere beauty at the same time. There is also a series of mannequins hidden around the gallery and they do appear a little spooky in the crypt surroundings, but again powerful if you're willing to see it from a performance art point of view.

The collection as a whole gave me a sense of being set between 1990-2010, some of the images are incredibly modern yet others appear to take the form of something inspired by an earlier decade. I also think alot of the objects say more than come to light at first glance, for example the beautifully grotesque "Vegas Girl" shoes by Iris Schieferstein.

I would definitely recommend a visit to the gallery, the exhibiton ends thursday and it would be a shame not to see this work if, like me, you can't tear your eyes away from something that scares you a little.

King's Cross artists Jim Geddes (1932-2009) left an extraordinary body of sculpture, ceramics, paintings, drawings and textiles in the house he lived in for some 30 years. His work has been places in store and will be distributed through a series of 7 day ebay auctions, each item opening at £7 and closing around 7pm on Sunday. Two items will be auctioned each week. The two items are places on display at 24 Caledonian Road N1 9DU adjoining Peter and Tony's Barbershop.

Bids for his work can be made via http://www.kingscrossenvironment.com/ or via http://www.atelier-geddes.org/ Postage will be refunded on works collected from King's Cross.

Samples of his work can be found on www.myspace.com/jimgeddesartwork and on http://www.facebook.com/ search for James W Geddes."

So seriously...get on this! x

Magnificent Maps

I have just been given the opportunity to go and have a good mooch around the 'Magnificent Maps' exhibition here at the British Library. On entering the crowd seems pretty typical, the over 60's and the trendy young mums who've pushed their designer prams to something fabulously intellectual in hope that baby will absorb it, but the further in I get I can see more and more young people, and realise more and more as to why. These Maps are utterly beautiful.

The maps date from around the 1200's to 2008, however from my gathering I feel that the majority lie between the 1400's and 1600's. The Medieval maps put the word intricacy to shame and so I had no shame in standing with my nose only centimeters from the protective glass to try and get a better look at the tiny trees, and the tiny huts, and the even tinier men on horseback.

You also notice the amount of information that they have written on each of these maps, the typeface being a work of art in itself, along with the huge range of materials on which these maps are presented on, from parchment to tapestry. The range of the whole exhibition is enormous (not only in sheer volume of the number of maps there are to look at) showcaseing everything from pocket globes to the world's largest atlas and so on these grounds I seriously prompt you to go and have a look, it is free after all.

Stephen Walter's "The Island" presents London as an island, and comments on each tiny aspect with some lovely humour. There was a little crowd forming around this piece of work, each person trying to find what it says about where they live. As for my neck of the woods I was informed that it is "ye olde good place to buy your milk" - which is rather helpful actually.

Magnificent Maps, British Library, 30 April-19 September 2010.