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Saturday 28 July 2012

flatline

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Monday 25 June 2012

Archive: At the Psychdelia Show

Found this account whilst trawling my archives:

I got thrown out of the exhibition on psychedelia TWICE! 1st time i put on rollerskates & REFUSED 2 remove them when i was told they were a safety hazard!  they then proceeded to initiate a high speed chase round the gallery, even though i clearly was never gonna get caught by secuity on foot!  I kept saying, "i'm only a danger now cos your chasing me!!!"  best bit was when i zoomed round the bottom of a spiral staircase as 2 gaurds closed in on me from both sides!  Then they put an announcement over ther tannoy "the gallery is now closing - leave immediately", so I voluntarily left & took the skates off.  chatted up the receptionists & they said it was cool to go back in, so i went n had a fag...

met 2 guys outsuide & we made a j n smoked it.... guard came out but did nothing, then the CURATOR came out, ginger, mid 40s woman, and said " we were going to let u back in but now that you've BEEN SMOKING WHAT YOU@VE BEEN SMOKING, you'll understand if we don't let you back in!"

I said "No, i don't understand how you can't even bring yourself to use thr word MARAJUANA when you're curating an exhibition about psychadelic drugs, and 50 percent of the people in there are probably high!".  she attempted to stop me going back in but i gave her and the doormen the slip and ran back inside (minus rucksack n skates :( ).   I hid in a little curtained off room containing a weird pulsing light that was meant to induce trips, listening to all the guards running around looking for me, muttering darkly into their walkietalkies, until a security guard spotted me and said, "can i ask u a question?"

\i came out of hiding & said "sure, what's the question? wanna know what my favourite movie is?"

he said, "i'd like to ask u over there" - pointing at the exit,

I said "why, is it personal?  are you going to ask about my sexual habits?  can't u ask in front of the people here?" gesticulating at the crowd that'd gathered
#
This embarassed & confused him him so much he let me walk off, but i was soon surrounded by 5 guys in uniform, who sort of corralled me in this corner, until i walked into them calmly saying, "all i want to do is look round the exhibition without being harrassed, what's your problem?"  

they wouldn 't let me pass at first, and then they tried to grab hold of me, but i managed to slip through the cordon and ran off, shouting over my shoulder, "boys, i understand your need to be close to me, but i can't help with your sexual frustration, not in front of all these people!"

finally the head of security, who'd been trying to manhandle me, realised I wasn't a crackhead or nutjob, and started to chat, I said I just wanted to have a look at a final few things and then \I'd leave, especially an installation of some 60s film footage - he said he'd have to accompany me, & i agreed.
|We went to look at the film and after a few minutes of random images of dogs, bicycles & paperclips we turned to each other & he said, "this is really boring", I said "yeah, shall we blow this joint?" & we walked out arm in arm!

Thursday 14 June 2012

David Shrigley Dog in 3D!

david-shrigley-dog-3D-v2
brain-dead-570x712david shrigley dog 1david shrigley dog 2david-shrigley-dog-3D

David Shrigley Dog, a set on Flickr.
I went to see david shrigley's show @ hayward gallery, did his sketch, scanned it then added a 3D twist.

I also added a banana skin to one of the exhibits (on the floor) and watched as people pondered it's conceptual depths. :)

Snake VS Hercules in 3D!

Snake-VS-Hercules by dot23x
Snake-VS-Hercules, a photo by dot23x on Flickr.
An almost complete version, I'd like to give the background more depth, and more 3d colouration. this took about 1 hour, from scans

Story Museum: sinspiring lead

This Digital Arts article is just what I needed to put together some elements of how to make material for the storymuseum's website.  Gotta contact katherine!!!

Missing posts

Help! 2 posts about 3d art, Hercules, snake & dog, missing. Last seen on this page before I used the iPad blogger ap. grrr!

Inspirations

fairy tale iconsfairy tale words

Inspirations, a set on Flickr.

The original ideas pages from the Grimm Fairy tale projects. I solicited ideas about people & things yo might find in a fairy tale from the group, then made each one into a quick icon

Real World Waiting Room Objects

apple mug 2cake clock

Real Waiting Room Objects, a set on Flickr.
Pieces of the story book The Waiting Room come to life
apple mug 2 by dot23x
apple mug 2, a photo by dot23x on Flickr.

