Whilst I don’t know where the summer went, it seems that I have quite a bit to catch up on.

As is our habit, we went to the RA for the Summer Exhibition. I don’t think ‘A Die, A Log, With You’ was much missed. There was the usual mixed bag. I felt myself drawn to any pieces which bore any resemblance to maps or mapping.

I think I know what my entry next year will be, irrespective of theme.

Then we went into the Kiefer/Van Gogh exhibition. I didn’t expect to enjoy it and I’m not sure that enjoy is the right word anyway. The works are huge and for once I didn’t really even register their size, because it was inherently obvious why they were the way they were. I sat in front of the first image below (Crows) for ages. In my mind the path leading up the centre was wet and muddy, the kind on which you can’t get any traction, putting in lots of effort but slipping and sliding all over the place and getting nowhere. Despite its warm colours, it felt bleak and desolate.

The works have a three dimensional quality with Keifer’s use of straw and clay. It’s as if he is reconstructing reality on the canvas, the surface of the works offering up their own landscapes, casting their own shadows. It must have taken ages for them to dry.