Andy Harvey is a Graphic Designer/Art Director. Currently Creative Director at Marque Creative/Starworks in London, and currently resides in E17, London.
The thing I love most about London is the juxtaposition of urban and rural, and nowhere is this better illustrated than in Lea Valley Park. A genuine wilderness where I’ve seen everything from ponies, to a rogue Costco outlet, and all less than 20 minutes from my front door.
In terms of materials and form, these galleries offer so much. On an abstract and typographic level, so useful. This is a section of an altar frieze, from the Eye Temple at Tell Brak (N.E. Syria), dated 3300–3000BC. The Egyptian rooms take the tourist weight; these spaces are much quieter and amenable time spent drawing and thinking.
Serving dangerously good cocktails and boasting one of south London’s most innovative menus, this amazing place to eat, drink and hang out with friends is housed in an equally spectacular architectural salvage shop.
I love the architecture of the Barbican - it is so important to its historical context, at a time when London was being shaped for modernity after the war - they also aspired to make it a bold art centre. We need bold, always.