The Waiting Room






A mysterious tale set in the world between worlds

This story was conceived as comic strip about the space between fairy tales. What do the characters in the Grimmiverse do when they're not appearing in the stories?

I have often had corridors in my imaginary world; dreams & previous sketches, & I guess it represents the liminal space between the normal and the supernormal.

The characters I use are the wolf, the prince & the dwarf. there should be a cat around there somewhere too, but as usual, nowhere to be seen when you want her :)

I originally had the wolf as a upperclass type, but I chose to make all the characters 'real' personae to be diametrically opposite their normal, story-bound ones. This was weirdly inspired by Pam ST Clement's off screen behaviour being so juxtaposed with Pat Butcher's. Pam is terribly plummy compared to the brash Pat!

Thus, coupled with inspiration fro Alice Guile & the Why REVOLTION lead to wolfie becoming a peaceloving hipppy (like yours truly!), the dwarf getting some super long legs and the prince wearing a baseball cap and readin the Sun ;)

Early on I decided that I wanted to have the opening sequence in simple 1-panel frames, then have a larger picture as the 'reveal' pane.

I struggled to work out how to go from a 1-dimensional strip (echoing newspaper strips like dilbert, providing more mystery & claustrophobia) to a larger more complex image (necessitated by the intricacy of the image vs the skill of me as a linocutter!).

I was given a box of random art supplies by my friend Kia, amongst which I found an expanding map of Dublin (which opened out of an a6 booklet into a a4ish map using origami-esque folding).

Eureka!

Then followed a protracted period of distraction, after which I used the studio of pro lino cutter Louise Summers, spent a lot of time swearing and making a mess, after which I had 6 frames and the reveal panel.

I then joined the Oxford Printmakers Collective and hurriedly made a cover/title frame and 2 interstitial frames (one of which, I admit, is pointless) leading to the opening of the door to ...

The Waiting Room

I found it really hard to decide what to do next in the story. the reveal panel didn't have a message (I was hoping to get this text from visitors to the Work in Progress_ exhibition at OCVC Banbury).

Originally the right hand empty panel space was going to contain a poster of a frog + kiss = the prince symbol (you know, the doves cry guy). However, I didn't think enough people would get it, and I wanted to have something more pertinant to the fairy tale world up there.

I toyed with the idea of putting the flashing alert board for the charcters when they're called into the next scene in their story, but a grid of tiny icons was beyond me.

Oh, just had a thought, I've got two other linocuts which I used as info cards for the show... I'm going to try to add those to the image, cheating with GIMP ;)

BTW, faintly you might be able to read the weirdly unnerving phrase "would anyone like a nice cup of tea"

I ended up giving this prototype version to my mother for her birthday - so I used that as an excuse to challk out the printed black bubbl;e and poster space and add the HAPPY BIRTHDAY phrase, which actually makes sense in the context (although I know wish I'd put SURPRISE!)

In terms of continuing the story, I wanted to open it up to suggestions, maybe make a non-linear narrative. My beautiful gf (o 4 a term that really sums up our status!) Martine Votvik drew these gorgeously sinuous addenda, which I now see could be part of a story about a surprise party.

Martine's provided a great punchline to this tail (ahem, tale), what other tails, endings or continuations can YOU think of?

Props 2: The wood between the worlds (cs lewis) the bookworld (jasper fforde)

dot23-ellipsis.blogspot.co.uk/

The Waiting Room, a set on Flickr.

An Explanation

I should explain that I'm in th process of uploading some final work to go with the Work in Progress_ exhibition at  OCVC Banbury Arts Centre.

The original idea was to improve on existing unfinished work which was mounted on the wall.

I was going to  solicit ideas for additions, improvements and continuations from visitors to the show. I was also going to get punters to help out with the production of the artwork through collaborating, and delegating, some of the tasks involved (printing, collecting raw materials, paper cutting, drawing sketches etc).  I had begun the process of inviting guests to select and arrange the artwork according to taste in the display area.

The aim was to have a set of completed collaborative artworks at the end of the run of the show.  I intended to remain in the foyer area the entire time, with only toilet, food beaks.  This was part of a performance aspect to the show.  It was to invite the public to see into the inner world of the creative process; the methodology, the inspirations, the choices,  the stress!

Unfortunately fate/the gods/myself intervened, and that exercise in interactive art creation never happened (story of my life!)

