brain activity

Another fabulous weekend which included a trip to Essex to attend Mitch's nephew's 4th birthday party (face painting, indoor bouncy castle, much cake AND special guests Mickey & Minnie Mouse!), eating the first harvest from our garden - rocket salad - yum and a trip to the Hayward Gallery on London's Southbank to see some art.

The art in question was a double exhibition: David Shrigley's Brain Activity and Jeremy Deller's Joy in People. I know nothing about art, only what I like and I have liked David Shrigley ever since I found this:

That was four years ago and, thankfully, Shrigley has brought out lots of other awesome cards since then. Brain Activity was his first major UK exhibition featuring paintings, animation, 3 dimensional sculptures, objects, even taxidermy! Sounds bizarre? It was but also amusing. Shrigley's work is simple in execution but his observations about society are thought provoking and humorous. (I laughed out loud, albeit quietly, a number of times). The highlight for me was the room of numerous drawings, which reminded me of reading all his card designs in scribbler only the ones at Hayward were more obscene. 

Shrigley's exhibition buddy was Jeremy Deller, the two make quite a pair. I'd not heard of Deller before Sunday (as I said I know nothing about art) but I was happy to discover that he too makes amusing observations about society as well as contributing quirky ventures to it - for example he produced a book of alternative sayings for tube drivers to announce on the underground. The highlight of Deller's exhibition was his Open Bedroom, a recreation of his childhood bedroom from the late 80s to mid 90s. The best bit was the toilet where visitors could read the collected/salvaged graffiti from the men's toilet of the British Library which Deller had recorded. I love graffiti in general and toilet graffiti is usually the most colourful so it was awesome to read the sprawl of political debate, religious criticism and academic sniping from men in the library.

It was a great exhibition and I would say 'go, see it' but Sunday was the last day - I very nearly missed it myself! What I would say is look out for their future work, especially Shrigley :)