A Day Out in Bermondsey

 On Friday  I met up with my friend Sue  ( who I haven't seen for months)  in Bermondsey. It's not an area I've visited for a very long time, the focus for the visit was the exhibition at the White Cube of Anselm Kiefer, but there's  lots of interest in the area including  this  delightful community sculpture 'The Shared'  that Sue spotted down an alley!

 'Walhalla' was the theme and the title of much of the work in this Anselm Kiefer  exhibition and  so much lead was used that you had to read a health and safety notice  about it's toxicity  before you entered!  I'd thought the work in the exhibition at the RA in 2014 was monumental but  this was of an even larger magnitude.  
Although thought-provoking I didn't particularly like the lead beds (and walls!) and other installations  but loved the paintings: the scale, the colours, most of all the incredible textures and surfaces achieved with variety of unusual media used.

 The huge 'books' of photographs with  clay  were wonderful .

 The close up (below) of this painting  give an idea of  how layers are curled back from the surface.

 Interesting unusual composition with the darkest areas at the top.

 The use of luminous colours  (especially the blue) and the sheen of shellac   gave a lift to these paintings ( which are huge!)

 Sue and I had a discussion about how on earth he made  such huge pieces and how  large his studio could be - the answer is apparently 200 acres!

  After a delicious long lunch at the Fashion and Textile Museum, we    visited the London Glassblowing   gallery. This spectacular, sculptural piece ( with its' shadows)  by Jochen Ott  was my favourite  but   difficult  to choose  amongst so much gorgeous work!

 Finished up at the Eames gallery  where I'd noticed on my way past  there was  an exhibition on 'Discovering Samuel Palmer' whose work I've long admired ( the exhibition at the British Museum  was exceptional)   It turned out to be even more interesting  as  his prints formed the basis of  varied interpretations by  a range of contemporary printmakers, rather a contrast in scale to the Anselm Kiefer up the road!