Merry festivities!
See you in the new year when the project book is done!
See you in the new year when the project book is done!
Friday 31 December 2010
Monday 13 December 2010
Friday 3 December 2010
Standing on books (May 09)
This is a work I made in my flat in London in 2009. It's something I'm interested in remaking but the high ceilings of Edinburgh are causing me some concern. On the one hand it would look great, standing on a tower of books up to a 20 foot studio ceiling, on the other... I might die. Still, things to think about... I am however, henceforth, going to refer to this work as a performance, even though I'd have punched you if you'd called it that at the time... (I wouldn't have punched you, I'm not the fighty sort... I'd have disagreed... you'd have been right.)
Sunday 28 November 2010
Standing on a bin 26-11-10
This is a short clip documenting sections of a three hour performance that was part of last friday afternoons project space in C02 at eca. More documentation will follow.
The sound has been removed as the conversations from the crits and the audio of other work in the show were confusing the point of the video. The intention was to document the performance...
Monday 22 November 2010
Wednesday 17 November 2010
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Monday 15 November 2010
Chris Burden...
"Burden began to work in performance art in the early 1970s, he made a series of controversial performances in which the idea of personal danger as artistic expression was central. His most well-known act from that time is perhaps the 1971 performance piece Shoot, in which he was shot in his left arm by an assistant from a distance of about five meters. Burden was taken to a psychiatrist after this piece.[vague][says who?]Other performances from the 1970s were Five Day Locker Piece (1971), Deadman(1972), B.C. Mexico (1973), Fire Roll (1973), TV Hijack (1972), Doomed (1975) andHonest Labor (1979).
One of Burden’s most reproduced and cited pieces, Trans-Fixed took place in 1974 at Speedway Avenue in Venice, California. For this performance, Burden lay face up on a Volkswagen Beetle and had nails hammered into both of his hands, as if he were beingcrucified on the car. The car was pushed out of the garage and the engine revved for two minutes before being pushed back into the garage.
Later that year, Burden performed his piece White Light/White Heat at the Ronald Feldman gallery in New York. For this work of experiment performance and self-inflicting danger, Burden spent twenty-two days lying on a triangular platform in the corner of the gallery. He was out of sight from all viewers and he could not see them either. According to Burden, he did not eat, talk, or come down the entire time." - Wiki...
Thursday 11 November 2010
Wednesday 10 November 2010
are they A frames?
I still don't know what to call a unit comprising of 2 playing cards, each supporting the other... but anyway, here is evidence that I undertook the task of building a line of said structures across the stair in the main building at eca. It appears to be easier to do on the stone of the stair rather than the plastic of my studio desk. It fell down a few times but this is the point where I ran out of cards...
I'm questioning how interesting this is... Maybe I'll try bringing in loads of playing cards, start at the end of a corridor and see how far I can get? I don't know whether there is a lot to lose in this work. Maybe it's not interesting enough...
a performance?
15 minutes stood on the bin...
now I have pins and needles in my feet.
I will up load a photo of this when I can get some to photograph me doing it...
now I have pins and needles in my feet.
I will up load a photo of this when I can get some to photograph me doing it...
Long time no blog...
It has been a while since I've blogged anything... mainly due to the cult map presentation which happened yesterday. here are some images...
Sunday 31 October 2010
Thursday 28 October 2010
Performance is a big word.
I have been meaning to write about Monday's crit all week but the nessessities of paid work have kept me from the studio.
It was a good crit I think, the general feeling being that the subject of the films I have been making, mainly themed around an idea of failure, is not a bad one. The main criticism was that the medium, film, was getting in the way of anything interesting coming out of this work and that live performance, rather than recorded, is the way to go.
This proposal scared me, performance felt like a big word and far removed from what I thought I was doing. Having let the notion settle I now see the obviousness of this observation. The interests I have in temporality are naturally addressed by performance. My concerns about what constitutes an artwork are also addressed. Once performed a performance is over, there are no 'post-production' issues.
I think one of the things that scared me was the word performance and all it connotes. I'm not concerned with acting, I think that it is just a question of doing things in real time and having an audience... whatever shape they take.
