The Little Mermaid

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Her hair flows a fiery red

Thoughts of the land fill her head

Her beauty is intense

She has the frivolous ideas that make so much sense

She yearns for freedom and looks to the surface

This intense longing doesn't make her nervous

Happy to leave the world she has always known

Happy to leave the side of her Father's thrown

She wishes to embody that of another

She is trapped and feels there is only one way to recover

A promise she made and is destined to keep

For love, she has made the biggest leap

Signed Patricia Hilton

Note: Found this artwork on Deviantart and loved the modern twist on my favourite cartoon so I created a poem that reflects the story of The Little Mermaid.

This is also featured on Fluid Language 

Art in 2012

The new year has begun and this is my first post in 2012. I am looking forward to new film releases, new music concerts to attend and new art exhibitions to visit.

As part of my love of art, I enjoy looking for the latest exhibitions in and around London to visit. I love colourful, creative and thought provoking artwork. I have my own work which I may indeed share in the future on this blog but I always take inspiration from artists who go beyond the normal boundaries of colour.

I love art that is experimental and not too realistic. I have been brought up in the more modern age I suppose. I appreciate all artwork but my preference is the weird and wonderful! I like any kind of art that makes you think twice.

I have found two exhibitions beginning early this year that have taken my fancy and look worth the visit.

David Hockney: A Bigger Picture
January 21st 2012 - 9th April 2012
His new vivid landscapes will be showcased at the Royal Academy of Arts

Winter Timber, 2009

His artwork is inspired by the east Yorkshire landscapes and this exhibition will feature old and new works as well as being supported by drawings and video footage. I loved his work from an early age as the colours are so vibrant and eye catching. I love the fact he uses a variety of media to create a collage effect in his work. He is known for many skills in print work, photography, painting, and stage design.

His website for more images and information: http://www.hockneypictures.com/home.php

Another great exhibition is:

Yayoi Kusama: Retrospective
9th February 2012 - 5th June 2012
Tate Modern

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Another eclectic artist who encompasses print, paint, sculpture, performance and film in her artwork. Best known for her repetitive dot patterns, she is a colourful and creative artist with a very complicated past which reflects in all of her art. This is a must see and I am so excited to take a trip into the mind of Yayoi. Also it is said that Louis Vuitton are set to support Yayoi with a programme aimed at young people through the 'Louis Vuitton Young Arts Project' as well as collaborating to fill the exhibition space in the Louis Vuitton Bond Street Maison.

I am a big fan of her work and below are some more of her fantastic pieces that show her endless obsession with dots but a beautiful way of capturing the world around her. Expect to be engulfed into her world with the use of lights, photography, film and much more in a network of rooms! An exciting exhibition to say the least!

Photo Credit

Photo Credit

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I will do a post once I visit these exhibitions so keep an eye out for my review!

Amsterdam!

Last year in January 2010, my friend Katie and I ventured to Amsterdam for a long weekend. We had never been there before but all of our friends had recommended it to us and told us where to go and what to visit. We booked our ticket very spur of the moment and off we went on the half an hour flight to the capital of the Netherlands.

We had been waiting to go on a trip together for a while so we were very excited. We enjoyed the ease of the short flight and were in the city before we even listened to five songs on our IPod. We grabbed a taxi and headed to our hotel which was about ten minutes away from the centre.

We stayed in Hotel Central Park and were advised by the taxi man not to walk through the park next door to us at night, as unsavoury goings on occur there! For a first night this worried us a little but as soon as we dropped our things in the small hotel room we were off to explore. We actually got lost for a good hour as we did not realise we had to take a tram to get into the centre and we did not realise what time they stopped running. We managed to find the centre point and we definitely made the most of our first night.

We found the best little coffee shop by the canal and stayed there most of the evening. I highly recommend ‘Easy Times’ as the staff are amazingly helpful and the vibe is very chilled. They play really good, relaxing music too. Lots of slow jamz!

Through being lost that first night we actually knew the place inside out! We headed back to the hotel and stopped by a convenience store to get some toothpaste and other essentials as we forgot quite a bit. Everything was in Dutch or Japanese which worried us and as you can see from the photo, our toothpaste turned out to be a disgusting mistake for Kate!

