Creating a Storm (& other weather based puns)
Stormy weather comes with territory in April and, right on cue, April 1st brought the expected floods from the sky but also floods of people from the streets into the Idea Generation Gallery to celebrate the opening of Storm Thorgerson- Right But Wrong.
Call it pathetic fallacy or artistic irony or whatever philosophical or metaphysical term you care to use, but as the finishing touches were being made to the huge Storm Thorgerson installation, the delicate sound of thunder (I make no apologies for my blatant Pink Floyd pun) was heard rumbling around the sky. As a fan of all things pun-related and of meteorological coincidence, this moment as the storm set in filled me with joy. A storm on the opening night of Storm Thorgerson’s exhibition. Priceless.
After a week not unlike Challenge Anneka- remember that early 90s TV show where contestants had to run around the country completing various challenges to eye wateringly tight deadlines- one of the gallery’s most involved installations was completed. Highlights included a hunt down Brick Lane for a wooden chair, a plant pot, a mirror, vases and a tree branch. All without the aid of a nifty helicopter like Anneka had. But as the gallery began to fill with people, the general consensus was ‘my word it was worth it’.
With the paint still wet on the walls and the storm outside finally subsiding, our very own Storm took to the stage as our compere for the evening to officially open the exhibition. Being First Thursday and the night before Easter weekend, the streets of the East were full to the brim with artistic revellers but if your name wasn’t on the list, you weren’t getting in to Storm Thorgerson: Right But Wrong.
In true Idea Generation style, it was a Becks filled evening with quizzes and speeches by the man himself to keep everyone entertained. Storm even raffled two of his original works, Pink Floyd’s The Divison Bell and one of the re-workings of The Dark Side of the Moon with proceeds going to Cancer Research.
Never one to do things by half, Storm’s photos are literally jumping out of their frames into the gallery, with escaping tree branches, leaking photos, shadows of flying figures overhead and strange hallowed monuments, this exhibition really is one that must be seen to be believed.