However, rather than give in to maudlin self-recrimination, I determined to carry on.

I've attempted to emulate the scenario by asking friends and family for suggested changes, I've joined the Oxford Printmakers Collective and finished off rough versions of some of the panels I intended to make for the Waiting Room sequence. I've scanned and adapted some of the work and made digitised versions, some of which you see here. Mostly I've tried to keep my chin up, throw myself into other projects (the Goggenheim, Hotel Babylon, the Time Travellers' Guild, 3D experimentation) & learn to channel my angel/anger into good, productive things.

It's been a real trial by fire over the last month or so, quite litrally (say my bandaged feet!), and I've definately changed over the last weeks. I am determined not to let personality clashes, personal problems, propaganda and acts of gOd get in the way of me putting my creative abilities to the test/good use. I feel that I have a fire for making public, interactive, socially beneficial art events, and by golly I'm going to do something great with this gift.

I've abused people's good will considerably with this project, and I'd like to thank Martine Votvik, Merlin, Steph Manning, Bob & Louise Summers (who's studio was invaluable in giving me space to think & carve), Mum&Dad, gOd, the People of Guatemala, the pope, my agent yadda yadda.  If I missed you it's because I have zero recall :0

Norwegian Mountain / Sea Sketches

Norwegian Boat Trip 2 Norwegian Boat Trip 2Norwegian Boat Trip 1

Pencil sketches of some of Norway's incredible landscape - I could spend a lifetime trying to capture their stark beauty, but these give some sense of the striations and strata that stand out so starkly against the newly fallen white snow.

3D ideas

Elf Storage Elf Storage3d anaglyph womanbp kitebp icons

3D ideas, a set on Flickr.
This is just an excuse to try and get a giggle with my Elf Storage carton :)

Saddest Woman

_MG_8349 by dot23x
_MG_8349, a photo by dot23x on Flickr.

Could this woman be any more miserable? She looks like the model for the crying mask theatre icon!

03 alice talk


03 alice talk a video by dot23x on Flickr.

This montage is taken from a recent information session at O3 gallery at th Oxford castle. In it the curator discusses how he came to select Alice imagery for a forthcoming show.

This talk was very useful in informing me about how ruthless one has to be about selection; a facet of curation I discussed with a woman from the V&A I am working with on the upcoming HOTEL BABYLON exhibition in July

Frustratin'

So I'm trying to upload all the stuff that I've bee working on over the last weeks, but boy do i get easily confused by windows; too many processes, steps, ideas at the same time.  I think my klaptop feels the same!  It's being hellish slow.

Also Opera doesn't support the blogger picture upload widget :(

I've uploaded all the photos to my flicker, jus have to get them attached to here!

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Loose Ends

So 'm  to put up quite a few things this morning:

Shrigley | objects (cup / clock) | origins (words / icons) | concept | hercules | lino-cuts | Hotel Babylon

Let's get cracking!

Friday 8 June 2012

The Waiting Room: the final impressions

completed demo version drying

sections for the upgrade - still not happy with them, and there's as yet no legible caption in speech bubble [I thought I might leave what's being said to the people watching me make these, but in the absence of collaborators, I was stuck as to which direction to take the story - the original ending has beeen lost, and I wasn't too enamoured of it anyway -- except the punchline "no rest for the wicked" - I've cornered myself into having to recreate that final frame for the all seeing eye of LW ;) ]

like my life - upside down & out of focus
"the bells the bells"!
actually I wish I'd been more methodical in showing the upgrades to each frame - one could then use them to make an animation!

ok this is genuinely quite spooky

Tuesday 29 May 2012

Vigelands Slideshow



Inspired by a terrifying trip through Oslo's iconic Vigelands park. I found the imagery in there to be so nightmarish, and the atmosphere so evil, that I refused to walk back through it! The Entrance Bridge is flanked by two columns on which woman fight with reptilians; the man holding two babies seems to be stealing them, his expression gruesome. I found the layout of the park, with its stylised intersecting triangles, cuntish bowls and phallic centyral obilisk, a disturbing mockery of paganism. I correclty guessed that it was designed in 1932, the year of the rise of Adolph Hitler. Not for fluffies!

Making a Ring of Branches

This image relates to the Which  Witch  is Which post, and was taken by a visitor to the Rollright Stones.

http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/1969537

testing flickr...

