Back to London

Whisked back to 21st Century London, where the sun actually came out. 

  

Shows come and go. White Cube Gallery.

White Cube is on Bermondsey Street, pronounced with a slight accent on the first syllable. We were putting the accent on the second syllable and our taxi driver said, "I can't understand what street you want." We had to spell it for him. The building to the right is The Shard, currently the tallest building in London.

The Museum-like White Cube Gallery: Don, Tim Marlowe, Terrie Sultan, the show's curator, and the videographer, whose name I didn't get, preparing for an interview. We first met Tim in Belgium, when he came over to meet us (Chuck, Sienna, Don, Chuck's then nurse, and me) in Bruges, took us all out to dinner and was back to London the next day. On our flight over to London (Open Skies), we saw an interview Tim did of artist Doug Aitken. 

Era sewing a label onto the back of Self-Portrait (Yellow Raincoat) tapestry.

The exhibition is titled Chuck Close: Prints, Process and Collaboration. It has travelled to 19 different venues. The tapestries and watercolor prints were added to this possibly final venue, The White Cube in London. Terrie told us that in the Netherlands and in Austria they had to strike off the word "Collaboration," as it had negative connotations associated with collaborating with the Nazis. 

Had lunch with Terrie Sultan at José, an excellent tapas place on Bermondsey. It was such a beautiful day, we walked "home" along the Thames. Crossing London Bridge; Tower Bridge is in the background. A London Bridge has existed in this same spot for almost 2000 years, first being constructed by the Romans when they set up camp in Londinium in 46 AD. Uncharacteristically, they built it of wood, and it burned down and fell down, etc.

The first stone bridge was completed in 1209 in the reign of King John. It had houses, shops and a chapel constructed on it, as well as a drawbridge. To secure the bridge at night, a gate was installed at both ends. From the southern gatehouse, severed heads of traitors were displayed, including those of poor William Wallace and Sir Thomas More.

Found this artist's recreation.

Westminster Bridge; the Shard looming over all.

The pedestrian only Millennium Bridge.

When you wander off the bustling main boulevards, you come upon these charming back streets and courts. Era standing outside of Dr. Johnson's House. 

We had 5 nights in London, so rented an apartment. Ended up renting from a lovely young woman of Indian descent, Lakshmi, who owns an immaculate and fairly spacious apartment above a natural healing center, not far from the British Museum. We had already bonded over email, as we discovered we had both done a fundraiser for the Japanese people in the area hit by the tsunami. We brought her a Sacred Pine print, which is the print we sold as our fundraiser. If you find yourself in London for several days at least and would like to have a kitchen, a laundry and an immaculate apartment with healthy touches, such as all natural (and very comfortable) mattress, it's a great find. It is up 4 floors with no elevator, so not for everyone, but we loved it.

Much love,

Era and Don