Friday 15 April 2016

In the flesh


Outside, an important-looking art removal lorry with a code number for helicopter tracking is taking away the huge Grayson Perry murals which have been hanging up for over a month now. Amazingly (and possibly shamefully), I never got round to walking the 200 feet over the road to go and see them. Should I feel guilty?

I quite like Grayson Perry as a person - or personality - and I grew to admire him after he delivered the Reith Lectures for the BBC a short while ago, but I am in no way very keen on his art. Many people probably made special trips from miles away to see it all, but I could not be bothered to walk over the road. Now I am making myself feel very guilty. The back of the silver truck is being winched into place, and I am just about to wave goodbye to Grayson.

I waved goodbye to Craigie Aitchison recently as well. That painting which was lent to us by the woman in Burford had to be returned, so we took it down from the wall where it has been living for almost a year, and took it in the car to her. She cannot seem to sell her cottage so may need to sell the Craigie instead. I think it is worth about £40K, which will be handy - for her. She found out that the reason she cannot sell the little cottage in the isolated part of Oxfordshire is probably because she has a convicted murderer as a neighbour. A very close neighbour. I tried to console her by pointing out that it was better to have a convicted murderer as a neighbour than an unconvicted one, but it didn't seem to help. It's like Ambridge out there.

I personally know people who have lived in Bath for almost as long as I have, who have never got around to visiting the Roman Baths. I suppose their excuse is that they have been there for a couple of thousand years, so can wait a few more. Meanwhile, thousands of tourists come from all over the world, just to visit them. Strange.

Green Eyes went to see Billy Elliot the Musical in London as a birthday treat a few days ago. She loved it. She came here and showed us some snippets of it on the computer, and I have to say I was very impressed with the boy's dancing. She said his dancing was not as good as the boy who played B.E. in the performance that she saw, so they obviously have a load of highly talented, 13 year-old dancers waiting in the wings for their 15 minutes of fame.

When the clips came to an end, Green Eyes said, "There you are. Now you don't have to go to London to see it".


33 comments:

  1. I would take one Craigie Aitchison to a 100 Grayson Perrys. Perry was clever at playing to the audience in his Reith Lectures and he is becoming cleverer by the day in this showman way now that he has got an audience. I think you a trifle remiss in not going to see his show though as it was on your doorstep if only to confirm your feelings about his work.

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    1. I suppose I did ask whether or not I should feel guilty about not going over, but I never dreamt that anyone would actually say I ought to be.

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    2. It seems but a minor thing for me to say so.

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    3. It seems that to me too. So minor that it need not have been said?

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    4. I take things literally. If you ask it, I will answer it.

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    5. But answer it quickly or he will see his boney little arse

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    6. 'Boney' and 'little' are two things that have not been said about my arse since I was about 12. I absolutely ADORE all comments (so long as you ALL FUCKING COMMENT) and I will do my utmost dandiest to reply to each and every one of you gorgeous darlings! Honest! I really mean it! Honest! Really!

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    7. I mean that with all sincerity! Honest - no, really! I mean it - SO LONG AS YOU ALL FUCKING COMMENT.

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    8. Of course, if the comments exceed 200 in any post, I will have to get a team of Boy Scouts to answer them on my behalf.

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    9. I'll do it for you. I'm even quicker than you are.

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    10. You'll be talking to yourself.

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    11. Nurse!!!!!!!!!
      The screens!!!!!!!

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    12. Ps i still want to slap you until your teeth rattle

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    13. Perhaps I could help you John.

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    14. How? Are you going to hit him with a plank?

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    15. I'm gonna turn up on his local and buy him a drink.

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    16. Freudian slip. I nearly said on his doorstep.

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    17. You two had lots of fun after I went to bed in boredom last night.

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  2. Interesting what you say about the locals not visiting the 'sights' Tom. When I moved up here in 1987 my then husband and I went round all the beauty spots - Aysgarth Falls, West Burton Falls, Briggflats, etc. When I married the farmer in 1993 (he has lived here all his life) I found he had not seen any of them.

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    1. There since 1939, then joined by you in 1897, and neither of you had seen the sights? Disgraceful.

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  3. I have visited the top of the Empire State Building and seen the view from the head of the Statue of Liberty once. Both these viewings occurred at the request of a boyfriend's son.

    I'm glad to have turned down a job offer from a law firm that would have had me inside one of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

    I did see the Grayson Perry Easter egg hunt exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery.

    Best wishes.

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    1. I was up the Empire State before the towers came down, and did not want to visit them, though we could have stayed at a hotel there, as my friends did. We stayed at the Chelsea, and I'm sort of distantly pleased that you did not take that job. The poor people who did - including the illegal immigrant cleaners!

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    2. I've seen the film Towering Inferno so no thanks to high buildings. I've also seen The Poseidon Adventure so no cruises. Wuss?

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    3. John has seen that film so many times, he named his blog site after it.

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  4. When I lived in England I traveled all over Europe, wish I had documented those years better as there are many things and places that have faded from memory. The Roman Baths are unfortunately one of them

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    1. I rebuilt a bit of the recently uncovered Temple Precinct down there, so spent a bit of time there too - all of which is, as a result, firmly in my memory.

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  5. Now that Grayson Perry has moved out, someone else will move in. Maybe the next exhibit is of interest to you.

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    1. Today is selection day for the Bath Society of Artists. All the hopefuls are queuing up with the magnum opus under the arms of their beige Kagools. H.I. was once one of the judges, and the following year, she was begged to exhibit. She reluctantly agreed to, and then they rejected her painting. This was an intolerable insult, considering the shit which they select every year.

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  6. I would certainly have made the effort. I like his early pottery, and his dress-sense. I enjoyed his Reith lectures. However, I have never visited Lascaux or any of the other local painted caves.

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    1. Once you've seen one cave painting, I think, you've seen them all. We have LascauxI, LascauxII and now LascauxIII.

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    2. And I can't stand being shoulder to shoulder with bloody tourists.

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    3. They don't let just anyone visit Lascaux, so even the locals will never get the opportunity. All us non-academic tourists sweat too much apparently, so we have to stand shoulder to shoulder in supermarkets instead.

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