LOWDOWN: my higgledy-piggledy happy place
Victory, mystery, vegan Caribbean and vampires
Afternoon dear readers,
I hope you had the most glorious Bank Holiday, and yesterday’s reality check wasn’t too unpleasant. The wheels have stayed firmly on at LOST ART HQ, and in this week’s LOWDOWN we’re bringing you some of our favourite grounding exercises, all rooted in the cultural delights our city has to offer.
Now, seasoned readers will know that at LOST ART we not only recommend, but provide. So if this week’s recs don’t quite tickle your pickle, then how about you join us at The Garden Cinema this Friday for our screening of ‘The Colour of Pomegranates’? Tickets are flying off the shelves, so make sure you’re quick…
See you sweets,
Maya Sall, Writer and Editorial Assistant x
THE LOWDOWN by LOST ART
Pro Tips: Peaceful People Watching, Insights at the National Portrait Gallery
Pro Tips are our fuss-free ticket to surviving and thriving in the city - but who said we can’t give you a little injection of culture too? Last week, our new intern from across the pond, Emmeline Blythe, popped down to National Portrait Gallery on her lunch break to sniff out the most poignant portraits.
We can highly recommend this as a way to clear your head, get inspired, and generally take a breath from the bickering of colleagues.
Division between an artist and his subject
John Tunnard didn’t paint what one would expect to be a ‘self portrait,’ especially since the first image you see is a fly. That’s not to say Tunnard isn’t visible, he’s just in shadow.
The board’s cut up with orange streaks against blues and greys, practically framing the insect. I saw an artist breaking up his fascinations to make space for everything on the board, only allowing half of himself to stay. It goes against all preconceptions of artist ego.
Victory against vexation
Then there was this painting I couldn’t walk away from. Gertrude Blood’s likeness by Giovanni Boldini. She’s relaxed and focused. There’s something in her eyes that practically sparkles with contentedness.
Then I read the description. If I were a late 19th century woman who’d been denied a divorce, I think I’d at least look a bit more pissed off. But no, she’s sitting confidently in a fabulous black dress, in absolute control.
Messy yet elegantly eye-grabbing
Let’s take a break from the paint for a woman sketched in pastels. My first thought when I saw Władysława Ordon was ‘I wonder if Tim Burton saw this and got inspiration for Corpse Bride.
This actress’ blush is blended into the dark circles under her eyes. Her passive, slouched shoulders and general ‘couldn’t care less’ posture clashes with her fanciful costume for a play: Bolesław the Bold. My favourite part was that there’s no attempt to cheer her up or brighten her sullen attitude, you just see her how she is.
Most of the portraits I saw were uniformly composed figures that could easily blend in with one another. But if you keep your wits about you, you can get slivers and splashes of personality.
Sexy, Silly, Psychologically Disturbing: Evolution of Horror x Regent Street Cinema
By Wang Sum Luk
The mood to visit: you’re craving a cosy setting to watch some strange films
It was booed by Roger Ebert when it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It features an achingly sincere romance, and a scene where Nicolas Cage declares that he has ‘a boner with a capital O’. It’s sexy, silly, and psychologically disturbing—it’s David Lynch’s Wild At Heart.
Having previously screened Lynch’s Blue Velvet at Regent Street Cinema, we were delighted to learn that great minds think alike: the podcast The Evolution of Horror is hosting a David Lynch season at Regent Street Cinema. Their screening of Wild At Heart concluded with a discussion featuring podcast host Mike Muncer and guests including horror novelist Alison Rumfitt, offering a welcome deep-dive into the mysteries of this film.
Their next screening will be Lynch’s Lost Highway, aptly happening on Friday the 13th of June. It’ll be a contrast to go from the upbeat Wild At Heart into one of Lynch’s bleaker works, but this podcast’s team will help you make sense of it all—as much as a David Lynch film ever makes sense, that is.
WHERE: 307 Regent St., London W1B 2HW
WHEN: Lost Highway screens on 13th June, and their concluding screening of Blue Velvet will be on 25th July.
WEBSITE: click here
AN INTERLUDE: a little snapshot of the fun we had at our wine tasting & screening of ‘Only Lovers Left Alive’ @ The Cardi Gallery
Please Pass The Mic: Thursday Night at Map Studio Cafe
The mood to visit: you’re a virtuoso in need of a time to shine
It’s time to rip the band-aid off and come clean: I’ve been keeping a secret. It’s MAP Studio Cafe, specifically, it’s Thursday night jam session.
Every week, north London musicians flock to the café’s upstairs bar and stage to flex their muscles. At 7PM, the bar is sparsely populated - a pianist, bassist and drummer are sounding each other out and the number of people on stage matching that in the audience.
Alex (aka MAP manager extraordinaire) summons the sedentary to perform. It should be awkward, but there’s an atmosphere of quiet confidence and my friend and I are left with no choice but to wait and see where the evening goes. We dutifully order another Peroni and step out onto the small roof terrace, partly to catch the last of the evening sun, but mainly to avoid being recruited onto the stage, as neither of us is able to hold a tune.
It's not long before we’re bundled back inside by Alex, warning us our seats have been taken. It’s not just a ploy to get us on the mic – within minutes the bar has packed out and a performance is in full swing. What’s occurring is far more than an open mic night: it’s a rigorous exercise in blues, jazz and RnB.
MAP has stood on its residential Kentish Town Street corner since the 90s, and it exists, frozen in time, honouring the days past when Camden truly nurtured the music industry’s next best thing.
There’s a constant rotation of audience members taking their place on stage, only then to seamlessly swap instruments – the clarinet player becomes the bassist who positions himself behind the drum kit – all without missing a beat. There’s a breathtaking moment where a woman takes to the stage and sounds uncannily like Amy Winehouse. It’s almost too cliché to be true.
This venue is a jack of all trades: freshly baked cookies are on offer next to bottles of house wine. Downstairs, plates of Vegan Caribbean food are prepared opposite tables of chess players, who are still deep in competition when we leave at 10:30pm.
MAP studio and café houses a multitude of worlds: it’s my higgledy-piggledy happy place.