the night porter wishes both his readers a merry christmas and a fruitful new year

all that fall

the final fall out from princeton activity; laboured over in perivale at brad faine’s new workshop behind the hoover building. two editions of prints celebrate the leaves on einstein drive. the smaller seen here is exclusive to the institute for advanced study. a larger version (though in a smaller edition of 25) unites princeton, peckham (where some last minute substitute leaves were hoovered up and shoehorned in) and perivale itself.



















what I had initially planned to do at the institute was to make some first steps towards the next version of a humument. i completed a few new pages before my study was submerged in dying foliage. as is usual on princeton visits old plans were abandoned in favour of new projects but here is one of the revisions. another will appear in the next issue of Art In America and all of them will be on show in the keiller library at the scottish national gallery of modern art from 6th october 2007 to 6th january 2008.























also I had the solicited pleasure of drawing freeman dyson, pioneer physicist and lucidest of writers on science and its moralities, one of my heroes. In this woven world connections must come to light. It turns out that freeman’s father was the eminent sir george dyson familiar to all church choristers, among whom I had often sung Dyson in G one of the evergreens of the Anglican litany. when I mentioned that my wife is working on the theme of salome we fell to talking about richard strauss. freeman remembers his coming to tea just after the war.

monitoring the ashes

night thought from abroad.......... ie australia.

as one of a yet barmier army of digital listeners
the night porter is on overtime for over after over

how to get jetlag without even leaving the house

Bellenden Road

is there a special ring yet to the name bellenden road?
street of strange bollards ornate mosaics and lampposts de luxe.
here for instance one late afternoon leaning against one of said bollards [by antony gormley]
looking over at one of said mosaics [by tp]
under the light of one of said lampposts [also by tp]
i am outside peckhams brilliant bookshop called review
having just bought a copy of jake tilsons 12 kitchens another low priced and lavish work from the local master of food and font
together with his little guide to peckham eating which strangely omits another of the glories of bellenden road
the friendliest and best of peckham eateries
the crossroads cafe where i most often have my lunch .
just the place to go tuesday to sunday after buying one of jakes [or
one of my] books.

http://www.reviewbookshop.co.uk

The Night Porter appears in italics.

now the fall is on its way out and so am i as i pack up to leave the leaves and head for peckham where my gingko has yet to shed its golden load [ if it is obeying its usual schedule].

8:54 AM


now back in peckham

so if you are in that area and see a dishevelled figure
picking up and scrutinising leaves
from gutters and pavements
dont just think its just another case of release to
'care in the community'....
it may be the night porter returned
and trying to arrest the autumn here
as he tried in princeton
to halt the fall

12:01 AM

Drawing from Turner at Tate Britain

A new drawing by TP goes on display from today at Tate Britain as part of a collaborative project and exhibition jointly organised by Tate Britain and the University of the Arts London. TP is one of 30 contemporary artists who over the last two years were invited to draw directly from a Turner drawing in the Prints and Drawings Room at Tate Britain and these drawings are displayed with the original Turners from which the artists worked.
Drawing From Turner
6th November - 22nd April 2007 NOW EXTENDED UNTIL 20th MAY 2007
Tate Britain,
Open daily until 5pm (except 24-26 December)
for more information
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/drawingfromturner/

