Post 144

How To be Platonic.

Guy Browning.

The Guardian.

Post 143

Post 142

How to be bored: Guy Browning

The Guardian.

I was thinking about how the eye moves around the image. Mr Pisces looking bored at the human engaged in the mundane.

Materials: Ink, Rotring, Faber Castell Pitt.

Post 140

I see the illuminated road bollard and other types of street furniture as signifiers of the non-place. This is my initial subjective response to the object...possibly as a way of me trying to anchor my project using a structuralist approach.

'Saussure argued that the sign was composed of a signifier ("Sound Image") ans signified ("Concept"). His key point, however, was that signs do not stand in for things, or objects in the world, and that the connection between a sign, such as "cat", and the object in the world such as a furry domestic animal, is arbitrary. what this means is that the sign functions, or works for us, because it is part of a system of signs."

Jean Baudrillard, Richard J. Lane. Routledge critical Thinkers. P.15-16

When I'm out and about with the sketchbook in the landscape, i find myself drawn to street furniture and how it contrasts with the environment...grass, trees, birds etc.

The word furniture (for me) echoes of 'home'. a safe place, the haven. Images or signs float through my consciousness...armchairs, cupboards, coffee tables...the smell of polishing products tainting a homely reverie. The street furniture of the outdoors, to me suggests the non-place or placelessness.

The photograph of my mini paper sculpture with two bollards suggests that they are part of a narrative. They could be a still from a film...perhaps something is about to enter the frame? They could be analogous to the human form...a suggestion of vulnerability and sensitivity are hinted at through the line.

Post 139

This is a traffic island at the edge of my village. There is something alien about this area at night, although strangely comforting in its everywhereness.

I've tried using a photoshop effect on my line which I quite like. Does the non-place need to be those places as mentioned by Auge?

I'm in the process of sending an application to my local airport to contribute towards my final project. My aim until mid January is to be prolific with my drawing and continue to use the layout pad in exploring the possibility of producing a series of textless (or minimal) narratives.

'When driving for example, we experience much more than our five senses report. The whole car - or just the parts we see, feel and hear - is very much on our minds at all times.

The vehicle becomes an extension of our body. It absorbs our sense of identity. We become the car.

If one car hits another, the driver of the vehicle being struck is much more likely to say "Hey he hit me!".

Our identities and awareness are invested in many inanimate objects every day. our clothes for example, can trigger numerous transformations in the way others see us and in the way we see ourselves'.

Understanding Comics, The invisible Art, Scott Mcloud. A kitchen sink press book for Harper Perennial. PP38

Post 138

Is a sacred political tradition being upheld? Oh Yes it is...

'It's a classic seasonal farce: first MPs casually strip us of our rights and liberties - then they get worked up about losing their own.'

The Guardian 06/12/08

Article by Maria Hyde

An illustration responding to the arrest of Tory MP David Green.

Post 137

'Alone, but one of many, the user of a non-place in contractual relations with it or with the powers that govern it). He is reminded, when necessary, that the contract exists. One element in this is the way the non-place is used: the ticket is bought, the card he will have to show at the tollbooth, even the trolley he trundles round the supermarket, are all more or less clear signs of it.'

Non-places intro to an anthropology of supermodernity

Marc Auge PP101.

I wandered with my sketchbook around a supermarket and found the nearest bench, a safe haven from which to consider a place of respite for the customer and respite for the trolley.

The trolley and it's bay are clear signs/ signifiers of the non-place. As an illustrator, I drew the legs of the trolley with a sense of urgency, suggesting that the trolley is a vulnerable object, its legs and feet sharing a relationship akin to it's temporary owner who has abandoned it like a treasured pet whilst enjoying the delights of the cafe.

Post 136

I came across this little character at an exhibition in Leeds a couple of years ago. I'm interested in those little snapshots of time and how an image can form as part of a fractured narrative.

The rusted wall in the background, for me evokes memories of fishing with my step dad in The Isle Of Man in the early 80's. I'm not too sure how 'good' this little guy really is? Is he winding us up?

Post 135

I've decided to make the blog my central point of research again. I'll use a rough and ready approach in which the contents can contribute towards a more formal peice of writing/reflection.

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'Cities have been undergoing many complex processes of postmodernization which ahve affected what Soja sees as 'urbanized' ways of living and thinking. amoung the ( sometimes contradictory) restructurings noted by Soja are:

Drastic changes in industry, The growth of global cities, Increased Surveillance.

Teach yourself PM Glenn Ward. pp185

"Place is space that is occupied. The identity of self, group and nation is bound up with ideas and representations of particular space(s0...The more detailed the definition of identity, the more they are associated with particular places. the difference between us and them is often based on location. what makes it there is them and what makes it here is us.'

Short, JR (2001) Global Dimensions: space, Place and the Contemporary World, p.16, London: Reaktion Books.

Post 134

'The passenger through non-places retrieves his identity only at customs, at the toll-booth, at the check out counter. Meanwhile, he obeys the same code as others, receives the same messages, responds to the same entreaties. The space of non-place creates neither singular identity nor relations; only solitude and similitude.

No-places, Marc Auge, pp103.

Post 133

I've spent the morning closer to home today after the wonders of my car breaking down on the outskirts of Doncaster.

I started my journey with a visit to a roadside cafe which is about a mile outside my village. in the winter the outside door is closed so you can never tell who is already inside. I opened the door to find the husband and wife staff team sat a a table. The woman stands up and says:

'Its cold today - are you eating out?'

'I'd like to eat in - a bacon bap and a cup of coffee please.'

I'm interested in whether the staff would ask a trucker the same question 'to eat out?'. I became aware of my appearance and of myself entering a narrative of sorts. I found it difficult to draw which was frustrating. I feel an environment where there are more customers provides a more favourable setting for an under cover artist. I was wondering whether they might have seen me as a potential health and safety inspector as I scribbled in my notebook. Perhaps it's best for me to concentrate on responding to these non-places using the written word.

'Cheers mate.' As my bacon bap arrives. I stand up again and pour some milk in my coffee. I felt out of place, standing out like a sore thumb. The walls were adorned with 50's style American diner posters with the sound of Jeremy Kyle intro music coming from the TV.

Post 128

I made this drawing in the little chef car park and then worked further in photoshop- combining with a photograph taken on Cleethorpes seafront.

My day has been, well interesting. I took the journey down the M180 and produced a series of drawings from non-place no2: the Moto services north of Doncaster only for my car to break down.

I spent the rest of the day in a non-space waiting room of a garage on the outskirts of Doncaster after being towed by the RAC.

post 127

How to pry: Guy Browning.

Guardian. 06/12/08.

Here is the first of my weekly (at least!) responses to newspaper articles.

Here are a few extracts from the article.

'We like to mind other people's business because most of us, in terms of our own lives, are only small business owners.'

'knowing something gives pleasure. Knowing something that other people don't know is even more pleasurable.'

'...Knowing something that noone else knows you know is a bliss very close to ignorance...'


'Snooping on neighbours is hard not to do when you live close to them and hear their every movement...'

post 126

www.the spacesbetween.co.uk

'Non-places are spaces of transport and transit that are lacking any historical significance and strong symbolism. If a place can be defined as relational, historical and concerned with identity, the a space which cannot be defined as relational historical or concerned with identity will be a non-place.'

P77 Marc Auge in Non-places An Introduction To Anthropology Of Supermodernity.

The Tesco car park...place or non-place? Does the style of a drawing influence the representation of these spaces? I need start looking at the spaces between the spaces...how does one illustrate a non-place?

I intend to produce an illustrated series of drawings, writing, video and visits to 'traditional' non-places such as car parks, supermarkets, Little chef, petrol stations, industrial parks along the A180 stretch between Grimsby and the service station area at the end of the road. I'll conclude my road trip with an overnight and stroll the hallowed halls of the heavenly travelodge.

Who needs the authentic holiday experience when you can have it all on and around the motorway?