Thursday 13th April: Jenny Lewis "Hackney Studios" - the book

"Hackney Studios" by Jenny Lewis is a record of East London's personal creative havens. A family tree in order of each artist's tip of the next to feature = including my recommendation of Rosy Nicholas who is the cover star! Here I am in 2013 at Lighthouse Studios which is a space I have since given up, like a large percentage of artists in the series.  Here is a soundbite I wrote for Jenny in 2015 when the project was covered by The Guardian:  "Hackney, I lost you': the London creatives priced out of their studios"

"Stepping off the bus into Dalston for the very first time to find Peter Jensen's studio in 2001, I not not only found work experience but a whole a new life experience.  This is where I followed suit to settle in the city.  This is where I planted my roots and recently witnessed the canopy of high-rises bionically shoot up. The shadow of redevelopment has literally been cast over the multicultural magic of Ridley Road.  A Shoreditch stampede flooded in from the city at the weekend, stopped out and not gone home.   The artist’s warehouse studios are now a flicker of PC screensavers between partitioned walls.  It’s the future, its real time, its IRL.  It’s city life.  Its metamorphosis.  Its survival of the fittest.  Its history in the making and taking over.  Too quick.  Too soon. Its out of control. I couldn’t hold on. I’m out of positive spin and been spun out. I’ve gone.  Hackney I LOVE YOU. I lost you."

Above are my snaps from Jenny's book launch where she made an exhibition of the leaves from the book as a tree to show how the evolution evolved into each branch of friendship to follow.

Buy the book on Hoxton Mini Press here.

Wednesday 12th April: M.I.A. & MERCEDES-BENZ HOST #MBCOLLECTION, CHAPTER ONE

Tuesday12th April: Estee Lauder New Pure Colour Love Lipstick

Straws were a requisite in the cocktails at Estee Lauder's latest lipstick launch!  All 30 shades were available to try with a station of makeup artists on hand to advise on colour and how to apply.  This new model has a mitered edge tip so you can neatly reach every corner of your lips - something Alison Steadman's character in "Abigails Party" would have loved.  I am genuinely in need of some advice as I never wear lipstick but want to start experimenting, so this has come at the perfect time for me.  I tried the "shimmer pearl" coral pink colour "Sky High" which I loved keeping on after the party to wear to my evening class!  This is the test - to see if it feels comfortable for every day, to walk out and feel fab rather than too much.  I quite enjoyed the sensation and have been getting compliments so here is a new chapter of wearing lipstick!

See the full range of moisturising & conditioning soft blends here.  

Monday 10th April: CAMPBELL ADDY at KKOutlet

I was really pleased to see KKOutlet give Campbell Addy a solo show last month.  I've been following his prolific output since his student times when I was teaching at UAL.  Now he's a bonafide force gathering momentum and going mainstream with the recent listing in the Dazed100.  Head over to the shortlist to help vote him up to the top!   Follow his magazine here and model agency here.

CAMPBELL ADDY "MATTHEW 7:7&8" at KKOutlet

Friday 7th April: "You Are Looking at Something That Never Occurred" at The Zabludowicz Collection

"You Are Looking at Something That Never Occurred" - represents 70 years of art photography selected from the Zabludowicz Collection including Andreas Gursky, Richard Prince, Thomas Ruff, Wolfgang Tillmans, Cindy Sherman, and Jeff Wall alongside a new generation of artists working at the forefront of contemporary art.  Here are some of my favourite works including Elad Lassry's colourful prints with matching hue frames and Sara Cwynar's multicolour still-life which accompanies a brilliant film.  If you have been drawn to the Tate Modern's current major show of Wolfgang Tillmans, then definitely check out this gallery who invested in his early work when he very first started.  These pieces have been dug from the depths of the archive and hung alongside one of his latest works which was acquired and arrived specially for the install.  It's also a chance to see a very early Cindy Sherman and discover the next generation of emerging stars in the medium................. as is always the Zabludowicz  modus operandi to support new talent.

Friday 7th April: David Hockney at Tate Britain

David Hockney at Tate Britain is brilliant.  Of course.  

I've been looking forward to this for a very long time.  It's such an amazing opportunity to see all of his classics in one place at one time.  All the portraits are huge and heavenly, the colours from California are cosmic and the patterns in the swimming pool ripples sit perfectly on the gallery's walls painted pastel pink for the show ............ 
Each defining moment of his career is pin-pointed by so many works brought together for this retrospective.  The Polaroid photo-collages are epic and latterly followed up by massive film montages of the Yorkshire landscape across the four seasons.  
It's fascinating to follow his progression from a pencil self portrait when he was a teenager, right up until the present day and his iPad mark making.  It's a block-buster and one to attend on repeat.

Thursday 6th April: "The Japanese House" at The Barbican

"The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945" at The Barbican is yet another transformation of their gallery space. I'm always so impressed at how each show utilises the open-plan gallery in such different ways. This exhibition is no exception! The top floor explores the history of Japanese architecture whilst the ground floor is an immersive set to get lost in whilst exploring. There is even a little mini house on stilts for which you have to take off your shoes to climb up into. It's great fun and a double-whammy of inspiration for any architecture fans as the Brutalist Barbican centre is a mind-blowing setting. And, make sure to check out the gift shop so you don't miss the Sushi Roll socks!