BRICK LANE HAS become very ‘trendy’ (‘arty’ ?). When walking across the railway bridge along which Brick Lane runs, I noticed that the wall of the bridge had a surprising decorative feature.
The wall was covered with a mosaic-like pattern of electrical socket facings. These had been painted over or sprayed to create patterned graffiti such is found all along the northern half of brick Lane.
I have yet to discover who came up with the idea with using sockets as a wall covering.
THE WHITECHAPEL GALLERY in London’s Aldgate area often hosts exhibitions of adventurous art, and has been doing so for many decades. The current show “Hamad Butt: Apprehensions”, which is on until 7 September 2025, displays works by an artist Hamad Butt. He was born in Lahore (Pakistan) in 1962, and died of AIDS in London, aged only 32. His family brought him to London when he was 2 years old. He studied art at London’s Goldsmith College, Morley College, and Central Saint Martins.
The ground floor of the Whitechapel Gallery contains three enormous sculptures. Together they form an art installation, which the gallery’s website described as follows:
“Familiars 1: Substance Sublimation Unit is a steel ladder made of glass rungs, each filled with an electrical element and crystals of solid iodine. The current ascends the ladder, intermittently heating the rungs, causing the iodine to sublimate into a purple vapour. In Familiars 3: Cradle, named after Newton’s cradle, 18 vacuum-sealed glass spheres are filled with lethal yellow-green chlorine gas. If smashed together, the gas – a respiratory irritant – would be released into the air. In Familiars 2: Hypostasis, three tall, curved metal poles, reminiscent of Islamic arches, contain bromine-filled tubes at the tips.”
Well, they were visually intriguing pieces of conceptual art. What they stand for is almost more important than their physical appearance.
Upstairs, the galleries are hung with paintings, drawings, and prints. There is also another installation that contains a set of lights emitting ultraviolet rays. Visitors are provided with protective goggles when viewing this exhibit called “Transmission”, which is yet another example of conceptual art that you need to read about to make any sense of it.
What saved the exhibition for me was the display of Butt’s paintings and prints. Ranging from almost figurative to abstract, they appealed to me immediately. It is a shame the artist lived for such a short time. That which he produced in a few years, I am sure, would have led to him becoming a noteworthy artist with a fascinating output.
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TODAY is the 15th of August, the anniversary of India becoming independent of British rule. What better day to announce the ‘launch’ of my latest book?
My new book invites you to join me on a fascinating 4000-mile, 88-day journey through parts of India including Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Pondicherry. My travelogue relates aspects of each place’s past and present; describes interesting encounters with diverse people – from autorickshaw drivers to artists and academics; and savours local foods. Immerse yourself in the pages of my illustrated account of a modern-day Indian odyssey, and discover the wonders of India without leaving home!
My book, “88 DAYS IN INDIA: A JOURNEY OF MEMORY AND DISCOVERY” is available from Amazon websites, such as:
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THE CURRENT EXHIBITION at Japan House in London’s Kensington is on until 9 November 2025. It is a display of pictograms past and present. A pictogram is a graphical symbol, which conveys meaning by resembling a physical object.
The exhibition not only details the history of pictograms but also displays a large number of these symbols from Japan and elsewhere.
As is usual for exhibitions at Japan House, the show is well laid out and informative. However, it did little to arouse my interest in the subject of pictograms.
DURING MY CHILDHOOD in the 1960s, there was a concrete platform on Hampstead Heath Extension. It was close to Hampstead Way. Today, where it used to be visible, there is a mound of impenetrable bushes and weeds surrounded by a fence. The concrete structure was a base for anti-aircraft guns during WW2. Although, many German aircraft were knocked out of the sky by guns such as these, many of them caused a great deal of damage all over London. Recently, while sorting through some books, I came across a slender volume called “Hampstead At War”. It was first published by Hampstead Borough Council in 1946, republished by the Camden Historical Society in 1979, and then again in 1995. The book contains many photographs of the terrible destruction caused by bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe over Hampstead.
One of the photographs in the book struck a particular chord with me. It shows the badly damaged Hare and Hounds pub after it had been bombed in 1940. The pub, which was almost next door to the famous Old Bull & Bush pub, was established in about 1751. However, the building that was destroyed was built a long time after that.
Between 1965 and 1970, I used to travel From Golders Green station to Highgate School on the bus (route 210). Every school day, the bus would pass the Old Bull & Bush and its neighbour, the Hare and Hounds. When passing the latter in those days, I always wondered why the pub looked so recently built. When leafing through the “Hampstead at War” book today, more than 50 years after leaving the school, I found the answer. The book contains a photograph showing the extensively damaged pub.
