Consumerism and Culture
Mar. 3rd, 2007 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearToday, I did something I hardly ever do. I went shopping. On Oxford Street. On Saturday.
It wasn't actually as bad as I'd feared, or perhaps I've just got mellower since the last time I was there. What helped a lot was that it turned into one of those charmed shopping expeditions where I found everything I was looking for within a couple of minutes of being in each shop - the most impressive being Borders, where the only Sharon Shinn book on the shelf was precisely the one I wanted.
Anyway, lots of people wanted my attention today. I was harangued by two separate religious nutters, one of whom informed me that I couldn't hold light (which I would have thought was rather self-evident) and the other of whom claimed that my house is too pretty (he's obviously never seen it). A few minutes later, I was practically run down by a very large Hare Krishna procession, complete with floats. Ah, the joys of living in London!
My real purpose for going out today, though, was to visit the Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery. The sponsors of the exhibition are currently employing me to organise interviews with the clients they give private viewings to, so I thought it might be an idea if I saw it for myself so that I can sound intelligent when discussing the project. Who would have expected that blobby, indistinct paintings of fields and trees could be so delightful? It actually helped that the gallery was packed as it meant I couldn't get near any of the pictures, and they in fact look much, much better from a distance. So, I stood in the centre of each room and did a 360 degree turn to take it all in. Gorgeous stuff, particularly the painting of the Piazza San Marco in Venice, which was probably my favourite because I've been there so I know the painting captures it beautifully.
It was quite liberating going to the exhibition on my own, as well, since it meant I could do it as my own pace (which was 70 paintings in 20 minutes - I absorb art pretty quickly...) and not have to worry about waiting for or holding up other people.
Only downside to the expedition - I walked from Oxford Circus to Tottenham Court Road, down Shaftesbury Avenue, across to Drury Lane, right round to Trafalgar Square, all through the Renoir exhibition, and then up Haymarket to Piccadilly Circus to catch the tube home. My feet hurt!
It wasn't actually as bad as I'd feared, or perhaps I've just got mellower since the last time I was there. What helped a lot was that it turned into one of those charmed shopping expeditions where I found everything I was looking for within a couple of minutes of being in each shop - the most impressive being Borders, where the only Sharon Shinn book on the shelf was precisely the one I wanted.
Anyway, lots of people wanted my attention today. I was harangued by two separate religious nutters, one of whom informed me that I couldn't hold light (which I would have thought was rather self-evident) and the other of whom claimed that my house is too pretty (he's obviously never seen it). A few minutes later, I was practically run down by a very large Hare Krishna procession, complete with floats. Ah, the joys of living in London!
My real purpose for going out today, though, was to visit the Renoir exhibition at the National Gallery. The sponsors of the exhibition are currently employing me to organise interviews with the clients they give private viewings to, so I thought it might be an idea if I saw it for myself so that I can sound intelligent when discussing the project. Who would have expected that blobby, indistinct paintings of fields and trees could be so delightful? It actually helped that the gallery was packed as it meant I couldn't get near any of the pictures, and they in fact look much, much better from a distance. So, I stood in the centre of each room and did a 360 degree turn to take it all in. Gorgeous stuff, particularly the painting of the Piazza San Marco in Venice, which was probably my favourite because I've been there so I know the painting captures it beautifully.
It was quite liberating going to the exhibition on my own, as well, since it meant I could do it as my own pace (which was 70 paintings in 20 minutes - I absorb art pretty quickly...) and not have to worry about waiting for or holding up other people.
Only downside to the expedition - I walked from Oxford Circus to Tottenham Court Road, down Shaftesbury Avenue, across to Drury Lane, right round to Trafalgar Square, all through the Renoir exhibition, and then up Haymarket to Piccadilly Circus to catch the tube home. My feet hurt!
no subject
Date: 2007-03-03 09:16 pm (UTC)