PADRE CIRCA 1975

I’ve been ill for the past couple of days, so my dad sends me two emails:

“Hi Sweeps,
This is from Wales 1975, hope you feel better,
D xx”

(NB: The kid isn’t me)
Subject: Ken loves horses!
“This is me with a Welsh horse.
D xx”

Incredible. The one with the horse is going on my wall.

I LOVE YOU KINGSTON.

THINGS MY MOTHER NEVER TOLD ME

It’s something we had to write at Uni, I wrote this ages ago, blah blah blah… I actually interviewed my mother to find out about the subjects in this piece. It was quite difficult for her to talk about and I’m not sure I should have asked in the first place.

My mother first tried to run away from home when she was eight. She and her elder brother Lenny had had enough of working in their dad’s shop, so they decided to call it quits.

As Lenny scrambled onto the roof of their Dalston home, my eight year old mother realised a major flaw in their plan: siblings. Her younger sister Helen wouldn’t be able to keep up and Lisa was just a baby. There was no way she could hold two children and a bag of nappies. Still, she couldn’t leave them behind.

She would have to stay and watch her brother escape.
Continue reading

“SWAN LAKE”

While London and the rest of the UK have been stuck in “FROZEN BRITAIN” madness, my friends and I went sledding in a valley in Abergavenny for a few days.

In the valley was a frozen pond, so we recreated Swan Lake. Very, very gracefully of course:

Swan Lake part one: The Awakening

Swan Lake part two: The Dance

Sometimes it’s very fun to be filmed while making an absolute tit of yourself.

“BEATLES TO BOWIE”

The Beatles to Bowie exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery is huge. It is filled with photographs of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie, along with the bands that didn’t see it through the decade but we’re huge hits at the time. I can’t remember their names.

There are records and magazines in glass cabinets next to clothed mannequins, badges and more paraphenalia.  The best bit however, is the wall dedicated to self portraits of the photographers responsible for taking the iconic images of the sixties. They’re only small prints of people looking serious or silly, but they’re super cool.

These are the postcards I picked up:

“I’M SHIT AT CHRISTMAS”

Some of my friends are really good at Christmas and make cards like this:

And write funny things inside them:

Thanks Eli.

“SHOWFLAT: THE ANNUALE”

groupwebimageLondon has a new organisation that takes art back to basics. They’re like the fairy godmother for the art world’s unemployed. Their unique type of guerrilla exhibiting creates a new way to see work: no more silent shows with people whispering in front of the sculptures. No more waxing-lyrical about the meaning of a portrait. And no more sky-high price tags. They create fewer boundaries and more interaction. And there’s always a party. They’re all about the struggling artist that can’t afford studio or gallery space, and they’re making art fun again. They are SHOWFLAT. Continue reading