Heading under the bridge on New Viaduct Road provides some light relief from the still insistent rain, but I must continue up the steep hill until I reach Seven Dials, which is truly confusing junction, with cars going all over the place and no street signs apparent, it takes me a while to get to Montpelier Crescent and the Ben Allen Exhibition. A large house, but the door was closed. And locked. Which may seem fine if you’re inside eating a seemingly endless supply of tea and cakes, but not if you’re soaked through and not making good time for your lunch reservation. After ringing the bell, a man lets me in saying it’s the weather that causes them to lock people out of an open house. It’s a spot of rain, not a gale. Anyhow, I’m inside, and I potter aimlessly like a truly hardened open house veteran. Ben Allen’s room is the largest, and also the most conspicuously empty. The art is clearly influenced by Pop Art, with plenty of trashy pop culture in there also. It’s very vibrant, with lots going on, but it could be seen as derivative. Elsewhere, in the atrium (ooh, get them, etc) there are 3 artists, the magnificently named Keri Zerb, Lauren O’Shea and another genius name, Mo Manley. Double entendres aside, the art is endearing, but does not benefit from the cramped viewing area, forcing viewers to crane their necks up. Back downstairs and through the kitchen, there are some funny little sculptures from Jackie Somerfield, caricatures playfully done, with grace and style. This house does seem to have a price problem though, with Ben Allen’s bigger canvases reaching over a grand, and Paul Hickinbotham’s photos causing my wallet to wince with pain. Sure, if you’ve got the wedge it’s no problem, and those are vaguely acceptable gallery prices, but the festival is supposed to be for everyone, not just those who go out with over a grand to burn on art on a whim.
I shall return next week with 4 more houses (an old hand at this open house game), a pair of multi-coloured glasses, tea cosies, sock monkeys and lunch. See you around.

Next we went up to Seven Dials and the Ben Allen collection. As soon as you walk in there’s lots of brightly coloured pictures of underwear by Jane Sampson. They were really nice. I like that sort of thing but I couldn’t tell whether it was a painting or a print or something else. Then Ben Allen’s work caught my eye. He did pop art which was very nice but you could see about three or four of the same pictures in one room and I think he could have been more varied. We then went upstairs and saw some of Mo Manley’s work wich was very bright and very textured. Spinning Dancer would have to be my favourite one of his pictures. When we went back downstairs and through the kitchen to get to the conservatory I received some unpleasant looks from some of the people in the kitchen. But I’m used to getting strange looks from people thinking is she going to throw a hissy “fit” and break everything? We then went into the conservatory where a nervous cat was recovering from being trodden on (we heard the yelp upstairs). Jackie Somerfield was displaying her sculpture in the conservatory and did extremely funny caricatures. They didn’t use many colours but were very nice and I wished I could have taken one away with me. Well that’s all for this week - I’ll be back!