Week 6

In my book club we talked about My Name Is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. It's a book about a genius artist growing up in the ultra-orthodox Jewish community in 1950s New York. I loved the book because it portraits what happens inside the artist's mind so well – every artist-to-be should read it to test himself if he is a real artist. Another theme – a fight between art and religious world. I was happy that the main character perused his career despite many obstacles from his religious community.

The Artist And His Mother by Arshile Gorky was printed on my edition of My Name Is Aher Lev and what a coincidence that Tate Modern had a retrospective of the artist. So I rushed to admire Cubism and Abstract Expressionism inspired works by the Armenian-born American painter. Many of his pictures have thick layers of paint because Gorky didn't believe in the endings in art and would rework the paintings over the years. His works are very emotional with lots of deep meaning.

Latin music festival was taking place in London this week and we managed to go to the Viva El Mariachi! - a night devoted to the saddest music in the world (that's what the programme said). Actually it was one of the most lively and entertaining gigs I ever been to! All female Mariachi Femenil Nuevo Tecalitlán in full Mexican gear with guitars and trumpets charged the evening with music heard so many times in the Latin soap operas from my childhood. The senoritas worked the crowd with a mariachi version of My Way among others and left everyone in a brilliant mood and many tunes to hum on the train home.


Also this week: saw a preview of Holding The Man – a gay play from Australia and sat through  one of the most boring plays recently – I Went to the House but Did Not Enter.