Before / After

Just for the sheer fucking joy of it 

love

Geoff

British Illustration Now At Gallerie Padi

Consequences

A recently completed project involving 6 artists working to create a unique film. Consequences was completed under a short time scale in an effort to encourage each contributor to work in a more subconscious manner and to force mistakes, subjugating the work to a later party.

 

This is the first of what I hope to be many cycles. Given the nature of the game and the medium of film, many more variations and collaborations can be put to practice. In fact given the vastness of the group I would love to see member from a different cities/countries contributing - Sending the film from Scotland, England and to France (and perhaps even Argentina with Celeste?) could make quite the project.

 

The brief and a link to watch the complete video are attached below (is there a way to embed a video from Vimeo - the file is too large to post here - even after converting and reducing the quality)

 

 

                                                                       Consequences

I propose a video collaboration piece amongst artists that follow the traditions of the game invented by the surrealists, “Exquisite Corpse”. Just to remind ourselves the nature of this game –

Played by a small number of people, each participant is required to draw a body part on a piece of paper in a sequential order. The first player is to draw a head, fold the paper over in order to conceal it, allowing only trail marks/guidelines for the next player to make their mark from. The process is repeated, to comprise a figure of a head, torso, legs and feet. A collectively assembled image can thus be revealed.

Attaching these rules directly to a video project would prove a difficulty given the complex media that is film. In this instance (and in what may well be the first of a series of exchanges), we aim to take the general principle of Exquisite Corpse; that is the act of assembling images based upon another’s prior actions. It is this cause and effect that shall function to be the main purpose of all our exchanges thus, this project shall be titled, Consequences.

To put our project simply, Consequences requires 4 artists. Artist#1 is to shoot and edit a film of his choosing with the resultant film being passed on to Artist#2 to watch in its entirety. Artist#2 shall again shoot and edit a film, though this time in correspondence with Artist#1’s film. The process continues until Artist 4 finishes his film. Artists may only view the preceding film before their turn i.e. Artist#3 shall only view Artist#2’s work in forming his response. Only upon completion of the project shall all films be compiled together and viewed in their entirety for the first time by all involved participants.

Artists are encouraged to be as imaginative as possible in forming their reactions. From viewing the entirety of the previous film, liberty is granted to the artist in what they chose to form a response from. It is not a requirement to pick up where the previous artist left off, though it is an option. Moreover, it is up to the artist on what to utilize in forming their film; be it a given theme, trope, subject, object, sound, etc. Consequences should however be apparent. This is by no means to say all films shall be cut from the same cloth; style, genre, method, language and the very film formats are subject to change, but again, only as a natural reaction.

Unlike Exquisite Corpse, where the goal is to draw a body, we are not collectively working to a specified end. Therefore, in consideration of the preceding film, artists are granted a level of free reign as to where to take the work. As a result, the succeeding artist may change the direction of the project in forming their own response.

Any preconceived ideas are to be immediately discarded. Consequences is to be regarded as a project of collaboration; continuity in some shape or form is key to the success of the project. Furthermore, Consequence takes its process from a sketching game, and so all contributing films are to be sketches. No masterpiece is expected, or rather wanted. Artists are to spend a maximum of 2 days in both filming and editing their sequences before passing it along to the next participant. Films are strictly to be no shorter than 1minute and no longer than 5 minutes.

During the project, films are to be shared only with the succeeding artist. Additionally, artists must not discuss their work until project completion.

 

A coupe of conversations

Had a read of these two interviews cum conversations on the art practices of Ed Atkens and James Richards in Art Review and Haroon Mirza with Louis Doulas. Also have a look at Doulas's website there are quite a few interesting texts/essays/interviews that you can read and download.

HERE is Ed talking to James along and mediated by art reviews Oliver Basciano.

and HERE is Haroon talking to Louis.


