Kittens on YouTube

With Frieze Art Fair hitting London this week I thought I'd write a piece on talking about art. Deep breaths. It can be a tricky subject to master even if you're a creative type. Surprisingly, I'm not threatened by intellectual people, in fact, quite the opposite, I'm absolutely fascinated by them. I always want to find out how their minds work, what they think and what I can learn. Because of this I have ended up with a lot of 'boffins' as friends as guess what, I bloody love it. 

I also like a geek, in fact, I'm a bit of a geek myself. Not when it comes to coding and tech but when it comes to colour and style. Grazia magazine once said, "geek is the new chic". My friend Marianne (she is stunning btw) and I find them very attractive. We have spent many evenings at ad agency parties tracking down the IT hotties. 

I can only think of one time when I was intimidated by the thought of meeting a 'highbrow' type. It was at a Christmas party in Hackney. I go every year and it's full of super bright things and I don't mean sequined sparkly tops and tinsel. One particular year one of my dear friends decided to fix me up with a well-known film critic. Now I'm writing, I think it may have been the "fixing up" bit that caused me the trouble. Anyway, knowing that I was going to meet let's call him "Daniel" later on in the evening I drank a few too many glasses of fizz for Dutch courage. 

By the time "Daniel" came over to chat to me I was already three sheets to the wind. "Hi Jules," he said, "What's your favourite film?". "What's my favourite film?" What kind of question is that? From a film critic. I do like my Arthouse films. Of course, it wasn't one of those films that sprang to mind. Dirty Dancing you might think. Nop worse. I said: "I don't watch films, Daniel, I watch kittens on YouTube running through toilet rolls most evenings." I was smoking a large sausage off the buffet at the time. Well, needless to say Daniel and I didn't last the evening. 

As well as "clever" parties I go to galleries with my smart friend Anne Marie. She went to Oxford. She is like a walking, talking British Library. When I first starting visiting galleries with her I was a so stressed I didn't say a word. She is full of facts, knowledge, and dates. Yes dates! I can't remember either of my boy's date of birth. Never mind what year David Hockney painted Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy. 

It's taken me at least twelve gallery visits and a weekend at Yorkshire Sculpture to realise that Anne Marie and I view art in a totally different ways. She is talking facts and figures. I'm talking colour and emotion. And guess what, it doesn't matter. I remember at the Picasso exhibition she chatted to me about where Picasso was buried, in the grounds of a Chateau in the village of Vauvenargues, South of France (I had to google that as it's obviously has slipped my mind) meanwhile I was sobbing looking at the colour violet and thinking how beautiful it was that it was used in so many of his paintings.

So my advice is do a little bit of research and go with your feelings. Love it, hate it or don't see what the big deal is. The most important thing is your thinking about it. If you do confess to your limited knowledge most people will breathe a sign of relief. Be yourself and have fun. Just don't smoke a sausage, that's not normal. 

I'm off to choose my outfit for Frieze Art now. That's another whole blog piece waiting. "What to wear to the gallery" If all else fails pop on some red lipstick (guys also) and a pair of glasses and you'll be fine. 

Take a look at our "Just be you" print in our collection it might help you help you get into character for a trip to Frieze Art. I'm going Friday evening if anyone want to come and chat to me.