Thursday 28 October 2010

The Transient Aspect of Housing


feedback sheet and my response to the work...



Today was the feedback/non-verbal presentation day and I think for me, it went as well as expected. There was some good work on offer especially from Monty, Rosa/Enya, Ryan, Runa and Felix/Emma et, al. I [liked] other work as well such as Liz's idea incorporating poetry and visuals, Dan's comfort pink noise and Marcin's sound experiment/visual. Dan's and Marcin's work got my interest because of the sound aspect and the way that they manipulated the medium.

There weas some half finished work and some rushed ideas and these were evident in the presentation and in the informal chats we all had when the task was [or was it] over. I enjoyed the social aspect of the exercise and the nosying about in the other students work, seeing their strong points and there working practises. It was very informative in that way and I must have a least a chat with one or two of the gals I don't really speak with, even though I tried today and shrugged off...

I was pleased to a degree with the responses that I got with my work because I tried another medium and another way in producing my work. I have looked up Richard Hamilton, Martin Boyce and Joseph Beuys in the research aspects of this task. I think that I should continue in this vein until I have a proper outcome. With me, I am in danger of becoming too static when things get comfortable and I need a regular shot of adredalin to stay focused. I will produced a larger collage and work towards my final piece, that will be probably take me up to the spring.

I am now going to have three projects underway...busy am I. The Lucien Fellowes Collection of Particulars is gaining momentum, albeit slightly pedestrian. It will be a slower burner to the rest of my tasks but as I have been told, 'it has legs and I should continue]. The second is the the present project [The Transient Aspects of Housing] which I have already explained and the sound collage using cut-up tapes and my 4-track.

I'd like to take this opportunity, to anyone who (if) reads this blog, thank-you for the kind words and the jesture of encouragement that is evident on my feedback sheet...

Wednesday 27 October 2010

[shelter]

I've finished the maquette for the final part of the mini project called Shelter. As stated, it was supposed to be a four week affair and then that was it. I have been quite ill for the first part of the month with flu and heart problems and tried to do research and development and filled a few pages within my book. I think going to Liverpool and then the beach was a bit silly but It DID retuned my batteries and give me scope. In particular, the assorted in situ installations of certain Mexican (I think) artists who just used quirks and defects of the building on Renshaw Street and named them [enjoy yourself]... These were the inspiration that augmented my concept for the said project.

I am pleased with the outcome of my endeavours and produced a maquette that will assume will become more prevalent within the year. I can see what I have done as a large scale, Jim Dine/Kurt Schwitters esque plaquelike installation.. I know need to get certain books out of the library and read up on what is interesting me at the moment. Can't really go on blindly creating and having no intellectual backing.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

I have a plan and I am sticking to it..[.]

We had the third year two meeting today and it was the second one that I have attended. We talked about about a lecture that I personally didn't attended concerning Public Art and Social Engineered Art. This is the kind of ArtScene that I am very much interested in and I know a few buzz words and artists such as Richard Sera and more specific, Victor Pasmore.

Pasmore is a huge influence upon my work but of course, I don't xerox him. I am taken with his collages, screen-prints and his use of minimal colour and concepts. He designed a whole council estate in the north called Peterlee, the tower blocks and the communal areas. This council still exists today and has [evolved] over time by weather, rthe public and time itself. Well, just consider it an evolutionary piece of art.

This is the concept that I am wholey excited by. I am planning on designing a range og evironmental/constructivist sculptures and placing them in various areas of the town such as a housing estate, on the moorland and somewhere secluded to test the amount of wear and tear of what environment is capable of. But of course, I digress...

The meeting threw up several points, some valid and some periphral. I took a mental note of what interested me and side-lined others and all of a sudden, the meeting took a turn into the [JOURNAL] sphere. This was interesting up to a point and then...

I have now decided on what I want to achieve for the final bit of the SHELTER pro:ject. This was only supposed to be a four week affair, cumulating to a show and tell afterwards. The good point of this excercise was that it is short-lived and at the presentation, we don't get to speak up about what we have done.

