A new exhibition has just opened at the Dairy Art Centre, located round the corner from my office: Julian Schnabel- Every Angel has a Dark Side (paintings from 2000 to the present). I discovered this place last year, when they had some sculpture and live lunchtime music, so I was looking forward to seeing what would be on display next.

I’ll confess that I’ve never heard of Julian Schnabel, but I’m always up for a learning experience, so I popped along during my lunch break today. If I admit up front that generally I like art to look skilful and/or visually impressive, you’ll understand the difficulty I had in appreciating most of what I saw in this exhibition. It really didn’t do anything for me at all, I’m sorry to say. Some of the pictures looked, frankly, as though they were (literally) thrown together in just a few minutes, while others just looked odd (to my obviously untrained eye!). For most of the time I was at the Centre, I was the only person at the Centre, which at least meant that it was very peaceful as I stood and stared at the pictures, although it made me feel rather conspicuous!

I think the best I can say is that I promise to visit again to give Julian Schnabel another chance. May be I’ll be able to write something more positive then?!