Monday 28 May 2012

So Much Afoot!

First things is that I managed to set fire to both my feet on saturday, and have to go for (possible) plastic surgery tomorrow.

on of the saddest things was that it burnt a poster I'd been allowed to take from a gallery in Oslo. It was really inspirational, colourful & had loads of great graphics, band logos and so on.  I'd planned to give it to a friend who admired it, after I scanned it, but hadn't had a chance to.  I hope to either scan and reproduce it with a team of graphic design helpers and/or ask for a new copy from the people who made it.  I'm sure they'd send me another one if they knew how I stamped on it to put it out and gave myself 3rd degree burns!

WATCH
NAKED
FLAME!

Second is I'm helping the Time Travellers Guild create some innovative ways of Showing [people] a collective VISION OF THE FUTURE. I went to the inaugural  the Time Travellers Guild  event held in the DOT bar in Dalston!  It was also spookily a bloc away from another bar called the 23!

Third, & as a result of going to that, I've been asked to contribute to the Hotel Babylon project run by Madregal W.  It'll take place on 20th-22nd June, and she's asked for logistical support, assistance with the set up / take down & I hope, a chance to show off some of the anaglyphic 3d ideas that i'll be posting up on tumblr soon.  I hope to produce a series of social revolutionary 3d woodblock / linocut prints  which I also want to submit to the

4, Bite 2 exhibition - deadline's coming up so gotta remember to file my application!

5 recently supported my amazing friend Martine Votvik's performance art piece "Gynometry" which she did the first experiment of at the end of second year show at Kingston.  Basically I personned the stations in hitech HQ - and checked the live streaming aspect of her work functioned and invited guests to view the act as it unfolded.  Armpit hair weighs about .003 grams apparently :)

6.  I'm working on a gig with the Goggenheim, an Oxford based Operatic SpacePunk band - they're an amazing group, with a fantastic, unique lead singer called Grace Exley who used to be a Banbury arts student! They're playing on the 31st May in the Bullingdon Arms, Cowley Road, and I'd like to invite everyone who's reading this to come down!

7. Saving myself & then the Planet!


Wednesday 23 May 2012

Giant 3D hand rising from the Waters

based on a norwegian folk tale of the North coast, this image relies on a process called anaglyphic  resonance, that allows us to see different images from each eye through coloured filters to creat the illusion of depth.

basically it uses old school 3d glasses :)

#thanks 2 Hugh Pryor for pre-breakfast technical assistance !

Thursday 17 May 2012

Thursday 10 May 2012

Work in Progress_

Our first year exhibition at OCVC Banbury starts today Thursday 10th May.

We're in the Brand new Orange & Black F Block Building on Broughton Road.

My installation / Art piece is also entitled Work in Progress, and I'm asking gallery visitors to change the organisation of my artwork, add to artwork, or complete their own unfinished pieces whilst here.

Let the Games Begin!

Tuesday 8 May 2012

Which Witch is Which?



Some friends and I started to make some additions to David Gosling's work in progress sculpture of a Witch by the King's Stone at the Rollright Stones. See what happens when she sees that I'm recording her and ask her whether I'm allowed to add to existing artwork, in a positive way.

During my filming, the woman grabs my phone out of my hand and tries to interfere with it. I steal her biscuits in retaliation - & then the fireworks begin!

Saturday 5 May 2012

Work in progress_

I'll be making & completing some artwork over the duration of the show's run. I'm going to inivite participation from gallery visitors. This is to highlight the evolving nature of my relationship with making, how I see it as a collaborative process, involving many people. I want people to see the decision making, the processes, the anguish. Art is messy, making is messy, we shouldn't have to tart it up, cut it to size, make it ready for sale. Art & craft is about the moments of sauté when you make mistakes, the surprises, the transformation. I want people to join in this healing & expression.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Rejection!!!

 I have been rejected by an exhibition which starts today called "REJECTED" at the A-side B-side Gallery.

I read about it in a post on facebook:

EXHIBITION CALL OUT - 'Rejected'.

Artists frequently get rejections from shows and competitions; rejection is part of what being an artist is all about. Often an exhibition will have a curatorial concept and the work just simply doesn’t fit the theme, in competitions the judges are subjective and essentially select what they like. Current trends in the art world might make your work more or less desirable not forgetting the provenance of the artist themselves...


