Well, this is it. In the edit, the thing became a mix of emotions and generally ambiguous overall. I'm pleased with it. Enormous thanks to Dan, Marion, Rob and Wendy for helping out.
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10/01/09
That was a weird Friday night - something I'd planned for a while.
I had a self-portrait brief - open to interpretation of any kind. I decided that I was going to make a short film and it would make use of my own body. Some weeks ago I was experimenting with the laser light on my own torso - this felt like a progression.
When I think of self-portraiture I get the feeling that most artists try to convey something of their own will on the image; that is, they try to show the results of their own actions, movements and desires - they try to project something of how they would like to be seen and remembered. Personally, I tend to think it is more honest to take Rembrandt's approach - a self-portrait should show the reactive; what is happening or has happened to you. The individual's will is inconsequential.
The plan hatched. I would suspend myself by the wrists - hanging like the carcasses of Francis Bacon's beasts - and I would invite friends to paint on me. They would have ownership of the piece - with very little direction they would decide how and where to apply paint and how to record it. So I was hanging for about 25 minutes, my arms and wrists in considerable discomfort. Vertical stripes of thick black and white acrylic were applied and the chance effects were encouraged. In the end, my whole upper torso was covered before I was cut down.
It was a really nice, fun night in though. My friends who filmed and painted don't get to involve themselves in this sort of thing often and I think they had a good time. I made a great big pot of chili and we all had a good few drinks while this was going on. the only drag was spending half an hour in the shower after. The film will be edited and online within the next couple of days. Watch this space.
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03/01/09
Christmas was uneventful as Christmases go - it was an exercise in the consumption of food, drink and bad television. All I want is Raiders of the Lost Ark or something like it on Christmas day and I'm happy. It makes up for all the enforced nothing of the world shutting down. Still, the company was lovely. I did a little drawing and painting here and there but I'm simply not in the mood when my stomach is crammed with beef, nuts and whisky and my brain is similarly stuffed with Shrek, Gromit, D-list celebrities and the instruction manual for the new digital barometer that Santa's given me.
Over the new year celebrations I went up to the Highlands to record music with Charlie and Alex, two guys I've been playing with for about a year now. They've had a variety of great songs written for some time that they haven't had a chance to record until now so this was the culmination of the last few months' practices. Generally, I find studio recording unbelievably boring. All the checking of sounds and engineering involves a lot of sitting around waiting to play. This time was great by comparison. The setup was in the middle of nowhere - beautiful views in biting cold, abundant whisky and absolutely wonderful food. I'd go for long walks between takes and the views were wonderful. One thing I really miss from living in the country is the lack of light pollution. The stars were magnificent.
The air temperature didn't get above freezing and it plummeted at night. The cows, chickens, cats and dogs probably handled it better than the rest of us. In the afternoons, the good whisky started flowing - after all, we were surrounded by distilleries.
Evening games of poker spawned the name Fear The Fives so we're going to call the band this from here on. I'll be fiddling with mp3s and myspace pages soon so the music will be audible soon enough.
Now that the weather is warming, I'm longing for more snow and ice. Hopefully, I'll be in Bulgaria again soon - I'm itching to be flailing about on the slopes, full of hot chocolate and plum brandy.
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20/12/08
This is all getting toward the end of the academic year. The last couple of weeks have been exercises in colour - some exploratory work and other more traditional figure painting. It was horrible using acrylic again after so long. Without using stretched paper, the paint dried consistently darker except for the black which dried as a kind of off-charcoal colour.
As each day went buy, I ended up experimenting with different ways of mark-making using this cheap, plastic colour. Layering on the colours led to a kind of pseudo-impressionistic style that didn't do much for my eyes but led to a few acceptable results.
Most of the poses were deliberate challenges in tonal variation, using the model amongst either black or white cloth and lighting the setup with natural and multiple artificial light sources. As this was a class setup, I couldn't help think that no artist working individually would ever choose to work like this - I can't see it producing aesthetically pleasing results.
The final day was one single portrait pose that was really intense. I'm not used to depicting such dark skin and again, the multiple light sources were very challenging. Rather than worry too much about the overall image, I started with large brushes for some very quick under-painting and only concentrated on the essential details of facial recognition with smaller brushes. We instinctively view faces with a hierarchy of information so the eyes, nose and mouth take precedence.
The final week was really a wind-down, an attempt to relieve the intense 2D work with some fun. We were all invited to create some form of costume or adornment that represents our alter-egos. I decided mine would be a helmet / head-dress to be worn when screaming at insects close-up. Don't ask why I ended up at this conclusion - I was very tired. Single-ply cardboard is great stuff - you can model all kinds of strange geometric shapes.
So now I'm back in Glasgow for the winter break. Straight away I cleaned up the studio and launched into a load of new paintings. Maybe its for the relief of using oil again or just the overwhelming desire to produce some self-directed work. I have a self-portrait brief and will probably be using something to do with an earlier photographic project and part of the Negate series. Long exposure shots with laser light always produces odd effects. Something of the staining of flesh and heavily saturated colour seems to be working right now. This image is pretty much unchanged by digital effects. I'm beginning to think that saturating the skin directly might be the way to go. I have a few weeks to work on this.
