Two

Calling occupants of Interplanetary most extraordinary craft

Just pictures

It's been an age

It's been an age since I wrote my last post so thought I had better get to it. I have been working a lot in my studio recently on drawings, collecting my thoughts and researching following on from a pretty intense couple of years.

It has been nice to finally have a little head space to think around where I am heading next in terms of ideas and they are formulating nicely with very little output other than drawings.
I have been invited to show Bluelight in GHost Iv: Presence and Absence by the lovely Sarah Sparkes at St John on Bethnal Green in London as part of a long weekend of films, events and performances from December 6th - 8th where I am looking forward to seeing things on a big screen, perhaps very different to where I last showed it in a much more intimate space at Aid and Abet in Cambridge.

Beyond that I am pretty excited to say that I am working on new work for a show in an exciting new venue in the Midlands (more to be revealed shortly) which also opens in December and have been donating work to various auctions/fundraisers, the number of which seem to climb each year.

And so back to the research, I hope to reveal a new body of work in the New Year which will be an extension of the current research circumnavigating its way around my head. Well let's hope this is going to happen anyway.

Blue Light (excerpt) and the imagination

I have finally managed the time to organise getting an excerpt of 'Blue Light' onto YouTube and vimeo. It has been shown at Aid and Abet in Cambridge and I am pleased to say that it will be showing in Bethnal Green in December and I hope it will travel on to many other venues from there.

I am now finally getting the time to work on new work without the added pressures of shows etc for the first time in a little under three years so have spent time procrastinating in the studio by painting the floor, tidying up (not much) and getting things ready for a couple of shows of existing work.

I am heading into my usual modus operandi of unearthing new ideas through research (reading), disguising (writing), manipulating (both writing and making) and imagining a fusion (mainly making and loosing all sense of clarity) of the nonsense that pops up into my head whilst forming new ideas and work. Through stealing moments from my surroundings I attempt to extract that internal sense of clarity, to walk carefully through those internalised conversations, to escape quickly with little warning. Things are rarely mapped out, most of it is a fleeting romance with my imagination and the sum of the parts is measured through what comes out, often made up from self -elected rules placed in some kind of reality as well as those that are very definitely not. Its a complicated landscape ahead that I am running into it with my eyes wide open, I hope that one day institutional bodies might recognise that imagination cannot and should not be quantified and certainly cannot be taught.

Staring into the future

The Portsmouth show was busy, manic, if not a little damp, perfect for Father and Son. Sovay and I attended to everyones costumal behests, took some evidential snaps and then I headed home for an install of Bluelight at Aid and Abet the next day. This proved to be technically a little more difficult than expected so with a cry for help to Mr Pearl, he donned his cape and flew up from the depths of Suffolk to my aid. All eventually went well. The opening was well attended and I have to say I am absolutely thrilled with the outcome but still need a little time away from it to get to grips with the printed legacy of the experience as well as reflect on it properly before I plan my next venture. I have a lot of ideas, I just need money to make it happen and an offer from a space to house it in some way.
I hope I have offers to show 'Bluelight' elsewhere.

This weekend I head off to Hereford for the final juncture of Tainted Love. It will be great to have some time to catch up with everybody there before the works are put to bed, sold or moved on.

I am really at a point at last where I can head to the studio to make new work and put new ideas together with no outsider influences. I have had a great month.

Oh and I need to get some more socks.

A full September

The long summer is now almost over and things are getting busy in the studio. The film is done and the music is being composed (hopefully). Now I am making props, black glass and a drawing for the show amidst trips to London, Coventry, Cambridge, Herefordshire and next weekend Portsmouth.

The first show is a one day event at The Round Tower where the Monte team are back again with the next chapter Father and Son. I am pleased to have worked with the fantastic Sovay Berriman on this leg and we are planning a one day 'event' alongside the works of the others in the show. It should be fun!

After that I am in the collective show at Aid and Abet showing Blue Light

http://aidandabet.co.uk/roaming/

And then after that I am in the last showing of Tainted Love, showing at The Downstairs Gallery

http://downstairsgallery.co.uk/wp/?page_id=28

October will be restful when I sit back and think about what I want to next and return to the studio with no particular agenda other than my own..