Looking at Art that Looks at Art

Bob and I met at Green Park station this afternoon for a visit to a few West End galleries before dinner. It wasn't the best weather for wandering around, as the drizzle started as soon as we left the station, but we still stopped into one new gallery and two that we've previously visited before descending into the tube for the crowded ride home. Michelangelo Pistoletto's pieces at Simon Lee Gallery seemed simple, but were haunting and layered,

as the photographic prints on stainless steel reflected the gallery, gallery goers, and the other works, confusing dimensions and reality in a playful way. My favourites were the objects, Lampada appesa and Barriera, but I also liked seeing the people reflected in opposing sheets of steel. Next up were Louise Lawler's photographs of art and the ways that people look at art, being shown at Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers gallery. I know this photo doesn't provide any sense of the art itself, but I mainly took it to show the projection of snowflakes that floated across the front gallery space--and if you look really closely, you can just make me out in the reflection as well. Um, maybe think of it as a meta-meta-meta photo that takes Pistoletto's and Lawler's art into consideration?

Our last gallery stop was at White Cube Mason's Yard for a dose of Vancouver in the form of Jeff Wall, a Canadian (mistakenly called an American in the current issue of Time Out) and a Vancouverite. As usual, many of his photos were of Vancouver, and I don't think we'll be in many more London galleries where Bob will walk up to a large-scale photo and say, "Heyyyyy, my band played there!" With two other galleries still on our list, we decided to head toward the tube station instead, popping into the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts to get a look at Zhang Huan's Three Legged Buddha,

gazing into the festive and gluttonous Christmas windows of Fortnum & Mason,

and going into the newly expanded Japan Centre to pick up some groceries along the way. We got on the tube at Piccadilly station, and I miraculously got a seat right away, so I zoned out with our heavy purchases on my lap the whole rattly way home.