Both -for me anyway- are really fascinating discussions on each individuals art practice along with a certain consideration to something that keeps cropping up in my vision at the moment the heady term 'Post-Internet'

yes another post to hammer into the ground and an acknowledgement the Internet has come on gone... no wait

 

Ed

 

 

 

James

 

 

Haroon

 

 

 

Kit

 

Summer Projects

So I'll start off with some photos from my exhibition in Eymet that closed today. Just gonna say thanks to Ian Graham for setting the whole thing up (and shifting all my work). Ok new work first...

Fuck Kunst, Let's Dance

Steel, Concrete, Enamel Paint, E.L Wire, 2013

We Came From Nowhere

Chipboard, Plywood, M.D.F, 2013

 

Don't Run Towards The End

Painted Wood, Burnt Wood, 2013

This Used To Be The Future III

Re-Enforced Concrete, Wooden Trestles, 2013

And some older pieces as well..

Bread & Circuses

Concrete, Plywood, Melamine, 2012

The Sum Of Recent Glories

Chipboard, Plywood, M.D.F, Steel Acros, 2012

 

I'll Tell You Summat For Nowt

Terracotta, Gold Leaf, 2012

Oh Aye Big Man

Screen Print on Paper, 70 x 100 cm, 2012

And finally my video from the summer exhibition at Galerie Padi...

I Know What I Want, Don't Know How To Get It

(Installation View)

Video, 5:02 Mins, 2013

Sam

(dis)appear

I have wrote one poem, inspired by the writings of Jack Kerouac and Charles Bukowski

and I have been fortunate to have it accepted for an upcoming poetry prose publication based in Edinburgh. I submitted the work as an image, text as an image, the reason why it's a photograph of text and not simply typed up, the theme of the publication was lost and found.

[Untitled] #3

Thought I would open this up to the group, brief is explained below in a horrible copy and paste job and wonderfully demonstrated on the creative scotland website.

Submissions wanted for Falkirk art 'zine

[Untitled[ are now open for submissions of any form for their third issue, we are looking for original, inspiring and local artwork that will address the theme and engage with the people of .Falkirk as well as promoting arts in the area.

                                                      

The theme:                                                                              

Black and White

This theme can be interpreted literally as a black and white drawing in any media or explored conceptually for example: opposites or contrasts. All work must be submitting in greyscale!

Requirements:
Text based work must be:
- Poems no more than 25 lines
- Short fiction has a 2000 word count, no more.
- Each entrant can submit up to three poems or stories for consideration

Visual art:
- Images must be 300dpi or more
- Greyscale images only
- Original
- Able to be printed at A5 size
- Each entrant can submit up to three photographs, illustrations, prints for consideration.

Previously published work is accepted as long as you have retained full publishing rights.

Deadline:
30th of August 2013                                                             

Submissions should be sent to - vaa-falkirk@vascotland.org.uk

[Untitled] is available throughout Falkirk.

For more information please visit untitledfalkirk.blogspot.co.uk

Job Vacancy at the Glad Cafe

Hi guys,

Thought I should get at least one post in this month to keep this blog active - there's a job vacancy at the Glad Cafe (that I mentioned back in September) for a full-time waiter/waitress. It's only £6.19 an hour and you need one to two years previous experience (so that counts me out unfortunately), but you'll be working in probably one of the more interesting venues that Glasgow has to offer (lots of interesting film and live music events going on), and it's not too far away from where you all live. Give it a look-see!

http://www.thegladcafe.co.uk/job.html

John

The Other Kwai

Well my art residency at the Sura Medura is into it's last week and nearly up. I'll be exhibiting my work in an out door cinema space just off the beach at the Sunbeach Hotel in Hikkaduwa this Saturday and will be followed up by a Q&A Discussion.



Kit

[Untitled]

A few days ago, I belatedly put out a call for submissions for issue 2 of [Untitled], well here it is, the online version anyway.

Craig

p.s sorry if it slows the blog down.