Aside from this, I've done two very small and quick oil sketches of my friend's baby. These are to be little christmas presents for their respective in-laws. This is a surprise for christmas and I'm pretty sure they never check this web site. Still, if any of you grandparents are reading this, look away now...
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24/11/08
This weekend I promised myself I'd get out and explore Dundee a little more. It just so happened I chose a weekend in which a huge stream of Arctic air came creeping over the east of Scotland. On the coldest day, I walked along the coast, past the oil refinery, with an urge to get to the water's edge. By the time I got there my fingers were barely capable of operating the camera. When I got back to the the university, a long spell in the sauna sorted me out.
I called in on the contemporary arts centre to see a Spencer Finch exhibition - a bizarrely minimal use of space. I liked this piece though - plastic filter hung in bunches from the ceiling and illuminated with carefully calibrated strip lights. His approach for all the pieces in this exhibition was based on a very careful analysis of pigments and spectra - then he seemed to combine these with some more conceptual structure to create a finished piece. Some were overblown to my mind - others were pleasingly subtle.
My work this week has been based around some simple printmaking techniques. The imagery is taken from a little book I made a couple of years ago - a confused narrative based upon some characters descending a huge hole in the ground. If ever the book had an accompanying advertising campaign, this poster would be part of it.
Cutting into vinyl tiles and block-printing turned out to be a frustrating process for me. I'm so used to having a picture in my head that I can eventually realise through different media, whether its the computer or the paintbrush. This was a different matter. Ink would dry too quickly or the press would be set incorrectly - I just couldn't get the results I wanted too much of the time. Some chance effects are welcome and seem to be an inevitable outcome within the traditions of printmaking but the preparatory time, mess and effort seems disproportionate to the results. Obviously I'm too new to this to appreciate the potential but I can't say I'm itching to get involved with it again in a hurry.
The next project is more deeply involved with colour-creation. Its been a long time since I've sat and manually mixed colour for the sake of exploration. Repeating shades and tints on different grounds would supposedly create different vibrations and relationships but its hard to see when cheap acrylic is used. Mixing a decent purple is next to impossible unless you use good quality pigments. Even then its often worth spending money on good dioxazine. There's one for the spell checker.
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19/11/08
The problem with working on art as intensively as this is that you start to see it everywhere. You become a magpie of appealing images. If I see a notable sunset, a chance effect of light or whatever, I feel I have to record it in case the opportunity is missed. For particularly novel or momentous events that are not of immediate artistic interest I make myself lower the camera so my memory can be the sole beneficiary. Otherwise everything goes the sketchbook - you never know when it might come in useful. The above two images are the rotting plaster work behind the tiles in my bathroom, currently drying off before repair. Patterns and textures are ruthless in an urban environment. Most are controlled and directed to our aesthetic appeal which is probably why the rarities, the rotten tiles and spreading fungus are catching my attention right now.
With these kinds of textures in mind, I've been working on this week's project to take photographic material and use it as a source to develop new work - multiple images of similar format that show a progression. I made six 'tiles' to work on. Each had several layers of compressed fabric, wax, plaster and glue to give them heavy texture. Then I painted on these surfaces using a palette similar to the scenes in the derelict warehouse. Finally, I took strips of wax paper and obscured each image more heavily corresponding to the progression in size.
I'm obscuring my own images more frequently these days - I'm not sure why. Perhaps preventing total clarity encourages us to assume facets of image by ourselves. Its also a way to encourage chance effects. In the case of these tiles, I fixed the paper to the back of each without checking to see which parts of the painted surface were obscured. Let the chips fall where they may.
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06/11/08
I'm into November and the weather is letting me know it. Each day I scurry with my bags between the flat and the studio, scarf wrapped around my head. We've been revisiting some source drawing and expanding upon it, trying out little experiments with new materials, focusing in on little aspects of existing drawing that appeal. Its really a sketchbook process with the scope to work a little more messily. Eventually, working like this may lead to a finished 'product' - usually pretty abstract. I'm not sure this worked for me, it really seemed to dissolve into a process of making pattern for the sake of it. I'm not particularly interested in its applications although I probably would be if I was keen on following a design or textiles path. This piece is the result of this project - I tried to impose some pictorial context on it.
I've also been back in the life-drawing studio although the working conditions were laughable. The construction studio on the other side of the wall was continuously producing the sound of hammering and sawing. For three days the School has been open to the public so we had groups of a dozen or so at a time wandering around the studio while we were attempting to concentrate on portraiture. The icing on the cakes was having a photographer's camera flash going off - unbelievable. Every time I felt myself slipping into that zone of concentration, something else happened to get me gnashing my teeth. Anyway, I managed to produce a couple of almost acceptable works.
Four years go by quickly. It was round about this time that I bemoaned online the "re-election" of George Bush. I wonder how many historians are eagerly queuing up to note eight years of electoral, corporate and political criminality.
