Found portraits in a temple...

Not sure if it is highly offensive or insensitive to show these, but the guy in the temple didnt seem to mind when I took them...

Behind every great man

...lies a determined woman. I would like to take this opportunity to thank mine again for her continued support and encouragement, not to mention focus and organisation. Heres to you my love, more or less on valentines I guess....

Postcard from Shanghai

artistic developments

There has been much discussion in the household recently about progress, development and achievement. Perhaps it has to do with the coming of the Lunar New Year, or perhaps as the end of the second month of the European calendar slides into view, a certain panic at the slipping of the sands of time, as weighed against creative output. Well the discussions (with others and with myself between 4am and 6am usually) have on the whole been positive. In truth the no nonsense organisational skills of my better half have indeed cleared the air of much aetherial arty debris and dust to bring a new focus to my activity in general. Precipitated mostly by the talk of whether to actually employ a cleaner/maid/carer type person, my daily routine and achievement has come under scrutiny in much the same way as a school may endure an OFSTED or a sales team come under review. It has been painful, difficult but useful, and I feel more positive at the end of it all. I still have a great deal to achieve, have lots to do to reach a suitable standard (one that I am happy with) but I have a concrete and practical plan to propogate my artwork in a physical and commercial sense.

The current plan involves the staging of an exhibition sometime in June (venue to be confirmed) to launch the Commercial Illustration aspect of my productivity. I am also developing a series of illustrations whose general appearance and underlying content I am more or less excited by- a rare position indeed.

I am also happy to present the latest image and identity that will accompany this commercial venture- this little sucker has been a painful and absorbing 3 months in development... (this is in an unofficial capacity of course... yes you lot are the lucky witnesses of a world exclusive preview of what will become one of the world's- no wait- hersey household's leading brands)-



Some of you will remember the first draft of this roundel from a post earlier in the year. I would love to hear comments on the development, or general feeling, or criticism of any kind on this one. You, my little ears, eyes and testbed of unbiased opinion.

How the mighty are fallen

Imagine my surprise to stumble upon a little exhibition of Julian Schnabels work whilst out with the kids the other day. Tucked away in Thumb Plaza is the humble Zendai Museum of Modern Art, a little brother to the MOCA (contemporary art) in Renmin Park. Its a nice space but poorly maintained, hit and miss curatorially and I suspect woefully under-attended (this is, after all, Pudong not Puxi). I really like schanbels work, even his plate paintings look worthwhile in the flesh. Funny how already it looks a bit dated- its the stuff I was crazy about when I left college cos it was so edgy, and that was barely 10 years ago. Matilda was shocked to see the word SHIT in one of them. I was encouraged and relieved.

New Years Day, 2008

The other day

I saw a man in the canal on a boat. His boat was old, and moved laboriously and slowly. In his hand was a long bamboo pole, the end of which was affixed with a looped wire, and around this was woven a mesh, so as to create a kind of net. He leaned carefully out to starboard as I passed, and gingerly tried to fish the large lump of icey snow out of the water. Maybe it was a snowman who had been pushed in. The weather was warmer now- indeed no other trace of ice or sub zero temperature was evisent, in the river or on the path on which I walked. The sun had crept out from behind the evaporating grey cloud cover that had occupied the city for the last week. On the whole, it was feeling much warmer. As I turned the corner, I looked back to see how he was getting on. He was nearly ashore, one arm on the tiller of the motor, the other straining to hold the leverage of the snow at the end of the long bamboo. He dumped the snow onto the bank, then turned his boat back out into the canal, looking for more work to occupy the rest of his day. The sun shone brightly for the rest of my walk home.

Milestones

last post was the Hundredth Post of this Blog. happy blogday to me, happy blogday to me,happy blogday shanghersy, happy blogday to me.

Allegory

I was surprised to see this small plant flowering despite the constant freezing temperatures- perhaps unwisely- this plant may well thrive in the cold. My flowery preconceptions try and place some sugary disney notion of life's struggle against the odds.

remarkable beautiful

One thing that you do not see to any great extent (in the context of an 18 million strong metropolis) is graffiti. Sure there is some, and indeed a I suspect subculture of 'art-graffiti' which I am yet to infiltrate, however the bog standard Kilroy woz ere is somehow absent.

Imagine then, my surprise when I was confronted with this amazing montage at Peoples square station (the busiest interchange station of the metro network). There are plenty of other large format posters, and plenty of dark corners in which to etch ones mark on the world, so I am baffled as to why this very prominent, very normal inoffensive looking area should be the victim of such intense activity (there is a chance that such activity has infact been called by the text on the poster but firstly I doubt it and secondly I wouldnt know because my mandarin character recognition is not up to it...)