More hot air

UK at the Shanghai EXPO is where I am currently also blogging about just about ferck awll. Writing for a living must be shit. Good job I do it for free :)

Spring almost sprung

Its almost here- after fits and starts, the odd false alarm- spring is almost upon Shanghai.

Disaster tart cards

Accompanying the watercolours are a series of custom designe cards depicting services that indulge the user in the joys of destructive acts...

Loss

Sometimes there comes a vacuum in ones life which is precipitated by the absence of some physical or emotional thing, and like any vacuum, objects, feelings and emotions surrounding it are sucked into oblivion. Losing something precious, not getting a job, an accidental misfortune- all these things can engender such a sense of loss and darkness.
The loss can be physical or emotional, tangible or somehow unquantifiable. That is common to us all and to an extent part of everyone's life. What can frustrate one more however is the draw and demand on ones inspiration, or general disposition, that such a loss creates. It can be very hard to summon the energy to explore ideas, to turn the insides out, extrapolate them, reflect them, think of every other connotation in order to establish the pinnacle of creativity… when your soul is clouded by a vacuum of loss.
It is also, however, in itself a source of inspiration. Many of the greatest works of art- music, literature, painting- are direct responses to tragedy, loss or misery. Somehow, their creators, when faced with the dark cloud, the negative space or the draining sensation, summon their will to not only overcome but to feed off and be driven tby the vacuum. It belies a remarkable sense of creativity to be able to do this, and not all of us are capable of reacting in this way. For the rest of us, stamina, grit and determination are all we have at our disposal to evade the vacuum, and to return to normality and inspiration.

more newbies

These studies will form part of a conceptual piece whereupon they exist as museum pieces violated by small tart cards, which are poked into the frames and advertise destructive forces of human nature... will upload the cards later

The Joy of Destruction

Thanks to the conceptual input of my better half, I have managed to veer slightly away from the seedy and obvious interpretation of the theme, realising instead a proposition that was first introduced to me during a Year 10 GCSE lesson at Tec...

New Show

Libido Mortido will investigate the contrasting instincts of creation and destruction, (love and loss, passion and pain- by my interpretation)

This is a sketch for a new poster based on 'tart cards'- which I have since discovered exist only in UK and are irrelevant to the wider audience. blast!

Planet Dearth

Not much to inspire the written word- or more a lack of time with which to tease worthwhile phrases from the ether of my mind. There is stuff (out)in there, but its just finding the time to eek them out.

The new exhibition also is a pressure, but coming along nicely. An evening at the gallery-studio last night with the whole family in tow was actually a pretty productive time and the kids enjoyed making nut and bolt toys, tanking around the gallery on skateboards and crashing into valuable artworks with dirty fingerprints... kelly was an inspiration to my painting, helping (as usual) to devise brilliant theme for a series of paintings- but I dont have time to explain it now. Hopefully I can post some visual evidence when the works are complete...

More Blogg...

I am actually live and direct on the british governments very own website...

New images

More Dianography... local urban sketches...

Don't just leave it...

Is it a characteristic of a creative soul to find inspiration in the new, but to wane once the novelty has worn off? It is with me, and thus the Don’t Just Do It project has lain untouched for months… so I have decided to try and revamp a little, starting with some header artwork- not quite a brand, but a handy visual to trot out where necessary…

Just need to find a wordpress skin to accomodate it now…

Project development..

Working on the 6ism project for the Gallery… This means lots of writing and producing content, without much time… Have thoroughly enjoyed playing around with this for the spalsh page, and a flag aswell…



The Republic...

Have got stuck right into some beautiful cuts of the Bodoni font, I think they’re by those geniuses of typographism, P22 but I may be wrong…

Here’s a clip of the splash…




The site is becoming a collaboration of writers and thinkers more than artists, but that is kind of the point… keep an eye on the wiki for updates :)

Visual Accompaniment - Mrs Smith I presume

At last, I finally get around to uploading some very poor quality pics of the latest piece... It's called Diedre Smith, and its oil on canvas. A nod to Lucien, a drop of the velvets and a dollop of carry-on - well that's it feels like to me anyway...




This piece is currently exhibited as part of the Fakir exhibition at island6...

notes: new post

...behind my house- reconstruction, renovation, the EXPO steams on... man in cabin, fag in mouth, swinging the hyraulic arm and scoop with dexterity of a pianist. Rubble, dirt, that awful clay that suppoerts this entire town... a dump truck- battered, tired, blue and cream- its driver also sucking down a doubl happiness or two. Driver flicks ash. A woman returns home through the alleyway onto this scene, hoping to advance to her home in the tower block whose forecourt so desperately needed renovating. Her path guided by a lone sheet of 8'x4' to guide her into the hydraulics manic swinging path... her wits and apparently good luck alone will guide her to the other sheet of 8x4 that awaits anyone lucky enough to survive the gauntlet of pot holes, trenches, hardcore and rubble that was her environs this morning. She ducks, stumbles, but unflinching reaches her target, and guided safely to terra firma of the fire doors at the towerblock entrance. Didnt even blink.

Progress

New show opened last night. Exhibiting two major pieces, neither of which I have pics of yet. Was supposed to be DJing but the sound cards kept crashing my mac or not working at all, so had to get the electrician to wire up by hand. Ended up playing Upsetters albums from iTunes...

I also just finished my first entry for a new blog being put together for the British Pavillion at the Shanghai Expo. Thanks to an insider who is running the marketing for the UK presence at the expo, I am the a shining example of how an English artist copes in an Asian artistic environment. Its quite a big deal, and should generate some exposure... wonder if they'll link to this blog...now what did I write about foreign policy back in 2007..?