Obama will be the US's next president. Whether he improves the sorry state of the world left by these eight years remains to be seen. Regardless of his competence or policies, it is a truly wonderful thing to have a person of a different skin colour in office. It exemplifies progress and hope - something the previous administration actively discouraged. In any case, I can't feel anything but fury and cynicism over all the fake terrorist warnings, meaningless arrests and orange alerts that have done so much damage. I wonder how many minority communities feel alienated as a result of these last few years. Maybe things can improve.
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24/10/08
This last week has been about sculpture / construction. Whatever you want to call it. I knew it was coming and spent little time thinking about what was going to happen. That warehouse, with its fetid crumbling plasterboard and plants bursting through them insisted itself upon the project. I thought about a truce between the human artifacts and the ugly plantlife. I thought of a hybrid plant, something that grew geometric or architectural forms.
There wasn't a whole lot of experimentation on paper, the design was already there in my head and it didn't need a lot of change. When considering the materials, I realised I had the chance to use a whole lot of things I've had lying around for over a year. I started in the studio with cardboard, latex, wire, string, wool, tape, acrylics, plaster and various other found objects I don't have names for.
It was a messy and smelly process. The latex stank out the studio within five minutes. Time was the only restriction - successive layers of plaster and glue had to dry before each next step could be taken. For the most part, each 'plant' was constructed upside down - the drips of paint and glue would run and dry to the whim of gravity.
In the end, I made four plants of different sizes. The largest is maybe 5 foot, the smallest, 10 inches. I arranged them with fishing line outside the studio. I'm very inexperienced with sculpture and choosing a location is like choosing a frame for a painting - simply, I have to follow my gut. A shared backdrop of natural light, and plant life seemed right though.
Ultimately, this project didn't require a great deal of effort. It was simply taking an idea and making a model representation of it. I can't help feeling that installation or sculpture of this sort is always going to be a scaled down version of a far physically larger construction. If time or money were no object, it would make more sense to make a hundred of these things - heights varying from those seen here to 30 feet - now that would be something. Give me the turbine hall!
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15/10/08
After an intensive three weeks of relentless drawing, I now have a "study week" to research material for some 3D work. I'm working to a brief, telling me to find a location and explore it visually - take photos but try to source images laterally. Ultimately, any location is going to force itself on individual imagery. Even so, a person can always trust the camera to throw up some surprises.
I found a derelict industrial building that was a real mess. Normally, we all have a certain child-like wonder when interacting with such a space but this was just nasty. There were rats scurrying from me, used drug needles, broken glass and a rusty nail lurking somewhere to catch every careless movement. Big parts of the ceiling had fallen in, leaving jagged timbers and the areas that were still in place looked ready to crash in at any moment. Still, it was a fantastic source for imagery, Everything had an unusual texture, colour and atmosphere. As there are a large number of images going into this brief, I've created a new page with several examples - click here.
Back in to the studio on Monday to start the 3D work using these images as a reference. I have plans involving plaster, tubing and a lot of latex.
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08/10/08
I’m lucky to be here.
The Duncan of Jordanstone School of Art is a big institution and, like many other, I’m in the process of finding my feet - well, finding the cafeteria. Like any other time I’ve spent in studios, this is a rigorous regime - 9 to 5 every day and I can do little without a banana and a cup of tea in me. One simple thing I’ve immediately been struck by is the quality of natural light getting into the studios - something I was sorely missing back in Glasgow.
The course has started intensively. I find myself struggling to finish work within allotted time, drawing installation structures with particular emphasis on linear, tonal variations, reflection, textures, etc. As one would expect, I am using a variety of materials pretty alien to me. Its been a long time since I’ve struggled with charcoal upon highly textured paper, or layered PVA glue, acrylic and latex into some highly tactile monstrosity. These last weeks are designed to get us revved up with basic drawing skills again before the self-directed stuff happens.
In breaks, the exhibitions department always has something new to keep me baffled. This is an image from a video installation, the occupants are invited to view the presentation from inside a giant inflated metallic bag. The presentation was designed to advertise a hi-tec solution for genetic control over Scotland's population - a little mystifying to me.
The work itself has been ropey. an unfamiliar place and restricted working methods has given rise to studies I'm not pleased with and some that have surprised me. As an example, when working from a 'reflective' installation, I densely layered charcoal, inks, chalk and gel pens to pruduce a drawing of a rusted bolt with a variety of decaying industrial and agricultural objects (engine casings, plow blades, etc). Treating a study like it was going into another sketchbook had me writing on the surface of the drawing in different tones. I was pleasantly surprised with the result.
As for Dundee, I don’t know it. I spend what little spare time I have pacing the streets, familiarising myself and brewing up ideas for new work. I know the next research project is highly self-directed and I have a hunch that I’ll be investigating some local structures. Typically for a former industrial area, huge mills have been converted into student accommodation amongst shattered factories and warehouses. Among these crumbling walls, the local mosque has been situated. Each morning, I am woken by the sound of the call to prayer and the limited view from my loft windows only shows me a giant chimney to accompany the aural vista. I’ve been restricted for three weeks to this source drawing - its time to run with a concept for a while and I suspect that the sound, the mosque and the scenes of decayed industry may be it.
