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Bright colours, surreal creations and wacky visual concepts are all the rage this season, whether in the latest technicolour collections of Louise Gray and Vivienne Westwood, or running through the kaleidoscopic comedy shows airing on Channel 4.
The manifesto of surrealism is in vogue again.
As the Government tightens its belt and the greyness of an overworked and underpaid 9-5 society looms, at least you can look to art and all things creative for a bit of light relief and catharsis, like that given by Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy.
This spring there seems to be a running trend of bold, vibrant colours on the pages of high end glossy fashion magz, and escapism is the underlying theme.
In this highly decorative and creative space you are transported into a surrealist realm of childish play and innocence – television, art and fashion alike, from London to the catwalks of Paris, it’s all gone a bit bizarre – it’s all gone a bit Salvador Dali.
Who better to look at for this new found vibrancy, than Noel Fielding and his recent Luxurious Comedy? Where else can you be hurled back full throttle into the childlike dream world of our early years.
If René Magritte and Dali somehow defied the laws of biology and conceived a child into the world, Noel Fielding would be it.
Aired on e4 and 4od, plastic cups for beards and swimming hats of blue glitter are but a few of the delights Fielding awards us.
The show, self proclaimed by Fielding as ‘surreal and weird’, tempts us with discussions from Tony the straight-laced stingray as to who is better, Brian Ferry or Brian Eno. And then there is the fish finger jenga to look forward to.
So what profound insights can Fielding award us into his creation? “It’s all over the shop, really.” Enough said. Because in that hour of colourful madness, you’re left feeling just that little bit freer.
Reliving the delights of being 6 years old, and having absolutely nothing to do but role play the magic, space-wizard-dinosaur from the island of Naburu.
This sense of surreal, vibrant creativity can also be seen when looking to the more ‘high brow’ areas of art and culture.
Ponder the delights of Dale Chihuly when you take a trip to see his Torchlight Chandelier in Park Lane, or you can mosey on down to the Halcyon Gallery in New Bond Street, and catch a glimpse of his dreamlike glass worlds.
Chihuly has led the avant-garde in the development of glass as a fine art, and the man himself is very much what you’d expect of a highfaluting artiste.
Washington born, slightly eccentric, he even adorns a somewhat quirky eye patch! But the guys got talent, and he has an anarchic eye for sculpture in the medium of glass.
His immense, multicoloured blown-glass creations are larger than life and visually piercing.
Walking into his 24-foot long ‘Mille Fiori’ garden of glass, the perception of reality is taken away, as the cut-glass distorts the outside world into a myriad of strange and alluring shapes.
Complete with fiery red grass reeds and large aqua blue stones, you feel like you’ve entered the warped consciousness of Walt Disney. That, or Pete Doherty’s cerebral cortex on an LSD trip.