Popeye

What with the Brooke Shields furore at the Tate and Jeff Koons recent show at the Serpentine, Pop Art has hit London. The Koons show (sadly now finished) was hugely intriguing, his trademark juxtaposition of the banal and everyday, the crafted and the manufactured. Children's inflatable toys float, captured and entwined with metal and plastics, the nearby sign being the only suggestion that everything is not as it initially seems - the toys are actually anodised aluminium. You don't believe it - every crease, fold, valve and type is faultless, so the urge to reach out and touch, to be sure, is contained only by the hovering gallery staff standing next to each piece. As such, the experience becomes frustrating yet remains fascinating, as smiley rubber rings, try to escape rusty 8ft industrial fences they connect with. A typically shallow Koons experience that sits with you for a long time.

Art and nature intwined

Popped into the 'Heaven and Earth' Richard Long exhibition at Tate Britain at the weekend. Had children as company, so it was bit of a whirlwind, but really enjoyed what I saw. When I was at art college, he was often referenced as being an exciting 'natural' artist, and his 'A Line Made By Walking' from 1967 was a fresh approach to sculpture, and performance art. He is probably most famous now for the sculptures he makes on long walks, geometric shapes formed from natural objects unique to the specific environment he is in. I was more interested in the typographic works, in which he simply states the objective and subsequent visual references of long walks, represented in Gill Sans, and mostly just in black and red. Very English, and reminds me of John Betjeman poems, the iconic London Underground map by Edward Johnston and the church posters of designer Phil Baines from the early 1990s. This is no photographic record, no proof of the event, merely a factual record of his experience - through walking according to the tides, or comparing a walk in Devon with one in China, and noting the similarities.

Not at the edge of contemporary art, there is no outrage, just an ethereal presence that stays with you long after you have left the building. Recommended. At Tate Britain until 6 September 2009

'I can see the Gallery from 'ere...'

Passed through Trafalgar Square last week and spent a good while gawping with the tourists at the living sculpture on the empty 4th plinth, courtesy of One and Other by Anthony Gormley. 2,400 people, 100 days, 24 hours, one every hour. 

Part of the intrigue is in waiting to see what each person will be doing for their 60 mins of fame, transmitted by Sky Arts online and tv. I witnessed a young woman wearing angel wings, happily blowing bubbles and throwing balls of tin foil at the crowd whilst shouting through a megaphone, to be replaced by a lady in a long flowing dress who promptly sat down and started reading. Not exactly edge-of-the-seat stuff, but intriguing enough (for a short while at least). It's how Big Brother could be, without the personal publicists, and likewise uncomfortably addictive. You can watch online at www.oneandother.co.uk, and see what each of the 'plinthers' have planned. I was sucked in, and like the other 26,000 applicants, have applied. I will find out on August 1st whether I will be required to strut my stuff in September. Hope it's not a beery Saturday night slot... Think David Blaine and eggs.

What would I do with my time? That's quite a brief. Better start preparing...