Failure as a subject always seems to crop up with me. In that cyclical way that things do. Failure as a way forward... failure as inherent in creativity/the creative process. When failure is a subject how do you fail? Can failure be a goal? I am quite happy to succeed but I think failure is interesting. Often success is only sweet when failure is overcome... It is also a matter of perspective, one mans failure is another's triumph...
The way forward from here is just to do things... and to see if they are success full.
It was a good crit I think, the general feeling being that the subject of the films I have been making, mainly themed around an idea of failure, is not a bad one. The main criticism was that the medium, film, was getting in the way of anything interesting coming out of this work and that live performance, rather than recorded, is the way to go.
This proposal scared me, performance felt like a big word and far removed from what I thought I was doing. Having let the notion settle I now see the obviousness of this observation. The interests I have in temporality are naturally addressed by performance. My concerns about what constitutes an artwork are also addressed. Once performed a performance is over, there are no 'post-production' issues.
I think one of the things that scared me was the word performance and all it connotes. I'm not concerned with acting, I think that it is just a question of doing things in real time and having an audience... whatever shape they take.
Failure as a subject always seems to crop up with me. In that cyclical way that things do. Failure as a way forward... failure as inherent in creativity/the creative process. When failure is a subject how do you fail? Can failure be a goal? I am quite happy to succeed but I think failure is interesting. Often success is only sweet when failure is overcome... It is also a matter of perspective, one mans failure is another's triumph...
The way forward from here is just to do things... and to see if they are success full.
Saturday 23 October 2010
a house of cards...
Here is another clip... attempting to make a three tiered house of cards until the deck runs out.
These aren't in any kind of order by the way...
Friday 22 October 2010
cup and card
A film of the cup and card thing I was messing around with... I don't think anything more will come of this...
attempted line of cards
I thought I'd put up some evidence that I've actually been doing something in the studio...
This is one of sixty filmed attempts to make a line of playing card 'tents' from one side of my desk to the other.
Thursday 21 October 2010
Late night thought....
I'm not a film maker. I'm filming things because I want to record them... While there may be cause for some thought regarding shot angles and post production effects etc, those thoughts shouldn't be my primary concern... Just wanted to put this out as I feel I may have been putting the cart before the horse for just a jiffy...
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Piece is short for Masterpiece.
I've been thinking a lot about the difference between something you're investigating in the studio and something you'd exhibit..
I used the term a 'piece of work' in conversation with Neil last night, which he immediately expressed a dislike for. "Piece is short for masterpiece, and we don't make those any more."
I agree... but then what do we do? There are differences between the things we choose to show and the things that we don't. I don't subscribe to an idea that all the parts of practice and exhibition are equal. Artists are editors, we make decisions... granted all parts are important but if they were equal then nothing would matter, would it? Should I have just used the term art work? would that have been different?
Starting and stopping seem to me to be key problems.
An art practice is an ongoing thing that certainly doesn't result in a master work. To use a model from yesterdays lecture, it is part of a feedback loop... but then a feedback loop still has an input and an output... what is that output?
this is toss, I'm going no where...
I used the term a 'piece of work' in conversation with Neil last night, which he immediately expressed a dislike for. "Piece is short for masterpiece, and we don't make those any more."
I agree... but then what do we do? There are differences between the things we choose to show and the things that we don't. I don't subscribe to an idea that all the parts of practice and exhibition are equal. Artists are editors, we make decisions... granted all parts are important but if they were equal then nothing would matter, would it? Should I have just used the term art work? would that have been different?
Starting and stopping seem to me to be key problems.
An art practice is an ongoing thing that certainly doesn't result in a master work. To use a model from yesterdays lecture, it is part of a feedback loop... but then a feedback loop still has an input and an output... what is that output?
this is toss, I'm going no where...
Friday 15 October 2010
Thursday 14 October 2010
Tuesday 12 October 2010
Sunday 10 October 2010
Q&A...
So... I'm going to have a crack at the list of questions that we, (some of MFA1,) have compiled as a kind of 'getting to know you' type deal... here goes.
