Grayson Perry Delight

Have you ever heard the Reith Lectures? Presented by the BBC, it is series of annual lectures be leading thinkers of the day. They usually have me yawning and switching over. Good lord, I remember a mathematical physics science type talk once and I couldn’t even get through 5 mins of it because the speaker was duller than the dullest dull day in January.

Enter Grayson Perry! What a delight he is! His first of three lectures came on this Monday and he instantly grabbed my attention that I missed my gym class to hear the full thing.

Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art at Sotheby’s

MF Husain

Sotheby’s London will hold an auction of modern and contemporary Indian art on June 11th and an exhibition of the available art will open from the 6th of June.

I simply love the works by the Great Masters of Indian art.  Dead and dying, these rare icons of Indian art are inimitable.  I wasn’t exposed to them growing up and learned about them through my frequent trips to India.

Asian Art in London Week

From 1 to 12 November 2012 London galleries and museums will be hosting antiques and fine art from Asia including India, China, Japan and the Himalayas.  The British Museum is hosting a lecture on the drawings of FN Souza and Picasso widely regarded as founding members of the modern art movement in Europe and India respectively.

Conceptual Art: A Load of Rubbish

A new exhibition opened at the Barbican in London today by Chinese conceptual artist, Song Dong.  The art is a collection of around 10,000 household items collected over five decades by Dong’s mother and it took two containers to ship to London.  I don’t know where to begin with how insane I think this art is.

The mother claims that she kept hoarding things that reminded her of her dead husband.  Ok.  She didn’t want to throw them out as it made her feel close to him. Alright.  So 16 umbrellas, countless plastic tubs and so on remind you of your husband.  Sentimentality is one thing but is this collection of generic plastic bric-a-brac that you can find in a charity shop or car boot sale worthy of an art exhibition?

This kind of contemporary art makes me quite cross as I find it pathetic.  Song Dong’s previous work includes a mildly interesting biscuit display in Selfridges: