Post 10b: Fine art gen: ideas

I've been thinking a bit about putting together a list of ideas that could be used towards general call outs for opportunities. What skills could I develop to apply for a broader range of call outs? I think my SL stuff is okay, but has quite a narrow application thus far. I'd like to have the chance to be a bit more spontaneous in my current approach.

1. Re-introduce my twigs project.
2. Try out different ways of showing work: film, sculpture, sound, multi media, installation, photography.
3. Keep looking at other artists.
4. Respond to open calls.

5. Idea: Make some bubbles using bubble bath and place them into a container. Get a torch and shine at the bubble bath container. Set this up at the beginning of the exhibition/installation and title the work '(time and date, 'This is happening now...a lit torch shining onto a beaker containing radox bath foam bubbles').

I suppose I'm trying to say something about the slipperiness of time. Inevitably the bubbles will recede and evaporate. The batteries will run out on the torch - it is perhaps a statement about the ever changing ideas of identity.

Today, I'm alive, breathing and typing on a keyboard in front of my computer. This is what I'm doing now - which is now a then. The self of a few moments ago has now evaporated. Could objects and stuff act as a kind of substitute for the self?

I think an interest in the notion of time passing is something that's represented in the FL project: recording, highlighting, referencing etc. Again I pose the question: What interests and informs my practice? Is it the very essence of the temporariness of my existence? The grand questions?

Post 9b: SL Installation ideas/musings

I'm conscious that i don't want my life work project to be misunderstood. Is the FL too narrow? How can I develop the project using other media? I guess to keep on adding to my list of artists could help in the evolution of the project.

Is the football element another vehicle to convey less obvious messages? I think there is certainly an element of subversion at play with my project. I suppose football is quite often seen as the anathema of art. The two don't necessarily go hand in hand. The game is traditionally of the people - but then I'm not necessarily a true supporter. How many times have I seen my team play...once?

As I continue to write I begin to question why I keep various elements of my work separate? surely, it's all good for the mix? I suppose it's still boiling down to the question of 'What am I trying to say?' I'd like to hit the nail on the head here.

Well I have interests. The collection of data. I also feel irritated at times that I don't always have the voice I'd like. I think I'd like to be more outspoken and have the confidence to really believe in my ideas and just run with them. There's just too much introspection that is really quite restrictive.

Post 8b: SL (Real time)

An ongoing problem I have with the SL is keeping up. I need to accept that this will always be the case if I've set myself such a task. I'm about 3 years behind schedule. Is that a problem? Well, ideally it would be good to catch up, but maybe that adds to the mystique or charm?

So I catch up to the year 2010...then I could get ahead of time. It raises interesting questions all of it's own. This is an ongoing project, but the dates can be deceptive. It raises issues about the latest trend, keeping up to date. The past can often become a bit of a bug bear. Past, present and future are collapsed. I'm the author - I could change the dates to 1564 if I wish.

A date is a label - it anchors events in history. I've now started to record the statistics in sketchbooks before transcribing them on a larger format at my drawing desk. I find the portability of the sketchbook offers the possibility of working on the project in locations other than relying on the studio.

Post 7B: illustrative

I've recently entered some work into a sketchbook show. During a conversation with my significant other, it was pointed out to me that my practice focuses around the use of this meduim. I've been considering how the production of journal based works really is key do what I do. I could somehow look at making this the key to my research topic. I need to find the title of a book devoted to this which I came across during my MA...could be a trip to the library in my alumni capactity...

## The image today explores my interest in the architctural. I enjoty the way one can just allow the pen/pencil to explore the paper and how it was possible that I used an existing object/image as a starting point for an unplanned outcome.

I didn't know what the animals within the boxeas would look like. It could be a loose comment on city living and how people live on top of one another. I'm not really looking to communicate a specific message, rather, I let intuition on my part give the viewer the tools in which to make their own conclusions.

I would also say that it looks 'kinda goofy.' Do I want the viewer to look and smile? Am I playing at part - time comedian? I think humour is a real issue I've got running through my work. It's always been a very dry sense of humour at that!

Who is the viewer? Will they find the image funny. Will it illicit a smile? Maybe I should look at taking a career turn into the world of the stand up? I'm always felt a need to comment, critique. There is also a underlying irritation, I try to keep the work from boiling over into full scale venom!

I think the sketchbook enables me to find a certain kind of honesty which I would find difficult to do in day to day life. There is also something quite satisfying that these images coupled with the various texts will then have an opportunity to be seen in the public realm. I'm deliberately awkward in my drawing. I feel that the work that I just do is enough - I like the feeling that it isn't completely contrived.

Why the hats? They also look kind of blocky. This is probably me continuing the theme odf modernist architectural shapes but also referincing crude digital technology...pixels.

11th Dec 2010

I went to the sketchbook show last night and was interested in the varied selection of sketchbooks that were on show. Ideaally, I'd like to pay another visit and spend a good day looking at the books and making notes.

I think that there could be mileage in this as a project and will also consider the viability of attending the symposium that's attached to the exhibition in Feb 2011.

Post 6b: Fine Art Gen

I've been snowed in here in the UK due to quite extreme weather conditions. I live in a village and find it interesting that many people are spending time shovelling snow from under their vehicles. I'm not entirely sure that the people really need to do this as the roads are much too treacherous to go into town. There are a lot of people who are off work and I guess the shovelling fill a hole if you'll excuse the pun.

I'm interested in the change in the atmosphere of the village as people who are normally at work are now at home, in their driveways armed with shovels. It almost evokes a feeling of a bygone era when people used to spend more time in their rural locations. It also seems to promote the idea of the social. There is a real sense of community, people stopping to talk to one another - a commonality.

Post 5b: Fine art gen.

I'm wading through my current practice and trying to make some sense of it all. I feel the need at the moment to divise my postings into thgree segments:

1. FL
2. Sketch and Illo
3. Fine art general

I think the addition of this last segment will allow me to float and enable intuition. I think it's important to allow time for experimentation - it helps fuel the fires of creativity. I think it's all fulfilling the same aim, but I feel I need to find a way of tying it all together. I think the reintroduction of the blog is an exciting development for me in trying to make sense of my work and research.

Post 4b (ill)

I've decided to keep my posts all on Lunderbach. I'm going to separate out the illustrative work from the fine art for the time being as I feel I need to make sense of my posting.

I realise that I'm going to be combining the two, but I need to keep the SL stuff separate because I suffer from the dibilitating head turning syndrome!

I went to Lincoln on Friday to submit some sketchbooks for a show. I realised that I really need to write more about my drawing as I was required to include a statement about my work and felt that the writing was a bit forced/stale. I guess that only comes with practice - hence the new blog postings.

The image I've posted here is called 'waiting for work on a Sunday evening.' I feel that drawing gives me an outlet for my insecurities and daily worries of coping with the real world. I guess most people get that Sunday feeling - perhaps some feel it more than others though. I enjoy being able to say things in my work that aren't necessarily appropriate in the day to day. It's good to get the observations out there.

Although, it's a pretty subjective thing to deal with, people come from very different places. Is my work therefore a kind of therapy? Is it something that is be self indulgent? I think I must consider my audience, perhaps hoping that there are some shared issues that they, the viewer can relate to.

I think this is where commissioned illustration differs from 'Fine Art.' I'd still like to do a series of politically inspired works, especially in light of the current climate and aim to produce work for an editorial portfolio.

Post 3b (SL).

I've been thinking about carpeting the gallery space with synthetic grass for the show proposal. what am I trying to achieve by doing this? My initial thought has got something to do with the aesthetic appearance. It could look like an interesting statement or it could fail. I think that I need to keep writing about this.
I remember about 10 years ago I 'planted' a series of twigs with speech bubbles coming from them in a section of synthetic grass - these could also play a part in the exhibition. I think they are somehow loosely related. So as i said, I'll need to keep writing down the thoughts - and I think the informal nature of the blog format is a good place to begin.
I've also been thinking about how the art of the 'fastasy or imagined' can take or reinterpret events or experiences from the 'real'.
I opened my studio recently and had an interesting conversation with another studio artist and he revealed the following ideas and thoughts about the project:

'The scribbled out text is suggestive of hidden messages, as though something is bubbling under the surface.' It was also likened as a kind of Davinci Code.

I could use metallic badges of the clubs as part of the exhibition - with a Blue Peter quality.

I could print out the tables/san them and make them smaller through the process of baking in the oven or shrinkies. This is similar to the quality achieved when one deflates a baloon.

I want to encourage audience participation. I copuld invite members of the public to identify themselves with one of my imaginary teams and sign up to a kind of contract or membership to a particular club. I could make up a selection of conditions for membership. This brings about thoughts of attachment or a need to affiliate oneslf to a team. It has a lot to do with identity and how we use signs to make up our identities as human beings.

7/01/11


I was listening to a radio 4 programme today which touched upon the way data can be unrelable/distorted. The book is called 'proofiness.'

I'm going to use this part of my blog as a place where I can put together ideas for my show and try to remember some of the ideas discussed yesterday (06/01/11) with the curator.

1. Astroturf segment...this could be a simple carpeted shape in the gallery space...it could also be used to site a cup on top of...

2.

Post 2b: SL

I'm interested in keeping this blog informal and allowing the writing to be fairly loose. Why not include the odd spelling mistake and gramattical error? I feel that these kinds of concerns can potentially inhibit the creative flow of the text.

Today I've been thinking about how I use the stuff of the real world as the research for my SL project. I'm a frequent listener to 'Talk Sport' radio and find myself immersed in the day to day chit chat that mainly surrounds to ongoings in the football world. I find listening takes me to another space. I think it's a form of escapism. It's interesting how fickle the media can be from one game to the next.

Post 1b: SL

The Sporting League

I’m starting a write up about all my research that relates to the Sporting and Colbreck leagues. I’d also like to include anything that may loosely relate to the leagues and will use this paper as a place where I can collate other research that may also be relevant. I could have a reference page that I use for links or possibly a blog page for this purpose….


The Sporting League has been in operation in my mind since the age of 6. It’s a fragment of youth that I’ve held onto and acts as a form of exhibitionism. I’ve always wanted to get others close to the teams and get others to support them.

The league also acts as a parallel world – invisible but made visible through my actions as an artist. I find myself using the ‘real world’ as the starting point for the imaginary…perhaps there is a feeling of ‘the uncanny’.

The team names such as Athletico, Bayerns and Jivintis have geen influenced by my knowledge of European football teams. This began for me in the year 1984 when Liverpool won the European cup. It was the first year when I became aware of a world outside the first division.

I woild pitch myself as Reds’ no 1 player. I’ve been there in the Colbreck league as a player having won that league between the years of 1982-1985. I would look forward to play times and the next great battle would begin. There was a heightened sense of magic. The mind re interpreting the media which resulted in my creation of theoretical football leagues..

I’ve been uploading my written commentaries and scores to a blog over the last year. This is something that I’d like to build upon over the coming months as I begin to play ‘catch up’ with the scores and tables lists.

There is text and biro on paper. I think it’s important for me to use the democratic tool of a biro as it’s what I originally used when I was younger. I I could potentially build the league into a completely virtual/digital experience but feel that it’s important to keep the raw edged essence of the ‘look’ of the project in the hand made biro style. This could also be my way of saying no to the corporate and sticking with the DIY ethic.. This gives some ideas about the sense of the word ‘truth’. Being true to oneself and using ‘honest’ materials. Am I a victim of the brand The biro? Branding is an important part of my philosophy in my Sporting project and through my observations on life in general.

I take on the Warhol idea of trying to act like a computer. I turn myself into a computer like entity when working out the scores and transcribing them into my series of sketchbooks.

The artworks are frequently broken down into their basic element. I’m writing lists and statistics on paper and am living out what could be seen as an obsession to the outsider. What is an obsession? Why do obsessions frequently appear to have a negative connotation attached?

The text is dominated by dividing lines that make up crudely drawn grid formats. The ready reckoner is a simple grid that is the core of my theoretical world. There is a centre, without which I have to guess the scoresw and don’t have a place for a written record. This begs the question…’Do they need to be brought to the attention of the public? What wider function do the leagues serve?


I look back to the early days, the things that evoked the senses from various stages of my youth. When I was at primary school there were the cones, the bibs, the park in willaston and a sense of community – bringing together – looking back and renewal. I would imagine the crowd cheeringthrough the breeze of the trees in the park. The leaves representing people in the crowd in the summer months. A tree stump would become an advertising hording. The bits of grass ion the school field would be akin to individual football stadia. Each area would have it’s own personality. From the Colbreck pitch to the Parkish pitch. These places formed the beginnings of narratives and later to my interest in European football teams an the sense of the exotic.


Why do I sometimes feel it’s all a waste of time and they’re childish?Why do we do what we do? There are a range of things that I could give my attention to in life, but why an imaginary football league? I’m already at a disadvantage in that time keepson moving and there is often a sense of failure and the struggle to keep up or play catch up with the statistics.
I think that football has always been a constant source of intrigue to me. I’ve always enjoyed listening to the latest scores as they’ve filtered through on the radio.

Is there something amiss to a 36 year old man admitting that he still continues the games of youth? What am I trying to say and what will the continuation enable me to voice in the future.

I was listening to a caller on ‘Talk Sport’ of which I’m a regular listener to a Man Utd supporter getting angry about a star player (wayne Rooney) leaving the club and bad business dealings. My thoughts moved onto ‘Why isn’t this man talking about his home, wife, kids and things that are worth getting angry about?'

Is the projected anger from men towards their club something other than their unease at the teams bad fortune? Could it be something to do with being uneasy that time on this planet is short lived?


Is it a way to express oneself - giving a sense of meaning to life through a fiction? I went to see a Germaine Greer talk in Oct and she was talking about how men have managed to hold onto this playfulness from youth and is something women don't really have. I must see if I can find some of her writing about this issue.

I'm forever questioning is the SL something childish? a waste of time? Why football? Am I keeping my options too narrow by following this particular line of enquiry? Lists, table and statistics are something that have always engaged me. The osesssive look.

This questioning of 'a waste of time' could be a research question all it's own. What defines 'a waste of time.' There are many recreational activities that could be said to be just that but people are engaged in a whole host of activities.











What is the relationship between drawing and the football leagues?

The medium of drawing is pivotal to the development of the football league project. There are many ways in which one can define the term of drawing from the stud marks in the turf of the football pitch to the worn out mud patches on the wreck or in the school playground. Drawing is a way of evidencing an event. It could be the footprints on the concrete of a football stand to the litter left by the supporters at the end of the game. These hints and suggestions could provide me with further ideas/sources for future projects.

So we have ‘found’ or conceptual drawings, coincidental drawing as mentioned above to intentional drawing. This could include my sketchbook depictions of Sporting League’ players.

Is writing drawing? How does the word ‘Athletico ‘ differ from a gesture or mark? Then there are the figures and statistics. Are they still drawings?

Ignition

I've been thinking that it's about time that I started this blog back up again. I want to use it as a place to document my thoughts and possibly use it as a testing ground to use for my main blog.

What is the purpose of setting this one back up again? Perhaps it could be a place where I can gather info and links to my ongoing projects and any interesting research material that I pick up on the way.