1) What is art? I agree with Judd's statement that art is anything that you say it is and I also subscribe to Baldessari's addition that art is a convincing lie... I think for me art is a way of looking at the world and trying to position myself within that world, and communicating that position to everybody else... and convincing everybody else that I'm right.
2) Why study MFA? I graduated from my BA eight years ago and have maintained some sort of art practice since then. However, while I have been doing things I haven't necessarily been showing things and I think somewhere down the line I have gotten quite lost. I am sure that I am following interesting lines of inquiry but I seem to have forgotten how to take things from 'starting point' through to 'piece of work.' That's one of the things I'm on the MFA to sort out.
3) That thing you do, what is that? I think that thing I do is try to make work. That sounds silly but I think it's right. I tend to look to the things around me for starting points. At the minute that seems to be my playing cards.
4) That thing you do, why are you doing that? Necessity. Is that a good enough answer? I try to make work because I think I can do something worth doing... Because I'm dissatisfied with the way things are... Because I'm a curious person...
5) If you could change something what would it be? Your point of view.
6) What question would you most like to avoid being asked? I don't know. I don't know whether I like avoiding questions. Difficult questions provoke thought, they're useful, so maybe easy questions are the kind to avoid... but then they are easy so why avoid them? I suppose it depends who is asking the question and who is listening to the answer. Dumb questions are the questions to be avoided.
7) Where do you feel most comfortable? At home with Susie... It doesn't have to be at home... It has to be with Susie.
8) Red or green? (First of all, I feel I should state that my usual position regarding this type of question is an inclusive one, why can't I have both? but I understand this defeats the purpose so I will choose.) Red. Not for aesthetic reason but because red is primary.
9) Cube or sphere? Cube, (in part due to the fact that I think every one else will choose sphere.) I like that the cube explains the three dimensions it occupies.
10) Hot or Cold? Cold, because as far as I know there is an absolute cold but not an absolute hot... actually, hot, for the same reason.
11) Light or heavy? Light! I'm with Calvino on this. I'm very interested in notions of lightness in relation to art practice. As an artist I am interested in change and change seems more likely from a position of lightness...
12) Fast or slow? Fast, I think, no reasons are coming to mind... maybe the faster you go the lighter you get.
13) Where do you position your work in theoretical terms? I'm not sure I know what this question means. I've mentioned Calvino, Judd and Baldessari... Is that what we're talking about? I'm interested in the whole dematerialization of art and that whole 60's thing. Duchamp and Dada and all that but I still don't know what that means in term of the question. I think I have to say position wise... aspirationally near the top, realistically nearer the bottom.
14) What was the last artwork that rocked your world? I'm going to take 'rocked your world' to mean that said artwork shook you at your very centre and changed your out look on the whole world. And then I'm going to say I don't know. I honestly can't think of the last time this happened. I can think of a number of works that I love and hold dear but I don't know whether they rocked my world. I think this might be because once you've had your world rocked it's difficult to remember what it was like before and therefore you take these things for granted... I think Skulptur projekte Munster 07 put a spring in my step, and Gustav Metzger's shattered stones project was a highlight for me.
15) Ask and answer a question of your own choosing. Q: Are you having a nice day? A: I've had worse.
1) What is art? I agree with Judd's statement that art is anything that you say it is and I also subscribe to Baldessari's addition that art is a convincing lie... I think for me art is a way of looking at the world and trying to position myself within that world, and communicating that position to everybody else... and convincing everybody else that I'm right.
2) Why study MFA? I graduated from my BA eight years ago and have maintained some sort of art practice since then. However, while I have been doing things I haven't necessarily been showing things and I think somewhere down the line I have gotten quite lost. I am sure that I am following interesting lines of inquiry but I seem to have forgotten how to take things from 'starting point' through to 'piece of work.' That's one of the things I'm on the MFA to sort out.
3) That thing you do, what is that? I think that thing I do is try to make work. That sounds silly but I think it's right. I tend to look to the things around me for starting points. At the minute that seems to be my playing cards.
4) That thing you do, why are you doing that? Necessity. Is that a good enough answer? I try to make work because I think I can do something worth doing... Because I'm dissatisfied with the way things are... Because I'm a curious person...