Pastels at Flowers Central

We Work In The Dark (after Henry James)
pastel 2006
57 x 77cm

new works at Flowers Central, 21 Cork St, London W1S 3LZ

Kill Devil Hill
pastel 2006
58 x 78cm

Embers
pastel 2006
90.5 x 48cm

Rainbow Room Gala

TP was at the Rainbow Room Gala for the American Associates of the Royal Academy Trust on October 24th in New York.
i managed to have a smoke hiding behind a fern in the rainbow room. 65 floors is a long way to go. my dodgy knee was sufficient alibi to avoid dancing and i confess to putting on a bit of a limp. that and the smoke were the highlights of the evening. otherwise very good trip to new york . lunch with tarik followed by a visit to my favourite comic store the time machine w14th at 7th where roger remembered my penchant for rima the jungle godess. i wish i could draw like hector redondo, came away laden back to chelsea hotel
strolling into the malibu diner nearby where i always have breakfast was hailed by old friend gavin henderson an habitue of both the malibu and the chelsea and therefore a person of rough refinement. like david gothard whom i bumped into in small world cafe in princeton last week he is a man of schemes and you become part of his latest after a few minutes. one of the guardians of le gai saber. he paid for breakfast so i worked out that it cost him $743 less to sit with me than it did my companion of the night before.
night porter

Leaf Sudoku

wet and windy today at the institute for advanced study. my studies advance to the extent of trying to make an organic sudoku [doubly fashionable] from the leaves which red and yellow are chasing each other across the wide lawns

3:44 AM












cezanne said he was doing poussin again after nature...perhaps this is an attempt to do the same with mondrian who as mondriaan started with trees anyway

3:50 AM

Beckett at Princeton

TP's lithograph of Samuel Beckett joins him at Princeton this autumn. TP is a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study whilst the litho is included in an exhibition at the Princeton University Library to mark the acquisition of the Leonard L. Milberg ‘53 Collection of Irish Theater. The exhibition features approximately 220 items from the collection, including first and significant editions of the playwrights’ published scripts, broadsides, manuscripts, playbills and posters. The exhibition, Players & Painted Stage: The Leonard L. Milberg Collection of Irish Theater, opens Friday, 13 October 2006, and will remain on view in both the Main and Milberg Galleries of Firestone Library through 22 April 2007. Follow this link to see other highlights of the exhibition.
http://weblamp.princeton.edu/~milberg/highlights/
the night porter said...

i went today to the university library to see the
exhibition.my image of beckett stares [so to speak since we are looking at the back of his head] at you as you come in.but itis not the lithograph but a poster version of it done by the national portrait gallery.perfectly ok though and flatteringly placed.also in the same show is
the folio society version of waiting for godot. bewileringly this id open at the same image. i wish they had shown the cover which of all the bookjackets ive done is my favourite.

TP on Velazquez

Filmed earlier this month at his London studio TP is interviewed by Alan Yentob for the BBC documentary Imagine.Made to coincide with the first major exhibition of Diego Velazquez's work at the National Gallery, Imagine presents a portrait of the artist regarded by many as the greatest painter of all time. Alan Yentob travels to Seville, Madrid, Rome and New York tracing Velasquez's footsteps and meeting artists and critics who add more to the story.
Velazquez, The Painter's Painter
Screening BBC1 Tue 24 Oct, 10:35 pm - 11:25 pm 50mins

Heart of Darkness

New work on the opera Heart of Darkness by Tarik O'Regan to libretto and design by TP will be performed in Brooklyn and Princeton this November. This follows an earlier performance of an extract in August at the Royal Academy as part of a programme of 11 world premières based on texts by TP.
Heart of Darkness is being written as an opera in one act for 8 singers and 13 instruments. These events will feature scenes from Heart of Darkness, in addition to a panel discussion with O’ Regan and TP. Scenes will be performed with singers and piano accompaniment, led by AOP Artistic Director Steven Osgood.
3rd November performance at American Opera Projects, 138 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn.
www.operaprojects.org
4th November performance 8pm Wolfensohn Hall, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.
http://www.ias.edu/Newsroom/public-events.php
This event is free and open to the public, but tickets must be requested in advance.

New work at Flowers Central

An exhibition of recent pastel works can be seen at the Flowers Central gallery, 21 Cork Street, London W1. More details and a selection from the show can be found at the Flowers website www.flowerseast.com

Institute for Advanced Study

TP is currently a visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton where he will be in residence until 10th November, during his stay he can be contacted through his website www.tomphillips.co.uk.