In passing I decided to
take a gamble and check out the Allen Jones exhibition at the Royal
Academy in Piccadilly, London. It ends very soon, I think possibly
this weekend. I was on my way from Hammersmith to Soho on the number
9 bus which passed by the gallery on its route.
I went into the wrong
section of the gallery but stumbled upon a great find. There was a
small room on architecture. A series of photographs of some
influential buildings and some not so from all around Britain,
arranged chronologically around the room from the early 20th
century to the present day. The most fascinating was a photograph of
The Royal Festival Hall after its construction in 1951, on London's
South Bank. In the photo, what is now the Hayward Gallery once stood
a giant Lighthouse. I thought to myself and probably out loud “that
explains why there is a silly boat on the roof of the Hayward
Gallery”. After my discovery of the meaning of life (as far as the
boat on the roof was concerned) I enquired about where to go to get
tickets to the Allen Jones exhibition and was directed to the correct
building.
I bought a £10 ticket
without a charitable donation, I feel I do enough for charity and
when there are donations like this I have no idea where the money is
actually going or being used for. Up I went. It wasn't until I saw
some of Allen Jones' work that I recognised it, I'd just never put a
name to a face or piece of work. Anybody familiar with Stanley
Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess' 'A Clockwork Orange' should
know the scene at the milk bar 'Moloko Vollocet' where the gang chill
out surrounded by sculpture like coffee tables and chairs of
extremely sexual and suggestive female mannequins, they are by Allen
Jones.
Going from one room to
the next made me appreciate the work more and more. The first pieces
you see, apart from the huge sculpture hanging from the ceiling as
you ascend the stairs or the paintings draped on the walls, are of
two coffee tables. Both are of women on their hands and knees. One of
them is green with the women looking face forward and the glass top
has a cut-out around her head. The other is of a topless woman in a
sexy leather French maids outfit looking into a mirror, face down on
the ground, the glass top is flat on her back and she is kneeling on
a sheep skin rug. Both are very life-like and verge on being almost
sexually arousing.
The rest of the
exhibition went on similarly to that, some pieces being more striking
than the others. His use of colour and tonal values was beautiful.
Even the way that some of the paintings had been framed and mounted
was great. One particular example was I think a red painting in a
basic painted frame and mounted onto a piece of walnut veneered
plywood. The surrounding of that image was so memorable that I can't
even remember what the painting was of it is was less than an hour
from when I wrote this.
He has a very
distinctive style, maintained throughout his career and to this day.
He also has the most unhealthy obsession with feet, legs and high
heeled shoes. The breasts are unrealistically pointy and the clothing
always so body hugging, some so much that you can see a camel toe
(vaginal wedgies). Even if they are not accurate, life-like
representations of what they are supposed to be, they are brilliant
none the less. Get in quick as I think the show ends this weekend.
It may seem odd that
this is on a beer blog but after walking around the exhibit, I sat
down in the Atelier café to write. I had a glass by my side and a
bottle of Crate Brewery's Golden Ale to fill it with.
A refined and delicate
golden ale savoured on very utilitarian furniture in the exquisitely
beautiful, classic interior of the Royal Academy.
Get in before it's all over
A lovely place to chill and eat or drink or do what you so choose, The Atelier Cafe
A brewery producing some incredibly tasty beers
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