Are objects the anchor points that connects society through attachment and symbiosis. Is emotional detachment and the throwaway culture integral to the development of technology and reinforces what is considered the uprising of consumerism.
Objects have a life span, a social order and potential shape-shifting qualities. The old adage of one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure is so true and prevalent in modern culture. Take a used valve that may be found in a garbage can, this broken piece of yesterday’s technology can be elevated from the humble scrap heap to a collector’s appraised gaze. A piece of junk has created interest in it’s viewer and now has altered it’s anchor point towards another perspective through attachment and symbiosis.
Liminal time has governed this reattachment and through this metaphysical subjective state the transgression both historically and socially. Liminality concerns itself with the threshold of or between two different existential planes as in the case of the valve, trash and treasure
The creation of Lucien Fellowes serves as a conduit for my theory of self imposed liminality. I have created a nomenclature to highlight my interest in duality and juxtaposition. This character is on the threshold of reality and is also an imaginary character that I have devised.
He is lost within the dimension that is concerned with time and has links to the third dimension that is space. This is not a science fiction based concept but is founded within physics. The relationship to the opening gambit and to Mr. Fellowes is that he collect such anchor points and re-represents through a confused state of self interest.
As mentioned, I am interested in duality in humanity both mentally and the physical and also in folklore. I have been looking for artistic references for this essay and the name of Ilya Kabakov. Kabakov is a Russian/American artist who works within the conceptual area of art. He uses fictional biographies within his art and he creates installations that evokes various visual cultures.
I find this inspiring and highly advantageous towards my practice as well as the author Chuck Palahniuk. This author wrote books such as Fight Club and Rant. It must be said that these books are less about macho culture but more about the human condition. Liminal time is explained within Rant and Fight Club concerns itself with the duality of persona and insomnia. Insomnia my bring on effects of this threshold of sleep and awakeness.
So, objects hold this power to alter the perception and social order of itself. It can and will transform itself from humble origins towards a position in high esteem.
Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Sunday, 29 May 2011
Songs in A and E
I have just found another favourite album, one that I have ignored for such a long time. I have been a fan from a distance of Spiritualized since Spaceman 3 imploded and I have many of their early material but this album is so pure and life-affirmingly great it is untrue.
The guy wrote the material a few years before his double pneumonia nearly killed him twice and then through recovery, he worked and then released the album. Songs in A and E contains Sweet Talk, Death Take Your Fiddle, the sublime Soul on Fire and personal favourite Baby I'm Just a Fool. There are still the Velvet Undergroundesque tracks such as You Lie You Cheat and the Stonesish track I Gotta Fire but these just augment the Gospel and horns of a particularly good record.
It stands in stead with Electric mainline and Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space but leaves the drones and electronic experiments of it. The songs do have a good run through and feels very personal and resonates with a joy of life. I don't know if my brush with death through heart failure and his brush with it gives me a certain connection with the material both lyrically and musically but I feel very emotional with every hearing. This is one of my favourite albums of all time and may just have booted one of it's competitors from a position in my top ten.
self-portrait project
Two Polaroids showing the Genesis of my project.
This is pobably the style I will go with.
As we have the Free For Arts Festival 2011 coming in October and just the summer in between, I have decided to start the project early. We have the dissertation through the summer months to research and hopefully start so I 'll be busy with reading etc.. So this project will be a very personal one and the outcome will show the vulnerability of possessions. I will try to highlight the utility and final downfall of our most used piece of clothing.
Our shoes hold our body and weight and contain our excretions through sweat and dead skin and are the most physically attuned item of our attire. I want to highlight that the shoes are duplicators of organic life both in birth life and death. Therefore they are applicable to our own exsistence, a portrait of who we are.
I would like to photograph a variety of portrait from different people but in my heart, I'd want to do my own self-portraits. I have tried to find some research material for this project but haven't found that many and may need to divulge further. I did start a similar project last year using Polaroids and they may be used as back-up material. I have begun to take more Polaroids though.
