Kids in London - National Portrait Gallery PopArt Portraits

With an art aware 16 year old and an easily bored ten year old I thought the National Portrait Gallery might do the trick for a cold Sunday afternoon...

In the basement is an exhibition called MySpace which is part of the Young People's Programme where schools and community youth groups get involved with leading artists and architects. It is suitably modern and multimedia and there was a great kaleidoscope piece where you can add your own face image to the collection - which are then displayed at the entrance. Kids really want to be part of an experience these days. Despite not being in the target age group my teenage son couldn't resist having a play with the Lego/Duplo bricks that were there as part of the "built environment" exercise. The only shame was that they hadn't given this little exhibition more space to accommodate more young artworks and activities.

I was a bit annoyed to have to pay £9 per adult (and my 16 year old got a slight concession) to enter the PopArt Portraits exhibition which was the bit that had enticed my moody teenager along. And I had my arm twisted (nicely) to cough up another pound so they got the benefit of the GiftAid tax. Whilst this special exhibition was only in a few rooms it did have some of the best known and best loved works - Warhol's Marilyn (and some of his lesser known Queen and other works) and Lichtenstein's In the Car. Our favourite was the Three (Two) waiting women and B52 nuclear bomber - mainly because it mixed a great oil painting with a bit of a ropey shelf and 3D model of the third women - in a "shockingly cheap looking" leopardskin coat. How I worry about my fashion conscious 10 year old! Meanwhile my teenage son glanced surreptiously at the numerous - admittedly tasteful - nude and semi-nude paintings and suggestive "Hunt for the best" with a girl clinging to a ketchup bottle. This exhibition only runs til 20th January so catch it while you can.

Surprisingly, my kids liked the main free area of the gallery best. My son really liked the area showing how new portraits were produced and was particularly taken with the portrait of Mr and Mrs Kinnock in their kitchen. Whereas me and my daughter spent a long while contemplating the interesting 3D image of J K Rowling in her barefoot glory in the cafe where she created Harry Potter - the 2D images do not do this piece justice - you have to go and see it.

They also liked the Camera Press at 60 display - which took a look at 60 years of news portraits. There were one or two other works that the kids stopped and talked about - particularly one which was a moving montage of 169 drawings, photos and computer designs. And they both laughed to watch the two film displays of studies of faces.

Being a bit tight for time we didn't pay the minimal £1 to see the Photographic Portrait Prize but the bits we could glimpse looked good. But the shop was good for some browsing - my son got some postcards for a school art project and my daughter toyed with the cut out dolls and costumes from history which were well linked in with current curricula on Victorians.

So mission accomplished in the "do something cultural for a change" category and overall a pretty good experience. A child friendly environment with enough variety and popular art to keep young minds alert for a couple of hours.