I am designing several collage based on the vision of half demolished and derelict houses. I am intrigued by the colours, wallpapers and the lives of the ex-inhabitants of this skeletal remains and I hope this shows in what I have produced...photoghraphs will arrive soon.

Monday 25 October 2010

intermission

Well, the project was set at Uni and it was given the umbrella title of [SHELTER]. I have been reall ill during the three weeks we were given this project and I have managed to build up a concept and jot down a few ideas....

My basic premise si that we are all transistory in the world of habitation. The only constant we have is the abode that we live in. I believe we leave a mark on the house that we stay in and that eventually fades with the new inhabitants. I am intrigued by half-demolished houses that show the colours, wallpapers and quirks of the exposed rooms, I am basically going to try and recreate the exposed rooms as a large scale collage with glass, metal grids and wood..incorporating paint and wallpaper.

My other ideas include making an egg with a grown man/skeleton creeping out, sewn-up fruit and showing an Super-8 found family movie within a derelict house...but time isn't on my side..

Saturday 23 October 2010

Liverpool Biennial

Thursday the 21st, October was the grand school outing. Had to get to the coach by 9am that was waiting at Uni and of course, I got there late, about 9.30 was the time I got there. I had to catch a train from Blackburn tho at 8am and would've got me to Manchester for 8.45 but of course, the plans of mice and men and all that... The coach took us past the giant head that stand by the motorway not unlike Warrington's own self-styled Angel Of The North. I once saw a documentary about the commission, construction and opening of this sculpture on the television over two years ago...I'd like to of gone up and seen the construct in flesh though but time is an enemy on days like these. I didn't really get a good look at it but i'm sure it's impressive though.

Getting into Liverpool took its toll. It is a city after all and we were just coming out of commuter traffic but, we were scheduled to go past the [Turning the Place Over] by Richard Wilson. I have heard and seen reports and images about this feature and not really heard of Richard Wilson so I haven't got anything to compare this work to. It is quite immense though in a understated way. One can imagine the passers-by and the office workers quickly getting used to the work and being tickled by that fact that a group of adults were gawping at the circular piece cut masonry going in and out and round and round. The cutting of the piece is very precise and continues through the workspace inside the building. It was very impressive but as the coach was parked within the city, we had to move on.

The coach dropped us all off at the Walker Art Gallery and there was an exhibition of the John Moores Painting Prize 2010 happening but as we are penciled in for the Liverpool Biennial for the day, I had to give it a miss. I am going back to Liverpool either this week or next week, so I'll give it some consideration.

I found myself outside Lime Street Station and after tidying myself up, and by this time I found that I was Lone-Wolfing it again, I quickly scanned the map and made my way to Renshaw Street where the Futurist Cinema is located and the main exhibition space that is 52 Renshaw Street. It's only a short walk, and I find Liverpool less labyrinthine than Manchester, I approached the The Futurist Cinema which is a boarded up ex picture house. It has painted on it's facade, [think about the future]which is the work of Emese Benczur. I don't know much about her work but after reading the guide to this years event, I plan to do some amount of research on her work. I gather that she is concerned with time and self, but I may be wrong. I took a Polaroid of this cinema and I will upload it onto here when time permits.

new collage

Tuesday 19 October 2010

no new posts due to apathy and illness

So, I've been on holiday quite a few times and took some photographs with the good ole [bridge] SLR, Polaroid Land camera (SX-70) and the brand new but now battered Polaroid 300. It's a bit strange really, the conditions and events that has guided me through the summer. Experimentations, strange coincidences and weird strokes of good fortune have all been ingredients of my experiences.

The holidays recharged both my internal, mental and creative batteries, my health is on the mend with the addition of more fruit, less cabs and alot less booze and I have been part of three Art exhibitions which I think were successful. I spent too much money on certain things and not enough time on some others and I've made some extraordinary contacts both in art and music. The photography side of my work has taken over the wet-side (collage, painting and sculpture) and I really need to rein in my deviations, somewhat quick. I CAN take a good photograph but am I a good photographer? That could be an allegorical question or just some internalising about my weaknesses.

I have been to a few opening lately in Manchester. These have been Sculptural, Musical and Photography. The 36EXP was quite something though, the concept for this was that 36 photographers had to take 36 photographs. They had to exhibit their stronger snaps together with their full contact sheets. The exhibition was sponsored by Ilford Films and they developed the photographs. Some of the work shone through but quite a lot was a bit sedimentary and somewhat transient in style. It was good though to see a fellow Blackburn College pal having her work displayed.

There are two exhibitions that are similar in style but vastly different in aesthetics. The show at Manchester Art Gallery is bold, interactive fun and very entertaining. It is named Recorders but there isn't any indication why it is thus named. Only afterwards in a Uni meeting is this subject discussed. Apparantley, because the exhibits need human interaction i.e. pulse readings, vox recording, a light show connected to your heart beat and huge catherdralesque sized mirrors, the artist is recording biometric data for future use. MMMmmm, very intriguing, I suppose.

Whilst at the CUBE {centre for the urban built-up environment], there is a similar, I think, an almost socio-environmental science based show. These exhibits centres on what is probable, what is needed and what is impossible. I found this one better of the two exhibitions though as I am interested in socio-psychology and the environmental side of art. They had remnants of a toaster that cost a few thousand pounds to make which was really interesting to look at and think about, a device for phantom limbs, a menstrual machine (which WAS odd) and a display of whisky made from diabetic urine. This interested me being diabetic and what was ironic is that being a severe diabetic, I couldn't taste any...b' ah.

So, university life has started again and the project is [SHELTER]. It is supposed to be a group project but I am a lone wolf when it comes to work and I can work with a group though, so it's no biggie. I have started the project with remnants of a project I started earlier and the end of the academic year, I just need to tweak a few things and put some thought into it. My main concept is the site of half demolished buildings, I am interested in the weather-worn vision of manky wallpaper upon brick, rust and nature flora such as lichen and moss. I need to find a location for a set of photographs although I have an idea for a hard edged collage...

My main idea is to find a half demolished (safe] house and project some super 8 footage that I have of a sixties family and play a looped sound of family. I think that we are transistory in the relationship of house, buildings and abode and until they are pulled down, they are the dominant partner in the two-tier life of us and them. I think a house retains something of it's ex-inhabitants and it slowly fades with the new owners. This is my concept and I know, it needs some work and sounds a bit baffling.

And now, up to date news. My project, Lucien Fellowes and his Collection of Particulars is maintaining a slow but steady following on FaceBook and I am booked into the Link Gallery to showcase his collection of nuts and bolts, polaroids of the locations and at least forty photographs from his road-trip showing RoadSide Markings. This will be in the New Year and I hope it goes down well, If not b' ah [again].

Tuesday 5 October 2010

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133219326710530&ref=ts

Friday 1 October 2010

update about up and coming exhibitions




Well the time has come for the CTvCV Free For Arts Festival exhibition at Piccadilly Place, Manchester... I went in today to set up my exhibits and I was pleasantly surprised with the space and the environ. It is basically an empty shell of a building/space..looks like a car park with big-big windows... I have the perfect place for my photographs, seems like fate in a way. Helen, the co-ordinator gave it to me thinking I'd not like it but I love it. It has some kind of weird yellow and white markings on the floor and the place where my photographs are used to be a doorway which is now bricked up and frames my work, beautifully. I am really pleased about it and for once, I have an almost Taoist rush.

As for the Mute exhibition on Saturday in the Soup Kitchen, this is still on my mind and I am very, very nervous about it. It is just like before going on stage, getting ready to bare your soul to the public. My piece is all about the state of being asleep but also about being on the verge of being awake. I have played the piece to various people and have had different responses but the same statements of what they thought the piece symbolised..which is positive.