September

Taking a break from art during the summer was a pleasure, we had a few lovely interludes during the summer when Richard Woods and his family came to spend some time with us in Finland; it was very special. He loved his new house which will be turned into the most magnificent sculpture for next year!

I managed to drop into PS1 in Queens on a quick impromptu trip to New York.I was impressed with many of the artists such as, David Benjamin Sherry, Kalup Linzy, Tauba Auerbach, Erin Shirreff, Dave Miko in particular. An artist we found incredibly entertaining was Rashaad Newsome. The outdoors had been converted into a wonderland and there was an incredibly cool party atmosphere, it was a hot day and cool fine water droplets were being ejected in the air to cool us, if you were tired there was a hammock to rest in, or a beach to walk on with your bare feet. The whole area was tented with poles and netting and the music was happily pounding in my ears, performed by the guest DJs.

Back to London and I had the pleasure of sitting next to Kris Martin and his fabulous wife Isa. His show was as expected totally out of the box! Some of it I did not quite grasp. His beautiful father and mother explained to me about his crucifixtion work “Festum” which was very personal to him.

I paid a visit to the MA at Chelsea College of Art. I very much enjoyed the work of Ralph Dunn, Jay Hyung kim, Lulu Li, Margo Trushina but the work that fell into our collection was the installation of Kayde Anobile whom we bought for the collection. The installation was technically very good, her ideas were refreshing and fitted very well into the collection.

Then it was back at 176 and there to greet me was Margot Heller from South London Gallery. Next thing, I was whisked off to wardrobe and wore shoes that were so high I could not walk on them and I had to be airlifted onto a ladder.

Johnny Kidd was our photographer and the maestro went to work and we both felt very glamorous and I wished we were as gorgeous as those lovely other models. I hope they airbrush me a bit!

I dropped in to see Stuart Shave's show and I loved the Alice Channers and I saw a spectacular new work by Eva Rothschild.

Then to Benjamin Rhodes new gallery where he had a lovely work by Dan Shaw Town who was in our show Library of Babel.

Toby Ziegler's installation with the help of his team is coming along at 176 all very exciting!

Then it was cool Liverpool. We were all very entertained.

There was an abundance of talent from beginning to end. We started at the A Foundation and met the finnish artist Antti Laitinen and saw his boat that crosses the Mersey, we have invited him to visit us in Finland.

The work of Sachiko Abe at A Foundation was mesmerizing she just cut page after page.

The New Contemporaries was full of good quality work this year, really a pleasure to walk around and spend a little time with.

A film by Ed Atkins at New Contemporaries.

The film of Alfredo Jaar was very sad but brilliant and in the next room the site specific work of Cristina Lucas was incredible.

Then to the Tate Liverpool where Franz West and a very strange fire hose with a real hand poking out of it, the grande Finale for us and made us Lizzie, Maitrey, Ellen and
myself scream!!!!

And a very strange firehose...

Then off to see a few shows in the East End, the Aaron Curry at Werners, the Mark Titchner show at Vilma Gold and the David Blandy at 17. They were all must-see shows and of a very high standard!