I recently watched the Janet Street-Porter episode of ‘The Genius of British Art‘ on 4OD and absolutely loved it! The episode begins and ends in St Ives Cornwall, one of my favorite places in the world not just for art but for surfing and it’s beautiful setting. Janet begins her exploration of modern British art by introducing St Ives as the place that she first fell in love with British art, I could quite easily say the same for myself. The episode also ends with Janet talking about ‘The Dark Monarch‘ exhibition in the Tate St Ives at the end of 2009. The image above is of Janet stood in the entrance hall in-front of Patrick Heron’s large stained glass permanent feature and Damien Hirst’s unicorn piece which in my opinion was the perfect magical way to start the ‘The Dark Monarch‘ exhibition. The Dark Monarch is also the title of a book by Sven Berlin, since reading it I have become almost obsessed with his other works which give a great insight into the transformation of British Art in the mid 20th Century and of the artist himself.