[Untitled] #2 by Craig Allan

Ich mag Deutschland und Deutschland mag mich

As some of you may know, I spent the weekend at the Scooterist Meltdown at Kalkar in Germany. 1500 Scooterboys/girls & skins partying at a decommissioned nuclear powerplant cum all inclusive Vegas-kitsch holiday park was well worth the 14 hour drive each way so I’ll start with a couple of photos of that…

Ok, but this is an art blog, right? By happy coincidence, on the other side of town is the Schloss Moyland.

The castle holds the archives of local boy done good, Joseph Beuys. The gallery holds around 4,000 works and letters dating back to the late 1940’s and in addition to a permanent collection runs themed collections of Beuys work. The current exhibtion is Joseph Beuys and the Swan (This starting to feel like an omen!)

Unfortunately I couldn’t get any pictures inside but I think we all have at least a working knowledge of his oeuvre (if not click here) so I’ll just leave you with my thoughts and reflections.

1, I’m not super interested in his drawings, too many look like pages torn from sketchbooks. I can see some value in exhibiting them to trace the development of his personal iconography but that’s about it. I got the feelings that the drawings go a long way to making up the 4,000 works!

2, I realised that I am far more interested in the idea of Beuys/the ideas of Beuys than any particular work he made. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the exhibition. Maybe this fits in with his ideas of social sculpture?

3, I was reminded of something that Matthew Collings said in conversation with Bob & Roberta Smith,

“His things only seemed to work if he was there in person, being a shaman”

I felt that the exhibition had more of a museum vibe than a gallery feel. The works were presented more as artefacts (a felt suit hanging like a suit of armour for example) than as artworks in their own right.  Maybe this is an inherent consequence of presenting a record of transient performances or actions? Maybe it’s that I don’t very often go to see the work of dead artists?

4, I really wish I could read German.

I've just realised that a lot of the above sounds a bit negative which isn't really true, I very much enjoyed seeing that much of Beuys' work across his whole career collected in one place and the setting was stunning too. Well worth a visit if you ever happen to be in Nord Rhine-Westphalia.

I'll leave you with a picture I drew a while ago for Manifesto...

Sam x

Limerent Objects

Happy new year/February everyone,

So after a year or so of relative inactivity I'm trying to be a little more self-productive with my time...

I've started a new project called Limerent Objects that's dedicated to organising film/video screenings in Leeds centered around underground music culture - the first event is taking place on February 14th 2013 at Wharf Chambers where I'll be screening some little seen videos made by the sound art project Nocturnal Emissions. Here's all the info for it:

Limerent Objects is proud to present a Sterile Records double bill screening of:

BLEEDING IMAGES (1982, 46 minutes, VHS)
THE FOETAL GRAVE OF PROGRESS (1984, 34 minutes, VHS) 

Perhaps THE quintessential audiovisual statements of the post-industrial music scene. Provocative in content, prescient in style, these medium-length videos captured the subversive interests and activities of the pioneering sound art project The Nocturnal Emissions against a contextual backdrop of the UK between 1981 and 1984; a time rife with mass unemployment, civil unrest, media hysteria, political indifference, terrorism and war overseas. Burroughsian cut-ups reveal subliminal imagery hidden in exploitative mainstream broadcasting; shocking images of real-life violence against living beings are critically employed to expose our complacency in everyday cruelty; the thunderous soundscapes and ritual performances of The Nocturnal Emissions awaken the viewer’s senses to our undermining culture controlled by fear and repression… 

Rarely viewed since their initial home video releases and screenings at the Tate and ICA in the UK as a result of the imposing 1984 Video Recordings Act, both videos remain impressive today as early influential examples of the extended music video and key moments of the British independent video art movement. Countless artists and broadcasters have emulated or outright stolen the ambitions, aesthetics and techniques used in the videos of The Nocturnal Emissions, either directly or through watered-down copies - few however can match the tremendous power of the original works which are long overdue public and critical reassessment in these increasingly pertinent times. 

This screening is taking place at Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club in Leeds on February 14th 2013. Free entry with small donations welcomed. Doors open at 19:30. A short talk and introduction by the organiser will precede the first video at 20:00 - second video will be shown after 21:00. Please be aware that these videos contains flashing images and some footage that may disturb those of a sensitive disposition. 

