Beryl Cook Vs Tamara de Lempicka

(Images via Elbeer)

David and I went on a little art adventure today. Firstly we went to the RWA but to be honest it was a pile of shite. Let's not beat around the bush here, it was Jack Vettriano - I expected nothing less. Thankfully we didn't pay to get in due to the beneficial perks of knowing people in the right places. Our second visit was the Beryl Cook show at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, and I was pleasantly surprised. We've been brought up on ol' Beryl; I remember looking through one of Mum's art books and being a little aghast at what I was viewing (I was quite a prudish child, how things change?). Strictly speaking it's not Fine Art, more greetings card art, but having said this Cook shows heavy references to Stanley Spencer, Edward Burra and Tamara de Lempicka. The latter was paid homage in the paintings above... (Tamara de Lempicka) And finally we ventured down to Nelson Street to see the graffiti and Street Art from the See No Evil event over the weekend. Though Helen and I were down there Friday (and some of Saturday) it was near impossible to actually view the work. So I seized the opportunity today. It's so ironic that these artists would have been originally prosecuted for such works but now that it's trendy or whatever, the Council puts a spin on it and sees it as a money-maker. The ultimate hypocrisy. No wonder the artist who painted the old Magistrates Courts felt a certain satisfaction as only a few years before he was allegedly sent down for vandalism in that very place, or that's what I've heard anyway... All in all it's been a day of commercial art, in one way or another.