giving control over to the material, to gravity, to chance...

'gesture'

I learned some things in the crit of our group show. That there is perhaps a value in the fact that there is conflict, or at least a conversation between the material and my own involvement. My need to 'solve' this is perhaps where the best work comes from. The back and forth. A dialectic.

Also, my bravery and confidence in making decisions. The minimal nature of the work makes every decision more important and more exposing (in the wrong way) than with some other sorts of artwork.

It was quite clear that the display of the pieces, or how and where it was presented was equally as important as the work itself. This notion was revisited in my tutorial with David Musgrave when he suggested that there is a difference between a work that is made for the floor and a work that is put onto the floor later - this seems obvious to me now. I think this is so important with my work in the way that it has such a large impact on the 'meaning' or 'feeling' of it. It also feels like an opportunity to be clever, and to lift the work.. to complete a piece maybe.

Two things this video made me think about.

The first, the element of chance, accident or intentional handing over to external control to allow a freedom and a seemingly limitless amount of possibility.

The second, the idea of presentation in the space. A piece made for the space it's exhibited in rather than it's presentation or performance as an afterthought or made for any space.

A few of the best bicycles in Amsterdam!

Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Penguin Cafe Single

a commonality..

I've been going through lot's of my things and pictures on the computer, and throwing lots of things away. It seems I feel the need for a fresh start of sorts now that all deadlines have passed. The value in this in terms of the work I'm producing is that it's giving me a broader sense of what my work involves itself with. Not only was there something fundamentally in common with the work I'd produced at Chelsea so far, but random one off photos I taken over the past three years or so too. That commonality was an unknown interest in the element of chance and the passing, or sharing of responsibility to an external element - be it the way water moves, the fabric soaks up the ink itself without application, decay takes over buildings. It's my nudge towards, but then m inaction that is important.

This thinking all began with a tutorial where it was observed that there was a feeling of trying to access something outside myself. I suggested maybe, that it was a modesty, that maybe there is in an arrogance in an artist wanting to direct everything themselves and so letting world offer something beyond myself was a form of modesty. I considered honestly whether it might be my lack of confidence, not brave enough for the responsibility of making all the decisions, but that doesn't sit right. Being open to what might happen by chance not only allows for unique pictorial elements that may have been unthought of, but also accesses something more and beyond - a higher place. And that's important.

Below is a group of photos I've taken over the years. Essentially it's a study of natural light, but it also explores a level beyond human methodology. And it seems I've been studying it without knowing all this time...

Stage 1 Exhibition in the Triangle Space

It occurs to me that I didn't show any photos taken from the group exhibition we did back at the end of Novemeber 2010...