The ‘Rejected’ exhibition will be held at A-side B-side Gallery during the first two weeks of May, we are looking for artists to submit one piece of work and a rejection letter or email they have received previously.


ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.


The idea of the exhibition is to celebrate rejection, a united force of artists getting together to valiantly disp...lay their work. Will an aesthetic cohesion emerge from the collection of work? How many pieces will be submitted? And how will we hang it?


DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: Wednesday 25th April 5pm.


Criteria: 2d work not exceeding 120 x 120 cm.


Please email the following to asidebsidegallery@hotmail.com.


1 low-res jpeg.

A list of shows/competitions/art schools you were rejected by.
A copy of one rejection letter (a scan of a letter received in the post or a copy of an email).

SHOW DATES:

Private View: 3rd May (First Thursdays).
Exhibition will run for two weeks, last day Thursday 17th May.

and decided I had to submit something.  however I got caught up in project work, and submitted the following entry on Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:28:22 +0100



I applied to the Forge 2 competition last year



This is the text I sent them alongside the required photo & scan of rejection letter (above)

" I have been rejected by other competitions, institutions, girlfriends and even my family - however it's all too painful to remember, in fact I seem to have a hollow, black forest of nothingness where any memories about other rejections lie.  Don't make me think about it any more. Please!!!"
;)

Dot

So they wrote back with this:

 in other words




So I wrote back:

Oh come on, you can't be serious; your sending me a rejection letter about an exhibition on the theme of rejection letters with a policy of no rejections. Please give me a break, I'm a new artist, struggling with self doubt, and there's gotta be a corner you can put me in.  PLeASe!!!!

REGARDS
Dot23

I looked up the gallery and decided to ring them after I'd not hear anything more.  After I called and 'explained' that it was ABSURD & RIDICULOUS to reject a submission to an exhibition about rejected artwork, and that they should at least print out a copy of my rejection letter from them and paste it to the front door of the  gallery,  Catherine said she would put up my submission on their facebook timeline - this hasn't happened.


Hi Dot,

Thankyou for calling earlier!  That was a lively debate!

{She actually said I was rude and aggresive, so nice to see that she's utterly sucking up to me now}


I do hope that you won't see this as a rejection anymore, as quite clearly it isn't!  Any submissions after the deadline were not considered purely because they were late, therefore it is not a rejection. 

QUITE CLEARLY IT ISN'T?? If I submitted something for a show, and they refuse to put it up, for whatever reason, I'd say that was REJECTION!! Let's see what the dictionary has to say about rejection: 

Rejection

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The word "rejection" was first used in 1415.[1] The original meaning was "to throw" or "to throw back".



further google hunt provided this:


Is it just me or do the curators of this exhibition have ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE OF IRONY?

I actually am really pissed off about this, I've spent over an hour composing this post, and spoke to Jane Prosser at my college, who suggested I do make an issue out of it, although she can see that from a Gallery Owner's point of view one has to stick to deadlines, but COME ON!!  I mean less than 4 hours after the deadline (in terms of being in the office)

Catherine also told me that there were only 3 submissions after the deadline, and 40 before, so the administrative complexity of processing 3 late entries would have to be minimal. Say, 30 minutes to print out their emails and find a small space they could go?

Instead of this small effort to accommodate new artists with non-hierarchical brain structures (and possible ADHD!) I've become incredibly upset, agitated & confused.

if you really feel comfortable  with these people's complete lack of a sense of humour, humility or humanity, feel free to check out the details for their exhibition below, or even send them a humerous comment on their twitter account - I'm sure they'll appreciate the attention :)

http://www.run-riot.com/art/rejected-side-b-side
http://www.facebook.com/AsideBsideGallery
https://twitter.com/Aside_Bside_

Snow White: Ballet or Propaganda?

Seems there's a resurgence in all things fairy tale; could it be because we're living in times where the power of fairy tales to programme us with obsequious behaviour & aspirational yearnings towards upper class archetypes is being used by the establishment to cling desperately to privilege?  Or is it the opposite?  A warning from the lower classes, that these old-fashioned mores are on the way out, so enjoy looking back whilst you've still got a neck to turn & look back with!?

http://www.sadlerswells.com/show/Ballet-Preljocaj-Snow-White

if you've got some more examples of movies, programmes, music etc using fairy tales, please post them here!