09/04/2009

Carried on preparing the boards for the performance/painting piece. One part of the jigsaw piece was not lined up correctly, so it would not join up; we will rectify this at a later stage. We had planned to start the project today, alas, we did not have enough paint; we hope to finish this next wednesday.

08/04/2009

Went to the museum of modern art in Dublin;mainly to see the works of Hughie O Donoghue. There some excellent pieces on display. I especially liked the video piece which showed the process of one particular painting, it was intriguing to see the artist work and re work certain areas until he got the desired effect.

07/03/2009

Again more preparation of the boards.

06/03/2009

Carried on preparing the boards for the presentation/painting piece.

03/04/2009

Had a tutorial with Alan yesterday. It was very positive. As usual, great advice from Alan,he has a great knowledge of issues within contemporary art; he has suggested I research the artist Bill Drummond, by all accounts, he is the kind of mad cap fellow which I can appreciate. Other artists he suggested which could be researched in reference to my work were: Patricia McKenna, Martin Creed,Denis McNulty,Alaistair Maclennan ,and the quintessential Joseph Beuys. He has mentioned Roland Barthes philosopher as well.

02/04/2009

The eggsaws turned out reasonably well, they are not crystal clear but that is fine; it will add to the mystery.Prepared the mould for another five today.Obtained the boards for the performance/painting/video piece with Mathilde. Will use the machine tomorrow to trace out the jigsaw shapes. We will play some minimalist sound possibly Steve Reich, whilst painting on the boards, we are hoping in some sense to get lost in the sound so to speak, and see what kind of painting develops, we will be recording this on video. The video we will project on to the boards when the painting is completed, it will show the whole process taking place. The jigsaw shape? Well I suppose it is a kind of metaphor for our work we are doing; a mixture of different things that we are trying to make sense of through experimentation.Had another meeting about Berlin, again, the lads are so enthusiastic,there is a great energy in the gruop.Wrote e mail to Shelia Deegan about getting Istrabraque hall for the exhibition, hope she hasn't given our spot away, did not contact her for a while.

01/04/2009

CCS tutorial went well; some grammatical advice and some suggestions as to what kind of approach to take,on the whole very positive. Prepared 5 more eggsaws this afternoon. Good buzz about Berlin now, the lads taking their jobs seriously, it feels like more of a group thing now, now that everyone is contributing, I'm confident that it will be a great success.

Reply from Sean Lynch (Re:Starling egg)

Hi Richard Thanks for your mail. I cant speak for Simon I'm afraid, you have to speak to him about it all if you want, but all sounds interesting to me. As far as I remember Michael Riedel did a somewhat similar but really over the top set up of Simon in Frankfurt a few years ago, I am sure you can research it, it got a big spiel in Artforum. I look forward to seeing the piece, As far as I know the tree branch you spoke about was in a show in the new kunsthalle in Berlin. I am sure it is researchable too. In any case, I wouldnt worry about what other people think of the gesture, once it makes sense in your own head is the most important thing. I made a kind of similar project on Richard Long a few years ago and didnt bother trying to explain it to him. I am in Limerick April 20 teaching if you want to meet up for a coffee that day call me on 0874138791. Bring the twig! Sincere Wishes Sean