Have been feeling tired and consumptive lately (well, coughing heavily). Much of it is down to sheer lack of discipline. I think if you set your own schedule you’re more tempted to fill the day with putting things off, going on whole shopping trips for single items, and generally not getting anything done. Today I have to be in Piccadilly at 10am for breakfast with various bohemian friends. So I find myself getting up and dressed by 8am with no problem at all, as opposed to whole days spent languishing about in my dressing gown idly surfing the Web, suddenly noticing it’s 3pm. Funny how you get more things done when you’re already busy doing other things.
A friend once told me he didn’t trust any bands who made music full-time. ‘Hobbyist bands are more passionate about their work. And more prolific.’
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Some final leftover thoughts from the Stockholm weekend. The Saturday was spent strolling around the various islands and cafes of the city with FB Niklas, Ylva and Matt. We paid a visit to ‘Sosta’, the city’s best espresso bar (worth noting) and the fantastic Moderna Museet, the Museum Of Modern Art. Lots of great daubings from the usual suspects: Picasso, Dali, Magritte, Miro, Picabia, Bacon. An early Antony Gormley: this time, his body-cast figure is crouched halfway up the gallery wall. Children passing through the gallery must surely think he’s Spider-Man. Once again, I think how I’m far better acquainted with Mr Gormley’s nude body than I am with my own.
The museum’s signature exhibit is Robert Rauschenberg’s Monogram – the stuffed goat in a car tyre, with its painted muzzle. [you can look at the thing from 18 different angles on the museum website – search for ‘Monogram’]
Other favourite works in the permanent collection include Isaac Grünewald’s portrait of Ulla Bjerne, dressed in her ‘garconne’ dandy style.
Plus Anish Kapoor’s Mother As A Void, a huge blue egg-like sculpture baffling the eye and ear. Speak in front of it, and your voice suddenly sounds stark and skeletal, as if you’re suddenly singing back-up on a Joy Division album. Try looking inside the mouth from a close angle, and the surface is so smooth the eye is tricked into thinking the object is completely solid rather than hollow.
Here’s a view from a window in the museum, me attempting artiness again with my suit and tie reflected below the harbour:
While Lea and Gemma were getting married back in London, I was shopping in the museum shop for a nice card to give them. Plumped for a Japanese art card featuring two rabbits exchanging hearts.
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Here’s the interview I did in that sky-high restaurant, with a few more photos:
http://www.digfi.com/default.aspx?id=11253
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