WHY THIS BLOG WAS MADE

Contemplation Rock, Glacier Point by Eadweard Mybridge

Hello everyone! There are a few crucial and interesting events that led to this day. Here they are:

1. I interviewed Jane Birkin for Stylist magazine. She is a French film icon with a TED talks stamina. Even when she diverts off topic and starts saying whatever she feels like – her words folding into very french sound waves that only French people can speak in – even then, she's capable of blowing you away. So here was what really had a hold on me...

"Some people haven’t got a clue about art in general because no one’s fished to make them curious. You need that, otherwise that person would naturally think they have no right to go into an art gallery. Why are you going to pay to go into the Louvre if you don’t know a thing about what’s in there? I knew nothing about art galleries had it not been for my mother or my little sister, Linda, who now when I come to London says, "Don’t you want to pop off to the Tate Modern? There’s something wonderful there". I wouldn’t have known a thing about a thing if someone hadn’t taken my hand and shown me. You need that sort of push. And I’m from a family who are quite artistic! So what is it like for a person who isn't? Everyone has a right to go to a gallery".

2. The Guardian asked the question: why do so many galleries use such pompous, overblown prose to describe their exhibits? A lot of media arts coverage sounds this way too. 

3. Even though 2012 was a year for sport and patriotism, major blockbuster exhibitions and art fairs received unprecedented coverage and visitor numbers in London. 

4. Art was everywhere it shouldn't have been. Stylist did an art issue; fashion was collaborating with art; art was in advertising; I went to Las Vegas and parodies of The Birth of Venus lined a corridor leading to a Starbucks in Caesar's Palace.

5. I was gifted this wonderful picture art book: Everything Is Going to Be Okay. 

6. A colleague at Stylist said, "This is going to sound bad, but I don't really get art. Like, I know it's meant to be good and some of it is interesting. I mean, I like the traditional stuff. But I just don't get it". And a friend said, "I want to be more cultured and visit art exhibitions. I just don't know what". Another friend agreed.

And here it is. A fun, accessible experiment called A Girl on Art.