Back in my mainstream sourcing days this company would have been a sure bet for one of my clients; I did in fact pass on their details to a potential buyer at the fair. I stopped at Danish company Sirocco Living trying to figure out how the sealskin on display (not pictured) fitted in with their desert […]
One-minute blog of interesting things
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As a working contemporary artist I visit many exhibitions and shows, but sometimes it is the things I see that are part of daily life that capture my interest. My one-minute blog of interesting things reflects the fact that although we are increasingly time-poor, there is creativity all around us. Email me at info@carolinebanks.co.uk with your name and email to receive a weekly post that only takes 1 minute to read.
Visiting The Mondrian Hotel London
The recently opened Mondrian in Sea Containers House used to be a pretty ugly building. It has now been adapted to resemble a modern cruise liner moored by the Thames. The interior design was by Tom Dixon so you can see his products everywhere. I’d only been to the top-floor Rumpus Room before, so was […]
Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris
I made a point of visiting the Fondation Louis Vuitton during my last trip to Paris, mainly to see the Olafur Eliasson exhibition, Contact, which is on till 23rd February. We were somewhat taken aback to find that the queue to get in was 1 1/2 hours long so, as we didn’t have time for […]
Arthur Beale – the yacht chandlery for London
Perhaps, like me, you have passed this shop in Covent Garden and never gone in. I’d always see Arthur Beale from the bus or my bike and wondered how it happened to be there. As I needed to source some rope for a project I finally visited and was charmed by what I found. In existence […]
London Art Fair – post 3 of 3
I had planned to make this a selection of the use of photography but, as there were too many other images I wanted to share, my final post of this series gathers together some of them instead. I featured the Charlie Smith Gallery only a few weeks ago; they showed here with their regular stable […]
London Art Fair – post 2 of 3
Drawing, something that moves me immensely, is an activity promoted by Rabley Drawing Centre which celebrated its 10th anniversary. Their stand included this large drawing by Eileen Cooper which stopped me in my tracks. Much of her work fills the page edge to edge so this piece was a bit different and felt as if it […]
London Art Fair – post 1 of 3
On at the moment, The London Art Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington is always worth visiting to see and buy a broad range of 20th century and contemporary art. Some of the pieces that attracted my attention are below. The selection on show ranges from work by Leigh Davis and Peter Lanyon […]
Drawing: the core of all imagemaking?
This question is key to me as a visual artist. As you know, I’m interested in the skill of making as well as ideas, whether that be in art, “craft” or design. As far as I’m concerned a level of hand-eye co-ordination is hugely important for all these disciplines. Drawing is, for me, the most effective […]
Young Gods at the Griffin Gallery
The Griffin Gallery in west London is one of two locations for this show, the other being Charlie Smith London in Old Street, Shoreditch. Zavier Ellis curated Young Gods, a selection, in his opinion, of the best fine art graduates from London art schools in 2014. The following artists intrigued me: Gabriele Dini’s hive sculpture, so […]
Contemporary glass makers from Galleri Format
As so much of life, things happen in fits and starts; these photos of contemporary glass were taken several months ago at Collect, a key event in the gallery calendar for contemporary artist craftspeople and makers. Norwegian Galleri Format always shows top quality makers and the work of three of their glass artists is below. Beate Einen showed […]