12/02/2009

Had a chat with Mathilde today and asked her if she would be interested in collaborating with me in our art practice, she was very enthusiastic about this (as am I). We have so many ideas already, and we have not even begun! I firmly believe we can take this project very far, as i have said already, we have very similar thoughts and ideas about a number of things.
The Starling egg (its new name) is still a bit tacky, Des said to leave it for another while to dry, and then we can polish it up. Spent most of the day editing the Berlin videos, I have decided that I am not going to do too much to the 'night out' video, there's no point, it's too dark in the nightclub, and it is not really connected to my studio practice. The other video has a wealth of content that I can use in my studio practice.
I e-mailed an art gallery in Berlin who were looking for group exhibitiors. It would be a fantastic opportunity for third year painting if we were accepted, nothing ventured.........................

12/02/2009 Me with new hair, scan in background(Berlin)

12/02/2009 Maurice with new hairstyle (Berlin)

12/02/2009

My Simon Starling piece was unveiled today, it was still a bit tacky so have left it to dry for another while. According to Pat, we can clean it up with some acetone. I presume we can cut off the top bit where we poured the resin in, and give it a bit of a sand. Alan has suggested that I contact Simon Starling and have a chat to him about the whole concept, I hope to make contact at a later stage. (I hope he doesn't sue me !) Richard Slade has heard of my interest in Steve Reich, and has burned off some of Reich's stuff onto a CD for me, which he had on the computer, that was very decent of him I must say. I feel very confident that I will be using sound work in my studio practice. It never ceases to amaze me; the intricacies and interconnections that happen in our lives, that causes the realisations of our dreams. From listening to a radio, to a conversation with a tutor, a whole new dimension in my art practice and indeed my life, has been opened, as a friend used to say "ceases will never wonder " !!!

Transferred the footage I took in Berlin to digital today, it took ages as there were over 150 clips. To be on the safe side, I also saved the clips to my memory stick which also took an age. I was disappointed with the nightclub footage as it was very dark, I mentioned this to Matt who said that he once saw some filming in a nightclub, and that the lighting was staged very bright for this purpose. The footage I took for my own practice looks very promising, I hope to produce a number of works from this, including paintings, drawings and of course video work. I had a very interesting conversation with Mathilde today, again more wondrous coincidences! it transpires that she is an avid fan of Steve Reich too !!! We spoke of the vibrational frequencies in humans, paintings (colour) and sound too, we seem to share unusual/alternative thought processes, perhaps we could collaborate on some projects, I will put this to her tomorrow.

11/02/2009

I was unable to add the resin to my mould today, it has to be done in the evening because of the fumes, and I had ccs in the evening. Pat said he would put the resin in , fair play to him. CCS this afternoon we were going over the options again, the tutor seemed to be of the opinion that everyone should have it sorted out by now but this was most certainly not the case. I am still unsure of which option to pursue. All this CCS work that we have to do over the next few months will certainly detract from our studio work, which compiles of some 80% of the course mark, it doesn't make sense to have so much work to do in CCS for a mere 20%.

With the left over silicone that I had, I utilised it for another piece of work; I placed some jigsaw pieces on the silicone, some of them upside down. I have placed the original packaging slip from the jigsaw manufacture beside the piece. I suppose you could say that I did this with some sense of irony, as it is now a puzzle that can not be solved, in fact it has now taken on a whole new persona (so to speak), it is a piece of contemporary art ! Could I now call this an 'ARTSAW' ! Well, as an artist, if I can change the functionality of an item, and call it art, then surely I should be able to invent a word for the artwork that I have created !!!!! Hmmm....... more food for thought.

10/02/2009

Yesterday, forgot to mention that I continued editing my video piece, also spent considerable time getting artist research. My silicone was set this morning, so it was just a matter of removing the clay, framing it up again and adding silicone to the top again. Tomorrow it should be ready for the resin, it takes 16 hours to dry. Planted the seed tonight.
Had tutorial with Alan today, it went very well. As usual with Alan, I have come away from the tutorial with a wealth of knowledge, artists, and many ideas for investigation. I mentioned in particular about a person I had heard on the radio who was using minimalist sound (Steve Reich) and that I was very interested in the kind of work he was doing, I was amazed that Alan knew of him and he too was very interested in his work. This led to a very interesting, eclectic discussion of the relational aspects of art, sound, dance, literature, healing etc. I must say I was very impressed!

09/02/2009

Back after the Berlin trip. We had a great time over there, I am really inspired again. The tutors had everything organised very well, we took in many relevant galleries, and I feel it was an extremely important field trip in respect of contemporary art practice. Favourite artist/piece? not possible to name favourites, there were so many great artists/artworks.
Simon Starling had an exhibition which was due to open after we had returned, however, the kind lady at the museum generously gave us a look at the works, which were in the stages of being constructed/hung etc.

Previously, Mark mentioned that we were to 'find' things in Berlin to bring back to limerick, and have a kind of exhibition of them. Well, whilst looking at the Simon Starling stuff, I saw a part of a tree in the corner of the room which he was going to use as part of his exhibition, (It was a lime tree from a famous street in the unter den linten area of Berlin ) I broke a twig off the tree, it had a seed attached to it.( it occurred to me whilst looking at the tree that had been cut down for this exhibition, that this would make for a very interesting artistic concept, IE, Simon Starling taking the tree for his exhibition, and me taking a twig from the tree to use in my own art practice. It raises all kinds of questions as to ownership, artistic licence, copyright, creative rights etc, etc, etc. Anyway, I have decided to encase the twig in resin, for two reasons, firstly, my twig or artwork will outlast Simon Starlings work, so in some strange sense it could be argued that I am also saving his work for antiquity as well. Secondly, the resin will be egg shaped , referring to the age old question; which came first the chicken............. (asking the question whose artwork came first, mine, starling's, the guy who planted the tree, mother nature.................... !

The seed from the twig I hope to grow; whether this will grow or not I leave in the lap of the gods. Again all kinds of questions will be raised if this comes to fruition, ownership, including artistic ownership, legal ownership, etc.

So, today I began making a two part mould for my egg shape resin piece, the sculpture tutors Mike and Pat were extremely helpful. I first had to get an egg (the kind manager of the canteen graciously gave me three (I broke two !) ) then drew a line about half way up the egg and enclosed the egg in clay. After this, framed the piece with some wood and clamped it, to make a solid receptacle for the silicone. Filled the silicone up to the top, and left to set.