5) If you could change something what would it be? Your point of view.
6) What question would you most like to avoid being asked? I don't know. I don't know whether I like avoiding questions. Difficult questions provoke thought, they're useful, so maybe easy questions are the kind to avoid... but then they are easy so why avoid them? I suppose it depends who is asking the question and who is listening to the answer. Dumb questions are the questions to be avoided.
7) Where do you feel most comfortable? At home with Susie... It doesn't have to be at home... It has to be with Susie.
8) Red or green? (First of all, I feel I should state that my usual position regarding this type of question is an inclusive one, why can't I have both? but I understand this defeats the purpose so I will choose.) Red. Not for aesthetic reason but because red is primary.
9) Cube or sphere? Cube, (in part due to the fact that I think every one else will choose sphere.) I like that the cube explains the three dimensions it occupies.
10) Hot or Cold? Cold, because as far as I know there is an absolute cold but not an absolute hot... actually, hot, for the same reason.
11) Light or heavy? Light! I'm with Calvino on this. I'm very interested in notions of lightness in relation to art practice. As an artist I am interested in change and change seems more likely from a position of lightness...
12) Fast or slow? Fast, I think, no reasons are coming to mind... maybe the faster you go the lighter you get.
13) Where do you position your work in theoretical terms? I'm not sure I know what this question means. I've mentioned Calvino, Judd and Baldessari... Is that what we're talking about? I'm interested in the whole dematerialization of art and that whole 60's thing. Duchamp and Dada and all that but I still don't know what that means in term of the question. I think I have to say position wise... aspirationally near the top, realistically nearer the bottom.
14) What was the last artwork that rocked your world? I'm going to take 'rocked your world' to mean that said artwork shook you at your very centre and changed your out look on the whole world. And then I'm going to say I don't know. I honestly can't think of the last time this happened. I can think of a number of works that I love and hold dear but I don't know whether they rocked my world. I think this might be because once you've had your world rocked it's difficult to remember what it was like before and therefore you take these things for granted... I think Skulptur projekte Munster 07 put a spring in my step, and Gustav Metzger's shattered stones project was a highlight for me.
15) Ask and answer a question of your own choosing. Q: Are you having a nice day? A: I've had worse.
Thursday 7 October 2010
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Short post regarding the last...
It wasn't a revelation, that answer. I've known that all along. In fact in my younger, more self assured, (some would say wildly arrogant days,) I wouldn't have hesitated in giving that answer. Maybe I'm a little less self assured now, (hopefully less arrogant,) and so am a little more unsure about what I think I know and i think it's good and important to question these things. But maybe I need to reassert some of that self confidence if I am going to present a convincing lie.
 |
| John Baldessari |
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Card tricks and venision stew
Andrew (Sneddon) asked me a question in my tutorial yesterday that I'm not sure I answered. I was showing Andrew a clip I have made of me performing a 'back-palm,' that is repeated manipulating a playing card so that it vanishes and reappears. Andrew's question was... "What is the difference between this as contemporary art and this as a magic trick?"
I floundered on this question for a little while and then said something about how this wasn't a magic trick as such, rather a 'move' which would be part of a bigger picture. Needless to say this is answer is twaddle and I have been pondering the question for the past 24 hours...
I discussed it briefly with Dean (Hughes) over a post college pint in the Blue Blazer and Dean brought up Matthew Higgs's 20 questions with John Baldessari in which the latter is asked "what is art?" Apparently the answer given, (and this is 3rd hand because I have yet to listened to the interview... I will after this blog,) was that art is a lie and that as an artist your job is to be convincing about it. If this is the case I definitely failed in my tutorial... but thats ok, it's why I'm at school.
After some consideration I think my answer is that there is no difference between a back-palm as a magic trick and a back-palm as an art work. Rather the difference is whether it is presented as a magic trick or as an art work.
My interest in magic is providing me with some thing to do and something to think about whilst in my studio. There are interesting correlations between the two practices but it is important to acknowledge my tendency to work with what is to hand. My playing cards have been close to hand lately because of a rekindled interest in magic but I am here because I am interested in how to make art...
