08. 04. 08 Tuesday. Daisy and I went up to London today. Our first stop was the Sir John Soanes’ Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields where Daisy was convinced that the house is haunted particularly after discovering a skeleton and a life mask. The effect was also enhanced by the general low light and the large number of pieces of decorative antique stone in the place. We had our lunch in the square opposite and then took the tube to King’s Cross to the Gagosian Gallery on Britannia Street. This is a magnificent gallery in what seems to have been an old warehouse. Very cool with white walls and grey concrete floors and all the black attendants in dark suits. The show was new work by Howard Hodgkin which worked well in this environment. 
His lush, bright colours really sparkled against the white walls. I had never seen any of his big pieces before as I thought that he always worked in a pretty small format but here were some wonderful sumptious canvasses full of grand gestures. A great show. From here we took the tube to Old Street and on to the White Cube in Hoxton Square. We had already been to the White Cube in Mason’s Yark off Duke Street so this was a chance to visit the sister gallery. Again it seemed to be in a converted warehouse complete with interior white walls and grey concrete floor. This show curated by Harland Miller and was based on sending a number of artists various pieces by Edgar Allan Poe. The show was their reaction to the writing. Their were pieces by the usual suspects, Damian Hirst, Tracey Emin and Anselm Kiefer and a number of others whom I had never heard of. 
Interesting stuff ranging from a hot skull, to a beating heart to a lead coffin for Lord Usher. Part of the show was at the White Cube but far the more interesting pieces were in the basement of the Shoreditch Town Hall. This subterranean space was a maze of small rooms in various states of decomposition, quite dank and dark and a perfect site. Daisy was very impressed with the whole thing. Once out in the sunlight again we took the tube to Canada Water and Daisy bought a new riding hat at Decathlon. From there back to Waterloo and Windsor for tea.
