I Know What I Like

I spent much of last weekend haunting art galleries and generally imbibing culture with a capital K. The first thing I noticed again was how easy it is to fully immerse yourself in art once you are in the zone. I went to both Tate Britain and the National Gallery over the bank holiday weekend and they were both rammed. Yet after a while the other patrons became background noise and I was barely aware that there were other people present. I’ve experienced it with both art and music and it’s amazing when you finally leave the gallery/hall and real life floods back in. Only then do you realise you’ve been transported elsewhere for a while.

The second thing I noticed was that I’ve been ignoring my muse. Yes, I do too have a muse 🙂 Swanky, right? You don’t believe me? Pah, you’re just jealous because you don’t have one 🙂  I have a gazillion paintings rattling around in my head and I am too lazy to put them on canvas. It’s like being permanently preggers. It also amazes me how individual an artist’s style is. No matter what my subject is, it always looks like one of my paintings. It’s like magic.

So, I played that game where I get to select which paintings I’d like from the collections. No. 1 is the astonishing ‘Madonna in Prayer’ by my boy Sassoferrato. It’s ridiculously beautiful- that blue, that red, the showpiece use of chiaroscuro. Totes amaze. The Zurbaran ‘Agnus Dei’ was not on display, boo! hiss!! but obvs I’d have to have that. Next up is my all-time favourite Van Gogh, ‘Two Crabs’. I love this painting like a fat kid loves cake, I really do. There were loads of perfectly indifferent Turners at the Tate, yawn, but I’d have to pinch his ‘Shipwreck’ for certain. Last but not the least, two new faves, ‘The Idle Servant’ by Nicolaes Maes because it makes me smile, and Bronzino’s astonishingly luminous ‘Madonna and Child with Saints’.

I’m afraid all of this is very DWM as both galleries are not exactly overflowing with art from other countries; they are British galleries. So, for your  delectation, some of my fave artworks by Nigerian artists. Oresegun Olumide’s photo-realistic paintings are a wonderful new discovery and yes, I know El Anatsui is Ghanaian but all his work has been done in Nigeria so we are keeping him, thank you very much 🙂 I really like Chris Ofili’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ which surprises me as glitter and elephant dung are not high on my list of artistic materials. If you’re having a bad time, get thee to a gallery. Art soothes the savage beast as much as music does. AlaraApothecary: your mental health is our priority. Have a fab and inspired week.

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