Saatchi

I'm not usually that modest when it comes to my art. I figure you've got to just go for it and see what happens (hopefully something!). However have just been looking at Saatchi Online where you can upload your work and sell it and I feel well intimidated! I wonder if there is somewhere a little less prestiguous for artists who are not quite that confident...

I have taken a lot of pictures of my paintings today, trying to get some professional looking shots. I have uploaded them in the Gallery section, check out the link above.

The plan is to put them all on there. Something to add to the to do list!

Emancipation

Today I came across a snippet from a diary, written 100 years before I was born (1879). The lady writing the diary had moved to Paris hoping to become an artist. Here's what she wrote:

What I long for is the freedom of going about alone, of coming and and going, of sitting in the seats of the Tuileries, and especially in the Luxembourg, of stopping and looking at the artistic shops, of entering churches or museums, of walking about old streets at night; that's what I long for; and that's the freedom without which one cannot become a real artist. Do you imagine that I get much good from what I see, chaperoned as I am, and when, in order to go to the Louvre, I must wait for my carriage, my lady companion, my family?

It's easy to take for granted some of the liberties we have today. Freedom is an important condition for the artist. This morning I went out and collected flotsam and jetsom in a bag. I don't think this lady would have been able to do that!

British Art Show 7, Plymouth

The British Art Show 7 will be showing at Peninsular Arts in Plymouth until 7th December. Somerset College students have the chance to submit a piece of work, to be shown at another venue, in response to the key themes of the exhibition.

I'm hoping to show a piece I made last year. I had recycled some of it for a new sculpture, so I've had to recreate it. It's a structure made out of wood, with the text from two genuine SMS messages in two of the 'cubicles'. It can generate lots of different interpretations. The cubicles are analogous to days and also mobile phone screens. I used wood, because its a material with warmth and history. The materials our personal, electronic devices are made out of are much 'colder': metal, plastic and circuit boards. We've been asked to submit 50 words. See below.

‘Heart On My Sleeve’, 2011, Mixed Media

My piece is about the passing of time and the fluctuations of relationships. It's also about how reliant we are these days on technology, conducting much of our communication via devices, like mobile phones and computers. The themes I relate my work to are 'the order of things' and 'parallel realities'.

Update

Spent today, 25.11.11, down at Royal William Yard in Plymouth where we had our show. Its a really lovely area - a former naval victualling yard, which has been developed into a mix of studios, restaurants and businesses. The views across the sound are stunning and the weather was great today.

  

                                                                                                                                                                              

The show was inside the Mills Bakery building, unfortunately a bit too tucked away to make it easily accessible to the public. Still, the unit was very nice and it was interesting to see the work of other colleges. Also, when your work's up amongst that of your peers you get to see how loudly or quietly it resonates and whether you want to tweak your aesthetic or not. I felt my work came off pretty subtle. Maybe I'll make it a bit louder for the next show.

 

Wise words from John Berger.

Here is a quote from Episode Four, Ways of Seeing, which I watched today, in which Berger tackles the subject of advertising.

In our urban world, in the streets where we walk, in the buses we take, in the magazines we read, on walls, on screens, we are surrounded by images of an alternative way of life. We may remember or forget these images, but briefly, we take them in, and for a moment they stimulate our imagination, either by way of memory, or anticipation.


But where is this other way of life? It's a language of words and images which calls out to us wherever we go, wherever we are.


Where do they exist, these fabulous rewards and objects and people? Where do they belong to? Here? There? or Nowhere?


They come with us everywhere. We take them away in our minds. We see them in our dreams.

To me this says, the world depicted in the glossy adverts in our sunday papers and between our tv shows.. doesn't really exist.. otherwise we'd know someone who lived in that world and do you? Do you know anyone with the looks of a model, who is impeccably styled while simply sipping an expresso in their fabulous home, a slight smirk of knowing superiority on their faces? No? Thought not.

Sloppy research..

This summer, I'm having so much more fun just looking into names dropped during an end of term lecture, rather then trying to digest a horrendous reading list which features vocabulary such as.. psychoanalysis.. semiotics.. I would go on, but it sends a chill down my spine!!! Through this alternative research, I have encountered Marina Abromovic and John Berger.

Alternative review of Tracey Emin's show, live from The Hayward.

Thought it might be interesting to just download my thoughts on the Tracey Emin show, without any editing, verbal diorrhea style, a la our heroine. Here's what I wrote: Very confessional. Does not try 2 rationalise thought. Some of the illustrations, words are back to front. They are a certain kind of print I think - monoprint. Sex obsessed. Enjoys her own pain? Feels she is fated to be alone. Sex as a divine experience. Autobiographical. Re. the pier sculpture, you can't actually reach the cabin, it remains an idea, a fantasy. I like 'Is legal sex anal?'. Turkish culture. Nice to see Tracey happy in 'Why I never became a dancer'. Makes me feel I'm not having enough sex. Her past catches up with her. Men (the local men in Margate) hate her.. even though they've all had sex with her - the contradiction - she's a slag for sleeping with them.. what are they? She's always trying to get her revenge on Margate. Exhibitionist. Hard hitting, stuff about abortion. Appreciated 'When you're sad you only see sad things'. True. Combination of words and objects in pieces like 'Wimsey', 1972-2003, is effective. Super 8. She's a twin! Conversations with my mum, 2001, explores generation gap between the artist and her mum. Her mum didn't think Tracey would be a good mum. "You wouldn't be where you are today dear.." (if you'd had children). Tracey: What if I get to a point in my life where I get bored with the narcissism?..where I want to see the world through someone else's eyes?.." Mum: "I don't want to see you tied with children" (like she was) On childbirth: "You never forget that pain".

By the time I've come full circle round the gallery, and am watching 'How It Feels', which incidentally, I think is one of the most effective pieces and holds a lot of clues to Emin's motivation as an artist, she's starting to resemble a bo-selecta mask. Bravado. Denial.

Performance Art

Have been obsessively watching a video on MOMA's website. My tutor mentioned Marina Abromovich during an end of term lecture, so I sought to find out more about her. I have discovered she is a legendary performace artist and that last year, MOMA held a retrospective of her work, which included the re-performance of many of her iconic pieces, and a new piece, called The Artist is Present. Performance artists re-performed her work, but Marina herself took centre stage for TAIP. What is compelling about the video, for me, is that it illuminates the world of performance art. All the artists  introduce themselves, and explain what else they do, outside of this project. There are dancers, singers, choreographers, directors, writers, and actors. A bohemian, raggle taggle mix of freelance workers who are passionate about what they do and get by by hook or by crook. All of them have the 'presence' and stamina needed to perform the work. They talk about the experience of performing, including the discomfort sometimes endured, and how transforming it can prove to be. In her new performance, Marina sat opposite volunteers and stared into their eyes, 7 hours a day for 3 months. It caused a lot of debate in the media, and bought Performance Art back under the spotlight.

I would really recommend watching the video, here is the link: http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/videos/108

Foundation Year Project, 2007

In 2007 I made three paintings for the final major project (FMP) at Abingdon & Witney college. The paintings were inspired by London. I felt the atmosphere on the underground had changed following the 2005 terrorist attacks. An environment that was already pretty dingey had become darker. I had this image in my head of this train hurtling towards me. You could see the front of the train, and a diminishing platform. The lights of the train were bright but it was enshrouded by darkness. To 'exorcise' this vision, I made 100 paintings. Some quite small and some minimal, all externalising the motif. In order to evoke the properties of a tube tunnel, I used organic substances - sticky honey and dusty charcoal. This meant that once the paintings went into storage, they went mouldy! However, the mould is quite beautiful, and quite fitting, reminiscent of rust and damp.

Some of the preparatory paintings/drawings:

The final paintings:

Here are some close up shots of the surface taken in bright sunlight.

Dispatches from Art School

Work from the first term at Somerset College of Art and Technology.

This was some work about frogs. I can't really explain it. I found a dead frog under the recycling bin in my mum's garden. I thought maybe it said something about human intervention in the natural world, i.e. the frog had come to rely on the shelter of the bin, and when the bin men moved it, they crushed him. I made lots of frogs out of illuminous play-doh, TM. I stretched them and photographed them in natural surroundings and surreal scenarios. Eventually the bits of frogs dried up and I displayed them on some specially made shelves.  

These are some close ups of work produced in a 2 day drawing workshop run by sculptor and tutor Graham Seaton and painter and tutor, Stewart Geddes. The idea was to loosen us up - get us to over-ride our natural drawing habits. It was a good day. I don't think I quite let go enough, but given the opportunity again I wouldn't be so conventional. There were students stabbing their paper or painting with their feet. I just enjoyed making pretty patterns.

Exeter Phoenix Show, December 2010

This was a solo show I organised in the cafe/bar at Exeter Phoenix. Featuring work from both the Wales Bridge and The Bears series of paintings. The Wales Bridge series of paintings were created in 2010, specifically for the show. They were inspired by a journey on a coach between England and Wales. It was a wet, wintery night and I was ushered onto a rail replacement service. As I moved through the landscape, I was struck by the beauty of the neon lights in the distance, smeared by the speed of the coach and the droplets of rain on the windows. I took some pictures on a camera phone and these paintings stem from those pictures.

The gallery manager said my work was the best they'd had in there for a while. I was thrilled, natch. 

Some pictures of the work in the space: