James Mylne: Vintage Vogue

Last week I attended the opening night of artist James Mylne’s ‘Vintage Vogue’ exhibition at the Rook & Raven Gallery.  I was really intrigued and excited about this exhibition as James Mylne, 31, creates all his art using BIC Biros..!!  Each piece of James’ work takes huge levels of concentration (mistakes cannot be rectified) and can take hundreds of hours to complete.  I had to see it to believe it and the results blew me away; a room filled with beautiful and photo-realistic portraits from the Golden Age of Hollywood.  Heaven. Stylish icons have been brought to life with BIC Biro on backgrounds of bright spray paint.  The Audrey Hepburn images were naturally my favourites but I loved the elegance of the Coco Chanel (right) and the Steve McQueen drawing is just undeniably cool (below.)  I can just imagine stationary cupboard bills soaring in offices all over London after this exhibition... 

Above (L-R): Recreating 'The Audrey' pose with Vika Skyte, Celina Teague and Gayle Wyn Pugh, Izzy Lawrence with Ed Glover, Hugo Speer and Vivienne Harvey.

James Mylne: ‘Vintage Vogue’ is on at Rook & Raven until October 31st. Entrance is free.

Butterfly, Flutterby, Butterfly By

Beautifully delicate with bright, fairy like wings, seeing the year’s first butterfly brings a smile to most people’s faces. We are immediately filled with the excitement and hope that, similarly to this vibrant creature, newly emerged from its dark cocoon, we too will imminently be throwing off our snug duvets, tossing aside our UGG boots and surfacing into the warm light of summer (bless our British optimism and wishful thinking...)

When I went to The Butterfly House at the Natural History Museum I was faced with 100’s of bright and beautiful tropical butterflies from all over the world, many species of which are currently under threat from climate and habitat change. I was all a'flutter (and a'fluster... Wow... Butterflies like it hot and humid...) and soon found myself standing statue still, arms stretched out, in the desperate hope of looking like the perfect butterfly landing strip… It was at this particular moment my boyfriend disappeared across the pavilion, making sure he did not also look deranged by mere association.

There are tables to see the butterflies feeding with their straw like mouths, a hatchery window for visitors to see pupae growing, eventually emerging into butterflies (this cycle can take up to 137 days so there’s no guarantee you will see anything more exciting than eggs and larvae) and best of all – the mirror on your way out (to check if you are harboring any mischievous escapees) unintentionally elongates and slims you beyond all recognition, leaving you feeling like Giselle… Now that IS wishful thinking!

The Butterfly House is open until 11th September 2011

Sexual Nature - The National History Museum

Bird's Do It, Bee's Do It...

If ever I find myself at a loss for words (admittedly, not regularly) I often pepper awkward silences with an array of animal facts memorized over the years – everyone loves an animal fact, no??

Giraffe can’t cough.
Hippopotamus milk is bright pink.
An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

Yes – Conversational Gold people!!

So imagine my joy when I saw The Natural History Museum (previously seen in my mind as the home of dinosaurs and swarming herds of children armed with colds and clipboards) were showing an exhibition entitled ‘Sexual Nature’ – a whole area dedicated to the most awesome, and thoroughly racy, animal facts around.

With low lighting, seedy lounge room music and the frequent cries of Isabella Rossellini begging various species of wildlife to seduce her (her fabulous, award winning ‘Green Porn’ shorts are shown throughout) you undertake a giggly, multi-sensory exploration of the weird and wonderful world of the sexual and reproductive behaviour of hundreds of animals and insects.

I am thrilled that any future awkward dinner party moments look set to be resolved with a more risqué myriad of animal knowledge (“Do you know snakes have two penises and an octopus's testicles are located in its head? Please pass the gravy...”) but I would however, strongly recommend veering away from the ‘sniff me’ boxes containing the mating scents of wild stags and jaguars.. More than likely similar to Ron Burgandy’s fragrance of choice, the infamous, ‘Sex Panther’ ("60% of the time it works every time!”) a handy packet of Tic Tacs later, I was still wincing.

Exhibiting until the last Friday of October 2011.

Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

"Every Night In My Dreams...."

I have been obsessed with the story of the Titanic for as long as I can remember (and not just since Leonardo played Jack Dawson and Celine belted out ‘My Heart Will Go On...’ although perhaps this may have exacerbated it somewhat…)

I went to London’s O2 arena to see ‘Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition’ where more than 300 artifacts rescued from the shipwreck’s debris were laid out for me to peruse (including parts of the ship itself, crockery and personal belongings such as top hats and perfume bottles.) Historically accurate room recreations are also showcased.

You are given a White Line boarding card at the start of your Titanic journey with the name of a real passenger and a few other details on it. This makes the tragedy even more real and distressing for you, when at the end you search for ‘your’ name on the passenger lists of survivors and victims (alas, ‘I’ – little Hanora Heggerty, from County Cork, did not make it.)

There is also a chance to pose in front of a green screen where a photographer will superimpose your image onto the bottom of the Titanic’s sweeping main staircase – obviously I forced Jack (Yes!! A real life Jack!!) to do this with me.

You have the opportunity to read many compelling testimonials from survivors and poignant stories about those who did not, and an opportunity to touch a real piece of the ship.

Despite the walls being a little text heavy and the constant, eventually mind numbing, fiddle music playing throughout the exhibition, the show is both informative and moving.

On until Sept 1st.