London in black and white
February 3rd, 2006 | Uncategorized
The south side of St. Paul’s is being repaired, so they’ve got this massive tarp up that’s printed with an antique drawing or etching of the building, for a sort of trompe l’oeil effect. It’s weirdly cartoony.
Here’s a self-portrait I took of me looking at a Franz Kline painting in the Tate Modern, before I was accosted by a guard and told to stop taking photographs.
I’ve never been big on painting, but I love Franz Kline’s black-on-white stuff because it looks like ink on paper.
There’s an installation up in the Tate Modern’s vast turbine hall called “Embankment.” It’s stacks and stacks of these translucent plastic boxes. That’s me on the left looking up at the biggest pile. 
4 Responses to “London in black and white”
Hm, blogging as tourist slideshow… but with a self-conscious (and self-referential) black and white theme. How post-modern. You should make up a t-shirt: a drawing of yourself in front of some famous London object, maybe a double decker bus, with the caption, “My favorite cartoonist went to London, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”. I’d buy one.
That tarp in front of St Paul’s immediately made me think of A. G. Rizzoli. First because of the classicism (although Rizzoli obviously only starts with classical forms, and then adds all sorts of very unclassical detail). But then also for the way that a 2-d fantasy is substituted for reality. But it is reality, and what it depicts was and will be reality.
Ok, what should really be on the t-shirt is a drawing of yourself standing in front of the drawing in front of St Paul’s.
I like that they are covering the building with it’s likeness. In Italy the coverings often bear huge ads – imagine the Spanish Steps with a huge billboard at the top – argh!
I wonder how peoples’ responses would differ if the picture were from a different time period or by a different artist. I’d love to see the mock-up of St.Paul’s with the covering done by you. Hint hint.
Hooray for London!
And Hooray for the Cartoon Art Trust! Last time I was in the city, back at the end of the last century, they had an exhibit of Giles originals up, and I got to meet the Man at the Crossroads himself, Paul Gravett. He’s a good Joe.
on the other hand, anon, they did the same thing with tarps for the brandenburg gate in berlin when it was being restored. myself, i’d rather see the construction work with the scaffolding – i like to see what’s going on, and the process in action!
cheers