Day 66 - I’ve Never Called Weapons Beautiful Before Today
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Big, tiring day again! You must understand, however, that when I say “big and tiring”, it is NOT in a bad context. I would be happy doing this for the rest of my life. I don’t want it to end!
We went to Selfridges department store which set the base for all department stores to date. I’ve never been in a store that big. It was extremely overwhelming. But it was great that we got to shop for an hour or so! Damn, I love these classes!
The Wallace Collection:
I thought this was just going to be another damn cabinet of curiosities; something I’ve seen every week since coming. I found myself thinking, “If everyone has a cabinet of curiosities, and they are all the same, are they still curiosities?”
I may have misjudged the Wallace Collection, for I had certainly never seen these things before. Before this day, I have never called a weapin beautiful. The sheer amount of weaponry and armoury this man had was staggering! And it wasn’t just the magnitude that startled me. These weapons were breathtaking! Little artworks in themselves.
I’m really happy Gerard chose to keep this place under wraps until our last weeks. I was beginning to lose my faith in the wonder cabinets, but this lifted my spirits a bit. I even got to try on CHAINMAIL! Epic!
Tracey Emin Retrospect:
Once again, I was not looking forward to this show. I had seen a few examples of Emin’s work and was really unimpressed and didn’t think much about her as an artist. I changed my mind after viewing this show. I feel like her work is meant to be viewed as a whole, and not individual pieces. Her artwork tells her life and sometimes individual pieces don’t make sense until you see the rest. In viewing this one show, I felt like I personally knew her; her struggles, her pain, her fears. It was so personal and heartfelt that I couldn’t help but be moved by it.
Rosencratz and Guildenstern are Dead:
It was a little odd seeing this after Tracey Emin, as one was entirely about identity and the other was about having no identity. As a whole, I thought the production was put off very well. It was extremely funny and I didn’t even miss Tim Curry!Rosencratz and Guildenstern played their roles well. I think I liked Rosencratz better… or maybe it was Guildenstern? The stagecrew put together a very smart set; playing with perspective. It was very simple but the simplicity worked very well.
