More Dirty Work At The Crossroads Graphite, ink and collage 59cm x 84Cm
I have been continuing working on my X Marks The Spot series which started at the end of the 50 Collages Before Christmas project I did last year. The last one I posted, X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet took the work into the area of conflict, confusion and misdirection, so it is no surprise that I continued the theme when asked to exhibit at The Soldiers of Oxfordshire Museum, Woodstock, in Art On Conflict to tie in with Jenny Holzer’s SOFTER installation at Blenheim Palace.
The three pieces here will accompany X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet to Woodstock in what I am sure will be a fascinating and provoking exhibition.
Forget Not The Righteous Tsunami Of Hokusai Graphite, acrylic & collage on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
At Cross Purposes Erased graphite, Magic Tape and acrylic on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
“X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet “