Minnie Kemp compiles a wish list of treats for a grown-up Halloween
WITH AUTUMN APPROACHING, MINNIE KEMP PONDERS WHERE SHE’D CALL IN FOR DECOR TREATS IF SHE COULD TRICK HALLOWEEN INTO SUITING HER NEEDS
Wouldn’t it be great if trick or treating for adults was a thing? Instead of our little cherubs/ghoulies plodding about the streets, wielding woollen appliqué pumpkin bags, filled with sweets, it could be grown men in black vinyl pants pulling a furniture dolly. I can see myself dressed in a vampy Marge Simpson outfit, the top of my blue hairpiece peeping out the roof of the van I have hired for the night. Oh, Halloween is good but it could be better.
A flash of blue, a streak of yellow, I raise my painted arm to the doorbell, ring ring, ring ring. The Collier Webb showroom on Pimlico Road, filled to the brim with treats! The kids enjoy fudge but alabaster is more my thing. ‘Hello, yes, I’ll take three wall-mounted shot lights No. 1, in an antique bronze finish and, while you’re at it, a large alabaster Cep table light to complete the look.’ Danielle Collier, dressed in a double-breasted suit, made up in Dashing Tweeds’ new merino wool fabric, Verdant, gazes at me, through a hairy werewolf mask. ‘Just a minute, Miss Kemp, I’ll grab them from the back.’ ‘I go by the name of Marge, actually…’ My response is lost in the wind; all I can see is her false hairy tail swooshing round the corner, the regimental striped trousers – stunning greens, blues and dashing gold highlights. Dressed in that fabric, she should have been a mermaid, I thought.
Next stop, the Dulwich Picture Gallery and step on it. Breathing life into the intimate space, artist Helen Frankenthaler’s Woodcuts adorn the walls making up the exhibition rightly named Radical Beauty. These are phenomenal works that have never before been seen in the UK. It’s spellbinding how open to experimentation Frankenthaler was; I had no idea she was such a trailblazer in printmaking having only seen her soak-stain abstract oil paintings.
Good job we hired the van – these works are big.
Madame Butterfly is the masterpiece I’m after. A large piece measuring over two metres long, made up from
102 colours and 46 woodblocks (perfect, hung just above my new sculptural Borghese sofa designed by the hunky Noé Duchaufour Lawrance – sourced through The Invisible Collection website).
Oh there is nothing quite like the chug chug of an engine laden with goods and judging by the moon (come on, it’s Halloween) time is running out. When the clock strikes, this old Marge must pop Bart and Lisa* to bed… Last stop: Kinkatou Studio London; hand-thrown ceramic lighting and wall art. I love the Razzle Dazzle table lamp collection (of course) relief cut-out shaped graphic designs with silk laminated shades – the perfect combination of fun and chic – just like us, darling .
(*Bart and Lisa – aka Frieda and Diego, my long-haired dachshunds – essential protection during trick or treat heists.)
The work of Helen Frankenthaler has never been in the UK before