I love London.

Because I love things for free, and really, London is the place for free exhibitions.  One of my favourite places to watch for "what's on's" is Selfridges. Being a department store, they often host touring exhibits of culturally based artistry, tucked away as a lure to the café on the ground floor.
This month (2nd September - 25th October) they have been running 'The Museum of Everything', a showcase for "unintentional, untrained and undiscovered artists". Although the exhibition is nearing it's close, I would urge anyone to visit it, and not just to charitably give "disabled artists" the time of day.
The exhibition is brilliant in it's own right, a bona fide modern art gallery; though some of the paintings seem simplistic and childlike, on closer inspection one can see the intricacy and time that has poured into this work. In fact, for me, the simplicity was what gave 'The Museum' it's impactive interest. The childlike drawings juxtaposed with the adult emotions and themes gave the art a very human characteristic, and was equally very soul baring. A stand out collection for me was a group of abstract pin up girls, all looking very coy with slanted eyes and curvacious figures, challanging the conventional pin up, because they were such beautiful paintings full of character themselves.

To some extent I think that the exhibition was also trying to challenge convention, by showcasing the artwork of people whom many don't expect to be productive, or creative, or able to relate to 'adult themes. (The pop-culture references, such as the paintings of all the different Presidents, and of Prince Charles and Superman beg to differ). However, I felt the videos of the artists were superfluous. Although they were insignificant and overshadowed by the work itself, I think the artwork could speak for itself, and the videos suggested some sort of agenda, or USP which, in my opinion, detracts from the emotional and humble artwork on display.
The effort and imagination in Selfridges this month is incredible; from an artist that used layers of text to form storm like canvases, to haunting and confused comic strips, to knitted household objects. 'The Museum of Everything' celebrates creativity in its most basic and emotional form, and after experiencing the raw emotion and feeling seeping from the artwork around me, the polished displays for sale suddenly lost their appeal.