Thursday, 26 May 2011
mcr art-crawl
This is the word touch using squared tiles that I have found in a skip. This shows the spatial relationships between each piece and how the pieces may lie,
This is the working model for my installation piece for the MCR Art-Crawl
So after being late for the submission deadline for MCR Art-Crawl..I received a letter on my door-mat saying that I have been accepted and that I am now part of the 'not part of' art team.
The work that I started in January will be the exhibit and that is the concrete blocks spelling out the word TOUCH in squared Braille. I am hoping that I'll be in some disued building or factory and now have to start forming and casting my cement blocks for the event. I think I'll need about 24 of them..
failings in presentation
So I failed bigtime in the presentation on Thursday. The files that I had on both my USB and Cd-Rom would play and the DVD that I so diligently worked on for at least six months didn't play. Basically, I had to give an art presentation blind, so to speak.
The presentation that I wanted to give was the Lucien Fellowes and this was going to be a wound-up of what the whole ethos were. I was going to talk about the inception, the imagery, the anchor points and the science but had to leave that in the cold. What I had then was my five minute DVD (one of the three that I wanted to play) that I had to complete to show my creative/ networking and contextual practise for the whole year.
I played the DVD and interjected at several places and then waffled about Lucien for a few minutes and then played a looped film that I have completed with the soundtrack being non exsistent. I then talked about several networking opportunties that I was involved in. This was a presentation that lacked the coherence that I planned. I planned the talk for a while but when it came to the crunch, technology and the waft of hype that I gave myself..let me down...as what Chuck D always says..'don't believe the hype'.
My saving grace if there was one were the q&a at the end of the spectacle. I answered the questions to the best of my abilities and had the intellectual backing to solidify my responses. The payback is tomorrow and thats when I found out if I have dunked and dived or saved myself.
The presentation that I wanted to give was the Lucien Fellowes and this was going to be a wound-up of what the whole ethos were. I was going to talk about the inception, the imagery, the anchor points and the science but had to leave that in the cold. What I had then was my five minute DVD (one of the three that I wanted to play) that I had to complete to show my creative/ networking and contextual practise for the whole year.
I played the DVD and interjected at several places and then waffled about Lucien for a few minutes and then played a looped film that I have completed with the soundtrack being non exsistent. I then talked about several networking opportunties that I was involved in. This was a presentation that lacked the coherence that I planned. I planned the talk for a while but when it came to the crunch, technology and the waft of hype that I gave myself..let me down...as what Chuck D always says..'don't believe the hype'.
My saving grace if there was one were the q&a at the end of the spectacle. I answered the questions to the best of my abilities and had the intellectual backing to solidify my responses. The payback is tomorrow and thats when I found out if I have dunked and dived or saved myself.
Friday, 20 May 2011
new collage
The first is TOOTH and is the genesis of my new sculpture whilst THEY MEAN US is a sideline and is meant to be a fun piece of throwaway collage.
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
new project?
this is based on book requistioning..i aim to fill a published novel with blanked out portions to create new minimal storytelling
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Ink for Aid and the run up to presentation time
After emailing, sending messages on Facebook and now leaving odd posts on the back of other peoples posts (on facebook), I have managed to wrangle some information about the submission that I have sent to the Ink for Aid art auction team. This auction was for the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Fund and also for the Save the Children Fund. I was happy to be involved within this venture because I am interested in Japanese culture in both Art and Social aspects. I am intrigued with the wooden block art of the 19th century and the philosophy of the space between time has it's purpose which is part of the art ethics of the islands.
I have found out that the piece that I submitted has sold and I feel quite proud that somebody has appreciated my work and spent some money on my artistic leanings. I am glad that I have personally contributed towards such a worthy cause and is probably the highlight of my academic/creative year.
The inaugral presentations have started and this time we have 15 minutes to put across what we have been doing over the last year at university. we had to compile an extensive journal which consisted of:
Contextual Research Report
Creative Practise Report
Review of The Year
Networking Report
All these had an estimated limit of a thousand words each but I went over so probably wrote in excess of 6,500 instead of 3,500. I found this side of the essay writing quite easy as we have to talk and condone our actions I thought others should've found it as easy. It was just full of backtracking and finding lost work.
