RUBBING

TELLING TALES 30th Oct V&A Visit

This exhibition gave me a feeling of everything

being at a wrong place at a wrong time,

it's very fairylike and surreal to have the

combinations of functional furniture with unique

symbolic meanings.

I liked the Forest Glade, the sound effects and

the intriguing objects made us surrounded by the imagery of birds

and trees or perhaps even the imagery of us

feeling sleepy and climbing onto the bed or

getting locked up in the wooden wardrobe.

With the dark lighting, it derived more tension and mystery.

The artists displayed these works in the order of

the time lines and the narrativity they applied in each section

is inspiring ,creating visually exciting collections of objects.

Having mentioned tales, the little red riding hood, the snow white,

and the cinderella, apart from the forrest, the castle is also very important assumedly.

The Enchanted Castle has got one very shiny glossary wall, on the other side, some beautiful

patterned wall paper, decorating half of the room into a Queen or King's bedroom.

I'm more into the shiny part with a number of wonderfully weird teapots or containers, tables and clocks, designed and made in the same technique and materials as original objects, however, changing the sequences of how to put things together and using bright almost dazzling colour have taken viewers to somewhere glorious that they might want to linger for long.

It was very crowded in the 2nd chapter, soon as you walk into the 3nd, Heaven and Hell, where the artists lead people to go through different purgatories by exposing them with disturbing objects. And the funny thing is , there were three rooms and they were almost empty, it seems that people all walked past this section going straight towards their heaven, anywhere but not there.

rough guide

I had read a book about an American writer,

named Helene Hanff visiting London

and bloomsbury(a real story about herself),

in which she stayed for 2 monthes was very intriguing,

the atmosphere of the streets, the conversations made with

the people and little hotels that filled with guests.

The book was first published in 70s, in response to what she had described,

the area changed little. From what I read, traveling in

another country is a big thing and it'd always take them

over 1 year or two to plan and gather the expenses so when they did get

a chance like she did, they must be ecstatic.

There are a lot of beautiful bookshops in this area,

dealing especially with rare out-of-print books.

The One that was on 84 charing cross road appeal to me the most.

Another book mentioned how handy and sweet this bookshop was,

but in the end from the same author I found out

it was shut down about 50 years ago which explained why there is no no.84 whatsoever.

The first thing I chose from the market stall is a red mirror,

could be fold in and pull out with effortless effort.

From the smell you can tell it's quite old and with the scratches

on the mirror itself, it brings out more history.

I like the fact that its shape can be changed as you pull,

from rectangle to triangle and the reflections change too, rapidly.

There are words emerged from my mind when I look at it, lighting and grandma.

And I chose an image of sets of barbies, it was the wallpaper in a shop in Soho,

every barbie is wearing something different,

which to me is like looking at patterns within patterns.

It's apparent these barbies are not in a current trend but they still look nice,

just like someone who would use the mirror I found.

At last there is a painting in the National Gallery that I want to talk about,

Les Andelys, the Washerwoman, 1886, oil on canvas by Paul Signac.

This is his first painting in a neo-impressionist style,

the highly geometric composition has inspired me

to create depth in my drawings and designs.

I can see the scene was animated vividly that

the river seems to be running peacefully on its surface and

the painting gently floats out of itself.