Art, Tate, Beer, Cheese, Coffee

7-8 July

Got back from Glasgow and chilled with Andrew, played Nintendo64 as a tribute to the way we wasted hours of our youth.

It has been raining all day here, but that didn't stop me ambling down (well bus-ing) to the Monmouth Coffee Company to get some beans and a good espress, and then turning the corner and picking up some cheese from Neal's Cheese Yard. Yeah at times I'm predictable. In a continuing re-enactment of most other times I've been here, I then wandered to the Tate Modern.

I like my modern art. I like looking at Kandinsky, Miro,Rothko, Picasso, Mondrian, Metzinger (I particuarly liked the Woman with a Coffee Pot), Klee (who I like a lot), Braque (the darkness, ooohhh nice). I'm not sure why, probably as I don't like art that reflects an image. If I want an image, I'll look at a photo. I've thought about this, and wonder if my interest reflects two linked issues.
Firstly, one of the albums that got me into jazz, and that I found interesting was Brubeck's Time Further Out, with cover art by Miro. The original Time Out album had art by Fujita, which in it's decomposed nature is also typical of the style I like.

Secondly, as demonstrated by witness statements, no two people see the same event identically. So why try to capture the entirety of a subject, why not try and break it up into the aspects that you identify with? That seems to me to be an ideal way of turning complexity into art. Nature is complex, not irreducibly so, as idiots in the amusingly titled Intelligent Design crew believe, but it is complex. The current climate of horror-story-mongering about melting ice caps and general global warming, is beginning to reveal to the average person how inter-related everything is.

Those two interests of mine are by no means unrelated. The syncopated rewriting of musical rules that jazz introduced leapt out at me. It was different. There wasn't a solid beat with musicians coming in at set times. It sounded spontaneous, they couldn't be layering complexity, it had to be immediate. Hmm that's just reminded me jazz might be the music form that reflects GenNow better than anything else - ironic that jazz is one art form that is danger of dying out then.

Well that went somewhere other than I thought it would. Woohoo for just sitting here and writing and seeing what comes out. I'd like to thank some cheese and some blackberries for sustenance during that.

Beer Review: Glencoe Wild Oat Stout (organic). This from the Bridge of Allan brewery we visited. Big chocolate toasted oatmeal flavour. Small head (low carbonation), The taste was sooo smooth, so rich, even down to the bottom of the glass. I'll keep an eye out for this one back home. Very recommended.

Tomorrow: i think the Tate Britain as Neil mentioned their Turner collection which probably needs a looksee after my realisation Turner didn't just do boring landscapes (thanks for that Neil and Antiques Roadshow - now there's a pairing I wouldn't have imaged...). Possibly some clothes shopping too.

B x.