Thursday, October 9

After a morning in the garden I went into the centre to see the Leandro Erlich exhibition which opened yesterday.

It consists of visual illusions that reveal how they have been done, like the clouds in the piece called The Cloud, to giant works like Bâtiment, which impressed me until other spectators disappointed me.

The photograph shows one view of Sidewalk which, according to the catalogue,

brings a fragment of the outside world into the museum. Leandro Erlich has long been interested in the visual language of urban environments, with sidewalks appearing as a recurring motif in his works. This time the street is not shown directly, but we see it through its reflection. In that mirrored image, the world is turned upside down, its presence marked on the surface of a puddle.

The work encourages a moment of stillness, inviting us to look at the familiar with fresh eyes.

Observing reflections can bring back memories of our childhood, when we explored the world through water, windows, or any surface that shone back at us. As if reality existed somewhere just beyond reach. In this quiet shift of perspective, the artist draws our attention to the subtle details in the city we often overlook.

On the way home a prize-winningly clumsy pickpocket tried to get inside my shoulder bag and then, gurning and shrugging, tried to pass the attempt off as a joke.

His tall unamused-looking friend made joining in the joke seem like the safest response.

Oh how I chuckled.