Step Inside

I went to Wormwood Scrubs (above) on Saturday to see an exhibition of art by offenders laid on by the Koestler Trust. Here is what I bought.

It’s called Below us the World and the artist is in HMP Thameside, one of a slew of new prisons opened this century to accommodate a worryingly large clientele that apparently needs to be kept locked up. Thameside, as the name suggests, is in Greenwich and was opened in 2012. The picture appeals to me because of its primitive simplicity. It evokes similar work done by indigenous Australian tribesmen. Their work is more colourful, they see the sun more than one can in HMP Thameside; take a look.

The Scrubs was built between 1874 and 1891. The two reliefs on the entrance towers are of Elizabeth Fry and John Howard, both early cheerleaders for prison reform. It’s Grade II listed on account of this iconic front door. It was my second visit; ages ago I came to a performance of Guys and Dolls in the prison chapel under the auspices of Pimlico Opera. The cast and orchestra were prisoners augmented by some professionals. The acoustics were shocking and my principal memory is of the end of the show. The audience were instructed to remain in their seats while the prisoners were led off to be locked up again; not a feel-good finale.

In the evening I was in New Oxford Street to see Bruno Bermon-Berchi’s first one-man show. Here he is in front of a few of his pictures. I often shoot out of focus after a few glasses of Viognier.

One of the most striking is this portrait of Madame Prune. An earlier, considerably larger version on six panels, was sold last year to a collector in Paris. She invited Madame P round for dinner and fortunately she liked the picture. The story reminds me of Martin Gayford being taken to lunch at the Cipriani in Venice by the American couple who had bought Lucien Freud’s portrait, Man with a Blue Scarf, depicting Gayford.