Day 139

Thursday 06 August

A different day out at Houghton Hall today to see the Anish Napoor outdoor exhibition. The majority of his sculptures in this collection are made from shaped and polished marble but the most eye-catching piece is certainly this curved metallic dish.

It is pitched at an angle of around 60° to the ground making the concave face reflect the sky, whilst the convex face reflects the ground.

I have always found sculpture less accessible than other forms of art. A bit like poetry in writing, or jazz in music. It’s probably just a bit too abstract for my simple brain. Maybe it’s just a bit too up itself?

But that doesn’t stop me appreciating what it looks like, reads like or sounds like. I have always felt that the creative minds behind those art forms in particular are just, woosh (hand swished over my head). But, in my fifty-first year, I realise that whatever it stirs in you is exactly what it was intended to do. That includes, simply liking what it looks like or disliking it for no reason in particular.

The thing that bothers me most though is how inaccessible this exhibition and so much art is to so many people. The price of the tickets, its location and the difficulty in getting to it. Many families don’t have the disposable income to afford it or the means by which to get there. London is totally out of the question, this is not much better. At least kids tickets were free but must be accompanied by a full paying adult. The demographic was very white, very 50+, and the cars in the car park suggested that the vast majority were not struggling financially.

We then spent an amazing hour in the gardens being bombarded by the August sights, sounds and smells of a plant spectacular. The fruits and vegetables, the roses and wisteria, the lavender and herbs. The bees and butterflies were having a ball. The water (and fire!) features were dancing in the sunlight.

Then pizza, a beer and a walk on the beach with Mabel off the lead. The sunsets on the north Norfolk coast rarely disappoint. I realise it sounds cheesy but is there really anything more eye catching and thought provoking than a coastal sunrise or sunset?

And as we walked back along the soft sand, with our sandals hooked over our fingers, I realised how we have everything we could ever need.