Thursday 26 July 2012

word of the day part:fifty-seven | idiom

idiom

id·i·om [ˈɪdɪəm]

n.
1. A speech form or an expression of a given language that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements, as in keep tabs on.
2. The specific grammatical, syntactic, and structural character of a given language.
3. Regional speech or dialect.
4.
a. A specialized vocabulary used by a group of people; jargon.
b. A style or manner of expression peculiar to a given people.
5. A style of artistic expression characteristic of a particular individual, school, period, or medium.

[Late Latin idima, idimat-, from Greek, from idiousthai, to make one's own, from idios, own, personal, private; see s(w)e- in Indo-European roots.]

idiomatic, idiomatical | adj
idiomatically | adv
idiomaticalness | n

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Weathered ChipBoard

I have been weathering various pieces of wood and metal objects in the back garden for assemblage pieces.. These photographs shows the effects that the English Spring/Summer has on some typical manufactured pieces of wood..they are quite soft to touch and quite beautiful..








The 2 Bears

I heart The 2 Bears that is all really...

Church and The Birds and The Bees are so-so sweet and completely balancing out the punchier Shakedown and Ghost and Zombies. After searching for months for THE album of the summer, I have now found it. Highly recommended..




Sunday 22 July 2012

Leigh Bowery

This is the portrait of Leigh Bowery painted by Lucian Freud that hangs in the Treacy room at Liverpool Tate. I have the complete works of Freud held within a hard-boxed cover and held together rather substantially within a hradcover case.

I love Freud, I love his style, I love his subjects and I'd just love to have an original hanging right there, just above my fire place..any givers.

I have now made searches on who Bowery is and now am intrigued with the almost innocence of the portraits and his real life persona. Useless Man is a classic and downright filthy and deserves more recognition.


The Tate portrait


Freud and Bowery in the studio


Bowery in costume


unknown buildings



These building where photographed from a window in the room filled with Marianne Faithfull's Artist's Rooms on the second floor at the Tate Liverpool..

Liverpool Road-Side Markings









t



Road-Side markings taken in and around Liverpool city centre..

trip to Liverpool











So, I went to Liverpool. The weather was pleasant, warm and unseasonably sunny for the north-west of England.. I wanted to see the Monet, Twombly and Turner show at the Tate but ended up seeing the Rolf Harris thing at the Walker Art Gallery. I went with family so had to accommodate my kin for the day which was nice.

We headed straight to the Tate and seeing that part of the show was downstairs I peaked my head in and so some lovely Twombly and a few Turners but a gallery assistant turned around and ordered me out. My two companions didn't want to see the exhibition and with a heavy heart, we went to see the DLA/Piper Sculpture show which is on two floors.

Marianne Faithfull had the use of one room and Philip Treacy had the others..it was a smorgasboard of Pop Art, Dada and Installation. It was like an encylopediac history of contemporary art brought to life..one word, [outstanding].

photos soon...

We went to the Slave Museum and the Titanic thing at the Maritime Museum soon after and went to the Bluecoat for tea and scones. The Slave Museum is, as you'd expect, was emotional and disturbing. I enjoyed the Maritime bit and had a chuckle at the 'Hello Sailor' exhibit that shows the gay side of the industry..this pretty pink slinky number and silver sequined hi-heels strategically placed on the bed and Barbara Striesand records adoining the wall particularly tickled me.

En route to the new Museum of Liverpool is a often forgotten installation of a World War II house full of furniture and fittings which was a nice diversion..the museum is still not open.

The Bluecoat had a BookSale on and after half hour of rooting I found a 1950's erotic magazine the size of A5 called Spick and which is rather soft-core and not very sexy really, perfect collage material. We bypassed the exhibition here and went straight to the Walker Gallery.

After seeing his shows and now seeing his art, I think Rolf is a capable artist but hasn't developed a real style of his own, every painting is in the style of someone else, Ruebens etal. I just don't feel an attachment to this work, at all..the more I think of it, it's like an A-Level art student copying work from postcards when he should be evolving his own style..

The rest of the Walker was satisfactory and having the John Moores winners on show, topped my day trip of to a T.

word of the day part:fifty-six | vivacity

vivacity

vivacity [vɪˈvæsɪtɪ]

n
1. the quality or condition of being vivacious
2. (often plural) Rare a vivacious act or expression

vivacities | pl

Sunday 15 July 2012

word of the day part:fifty-five | misnomer

misnomer

misnomer [ˌmɪsˈnəʊmə]
n.
1. An error in naming a person or place.
2. A name wrongly or unsuitably applied to a person or an object.

