Consti-Painted Mayfair, London

So I was saying we were in Mayfair for art. Why not Mayfair? Cork Street is practically the command post of commercial art dealers in London! But right, you haven’t known or even noticed that because now it’s almost like a protectorate of The Fashionaires. The squad of Jimmy Choo, VB… Sarah Jessica Parker’s “I like my money right where I can see it… hanging in my closet.” is slowly wiping out the art scene… And we blame the skyrocketing rents.

Few people know my liking for art.

Sure, I did blog about it once or twice (once the Saatchi, twice the Louis Vuitton Fondation in Paris), but it’s not a subject I talk as profusely about as I do with my liking for elevated footwear and distilled beverages.

Why should I? Art is sometimes such a chi chi, private-club kind of subject that it can put people off quite easily –  after a few of those distilled beverages especially. Plus, it’s not a subject I know like the back of my hand.

In fact, it’s a subject I know very little about. To openly and brazenly admit my liking for art will only result in (1) me looking stupid in discussions I cannot engage (I price my pride very high, I cannot look stupid in discussions I cannot engage) LOLLL; and (2) lesser Likes on my Facebook status updates because then, no one gives two fucks about what I talk about. (Unacceptable. Can’t even think about that.)

But, I do like art.

And this year, I am going to be as brazen as I can about that. 

Even though I had never formally study art, nor had I grown up in a household full of curators and paint-sniffing people, I have this weird and almost palpable liking for art. (I like to caress frames and canvases and yes, sniff paint too. Judge me on that.)

The presentation of colours, the strokes of brushes, textures, the way movements are captured in photographs – I like how I don’t need a calculator or a periodic table to find answers in art. 

When I was about 15, I read Ulrich Boser’s The Gardner Heist. It’s a very fascinating true story about the world’s largest unresolved art theft. And there began a period of time when I seriously considered doing Art History in university. Oh, you should see the horror on my parents’ faces, first class emulation of Munch’s Scream if not better. What? You no become Doctor?? Lawyer?? Accountant?? Throw Journalism in and they could well collapse right there with brains and hearts all exploded. 

This interest came back to live slowly after I moved to London. Q and I used to visit some galleries, I would come home and draw and sketch after and it all started to grow from there.

And as I type this, “Is the Met Museum a Great Institution in Decline?” is making headline at the NYTimes Arts Page. This is sad.

I think many people have the same misconceptions about art – too abstract/ dull/ rich people’s toy, without really looking from the perspectives of the people who actually create art. And this is a generation that slaps “Creative” all over job requirements and sing about that when kid comes home showing their drawings of stick figures with purple hair. 

What, two blue lines on plain background fetches million in auction?? You call this art? I can do that too! No darling, you can’t. The only time you’ll be able to produce something like that is on your pregnancy test. And even the love of your life won’t like that.

Anyhow, this is just a quick rant to relax myself from the back-breaking days at work. Also, did I mention I saw the Last Supper in Milan two weeks ago?? 😀 Not exactly my favourite kind of painting but, did I mention it’s THE LAST SUPPER.

Da Vinci’s would be smiling in his grave that centuries on the mentioning of his name still comes with double punctuation and emoji.

Pictures of Mayfair below are slightly irrelevant and completely random. But hey, try to like art too.

OK?

With love x