Ai Weiwei Day

At the weekend, Mr & Mrs That's Not My Age had an Ai Weiwei Day. The conceptual artist is incarcerated in China, unable to attend his two London exhibitions and banned from blogging, so I thought I'd do this for him. The Lisson Gallery is showing Ai's beautiful paint-splattered Han Dynasty vases.




There are posters of his quotes all down the street, mmm... Bejing take note. A couple of years ago, the Chinese authorities set up CCTV cameras outside Ai's studio and he responded with this marble work of art. Which made me smile. Watching me, watching you, ah ha!



This installation is called Moon Chest (look through the port holes in the wooden chests and you can see all the different moon-shaped silhouettes). Stunning.




Then it was over to Somerset House to see Ai Weiwei's Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads. The Portland stone is the perfect backdrop for the 54-year-old artist's 12 bronze sculptures:




The man who helped create the Bird's Nest Olympic stadium and filled Tate Modern with porcelain sunflower seeds is being detained without charge for 'economic crimes,' like publishing online pornography...



I don't get it. China is reaching out to the west. The west loves Ai Weiwei. Ai Weiwei gets banged up.




Free Ai Weiwei.



Ai Weiwei is on at the Lisson Gallery till 16 July 2011 and Somerset House till June 26 2011.

Sunflower seeds photo: The Telegraph

Pick Me Up, Digital Art Exhibition, Somerset House

I recently attended the launch night of Pick Me Up,

the digital art exhibition at Somerset House.

It was the best exhibition that I have been to in a long time

and I'd highly recommend it to you all!

The exhibition featured twenty top digital artists,

whose work was on sale to buy there and then.

The work on display was both of a high quality and extremely varied.

I loved the live screen-printing demonstrations,

the fact that most of the artists were on hand to discuss their work

and the digital art medium,

and best of all the DJs hiding in various corners.

Visit Pick Me Up until 27 March.

Live screen-printing demonstrations

Artists working at exhibition, all artwork then went on sale that night.

Live feed of artists drawing on projector stream.

T-Shirt and Tails, Weekly Loves:

London Fashion Week Top Ten A/W 11

Firstly, sorry for the HUGE amount of time passed

since my last blog post!

The past fortnight has been manic, both in the build-up to,

and during London Fashion Week and I feel like I haven't stopped.

I think that I've only just managed to come out the

other side with the help of my two best friends Mr expresso and Miss Berocca.

It's been an exciting few weeks working on LFW

and I can't wait to tell you all about my favourite bits...

Firstly, it makes sense to start from the top and tell you

about my favourite shows from LFW.

You can also remind yourself of my highlights from last London Fashion Week.

So, here is my top ten of shows:

1. Mary Katrantzou

2. Jonathan Saunders

3. Acne

4. Erdem

5. Burberry

6. Christopher Kane

7. Roksanda Ilincic

8. Holly Fulton

9. Charles Anastase

10. Richard Nicoll

London Fashion Week S/S 11, Day Three

On day three at London Fashion Week S/S 11 I saw the Mary Katrantzou, Julien Macdonald, Antonio Berardi and Richard Nicoll shows which were all stunning.

Mary Katrantzou kicked off the day at the old Eurostar terminal in Waterloo station, the most incredible venue with an arched glass exterior and high ceilings. The acoustics were great for the upbeat catwalk tunes.

Backstage at Mary Katrantzou:

Mary was inspired by interiors for this collection and designed the infamous lampshade skirt which I loved! For those fond of Katrantzou’s prints they were not let down, the show was full of her signature bright graphic prints.

Next, was Julien Macdonald which I almost missed completely, so I snuck in the back and watched the models snake round the rows of fashionistas. It was quite possibly my favourite show from the week – super sexy! Take a look at the video for it in action.

Antonio Berardi gave us an elegant and romantic collection. My favourite moment was when the opening bars of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory song ‘Pure Imagination’ were played just before the models walked – pure nostalgia!

Finally, the day finished with fashion favourite Richard Nicoll. I spied Hannah Marshall sneaking in late to gain a front row view. Nicholl was inspired by ‘minimal glamour’ and boldly stated after the show: ‘What we sell is dresses’. Keep them coming!