It was a beautiful morning, so the walk down to Battersea Park, past the Royal Hospital was pleasant, and I had time for a coffee and croissant by the boating lake before the gallery opened.I was the only visitor, which was nice, as it meant I got to have the exhibits to myself, and could spend as long as I liked looking at them from every angle. It was a shame, though - it is a free gallery, in the mifddle of the park which was very busy. It made me a little sad to think of all those people missing out, and I can't help wondering whether this is typical, and if so, whether the gallery can survive.
But perhaps I am overly pessemistic. Maybe comic fans just sleep late on Saturdays.
The gallery is, as the name suggests, the oriiginal pump house, built in 1861. It has four floors, and for this exhibition, one aritist per floor.
On the ground floor, Warren Pleece's "Montague Terrace" which incorporated a video plus 4 different comic strips (including one about a talking rabbit) all of which were slightly disturbing and left one wondering what one's neighbours get up to.Up on the first floor was Daniel Merlin Goodbrey's - 3 piecs, about an archve (or is it a labyrinth?) about the Glam Rock Dictator Hieronymus Pop ...
Dave McKean's "The Rut" filled the 2nd floor - it is a narrative about an assault / murder - it includes scultpture, photoographs and paintings to tell a stry from he perspectives of victim, perpetrator and witness.
It is both beautiful and disturbing.
I spent the longest time in this part of the gallery.
It was beautiful, but also uncomfortable, you have to think, and how things are not always as black and white as we think, or would like to think.
The final part of the exhibition is Adam Dant's library, which is a trompe l'oeil library of 'Doctor London', a kind of autopsy of london. Odd, but intrigueing.
The top floor of the gallery is a mezzanine floor, so from the library one can look down upon 
I am very glad that I went.
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