The presentations are this week and mine is tomorrow at 1.30pm.. I have planned that I will show a 5minute DVD that I had to do to show my creative practise, 8minutes talk and play a 2.5minute movie I made about Lucien Fellowes. I am quite looking forward to this as I have had some practise in talking about my work.
I have found out that the piece that I submitted has sold and I feel quite proud that somebody has appreciated my work and spent some money on my artistic leanings. I am glad that I have personally contributed towards such a worthy cause and is probably the highlight of my academic/creative year.
The inaugral presentations have started and this time we have 15 minutes to put across what we have been doing over the last year at university. we had to compile an extensive journal which consisted of:
Contextual Research Report
Creative Practise Report
Review of The Year
Networking Report
All these had an estimated limit of a thousand words each but I went over so probably wrote in excess of 6,500 instead of 3,500. I found this side of the essay writing quite easy as we have to talk and condone our actions I thought others should've found it as easy. It was just full of backtracking and finding lost work.
The presentations are this week and mine is tomorrow at 1.30pm.. I have planned that I will show a 5minute DVD that I had to do to show my creative practise, 8minutes talk and play a 2.5minute movie I made about Lucien Fellowes. I am quite looking forward to this as I have had some practise in talking about my work.
Saturday, 14 May 2011
Show at the Cavendish
It is now the nearing the end of Year Two in the Interactive Arts calender and some students decided that they neede to put a show on. This maybe due to the first years attempt and the realisation that a show wasn't being placed on the dinner table, so to speak. The show was brought under the umbrella title of Creative Transit which was used back in October for the Free For Arts Festival 2010. I designed the logo and such and felt I should be involved. I already had my fair share of exhibitions and art auctions but thought that this would bookend the year for me.
I 've exhibited photography and sculptures but wanted to work with graphic design again and to bring my minimalist/sculptural ethic to the medium. I am influenced by the Japanese aspect of design and colourplay and wanted to reign in my more abstract ideas to bring to the fore more conceptual ideas.
With reading up on mantra both Tibetan/Buddhist and self-help, I went back to a phrase that I used last year..Consider Myself A Failure Only I Could. This is probably my first main person piece of work that I have ever produced and I do think it is more art based than just experimental-bridge work. The phrase should be repeated until the syntax sorts itself out and becomes more evident in structure.
The original piece in A6 and uses Letterpress and inked Mylar sheeting that I found in the bin. The two pieces were then brought together and then scanned. The resulting scan was then tidied up and brightened and then printed out on A1 paper. It was a little lonely and needed another attachtment so I printed it again onto A1 tracing paper and the piece was finalised. I have constructed the exhibit to give a seemingly subconscious effect. I really like this piece and feel I have matured in my creative practise.
blankspace-the cell
Well..it was time to attend another exhibition at blackspace in Manchester again last Saturday. I have attended numerous affairs at this prestigious gallery and enjoyed several of them. I exhibited here myself earlier in the year and now feel a kinship with the place and it's team. The event was called SwitchCircuit and occurred throughout Saturday night from 6pm until 6am. It was the first time I have been to overnight exhibition for some time and went with trepidation.
I thought the show would be like a regular event but was surprised and relieved with the concept and Cube-like socio-geographicalness of it all. It was like a regular exhibition insofar that each cubicle and room was assigned to artists but the work had a fluidity and form that each room was symbotic with each other. It was very digital led and corresponded with the Transmediale aspect of art.
When entering the gallery phone numbers were exchanged and we was led to a holding cell with other visitors. We had to wait until a text was sent from an unknown person and then summoned to various cells. The cells was in such an order that confusion governed the proceedings. Each Cell had different technological concepts within them and some worked better than others. The one that I enjoyed most was the cell whre a mobile phone had to be rung and then chaos reined for a set of time. I stayed in here and played the game a few more times.
