Ian Hamilton Finlay - Inverleith House RBG

I have a genius for visiting exhibitions on their last day or in their last days so it always seems a waste to blog them for people who can't then make them

Last Saturday while developing this cold I went to see the Ian Hamilton Finlay exhibition at the Botanics. I've been to ses Little Sparta the place he lives which has been turned by him in the last 30/40 years into a sort of living artwork due to diligent 'avant gardening'.

Here are some of the sayings I liked most on the walls.

Friendship is inclination
Aquaintance geography

The late night shipping forecast is a kind of High Church Weather Service for radio listners.

The art of gardening is like the art of writing, of painting, of sculpture, it is the art of composing, and making a harmony, with disparate elements.

He who lives alone is always on sentry duty.

The wind roaring in the night, is both stranger and friend.
Of course these were all beautifully typographically designed and painted onto the walls.