Amsterdam was originally a small fishing village in the 12^th Century and was named after the canal that runs through it. It is known now as the financial and cultural capital. We had a lot to see the next day when we finally explored the city in daylight.

As soon as we stepped out of the door we realised that overnight the whole city was covered in a blanket of beautiful white snow. It was so picturesque we took a million photos. We couldn’t believe our luck that we had come at this time of year to get snow we crave for in London!

Our first stop was of course the Van Gogh museum which is just before the main centre and accessible via the trams. We both love art so this was the perfect opportunity for us to brush up on our knowledge! We looked round for ages and admired his work. There is also an ice rink outside the museum. After that we spent ages in the snow, taking photos and had some lunch.

The cafes are what attract most people to Amsterdam, as well as the Red Light District but there is so much else to see. I must admit we did go to so many random, backstreet cafes as we loved the vibe but Bulldog is the most famous so we had to go there too! As I will soon be visiting again I am definitely staying at the Bulldog Hotel as this is the hotspot of the centre. There are so many hostels to stay in to make your stay a little cheaper and these are perfectly safe, the Bulldog also has a hostel too!

For Kate and I it was all about the shops and the architecture. The buildings were so beautiful and old looking we couldn’t stop looking up and taking photos. We shopped all day in the little random shops that sold some really quirky things. They have everything from old fashioned merry-go-rounds (which I purchased) to hemp lollies (which I also purchased)! We did of course venture into a few sex shops and I am keeping my lips sealed as to whether we purchased anything LOL.

We weren’t around to visit the flower stalls due to the weather as it wasn’t the right season for the famous tulips. It is also famous for its large amounts of bike riders as this, as well as the trams are the easiest forms of transport and I recommend being very road wary!

We found some strange artwork in the back part of the city and also featured on a show being filmed live in the square! We loved the little food stations where you could purchase hot food out of a mini vending machine. I have to say the food was pretty good. Our favourite place to eat was right in the main square, the pancake house!

For us the trip was finding out about the cultural elements of the city and we definitely found the place to be interesting. The people were so friendly and the vibe of the whole city is very laid back. The bars and restaurants are really nice and there is a great and varied nightlife!

There have been rumours that weed will only be legal to residents of the Netherlands but this has been widely criticised so it's very doubtful this will happen any time soon. Also there is a sex museum we never got to visit as well as festivals on the canal that take place over the summer months.  There is also a beautiful theatre in the heart of Amsterdam called the Stadsschouwburg which has been around since 1894.

So my overall impression of Amsterdam was a very favorable one. Since I am planning a second trip I think that says it all. It has fun and cultural elements which will suit anyone of any age. My own Mother made a trip this year with her friend and had the best time! She has so many funny stories from her trip so I can safely say that it suits everyone. If you choose to go in the winter like we did, or like my Mother in the summer, it is still a beautiful place to visit, whatever the weather as you can still do everything you set out to do.

Here are a few more photos we took from our trip:

Note: All photos taken by myself and Kate

Follow me on: @trishaaa_

Tracey Emin @ Selfriges

Tracey Emin – Love or Loathe?

Tracey Emin is known for her deeply personal works of art and how honest her work is. Her personality is thrust into all her work and she has been praised and criticised for this. When I look at her work I have mixed emotions. On one hand I like her brash confidence, her sense of retaliation against the art world. Art is a form of expression and therefore should be personal to the artist but subjective to the viewer. If someone has a problem or interprets it in the wrong way who cares? Art is supposed to catch your eye, question you and create a feeling deep inside you – a stir. Emin certainly does this. On the other hand her work can be too personal, almost unnecessary and it is this controversy that I will be discussing briefly before reviewing her new exhibition at Selfridges, Oxford Street.                                                                        

I once went to an exhibition of hers and found it vulgar. Images such as the indentations of Emin’s own urine in the snow came as a shock to my young eyes as I could not believe someone would think to do this as an adult and as a female. There was one piece of work that was of a cervical smear from Emin herself. I found this to be somewhat over the top. Once I realised what it was I found myself turning my nose up at it. Most of her work I found myself thinking why? Why would you let your life be so exposed and open for judgement?

