Thursday, May 07, 2009

Bank Holiday

Over the long Bank Holiday weekend last week I headed to London to catch up with my old pals & absorb some culture.


First stop on the agenda was the Prints & Drawings dept. at the British Museum. Pete Weston & I donned the white gloves & dug through all the original Ronald Searle's in the collection. It was fascinating to view the drawings up close & see the details that are lost in the printed books.

Next day we had perfect weather for a fantastic afternoon in the Grillo's garden talking art & animation with Oscar, Patricia, Gerby & Crookie. We took a crash course in the South American version of the Famous Artists Drawing programme & marvelled at footage of Saul Steinberg's shorts.


Oscar had highly recommended the Kuniyoshi exhibition at the Royal Academy so I checked it out the next day. Kuniyoshi was a contemporary & rival of Hokusai. A couple of his sketchbooks were on display. The page above is courtesy of Oscar's blog He thought it bears remarkable similarity to some of Ronald Searle's sketches.



On the last day I caught a screening of CORALINE in 3-D. Breath-taking artistry & gorgeous designs on show. The 3-D effect is quite subtle giving it a view-master feeling. There are really inventive moments & it keeps springing delicious surprises. The fat naked lady, the scottie dogs, the garden & the insect furniture were stand-outs. I was impressed that LAIKA had managed to keep the material pretty dark & hope that they can continue to produce such outstanding films.

8 comments:

Will Kane said...

So, you visited the British Museum, but you didn't think to stop by 'GOSH!' and say "Hi"?

I'm shocked, SHOCKED!!!

Matt Jones said...

Sorry Will- I had a tight itinery to stick to! Next time I'll swing by.

max said...

Do you think I could bring my daughter to see Coraline (she's three and a half)?

Matt Jones said...

Nah-i think it would be too much for her Max. A colleague took his two daughters who are around 10, 11 & they had trouble sleeping that night!

max said...

Damn! She saw the posters and she's asking for it! About ten times this morning.

Matthew Cruickshank said...

Do you think I could take my friend Oscar to Coraline (he's sixty three and a half)?

Matt Jones said...

You'll probably have to hold his hand & take the adult diapers!

Oscar Grillo said...

I'd like to know if Coraline would take ME to see "The Princes and the Frog". I am very scaredy.

Don't worry, Max. When muy daughter was the age of you daughter she had seen Jan Svankmajer's Alice hundreds of times and I haven't yet noticed any grave psychological damage.