Saturday, February 20, 2010

We Are Making a New World



Landscape of the Vernal Equinox by Paul Nash.

I snuck in a visit to the rather snooty Dulwich Picture Library just before leaving to tour the USA for a while. They have a Paul Nash exhibition on; judging by the ecstatic reviews it appears to have resurrected his reputation as a major British painter, a worthy addition to the line of Blake and Palmer, a key mythologiser and re-imaginer of the ley lines of the English landscape. In fact, all the things I wish people would say about me. But, er.. maybe there's some more work to be done there.

I thought it was incredibly inspiring, almost physically affecting at times. The last room brought a tear to my eye. See it if you can. Surrealism in Swanage: sign me up!

3 comments:

Kevlets said...

Looks really interesting, thanks for the tip Alasdair.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like an interesting exhibit, Alistair.

I follow your blog with some regularity, but I just saw you guys perform last night (in Portland) and wanted to say "well-done!" It was a fantastic show.

My girlfriend and I stuck around after the show and spoke with you for a minute. I tried to tell you how much I love The Clientele's music, starting from when I first heard "Bicycles" in 2002, but it came out as garbled Verlaine. So today I looked up the line (it's from "Art poétique") that I think sums up The Clientele: "Rien de plus cher que la chanson grise /
Où l'Indécis au Précis se joint."

I hope I get a chance to see you all in concert again soon. Next tour I'll work up the nerve to ask if you want to hang out and see some of the city. Maybe smoke a joint.

Take care, Alistair, thanks for all the hard work you've put in over the years. I rank the music you've made up there with Verlaine's verse... Really life-changing music. Truly.

Joe Clinkenbeard

Anonymous said...

...and I just noticed I spelled your name wrong. D'oh! Sorry, Alasdair.