Special thanks to Nigel Ayers/Earthly Delights and Piitu Lintunen for making this event possible.
Facebook event page 

*Wharf Chambers Co-operative Club is a members’ club, and you need to be a member, or a guest of a member, in order to attend. To join, please visit wharfchambers.org. Membership costs £1 and requires a minimum of 48 hours to take effect.*

You can find Limerent Objects on Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter if you want to like/follow/stalk me...

John

(Not bad for something I quickly knocked up in Paint!)

Venice Biennale

Yeah so I know I'm late,

but it all looks so cool


http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/07/the_2009_venice_biennale.html

Todays Experiments

It's Sunday, I was bored, so I spent a few hours playing in the studio...

 

 Stacked trestles, could have gone two levels higher if it wasn't for the ceiling & the fact that it was cold, wet & windy outside

Quite like the precarious balance needed for repetition

I also made a sign/placard thing.

Sam x

Merry Christmas Guys

Thought I'd share my Dad's design for the Smith family Christmas card this year. Gold lino print on card. This is actually the more festive version, most of them were printed on black.....

Paddy Smith, Christmas Card

Ive also had a bit of free time recently so got into making a few decorations myself.

 

Here's wishing you all a 'satisfactory yuletide' and I'll see you in the new year

Sam x

Dresden Dynamo

For all the McAndrew's out there!

Lis Rhodes's Dresden Dynamo (1971)

Kit

Artist in Residence

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been awarded a residency in Sri Lanka at the beginning of next year. I'll be out flying out to Colombo on the 15th of January until the 26th of February, giving me a solid 6 weeks to develop some new work. Here's a link to the Sura Medura Residency

Kit

Experimental film books

Just stumbled across these scans of early experimental film books courtesy of the Internet Archive; the Stan Brakhage issue of Film Culture which contains Brakhage's highly influential essay "Metaphors on Vision" is particularly difficult to track down for a reasonable price these days, so it's really wonderful to see it shared online here for free. You can even download them for your Kindle or e-reader if you've got one. Enjoy!

John

Foire D'Art//Art Fair

 Some pictures of the affordable art fair at Gallerie Padi which opened on Friday and runs through to the 22nd. Unfortunately no one thought to take any photos at the private view but we had a good turnout and much mulled wine and mince pies...

 

Foreground, Craig Allan, 'A Triumph of Ambition Over Ability'

Background Manifesto Screenprints

 Paul McDonald, Geoffrey Leung & Sam Smith

Manifesto 001-005, Screenprints

 

 

Left, Stephan Bertrand, Right Eric Grundy

 

 Sam Smith,'Oh Aye Big Man', Screenprint on Paper

 

 Left, Francois Dallet, 

Centre Nathan Elliot , 'For Me, Not For Her'

 

Foreground, Sam Smith, 'I'll Tell You Summat For Nowt', Terracotta & Gold Leaf

Background, Robert Blair, Lagons 1-8, Ink & Bitumen on Paper.

 

 Left, Ingrid Sandsborg, digital prints

Right, Kit Mead, 'Advert'

 

 Iris Priest, 'Ts U'

 

 Stephan Bertrand, 'Peinture'

And this is a little something I wrote for the catalogue...

It’s funny how life tends toward patterns. Five years on from starting the now defunct BadgerBadger Gallery in Carlisle, England I hardly expected to be so involved in a very similar enterprise here in Caubon. The parallels are strong, both galleries were founded with similar aims and as a response to a perceived void locally. This is the essence of DIY culture, trying to fill a gap yourself without necessarily waiting for funding or official support, build it and they will come, field of dreams style.

This attitude can be seen in many of the artists we are representing here; they are artists who, in the main, have yet to make a living from their work. All the same they are involved in various projects or are hard at work in their studios. Art needs to be received by an audience in order to truly function and that is where we come in, that is the gap we identified. Artist, Gallery and Audience, a triangle is the strongest structure.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed work

Sam x