Category: Uncategorized

Concrete Feathers and Porcelain Tacks – The Photographers’ Gallery

There is a lot to say about Rochdale. Economically it is one of the most deprived areas in the UK, but culturally Rochdale is anything but. Byron, the legendary romantic poet, owed his title – Baron Byron of Rochdale – to the town. Gracie Fields, one of the most internationally famous actresses and singers of… Continue reading Concrete Feathers and Porcelain Tacks – The Photographers’ Gallery

Bice Lazzari: Modernist Pioneer – The Estorick Collection Reclaims an Unsung Female Hero

As anyone with an interest in early to mid 20th century Italian art will know, the Estorick Collection in Islington’s leafy Canonbury Square is a treasure trove. From the musical swirls that flow from the fingers of a shadowy pianist in Luigi Russolo’s Music, to the piercing eyes of a woman in a multi-coloured hat… Continue reading Bice Lazzari: Modernist Pioneer – The Estorick Collection Reclaims an Unsung Female Hero

Looking Back On My Interview With Bill Fay

In 2010, Bill Fay was considered to be – within the narrow confines of the UK’s folk-rock scene – a reclusive musical enigma of almost Salingeresque stature. In the early 1970s he recorded two albums and, after being promptly dropped by his label, he disappeared into obscurity in north London. The two records that he… Continue reading Looking Back On My Interview With Bill Fay

The Best of Folly

In 2020, I founded my own small publishing label, Folly. So far, Folly has published six short story books, each featuring original words and artwork. Hundreds of books have been given out free to people all around the world who have requested copies on Instagram. Here are a selection of some of the pictures that… Continue reading The Best of Folly

Tantra Song – The Mystical Modernity of Paintings from Rajasthan

With our modern eloquence, our technology and our brash and inventive culture, contemporary artists have developed individual ways of expressing hopes, beliefs, doubts and fears through art. Yet magically, when arts and crafts are brought together from across the world — from cultures and nations completely separate from one-another — unlikely bonds emerge, suggesting a… Continue reading Tantra Song – The Mystical Modernity of Paintings from Rajasthan

Factual Nonsense – The Art and Death of Joshua Compston

Those Kray twins were right bloody bastards weren’t they? With all that filching, cly faking, dewskitching and dollyshop demandering. Should have gone into scrap metal like their old dad instead of always being a few sour moves away from a pair of silver derbies. Ronnie and Reggie were both born in Hoxton, London, which today… Continue reading Factual Nonsense – The Art and Death of Joshua Compston

How did London become the first metropolis to disappear?

Go to the City of London on a Sunday afternoon and you will find emptiness. Street after street of emptiness. Nobody comes to the City, London’s financial district, on a Sunday. The irony of this is that the City IS London. The boundries of the City are the same that marked the Roman settlement of… Continue reading How did London become the first metropolis to disappear?

USSR 1991 – A Conversation with Keizo Kitajima

In Keizo Kitajima’s new collection, USSR 1991, there is a picture of a blonde girl with dark eyes standing on the side of the River Neva in St. Petersburg. Her clothes look surprisingly modern despite the 21 years that have passed between the images being taken and their publication. Only the caption gives it away:… Continue reading USSR 1991 – A Conversation with Keizo Kitajima