The Hare and Hounds was rebuilt during the years I studied at Highgate. Although I can only faintly recall its appearance and can find only one photograph of it after its rebuilding, its presence remains firmly fixed in my memory. Finding the book certainly jogged my memory, and seeing the photographs of war damaged Hampstead makes a great impression. One wonders why the Germans chose to waste their ammunition on an area that has always been mainly residential.
PS: The Hare and Hounds closed forever in 2000.
Pears ripening
Within a fine historic garden
Close to Greys Court
Greys Court is a house and garden in Oxfordshire, near to Henley-on-Thames. It is maintained by the National Trust.
NOT FAR FROM Henley-on-Thames, lies the village of Bix. Its name might derive from either the Anglo-Saxon word for box, an evergreen shrub, or from a word, ‘behaeson’ meaning ‘to vow’. By 1085, when the Domesday Book was compiled, Bix was divided into two nearby settlements, each of which had its own church. One of these has disappeared, and the other, St James, is now in ruins.
Still consecrated but in a dilapidated state, St James is now known as Bix Old Church. Very little is known about the early history of this ruined church. It was in existence by 1274, when it and the other church were so poor that they had to share a vicar. In the late 1700s, the walls of St James began to collapse. So, brick buttresses were constructed to prevent further damage. These buttresses are still standing, but they failed to halt the collapse of the church. In 1874, the church was deemed unusable, and a new church, the present St James, was built.
We visited the new church, arriving just in time to meet someone who was about to unlock it. Constructed in 1874, it is a Victorian gothic edifice. Inside, the church is built with bricks of differing colours arranged in layers to produce an eye-catching appearance. What makes this church fascinating is that it contains various things that were rescued from Bix Old Church: the font; two fragments of Flemish stained glass dating from 1530; and the carved stone bowl of the piscina. These valuable remains were moved from the old church to the newer one in 1875.
Bix Old Church is reached by a long country lane that is only wide enough for one car. It and the church are in surprisingly a rural environment, considering how close it is to places like Henley, Reading and High Wycombe. We visited the church mainly because when I passed a sign for Bix, which I thought was a strange name, I looked it up on the Internet later while enjoying a picnic, and found out about the existence of the ruined church. Once again, a short visit into the English countryside has resulted in an unexpected, fascinating discovery.
VISITORS TO LONDON (and residents of the city) should not miss visiting Kenwood House, which is in north London between Hampstead and Highgate. Not only does it contain a magnificent collection of Old Master paintings that can be compared favourably with what can be seen in Britain’s finest public art galleries, but it also has a beautiful library.
In my book about Hampstead, “Beneath a Wide Sky: Hampstead and its Environs”, I wrote:
“The first house to stand on the site of the present one was built in brick by John Bill (1576-1630), printer to King James I. He bought the Kenwood Estate (which was known as ‘Caen Wood’) in 1616. After several changes in ownership, the Estate was bought in about 1747 by a former Prime Minister and King George III’s close associate, John Stuart, third Earl of Bute (1713-1792). In 1754, Bute sold the property to the lawyer and law-reformer William Murray (1705-1793), who became the First Earl of Mansfield, and was Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench from 1756 to 1788. In 1778, he was a supporter of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill that led to the violent protests described above. During the First Earl’s stay in the House, he employed the architect Robert Adam (1728-1792) to make improvements.”
The library was one of the improvements that Robert Adam created at Kenwood. The library or Great Room was constructed between 1764 and 1774. It was intended both as a reception room and a library, which might explain why so little of this large room’s wall space is occupied by bookshelves. Most of the wall space is occupied by mirrors and windows. Lord Mansfield would have been used to host guests, hold dinners, and for music performances.
The library’s architecture is based on that of Roman public bath houses. John Summerson (1904-1992), the architectural historian, wrote of its design in his “The Iveagh Bequest, Kenwood : a short account of its history and architecture” (published 1988):
“This is one of the finest Adam rooms in existence … The shape of the room, with its curved ceiling leading into two apsidal ends, on the chords of which are pairs of columns, is one which Adam used for several of his most stately interiors. Apart from the plan, a great innovation for England was the flat arched ceiling which Adam frankly describes as ‘extremely beautiful …”
Although the library is the finest of Adam’s creations at Kenwood, there are others that deserve to be admired. These include the orangery, the entrance hall with its magnificent stucco ceiling, and the library’s anteroom. In this piece I have concentrated on the interior of Kenwood House, but a visit to this wonderful place should be accompanied by a stroll in the place’s superb, landscaped gardens.
Seen on the wall
Vibrant and plenty of colour
It’s great graffiti
yamey 