For Easter weekend I wanted to do something different and for once that meant not shopping!! My friend and I embarked on a cultural weekend in which we went to the theatre, out for dinner and to a gallery, serious culture that!

We made a last minute dash to the London Palladium to see the Wizard of Oz, with totes in tow, and got there with about 5 minutes to spare. It was one of the best shows I have seen, I actually sat open mouthed with childhood amazement. And the dog… adorable!

Black button up sheer dress – H&M
Grey sweat top – Topshop
Tan lazer cut brogues – George @ ASDA
Gold three tier chain – Topshop
Fur trimmed leather jacket – Topshop

The whole production was flawless and exciting. There was pyrotechnics, snow, projections and lots of sparkle. I loved it!!

We walked what felt like miles and miles and the weather totes did not agree with my hair which looked like I had been dipped under a shower and pushed through a wind turbine is quick succession! Regardless we made sure we got around and did as much as physically possible.

The next day we went to see the Damien Hirst exhibition at the Tate Modern, we didn’t book… this was a big mistake! I was determined to see it though so we queued, and queued some more, and managed to get tickets for the last entry of the day…phewy! I have mixed opinions of Hirst but I wanted to be able to see the pieces for myself and make my own mind up and there’s something about being able to stand centimeters away from pieces of art worth millions of pounds.

Before going into the actual exhibition we went in to see ‘For the Love of God’ the infamous diamond encrusted skull, worth around a crazy £50million! Again, we queued and then had a bag search and a metal detector scan and were herded through into a pitch black box into the centre where the piece was set upon a pillar under several spotlights. It is stupidly beautiful! Lover or hater of Hirst, you cannot deny the beauty of the piece, who doesn’t love diamonds? Particularly in that quantity!

I obviously knew some of what to expect from the exhibiton but actually seeing it for myself rather than pictures was a completely different experience. I did often find myself wandering around slightly bewildered by it all, it’s not only the actual pieces of art themselves but the juxtaposition of how they are displayed. You have the well known spot paintings dotted around and then there will be a lamb preserved in formaldehyde, they seem so opposite and the effect is you don’t know where to look and what to think.

I never realised quite how intense my morbid interest in things was until this exhibition and ‘A Thousand Years’ – the cow’s head. My first reaction was to be shocked and appalled by it, but quite frankly I wasn’t, I was completely enthralled by it. I couldn’t take my eyes away and I made sure I walked around it all and bent down to look at every part. I don’t pretend to be an expert and I don’t have a strong enough opinion to get riled up about it all but to me this is the pure definition of art. All around me opinions were divided and even with my friend and myself there was a divide, she walked away instantly and I was in awe. It has everyone talking and it draws in people that wouldn’t normally say that are interested in ‘art’. One part that I didn’t particularly enjoy was the lingering smell that managed to escape what is quite clearly pretty sturdy reinforced glass, not so pleasant…

The giant ashtray was smelly and dirty and then the wall of cigarette butts lined up along tiny shelves was intricate and almost pretty. It’s a really odd mixture and things you don’t think you should like or are beautiful suddenly look very different. My opinion is still very much undecided. I’ve been swayed so much by other people’s opinions and critics slamming Hirst and part of me thinks he’s merely a con artist, making (or instructing others to make) impossibly expensive pieces, part of me thinks it’s pretty damn genious! Either way it’s had me and many others talking which surely is the point in art?!

The exhibition is on until 9th September at Tate Modern and it is defintely worth a visit!