Two days off? Less is not more

Weekend Combo: 7000 white balloons, David Bailey, a Texan Transvestite
By Thomas Davis | Art | 7 February 2014
Above:

Jerry Hall and Helmut Newton, Cannes by David Bailey, 1983, David Bailey

This article is part of Weekend Combo – What to do this weekend

We bring you our guide to living well in the world’s capitals, from exhibitions to cinema, food, drink, fashion, music and beyond. Just call it culture and take it, it’s yours.

LONDON, FRIDAY 7th FEBRUARY – SUNDAY 9th FEBRUARY 2014

A big question
First up for this weekend is the only comprehensive retrospective of artist Martin Creed’s 25-year career, at London’s Hayward Gallery, including some of his rarely-seen early pieces.

Derived from objects or feelings we all take for granted Creed ‘strips away the unnecessary’ repositioning benile objects to the forefront of our attentions ready for questioning. See these beguiling works as investigations into the relevance and impact that the “things” which surround us have on our lives and the subsequent effects we have on one another.

If nothing else take a deep breath and have fun viewing the work Half The Air In A Given Space, which literally occupies an entire upstairs gallery space filled with nearly 7,000 white balloons. Plunge in and brace yourself for static shocks a-plenty afterwards!

Martin Creed: What’s the Point of It? until 27 April 2014
Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX

“Would you stop starin’ at her tits, Rayon, you’re startin’ to look normal.”
Imagine for a second that you’re a reprobate womanising, boozing, coke snorter and hustler living in 1985, Dallas, unfortunate enough to receive a deathly diagnosis and you’re given just 30 days to liveWell that’s exactly what happens to Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club.

Rodeo cowboy Ron Woodroof’s  free-wheeling life is abrubtly overturned in 1985 when he is diagnosed as being HIV-positive. Ron finds an unlikely ally in fellow AIDS patient Rayon, played with startling brilliance by Jared Leto, a transvestite who shares Ron’s lust for life and fast money. The transformation Woodroof undergoes as he bonds with Rayon through shared experiences is touching, as is his homophobic fear is replaced with an awareness of the daily struggle she has for equality and respect.

Let this appropriately well-released David and Goliath struggle for dignity and acceptance blow away those early February cobwebs.

Dallas Buyers Club is in cinemas now, rated 15

A picture says a thousand words
Next up with have a trio of photographic recommendations to throw at you, starting with David Bailey’s Stardust. The legendary british photographer, responsible for capturing the epitome of the swinging 60s and creating some of the most iconic fashion images of the past fifty years, has selected images of his journey through rock and roll London to today capturing the likes of Kate Moss, Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall along the way.

He’s been quoted as stating, “Sometimes I still can’t believe my luck.” Well this is a see-to-believe exhibition in its entirety, granting us access to those private moments of celebrity and cool which Bailey snapped from his insanely privileged viewpoint.

From one celebrity snapper to another
Pay homage to more Hollywood greats without having to leave the National Portrait Gallery this weekend with Michael Peto’s: Mandela To McCartney. Another artist famed for his intimate ‘who’s who’ portraits of the famous faces of the 1950s and 60s, this exhibition includes a never before seen photograph of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at the beginning of their love affair. She’s in full Chanel regalia stealing his cigarette, he’s sat pondering over a script. Magic.

David Bailey’s Stardust/Michael Peto’s: Mandela To McCartney
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Pl, London, WC2H 0HE

Make it a triple
If you really want a triple-whammy British culture boost and are riding high on the intoxicating hit of old hollywood glamour after the NPG then swander down to Browns hotel’s Donovan Bar. Named in honour of photographer Terence Donovan, the bar’s walls are lined with over 50 of his black and white prints, making this ode to 60’s decadence the perfect retreat for a Vesper Martini.

The Donovan Bar at Browns Hotel, 33 Albemarle St, London W1S 4BP

Nothing says good morning like a Bloody Mary
Finally the restaurant that’s creating a buzz this week is under-the-arches eaterie Trip Kitchen in Haggerston. It has nothing to do with magic mushrooms as the name may suggest to some but is in fact a wonderful Turkish-Cypriot rooted establishment headed by chef Selim Kaizim.

The menu is a mixed bag of delicious picky bits and pieces come dinner time but this place is to be enjoyed to maximum capacity on a Bloody Mary-laiden Sunday for brunch. Try the Turkish breakfast, it certainly contains life restoring properties for those on the tender side with a stinking hangover.

Trip Kitchen, Arch 339- 340, Acton Mews, London E8 4EA




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