Reminded me of Ikea but in the best possible way...

The Marc Camille Chaimowicz show at Inverleith house did not fail to disappoint. Inverleith you never fail to disappoint - I am yours always and forever. The exhibition acknowledges Inverleith House’s original use as a private residence, escentuating a playful quirkyness with domestic scale and the nature of light and airey space of its rooms. His work has referenced the cultural and societal upheavel in the late 60's and into the 70's in his hometown of Paris. He uses the private/public/domesticated areas of life, often culturally associated with the female existence in blurring the lines of cultural stigmas. His use of feminity and homelyness explores notions of a freedom from cultural constraints whilst also maintaining a sense of control through colour and the crisp curves of the furniture used. Big up babes!

Installation view - Dovecot (for I.H.) 2010; Man Looking Out of A Window, 1984 (2006)

Installation view - Here and There, 1978 (2009)

Also M. Camille Chaimowicz reminded me of this artist who I would quite like to employ as my personal interior designer when I've made my fortune.

Edinburgh Art Fest 2010

I recently saw the Joan Mitchell exhibition at Inverleith House at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh and it was magnificent. Mitchell - reminiscent of Patti Smith in style and speech, a former figure skater and a freeekin amazing artist with a hell of a lot of vices. She is relatively unknown but in many circles is considered as 'one of the most singular and important American painters of the post war period' and the only female to hail from the male dominated Abstract Expressionist movement. There is something very moving and raw about her works, they are a 'complex of emotion, memory and sense of place.'

"Untitled," oil on canvas, 1969

I paint from landscapes of the memory I carry with me -

and feelings from the memory of them which naturally become transformed...

I prefer to leave nature to itself. I do not intend to improve it...

I could never mirror it. I love most of all what it leaves inside me.

'Cypress', oil on canvas (1980)

I think Inverleith House is one of the most fantastic venues in Edinburgh to view art, it is light, airy, spacious and you do not have the feeling of some gaunt looking ECA student with an asymmetrical haircut watching your every move and telling you that your are not allowed to eat BonBons in the gallery!

...kinda wish I was though but I just look to clean.

Another fantastic show I saw was by Julie Roberts at Talbot Rice, entitled Child. The works are quite arresting and disturbing, displaying specific scenes of 'children affected by some of the twentieth century's great upheavels'.

Staying together, 2010, oil on linen