Blackbeard's Delight

Same same but different

While we were at Tate Britain we had a little wonder around and i came across this picture by William Maw Egley called Omnibus Life in London.  An Omnibus was a horse drawn carriage that ran on a fixed route, carrying a whole cross section of London society.  Not a great deal has changed about London's public transport.  I'm really not a big fan of the tube, in fact i hate it, but the one thing i like is the fact that it is a great leveller.  You get the city workers and labourers, rich and poor, destitute and fortunate, tourists and locals.  And we're all crammed together, trying to get to where we need to go.  Hot, sweaty, uncomfortable, but equal.  If only for the journey.

State Britain

I went to see State Britain at the Tate yesterday.  It weas really interesting.  I'd been meaning to go since i read about it in the papers but my interest grew through a great post by Ben here, which asked the question was it art or design, or neither, or both?

I went along and had a look for myself, and some of the signs are examples of design, some bits and bobs are exactly that, and other parts of it are genuinely insightful and educational, like the list of politicians who voted for and against the war.  Taken together, they are an encapsulation of a time and feeling among a large portion of the country, but in particular of the convictions of one man, Brian Haw, who has protested outside of Parliament Square for the last 5 years.  In my book the exhibition is art.  See here for a review from the Guardian, or Ben's post over at Noisy Decent Graphics.