On my occasional trips away from Coventry, I like to see whatever exhibitions are on in the place I go to visit. Belfast is usually pretty reliable for a good selection but sadly not on my recent trip.
Turning up at the Ormeau Baths Gallery on Friday 13th was obviously a bad omen. The door was shut, boards were piled behind it and there was post inside the door. I had thought it was odd the website was out of date, but should have looked further – the gallery closed in October, blaming a reduction in income from sponsorship and corporate events, and a rise in costs.
It had shown exhibitions by Yoko Ono and Gilbert and George before, and a lot more obscure artists, and was a bit like the Ikon in Birmingham – an old brick building and big white spaces inside. It’s a sad lost to the Belfast art world.
Overseas events
Welcome to Private View
This blog has been launched as a spin off from the art column which appears in the Coventry Telegraph’s What’s On guide on Fridays.
I’ve been writing the newspaper column for four years and it follows the format of a review of a new exhibition, listings and short bits about other exhibitions in the area, or events at galleries.
I’m often frustrated by having more things I want to write about than there’s space for – interviews with artists, pieces about excellent but brief exhibitions which have been and gone before I get a chance to write about them in the paper.
So in this blog I want to go beyond the column, to include observations on the Coventry, Warwickshire and larger art world, gossip, interviews, plus bits of news I’m not able to squeeze into the newspaper column.
This is of course the worst week of the year to launch a blog – but it’s not long til January and I’m already looking forward to sipping a glass of wine at the first exhibition private views of the year.
Private View II 