It was a good weekend I enjoyed the David Shrigley show at the Hayward Gallery which I visited with my favourite art-loving man friends.
The Jeremy Dellar bit downstairs depressed all of us a little bit, especially the political stuff which I couldn't even bring myself to glance at. The 3D bat video also made me feel a bit nauseous. The Acid House part reminded me of Mike Nelson's The Coral Reef except a lot less interesting maybe it just felt less immediate because it wasn't as big and elaborate as the other one. When we were walking through all the Dellar stuff the word "hipster" kept ringing through my head, but that doesn't really mean anything because I can't tell what would have preceded the other... necklaces with neon yellow beads are a bit inexcusable though. I thought it was interesting that he explored using 3D media in different ways like with the dangling ViewMasters and the 3D bat video and even embossing machines with titles of his works(?) e.g. "A Range Rover crushed, and made into a bench". I liked that he used so many mediums and that each of his works were so completely different from the other. Sometimes it was hard to recognize any connection in between.
It felt a bit off to me maybe no fault of the artist but I mean like that I ♥ Melancholy painted on the wall right after exiting the "acid house". It was hand painted and it was kind of obvious where the assistant had to go over the edges of the black paint to make the words look neater and more consistently. Freehand? I don't know, that was probably the most depressing thing. Can't you use a stencil for that or at least try to make sure the correction isn't so obvious? It was totally visible even from the other side of the gallery like a good twenty metres or something. It's a small thing and in the gallery shop I briefly considered buying the sticker for a friend but it still bothers me.
David Shrigley's illustrations/paintings cheered me up a bit because it is just... hilarious stuff. He uses the same type of aesthetic for most of his work which makes it a bit repetitive perhaps but it makes the individual elements come across a lot more strongly. The large cup of tea was really cute Bong and I stood around it and theorized that every day the assistants from the "cafe" in Dellar's exhibition would collect the leftover tea and pour them into Shrigley's giant teacup. Of course that is impossible and a stupid theory.
After eating sub-par ramen noodles along the South Bank we went back to the station, stopping by M&S for something sweet to eat. Out of all the bad habits I have collected since moving away from my parents I think the most expensive and debilitating one is this stupid compulsion to enter every supermarket I pass, either to buy groceries(always eggs and bread and chocolate biscuits) or just random sweets and coke. Based on the pile of receipts which have transitioned from my wallet and various handbags onto my bed right now, I roughly spend half of my allowance in the Tesco along Goodge Street every week. I bought at least 3 packets of fusilli pasta and maybe enough apple juice to fill a swimming pool. The dates on the receipts also show that I have been doing this about 4 times a week which is unhealthy by any standards. I've probably seen Mr. Tesco Team Leader more often than I see my best friends, and I also noticed that he got promoted this year because he used to wear the normal shirt now he wears a checked button up in Tesco colours with a big TEAM LEADER badge on it.
The worst thing about all of this is that for all the time and money I've spent I doubt it has helped me lose any weight like cigarettes or cocaine would.
Haven't even mentioned the mild embarrassment of facing the same friendly checkout guy before and after going to the Hayward Gallery.. bet he thinks I live on pink-coloured carbonated drinks, fizzy Percy Pig tails and Extremely Chocolatey Dark Chocolate Rounds.
I could go on forever about my un-verbalized thoughts but I probably shouldn't.
