A summer swansong
Stourhead, Wiltshire (left), Scarfes Bar, The Rosewood Hotel (right)
Melina Keays, Entertaining Director
We are standing at the junction between summer and autumn, and I’ve tasted the best of both seasons in a single week. I‘ve explored breathtakingly beautiful landscaped gardens at Stourhead, a National Trust estate in Wiltshire, complete with monuments, a grotto, and a temple overlooking a lake – all resplendent in glorious late-August sunshine. I’m not one to mourn the passing of the summer though, as September, amongst its many charms, beckons us back to the city and the indoor conviviality of restaurants, pubs and bars. In London, I enjoyed cocktails at one of my favourites: Scarfes Bar at The Rosewood Hotel in Holborn. Scarfe’s Bar regularly collaborates with other renowned bars from around the world, giving Londoners the opportunity to sample their wares. On the night of my visit, Singapore’s Cat Bite Club was in residence. I jumped at the chance to try a broccoli cocktail (actually named ‘Hulk Splash’), featuring tequila, cardamon, kiwi, pear, and roasted broccoli. It was delicious.
A tasteful tome
Anna Solomon, Digital Staff Writer
I love coffee table books, and place myself firmly in the camp of 'never being able to have too many'. So, you can imagine my delight when I received a copy of Wilfredo Lam by Jacques Leenhardt, published by Thames & Hudson, this week. Lam, born in Cuba in 1902 to a Chinese father and African mother, created a striking visual language that synthesised his multicultural heritage. He studied the European masters in Spain, moved in the same circles as Pablo Picasso and André Breton in Paris, and drew influence from surrealism, Matisse and African art. With the 125th anniversary of his birth approaching, this monograph, out 30 October, offers a timely and insightful exploration of Lam’s contributions to 20th-century art and politics. Oh, and its gorgeous burgundy cover just so happens to be a perfect fit in my living room.
A mid-week headbanger
System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian
Anna Fixsen, US Editor
What do you do when you love someone? You follow them to the ends of the earth – even when that means a Wednesday evening in New Jersey. That describes my latest mid-week adventure as I dutifully sojourned across the Hudson River to take my husband, as a very belated Christmas gift, to see nu metal legends Korn and System of a Down.
The sold-out show saw thousands of (mostly grey-templed) fans pack into MetLife Stadium for a raucous trip down memory lane. Korn frontman, Jonathan Davis, kitted out in a sparkly black kilt (he also plays the bagpipes), thanked the audience for supporting his band for a whopping 31 (gulp) years, in between face-melting renditions of A.D.I.D.A.S, Got the Life and – of course – Freak on a Leash.
System of a Down’s set, though, is what really got the multitudes moshing; their two-night appearance marked the first time in 13 years that the band’s played in the New York area. And their 26-song set – which, in addition to early-aughts bangers like Chop Suey! and Hypnotize, included an amped-up cover of Snowblind as a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne – had us all head-banging in our seats. I stayed clear of the mosh pit, but I am sure you could hear me belting out Aerials from up in the nosebleeds.
A magnetising multimedia
Gabriel Annouka, Senior Designer
In the Tanks in the Blavatnik Building of Tate Modern, Christelle Oyiri, the inaugural artist of the Infinities Commission, asks: In a Perpetual Remix Where Is My Own Song? The work, which I caught with Wallpaper* staff writer Tianna Williams before it closed on 28 August, opened with sound and lighting pouring over sculptures, before a film cut from colonial imagery to meme-age spectacle. As slick as a 1990s ad, yet far more personal, it was precise, brutal and strangely tender. Visual reflections on digital culture, beauty standards and hyperconnectivity collapsed into a loop that built up towards Squarepusher’s A Journey to Reedham, its rhythm pulling you into the dance. Grand, sublime, dizzying.
A West London hoedown
Sofia de la Cruz, Travel Editor
Who’d have thought west London’s Chiswick would become synonymous with honky-tonk? Last weekend I dusted off my cowboy boots and stepped into Lil’ Nashville, a country club and kitchen catering to every ‘yeehaw’ craving. The night was pure comedy: Johnny Cash impersonators leading line-dancing routines, live country blues humming in the background, and southern-style burgers that were as indulgent as they were delicious.
-
Seven kitchens, one fire: inside LA’s hottest new food marketAt Maydan Market, chef Rose Previte turns global street food and layered design into a vibrant, fire-lit experience
-
Zegna’s exclusive new perfume is legacy in a bottleIl Conte, of which only 300 (refillable) bottles exist, evokes the early 20th-century office of company founder Ermenegildo Zegna, still preserved in an Alpine mansion
-
A new American airline hopes to bridge the worlds of private aviation and business classMagnifica Air’s Airbuses have acres of space, private suites and white-glove treatment for your precious luggage, coming soon to a route near you
-
‘It is about ensuring Africa is no longer on the periphery’: 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in LondonThe 13th edition of 1-54 London will be held at London’s Somerset House from 16-19 October; we meet founder Touria El Glaoui to chart the fair's rising influence
-
Out of office: the Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekAs we approach Frieze, our editors have been trawling the capital's galleries. Elsewhere: a 'Wineglass' marathon, a must-see film, and a visit to a science museum
-
‘Sit, linger, take a nap’: Peter Doig welcomes visitors to his Serpentine exhibitionThe artist’s ‘House of Music’ exhibition, at Serpentine Galleries, rethinks the traditional gallery space, bringing in furniture and a vintage sound system
-
Who was Denton Welch, the cult writer and painter who inspired everyone from Alan Bennett to William S. Burroughs?Cult queer figure Denton Welch was a talented, yet overlooked, artist. Now an exhibition of his work at John Swarbrooke Fine Art aims to change that
-
Step inside Ibraaz, a new space in London dedicated to arts, culture, and ideas from the Global MajorityIbraaz, stretching over six floors in central London, offers a place to gather and be inspired
-
‘Somebody is always obscured by the winner of history’: Stan Douglas considers race, gender and power in LondonIn an exhibition at London’s Victoria Miro Gallery, ‘Stan Douglas: Birth of a Nation and The Enemy of All Mankind’, the artist re-examines two works of fiction, a play and a film
-
Classic figurative painting is given a glamorous and ghostly aura by Polish artist Łukasz StokłosaThe gothic meets the glamorous in Stokłosa’s works, currently on show at London’s Rose Easton gallery
-
‘Nigerian Modernism’ at Tate Modern: how a nation rewrote the rules of artAt Tate Modern, ‘Nigerian Modernism’ redefines what we mean by modern art. Tracing a half-century of creative resistance, the landmark exhibition celebrates Nigeria’s artists as pioneers of form, freedom and cultural imagination.