On a wild tangent, I'm going to make a venison stew this evening...
I floundered on this question for a little while and then said something about how this wasn't a magic trick as such, rather a 'move' which would be part of a bigger picture. Needless to say this is answer is twaddle and I have been pondering the question for the past 24 hours...
I discussed it briefly with Dean (Hughes) over a post college pint in the Blue Blazer and Dean brought up Matthew Higgs's 20 questions with John Baldessari in which the latter is asked "what is art?" Apparently the answer given, (and this is 3rd hand because I have yet to listened to the interview... I will after this blog,) was that art is a lie and that as an artist your job is to be convincing about it. If this is the case I definitely failed in my tutorial... but thats ok, it's why I'm at school.
After some consideration I think my answer is that there is no difference between a back-palm as a magic trick and a back-palm as an art work. Rather the difference is whether it is presented as a magic trick or as an art work.
My interest in magic is providing me with some thing to do and something to think about whilst in my studio. There are interesting correlations between the two practices but it is important to acknowledge my tendency to work with what is to hand. My playing cards have been close to hand lately because of a rekindled interest in magic but I am here because I am interested in how to make art...
 |
| The Great Cardini |
On a wild tangent, I'm going to make a venison stew this evening...
Thursday 30 September 2010
Wednesday 29 September 2010
Tuesday 28 September 2010
Images from first tutorial...
 |
| Bruce Mclean |
 |
| Bruce Mclean |
 |
| Richard Wentworth: Found Sculpture |
 |
| Richard Wentworth: Found Sculpture |
Monday 27 September 2010
Relevant tangents...
I have recently been reading the Art of Astonishment books by Paul Harris, (must have books for anybody interested in the art form...)
Harris is a legend in the world magic community and has produce a staggeringly large body of work, (inventing tricks is his game.)
The reason I'm introducing this into my bog is the idea of astonishment which Harris is so passionate about. He talks about astonishment being the natural state of mind and that through magic you can allow people a 'moment' of astonishment/ of clarity/ of strange... I'm paraphrasing wildly and I should probably look up some quotes but this will have to do for now.
It reminds me of the ways which people like Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary, Ken Kesey all talked about LSD.
I think what appeals to me about these ideas is the possibility for change; the potential for new ways of looking and seeing and understanding. If you accept that the way you understand the world and your beliefs are learned then surely you accept the possibility that they could be wrong... or at least that other positions may also be as right as yours. Ok its a bit hippy and idealistic but I'm ok with that, Ideals are important.
Maybe you can't change the world with an art work but if you can change someones way of looking at the world, doesn't that amount to the same thing?
 |
| Paul Harris |
Sunday 26 September 2010
Bootleg
Here is a link to a recording of Lisa LeFeuvre's lecture on Failure given at the Whitechapel book fair yesterday (25/9/10)
Many thanks to the unnamed friend who recorded this....
I hope you find it useful. I did...
Many thanks to the unnamed friend who recorded this....
I hope you find it useful. I did...
Saturday 25 September 2010
Walking Faster, Backwards
This is a thing I made last year... I've recently been uploading things to youtube so I thought I'd share one. more will follow...
It's a clip I took off youtube. For those of you who don't recognise Bruce Nauman walking forwards and backwards around the perimeter of a square, thats what this is... Using iMovie I speed the clip up as fast as I could, 16x I think, and then played it backwards. Hence Walk Faster Backwards.
I played with other clips in similar ways, some I filmed other I took from youtube. I like the idea of the small electronic action being in some way like Bruce's small physical action... I don't think he'd mind
I don't know if it's work or if it's just a thing... but thats ok for now
Thursday 23 September 2010
Positive thoughts...
 |
Turista Maluco: Gabriel Orozco |
 |
| How To Work Better: Fischli/Weiss |
 |
| Mel Bochner |
 |
| Richard Tuttle |
 |
| Bas Jan Ader |
 |
| Centri di Pensiero: Alighiero Boetti |
 |
| Gustav Metzger painting with hydrochloric acid on nylon. South Bank, London, 1961/1966. |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)