[Middle English misnoumer, from Old French mesnomer, to misname : mes-, wrongly; see mis-1 + nommer, to name (from Latin nminre, from nmen, name; see n-men- in Indo-European roots).]

misnomered | adj

word of the day part:fifty-four | chimeric

chimeric

chimerical, also chimerical

adj.
1. Created by or as if by a wildly fanciful imagination; highly improbable.
2. Given to unrealistic fantasies; fanciful.
3. Being a chimera.

chimerically | adv.
chimericalness | n

Saturday 14 July 2012

word of the day part:fifty-three | sardonic

sardonic

sardonic [sɑːˈdɒnɪk]

adj
characterized by irony, mockery, or derision

[from French sardonique, from Latin sardonius, from Greek sardonios derisive, literally: of Sardinia, alteration of Homeric sardanios scornful (laughter or smile)]

sardonically | adv
sardonicism | n

Friday 13 July 2012

Photo Booth at Fred Aldous



Hurrah, there's a photo in town at the Fred Aldous art supply store on Stevenson Square, Manchester. It is £3 a pop and is real good fun. The last time I ventured into one of these machines was when I were in Berlin more then a year ago on the main road near Friedrichstrasse Station.

These photo booths are so much fun and is real cheap, kudos to Aldous for having the machine. A visit to the store just to use the vintage booth is a must for all.

Tuesday 10 July 2012

2022NQ

The venue 2022NQ on Dale Street is rapidly becoming my favourite venue at the moment. I saw the Contemporary Film and Video showcase there recently and tonight I got the chance to attend the Self-Made/Bench A/W2012 showcase.

I just got the invite a few hours before the show so didn't get the chance to my plus one away to a friend so I got there on my lonesome. I saw a great new female artist/singer whoes name I can't remember due to drinking three complimentery drinks a a few bottles of Vedett but I will do a search for her real soon. The next notable event of this show is the DJ set of Disclosure..very metallic, but in a good way.

Next Friday is the Cache Cache/Finders Keepers album launch party at 2022NQ and as I am an avid collector of this exotic and odds and ends record label and love Andy Votel, I will be there with bells on.

Presently, I'm at a hostel awaiting the graduation ceremony that will happen tomorrow morning so I need to get some kip and be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for tomorrow.

More Birthday Cards


Magnets | Rohan


Baby Tooth | Tyler

Monday 9 July 2012

the truth you're too late for

part of the broken mantra series



word of the day part:fifty-two | increment

increment

in·cre·ment [ˌɪnkrɪˈmɛnt]

n.
1. The process of increasing in number, size, quantity, or extent.
2. Something added or gained: a force swelled by increments from allied armies.
3. A slight, often barely perceptible augmentation.
4. One of a series of regular additions or contributions: accumulating a fund by increments.
5. Mathematics A small positive or negative change in the value of a variable.

[Middle English, from Latin incrmentum, from incrscere, to increase; see increase.]

incremental | adj.
incrementally | adv.
incrementality | n.

collaged compositions



I have been lazy in uploading my collaged compositions and after attending the Sunday sale, I am now entering a new phase in collaged production. These collages are quite old but they are still relevant in my concepts of collage processes.











recent birthday card drawings

As I don't really like buying birthday cards, I usually make hand drawn and hand collage my own.. here are two more recent designs that I have sent to friends.


Squirrel | for Runa


Body Poppin' | for Raymond

Sunday 8 July 2012

£1 Art Sale










Portrait photographs courtsey of John Lynch

There is going to be a £1 Art Sale going on at the Night and Day Bar on Oldham Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter. This is going to be a strange affair, all work is priced at a pound be it painting, collage or whatever.

As soon as I heard about I wanted to get involved. It took to about 1.30am last night to get my table booked and now I am going to shoot off as I have to be there in about 2 hours. I am selling rusty bolts and various prints of the Lucien Fellowes Road-Side Markings series.

I am a little precious about the bolts as they are part of an ongoing series that I hope will accumulate into an exhibition. These artifacts may get snubbed at such an event but they are a valid artful source. I hope...

============================

The whole £1 Art Sale thing was an all in all good experience. We, the artists, got shown our places and I had a quite a fitting space with a wall where I could hang an A0 sized print and I then began to dress my table. I had a fine selection of nuts and bolts, my corroded box of business cards, some A3 prints and the last of the books that I had printed earlier last year.

The artists ranged from illustrators, collagists and graffiti based illustrators. I had two friends who attended the sale as art sellers and they sold quite well, the art was at a bargain price. This event had, to me, the same feelings as the art burning exercise that happens up at Islington Mill. Instead of firing your work up into the dark blue, here you have the chance to purge yourself and make a small amount of pocket change. It was both a cathartic experience and sometimes exhilirating one too.

Whenever I had people milling around to my corner of the sale I began my pitch and described what I had to offer to guys who were generally interested and opened up the somewhat quite bewildered ones. It is a little strange to see rusted bolts at an art sale but as I have said earlier, these items are art. At this point I would like to give my wholeheartedly appreciation to the three people who actually bought one of the Road-Side Artifacts Numbered One-Two & Three.