As I go through her work I see it is definitely a statement, a way to stand out from the crowd. She wanted to get her name known and her way of portraying herself in her art has got her noticed and her work is very recognisable. Art is getting more and more expressive and shocking as we enter the 21^st Century.

Everyone That I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995

This particular piece of art is a definite form of shock art. Emin unleashes a list of all the people, male and female, she has ever slept with. Most people would find this deeply personal and especially women tend to not reveal how many people they have been with. Although the trend for women being less open about their sexual history is becoming less so these days and that is mainly due to the change in the common woman. It is normal now for women to discuss sex and partners with friends and it is seen as a common thing to do, not something to be ashamed of. On one hand this could be regarded as women empowerment but on the other is can be seen as crude and un-ladylike behaviour. The opinion on this matter depends on the subjective view of the reader, are you more prudish than crude? If so the way Emin portrays her art is to not give a care in the world about what other people think. I believe some of her work is slightly inappropriate but the fact is, if you are exposing yourself to the world, why care about others opinion? You can never please everyone all of the time so you may as well do and say as you feel, right?

I do feel there is a time and a place for everything and you should express yourself freely, especially in the world of art. However if you expose everything personal about yourself all of the time then what is left for people to wonder? What is left as a mystery of this artist? Nothing. It is the same in life; you have to keep some things for people to wonder about, to question your reasons for doing something. It leaves something to the imagination and this is what I feel Emin lacks. What I love about Art is having my own opinion of what the artist was trying to portray at the time and never knowing what it truly meant to them. Art should be a journey ofself discovery of you as much as the Artist.

What I do like about Emin is the honesty in her work and the journey of her life portrayed through it. She is obviously a troubled artist and her work certainly shows that. Although there may be some works of art I feel can be a touch too much, I see her vision and I understand that she feels the need to show how she has developed as a person.

Emin @ Selfridges

Now what this whole review is about is the recent display of Emin’s ‘Love is What You Want’ at Selfridges. Emin has taken over The Concept Store on the ground floor of Selfridges, Oxford Street with four window displays from her exhibition as well as her ‘Walking Around My World’ store. The store has a selection of her favourite things including her own literature, prints and other items.

I visited the store to see how Emin would fit in with a store as prestigious and well-known as Selfridges. I actually felt her minimalistic take on it worked very well. It wasn’t too cluttered and it made sense, you could tell it was Emin’s work while still being in line with the store itself. I particularly liked the newspaper prints on the wall inside the store which all featured Emin, her work and personal life.

I liked the fact that she chose certain items she felt were important to be in her store that were sold in Selfridges, particularly items that related to London considering it would attract a lot of tourists. I also thought her Cat display of her pet was an interesting idea. It was simple enough; with photos of her cat in photo frames displayed in the shape of a cat’s head with the outline on the window of a cat. The different levels from the glass on the window and the display inside the shop created a multidimensional effect.

Emin’s displays were the right tone for the store but she still managed to keep her edge with the image of her running naked down a cobbled street with a British flag. It is subtle, not too exposing but just enough to draw the eye of a person passing by. I did not expect anything less. Her newspaper cuttings were the most interesting as it is amazing how much press one contemporary artist gets. It makes you realise how valuable privacy is and how Emin has sacrificed this for her Art, quite willingly of course.

Her work will always trigger some sort of opinion but I do like how she has put her stamp on Selfridges. Her prints are available to buy at Selfridge’s as well home wear with her prints on them, some being limited edition.

Please check out her shop and part of her exhibition at Selfridges which ends on the 31^st July. It is a taster into her exhibition which is a personal journey through different mediums such as prints, photography or textiles. It is worth having a look whether you love or loathe her as all she is looking to be accepted for the work she does, for who she was and the person she has now become. She, honestly, has admitted she is looking for love to come from this exhibition.

Her exhibition is at The Hayward Gallery until the 29^th August. Admission charges apply.