Monday 30 April 2012

'All That Is Left' - The Crypt Gallery

All That Is Left is my new work which has recently been shown at The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras.


On a trip to Prague I found a collection of slides. These slides and other remnants of a life lived were 
discarded in a bin. It was late one night on the cobbled streets.  I approached the bin because there were skis, walking sticks, a blue phone and other paraphernalia laying around. Lifting the lid on the bin proved to be a culmination of poignancy, sadness and for the artist in me, exciting !


There were many personal objects strewn on the top layer of the bin contents. Junk jewellery,beautifully illustrated old children's books a very old teddy bear, clothing and of course the slides which were instantly recognisable. They lay at the back of the bin tightly bound with large orange bands of perished elastic.


These found slides became the main focus for this latest work - All That Is Left. I have kept them in the exact same order I found them in and have had the writing which is scratched onto the borders in biro, translated. 


The Crypt is an interesting space to exhibit in. The mood is one of degradation and decay. This space still contains over five hundred bodies so at times the mood catches you out and can be very sombre indeed.
The walls are layers of chipped brick work and luckily for me my space had been painted with a thirties colour green. This allowed for the slides to meld with the very texture and embed themselves within the walls.


I lay over fifty bouquets of roses in commemoration of this woman. Clipped rose thorns were placed at right angles on top of the bouquets, to signify deeper personal elements of this work.


Perfume of roses permeated the air, inspired by Tim Lott's melancholy yet positive writings , 'The Scent of Dried Roses.'


An old record player playing off the scratching noises symbolises both continuity in the circle of life and the inevitability of the end.
The viewer could choose to play the record 'Serenade' , or just listen to the repetitous sounds of the two slide projectors and record noise.
















Wednesday 4 April 2012

Pinhole Photography + Colour



although it is interesting it would need manipulating as
you can see part of the box. I would suggest using matt paint for the inside

Looking for the right box is part of the key to this type of photography I have discovered.
It takes patience and a lot of failure to get it right as you can see. You have very little control over a cardboard box and a tin ! However I am pleased with the results for a first attempt. 


camera needs to be pointing down to stop
the circle falling too low and off the page

ditto as above

image of the garden gate
remembering that everything is upside-down

playing with my shadow in the image



flower imagery - exposure 3200
I think this was the most successful image
I like the composition and contrasting colour and the way the
 image appears to float like a sphere
 I am going to photograph imagery on a digital screen to see what happens. I think I may lose a lot of the special qualities -  textures and colour that I am looking for.

 Like everything to do with art practice it leads to serendipity - the elements of chance kick in and this is, I feel, when the fun begins in earnest, when the magic happens for the art AND the artist.