Staring into space

Two more galleries on Wednesday had me travelling from Mile End to Latimer Road and back via Bloomsbury. The incredible backlit vinyl printed works by John Russell in his exhibition called Ocean Pose at Matt's Gallery held me in a trance. There were only four pieces, but they were so captivating I stayed in the gallery so long that the assistant came to check I was OK. Whew! At the other end of town the James Turrell exhibition, A Life In Light, was equally enthralling, particularly when it turned out that the incredible floating, glowing, colour-changing rectangle I had been staring at for twenty minutes was simply a hole in the wall. Imagine my surprise.

The next day - er, Thursday I think - I went to Apsley House at Hyde Park Corner. What a place. I was rather disconcerted by a giant sculpture of a naked Napoleon at the foot of the stairs, and amongst all the opulence (which doesn't float my banana) I came over all unnecessary over an incredible assortment of paintings by Jan Steen, Maes and Pieter de Hooch. After climbing the Wellington Arch, I headed off to college for an evening of song and dance. Not really...more dissertation presentations followed by a heart-starter or seven in the bar of the Tavistock Hotel.