Join us in Hyde Park for 2 modern-art galleries, one showing David Hockney's last major work, and this year's Serpentine Pavilion - and stay to picnic! The Serpentine Galleries, 2 small buildings in Hyde Park separated by the Serpentine, are two of London's best-known venues for contemporary art. Also every summer they commission a temporary pavilion from a well-known architect beside Serpentine South (which was originally a tea pavilion). Always free, always a good place to see some recently created art and decide whether you think it's a load of Pollocks. This year's pavilion has a crinkle-crankle wall (apparently also known as a serpentine wall), and Serpentine South has paintings inspired by the location by Cecily Brown (British but NY-based - I admit I hadn't heard of her but she's "known for her vigorous brushwork, vivid colour and dynamic compositions"). And outside there's a sculpture of 4,000 PVC tubes to walk through. But for the summer Serpentine North is showing "A Year in Normandie", the last major work by David Hockney, who died after it opened. Not like the vibrant paintings in acrylic of swimming pools from the 60s and 70s that made him famous, and one of which set the record price for a painting by a living artist, but a 90-m "painting" made on his iPad showing the progress of the year in rural Normandy. It's inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, which of course we will soon be able to see in London. So come and have a look and then let's sit down under the trees or in the sun, with parakeets flying overhead., to picnic and exchange opinions on the art - I hope everyone will have seen at least something they liked, but all opinions welcome! Bring whatever food and drink you like, and perhaps something to sit on - if you haven't a classic picnic rug a carrier bag should prevent grass stains. (The grass shouldn't be wet but may have recovered some greenness.) The event will be rescheduled if the weather's too wet or too hot. (I've been waiting months for the summer to settle down for a bit to "dry but not too hot" - at least this Sunday's forecast currently looks OK.)
