London: Saatchi and Tate Modern

Over the Easter long weekend Andy and I headed to London.
Our experience can basically be summarised in two words: Markets, and Art.
And obviously ants. Lots and lots of ants.

Our trip over was delightfully short- and full of golden fields on the german end.

It’s canola- nearly as pretty as the poppies, and next year I promise I’ll remember to get a picture from the ground.

On the first morning we started off slow. We had a little sniff at the provided-with-the-room hostel breakfast, and made a swift exit stage left. Instead we wandered around until we were completely famished, and conveniently fell upon Comptoir Libanais.

To be honest, I was pulled in by the bright colours and shiny objects. Andy will go anywhere there is falafel on offer.

We waited the requisite 5 minutes before we were allowed to order from the lunch menu, and dove in. Andy chose the item with the most falafel/square inch of plate…

.. I rather cunningly went with a gigantic vegetarian tasting plate, filled not only with flatbreads and falafal, but also hummus, baba ganoush and various salads.

I was pretty happy with my food, but then, I like anything where I can nibble a variety of different flavoured treats.

Fueled up, we headed for our first Art of the Day- the Saatchi gallery.

To be honest, I was only in it for the ants:

They’re made from resin, fiberglass wood and rope, and they fill the whole room.
The installation, by Rafael Gomezbarros, is called Casa Tomada (Taken Home).

How wonderful are they? Although I may say that I have much more appreciation for ants (and bugs in general) now that I live in Germany where it’s pretty much too cold for anything except mozzies and fruitflies to reach proper infestation levels.
Andy remains sufficiently wary.

I didn’t get any pictures showing the full room (to many people wandering about), so you should definitely go here to get an idea of what the concept looked like from a distance and to learn more about the work.

We pulled ourselves away from the ants…

Andy and I both found these stunning. They’re by Dillon Marsh called Assimilation (1, 3 and 7).

Possibly, something about the desert feels like home (and grass trees?). In reality, we came to the fairly confident conclusion that they are built by birds (which the internet confirms- you should check out his page here).

This one I only like because it reminds me of the Herman’s Hermits song..

And this- this is one of those ‘why you go to a modern art museum’ moments…

This is a view from above of two people in the canvas room. I’m pretty sure they’re arguing about whether it’s really art.

I also really loved these old melting wax-people (Virgile Ittah).

And this….

This is a room filled with oil, and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about it.

We left the Saatchi and, feeling that we hadn’t quite had our fill of culture- headed in the general direction of the Tate Modern- a.k.a, the only gallery/museum that both Andy and I had seen previously and really really wanted to go back to.

On the way, London decided to be London-ish and blasted us with terrible weather. Possibly this was actually Berlin’s fault for being so warm the week before and tricking me into mis-packing.

The Shard! That wasn’t there last time I was in London!

I am pulling this face because Andy saw me take a photo and decided to line up exactly the same shot. Andy is pulling his ‘who me’ face:

We spent some time watching the kiddlies frolick around in the giant downstairs hanger space:

And then onward, to the Modern Art! Where ‘Stuff on Sticks’ seems to be very much in vogue.

This is my ‘yeah, ok then’ face:

The gallery was featuring an exhibit by Harry Callahan. It contained many pictures of his wife, including this one, which is possibly one of the most stunning portraits I’ve ever seen.

And on a slightly different theme:
Balls!

Lights!

Which Andy adored.

I quite like this little fellow. He seems to have something a little bit Leunig about him don’t you think?

They also hold a Calder (although not very well displayed)…

.. and a couple of seriously impressive Mondrians- I’m pretty sure I’ve already bored you long enough with my deep and abiding passion for ‘The Tree A’. Here’s one of the more famous ones that I once wore as a dress: