Disconnect series 1

Back painting again, this time a series called Disconnect, these are self portraits (in the sense of reflecting a state of mind). The series is an accumulation of knowledge, thought, memories and identity. I identify with the black form at present though my guess is that I may transfer..... only time will tell. Triangles are my hidden identity.

There are hints of landmass, tidal movement,standing water, space, height, air, lightness, colour, playfulness and naivety.

These are works in progress.

Looking at one of my first abstract paintings Galley Hill, there is a force pushing from the right onto the space the black form inhabits. Its edges cover and recede in the space between. Connecting and disconnecting.

Art that disappears into thin air...

In my research to find out more about ready made art, I have come across an artist called Heubler * who in the 60's made work which was at first known as minimal but then progressed towards conceptual. He was interested in a fusion of language and made pieces called Location and Duration. He would follow rules laid down arbitrarly in advance according to which events, spatial or temporal relationships are documented and are not accessible to direct perception.

He was one of three artists who challenged Greenbergs opinion that art should be visual. The three, Heubler, Weiner and Barry all focussed on a reality and a view of language expressed.

A thought.....The flag pole is a ready made, is the transparent flag?

Weiner understood language as a 'transitionary vehicle' and as a material that takes on sculptural qualities when it is read. He developed work in 'series', the series became more important than each individual piece. Pieces he identified in series were such as a mark of water on a step or a wall, 1969 or an object secured on a threshold.

In 1969 Robert Barry made art that literally dissolved into thin air for 1969 march 1969, an exhibition which took the form of a catalogue, Barry announced that on 5 th march he would release 5 cubic feet of helium into the atmosphere, before this he had exhibited audible radio waves.

I like this idea that art is visual but is more than this, meaning can be extended beyond the piece itself. It is also a happening... one that only happens in the viewers mind, it might be tangible or it might be a 'physical chemical reaction, imperceptible but actually present. So the person performing the art work ie the releasing of the helium, knows it to be a reality but anyone watching or reading about it has to suspend normal notions of logic and reality as they can see nothing hear nothing feel nothing.

A bit like spiritual experiences where on lookers feel excluded and don't 'get it' while the person experiencing it feels what they identify as God/the spirit or whatever named deity they believe in.

Art is a spiritual experience. Except when you feel excluded.

* I was reading Conceptual Art by Daniel Marzona.

Lighten up!

Your work isn't a high stakes nail biting professional challenge.

It's a form of play. Lighten up and have fun with it.

Sol Le Witt.

Identity 4 - the fear factor

The fear factor
Up till recently heroes were celebrated for their ability to go the distance and to show exceptional qualities including humility, chivalry, selflessness, intelligence, persistence, wisdom and bravery. Nowadays it's more about being famous, muscular, bold, rich, talented or fantastic by or just for themselves. We are losing sight of a rich vein of character, of meaning of life or resonne d'être. We are becoming 2 dimensional, observers unwilling participants. I have often organised an activity and asked people to take part; mostly children are fine with this but ask parents to do something alongside and it's nearly impossible. Is it because there is no previous experience of risk taking? Perhaps past histories of failure and bad learning experiences put people off. We inhibit ourselves, build strong walls as fortresses against the attack of participation, against being exposed or looking vulnerable. This isn't a class thing either it affects everybody.

I did an art workshop once about 'edges' we were simply making marks using edges of paper, card or other materials rubbing chalk ,graphite or charcoal on them. All the participants were fine with this except one woman who simply would not and could not make any mark on the paper at all. What is it that prevents someone from being able to make a mark even when friends are doing it all around? She was very hostile and her emotions were clearly very raw. This changed the atmosphere of the workshop completely. Instead of fun and lack of judgement there was suddenly a need for making her feel better and normal, and the others began finding meaning or pictures within marks....the logical side of the brain took over the creative right side and the left brain limiting walls started going up.

Confusing celebrity or even just survival (terrorist attacks or accidents) with heroism is common, but what impact does this have on our children, I have just been to Disney with mine and am trying to encourage them to think of their traits and characteristics rather than simply killing each other in mortal combat! I want them to understand there is more to life than just being a hero in terms of the superficiality of Ben 10 or a power ranger or even a disney character, like a dashing prince. That these characters do more than win every battle, they leave home, journey, encounter fear and failure, have to overcome these feelings of hopelessness and believe that they can win through by their actual experiences. Just like the famous Greek myths and legends.

Good modern stories or tv cartoons do still pay lip service to these character traits, though perhaps it's too hard to see this through the cheap computer graphics that replace good old fashioned animation, the new Fireman Sam or much worse American cartoons who's faces do not move and only the lips do (apologies for no example here but I refuse to watch them and therefore cannot remember their names and my children are in bed) but our culture does not encourage us to develop these traits for ourselves, we may borrow them from screen or computer games where we do not face reality. But nothing beats the feeling of conquering your greatest fears or completing a quest where you have been the hero. It's those feelings and that knowledge gained through learned experience that will get you through the fear. Not empathetic crying or cheering through the X factor!

Memory cloud 1

Back garden steps

The rocky bit of lawn ( where the Anderson shelter used to be so I was told)

The smell in the cellar

Coal damp a cooking range

Coats steps coal hod

Attics

Box rooms

Warm dry hidden

Identity through memory, just blow the bloody doors off!

Lose your memory and you lose who you are. This is true to us all on a daily basis, we momentarily forget things, why we have walked into a room, what we were saying (in my case often as I am saying it!) For a sharp intake of breath we are a blank, an unpainted canvass, we are only as we are now in this second.

Memories create our self image and reinforce it all the time.

This image was taken randomly on the I - pad I have no memory of it and cannot work out what it is, it seemed appropriate!

Images become our memory print but feelings, smells and touch contribute too, in fact our senses are like burglars to our memory vaults they blow open the doors and expose the contents. Memories of ourselves in certain places with certain people create our personal references, without these our brains cannot identitfy with ourself.

I read in the Guardian that memory is our past and future. To know who you are as a person, you need to have some idea of who you have been. And, for better or worse, your remembered life story is a pretty good guide to what you will do tomorrow. "Our memory is our coherence," wrote the surrealist Spanish-born film-maker, Luis Buñuel, "our reason, our feeling, even our action." Lose your memory and you lose a basic connection with who you are.

Memories can be treasured and used for learning. Exploring social history we can look to the future with wiser eyes. So the creation of a memory flag transmitter is key to the Big Flag project.

I want to preserve the jewels of what REALLY makes us who we are by capturing and polishing them till they shine. Local people from local projects will be interviewed, talked to, heard, observed and respected. Their collective identities through memory will become a flag which transmits prophetic wisdom to those who have a heart to listen.

A Visual Recording the White noise of random memories between moments of time.

Printing at the DLWP 3

Printing 3

Bring in something of personal significance, a text or mirror for portrait or a drawing relevant to yourself.

Ink up table top for a nice big print!

Concentrate on getting a fixed register so you can get colour and subsequent prints off the same one.

Well with all that in mind I just about managed to bring something in! I brought in some drawings of wilf's. He's been drawing volcanoes for a while now and some of them are lovely. In my sketch book I am exploring triangles as a way of representing myself. A triangle is strong when on it's flat base but a triangle upturned on it's point becomes vulnerable and unstable, it needs to balance very carefully. Wilf's volcanoes are essentially two triangles.

I am still at the stage of just experimenting with print its been a long time since i printed much and the ink we had was very variable in quality so I got as far as one print each time rather than building up colours.

Apologies to the others on the course I completely forgot to photograph any work this week! So it's just my own. I'll catch up on the rest of the work on the next blog!