Each cell had tgeir merits and I stayed here for a few hours. I enjoyed the drink and the social aspect of the exhibition. The show will be on for some time now and should be visited.
I thought the show would be like a regular event but was surprised and relieved with the concept and Cube-like socio-geographicalness of it all. It was like a regular exhibition insofar that each cubicle and room was assigned to artists but the work had a fluidity and form that each room was symbotic with each other. It was very digital led and corresponded with the Transmediale aspect of art.
When entering the gallery phone numbers were exchanged and we was led to a holding cell with other visitors. We had to wait until a text was sent from an unknown person and then summoned to various cells. The cells was in such an order that confusion governed the proceedings. Each Cell had different technological concepts within them and some worked better than others. The one that I enjoyed most was the cell whre a mobile phone had to be rung and then chaos reined for a set of time. I stayed in here and played the game a few more times.
Each cell had tgeir merits and I stayed here for a few hours. I enjoyed the drink and the social aspect of the exhibition. The show will be on for some time now and should be visited.
First Year Show 2011
So it was time for the first years to have their end of year show. There was some good pieces, some conceptual and some well..foundation-like work. Some of them are quite young and just leaving formal education and starting life within a more extreme and open affair like university. I thought some pieces should've been used as sketch-book work and less work shown. One piece should have been used to present their best efforts because confusion followed with how the progression travelled. I may be a little judgemental here though as this was their first evr show within a more educated system.
Some at least had the nerve to showcase their more constructed work. The work was varied this year as opposed to last years and showed a more animated feel. There was the obligatory mood sheets and piantings but only a few photography based work even though photography was used.
I particularly enjoyed M. Fowdrey's work were he worked with children's electronic instruments and manipulated them to create new sounds and his work should have a good progression, Darren Murphy's work involving language was thoughtful and I enjoy syntax related work, Bella Rae made an action painting based video where she dripped paint onto herself and cavorted in front of the movie camera..very Yves Klein and there was two Black and White paintings made on reversed glass which was my favourite exhibits..I want these in my living-room.
The most surprising piece was a sublime kinetic sculpture entiltled..How Long is a Piece of String. This consisted of a deconstructed clock and a reel of cotton. With every second there was a rotation which wround the cotton away from the reel onto the time-piece. This was done by someone called Lewis. He also showed two more pieces but should only shown the aforementioned one. It distracted from the minimal simplicity of it.
There was also another work that consisted of graph paper and geometric shapes that evoked Dan Ferns and his Works With Paper series and book. I forgot the artists name but his work will be followed though.
Of course more work was evident but the above stood out as accomplished work and they were the ones who had just one piece to show with the exception of Lewis. I did really like this work and equally enjoyed it due to beinbg the only purely sculptural piece within the exhibition.
Some at least had the nerve to showcase their more constructed work. The work was varied this year as opposed to last years and showed a more animated feel. There was the obligatory mood sheets and piantings but only a few photography based work even though photography was used.
I particularly enjoyed M. Fowdrey's work were he worked with children's electronic instruments and manipulated them to create new sounds and his work should have a good progression, Darren Murphy's work involving language was thoughtful and I enjoy syntax related work, Bella Rae made an action painting based video where she dripped paint onto herself and cavorted in front of the movie camera..very Yves Klein and there was two Black and White paintings made on reversed glass which was my favourite exhibits..I want these in my living-room.
The most surprising piece was a sublime kinetic sculpture entiltled..How Long is a Piece of String. This consisted of a deconstructed clock and a reel of cotton. With every second there was a rotation which wround the cotton away from the reel onto the time-piece. This was done by someone called Lewis. He also showed two more pieces but should only shown the aforementioned one. It distracted from the minimal simplicity of it.
There was also another work that consisted of graph paper and geometric shapes that evoked Dan Ferns and his Works With Paper series and book. I forgot the artists name but his work will be followed though.
Of course more work was evident but the above stood out as accomplished work and they were the ones who had just one piece to show with the exception of Lewis. I did really like this work and equally enjoyed it due to beinbg the only purely sculptural piece within the exhibition.
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
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