Thanks to a hideously written Kusama piece on the work’s intranet… todays boredom is polka dot patterned (Taken with instagram)
Kusama at the Tate Modern
The start of the trip to London was the Kusama exhibition. It was the reason why we thought of coming down in the first place and well… was the first thing we did.
So where to begin with Kusama… polka dots seems a good place to start seen as she is obsessed with them, as well as macaroni, penis’s (peni??) and the general repetition of designs.
The first two rooms consisted of her early work which in the scheme of things was pretty ‘normal’ with some really lovely pieces. The ones that appealed were mostly dark paintings where things could be seen in the shadows of it… typically this dark style of art always appeals to me. 
After these paintings you move onto the Infinity Nets. These are easily (part of) my favourite pieces in the exhibition. Huge off white or pale coloured canvases with the repetition of white patterns on top really were beautiful to see. Two in particular which represented the ocean were interesting in different ways depending how you viewed them. From a distance you could indeed see the sea in the canvas, with different colours and shapes being seen however up close you can see the texture of the paint that has been used is not remotely flat but almost miniature waves themselves.
Then we move onto the peni and her sex obsession series. This set of sculptures didn’t really appeal to me I must admit. There clearly is a lot of work that goes into these pieces however they are bizarre.
After these were a range of collages. The repetition which started with the infinity nets, and peni is continued here with large canvases covered in stickers. The airmail stickers and such again did not really appeal except for the time it must have taken to create it however the white paper saver circles on white canvas really did appeal. Being very similar to the infinity nets it was very subtle yet intricate if you looked up close.
Now we move onto ‘Self-Obliteration’ an interesting film indeed which inspired Leo and myself to go home and cover the cat in polka dots. Past that I didn’t understand it.
Moving further into the exhibition there are more sculptures, however these are a lot simpler and larger than the peni sculptures. There were two pieces in the room. One more geared toward the previous penis shapes however looking more like large tentacles coming out of the floor and the second irregular shaped cloud pillows covering the floor in almost a mosaic pattern. 
After these more of my favourite paintings from the exhibition were on display. The first being a white canvas with what I can only describe as an electric pink sperm pattern covering it and the second a white canvas with a blue pattern resembling what looked to me like brain cells, again both being irregular patterns yet fitting together almost like a mosaic. Neither of which I can currently find an image of to post.
Now we move onto the best part of the exhibition in my opinion. The infinity mirror room. It’s a medium sized room covered in mirrors. Coming out from the floor and hanging from the ceiling are hundreds of little lights which gently change colour. Standing in the middle it looks and feels like you are suspended in space. When we visited it was just the two of us which was perfect, I can imagine it wouldn’t be as spectacular if it was packed with people but if you get there early so its empty it really is spectacular. 
Now we are at the end of the exhibition and in a room filled with psychedelic paintings of chunky patterns in colour on black canvases… or the other way round. Not entirely my cup of tea but again they can be appreciated. 
This exhibition runs at the Tate modern London until June 15th 2012 and really is worth the time to go and see it.
Podium
Afternoon tea here was an absolute work of art.
To begin with you chose your tea which ranged from your average Earl Grey down to the Silver Needle which I am a particular fan of, and the orange blossom oolong which leo went for (which was also very nice indeed)
We went for their Chocoholics Afternoon Tea which came with a selection of open sandwiches to start, with egg mayonaise and cress so smooth it was like a mouse, ham and minature tomato, cream cheese and cucumber with chive, salmon and dill and last but not least kind prawn salad.
This was then followed by the cake stand.
On the bottom, plain, fruit and chocolate chip scones, warm and light as air with strawberry jam, cream and chocolate mouse spread.
4 cupcakes, Lemon, raspberry, coffee and chocolate. All becutifully decorated and filled.
Then on the top tier a selection of minature hand made chocolates on a chocolate and thus eadable stand.
By far this was too much for us, we ended up taking the cupcakes and the rest of the chocolate stand with us for the train.
It was beautiful, so well presented, tasted amazing and so much effort was put into every single part of it. I really cannot recomend this place enough.
*as usual, photos pilfered from @rs2ikaruga’s Instagram
The Death of Mr Lazarescu
This film was bought for several reasons, it involved what looked to be a crazy cat man, was a Tartain Film (as they seem to have great films under their title) and it said on the front it was comic genius… now unless we missed something none of this applied.
So this film is about Mr Lazarescu who is an alacaholic that lives alone with his cats. After not feeling very well for a while he decides to call for an ambulance to help him.
The ambulance takes what seems to be an eternity to arive, in the meanwhile he is looked after by his neighbours who try to warn him against his excessive drinking as clearly he has had quite a bit, however eventually the ambulance turns up to take him away.
He is then bundled from hospital to hospital as the doctors are too busy, dont want to deal with him or have annother excuse just to get rid of him until he is in such a state that he no longer knows what is happening and is rushed into the surgery that he has required since the third hospital.
The end of the film leaves him preped and ready to go for the surgery that will save his life… except they have also diagnosed him with liver problems from his drinking which will kill him soon anyway.
I really did miss the ‘black comedy’ in this frankly quite sad film. Its a long film to sit through and really, I wouldnt bother again.
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Leo’s review-
Fucking cover sold us a lemon! Cats didn’t get a look in.
As much as I wasnt expecring a barrel of laughs, this really was depressing.
SCP-832: Carnival of Horrors
SCP-832 is an abandoned theme park. It was abandoned due to a large number of violent events resulted in the deaths of many of the attendees. An event known as “Bloody Sunday” resulted in the maiming of 7 attendees and the deaths of 231 more. Following this event, the park was sealed off and MTF Rho-71 entered in attempt to determine the cause of the deaths. However, MTF Rho-71 was forced to retreat after losing 50% of their forces.
