spacer

. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .
. . . . . .

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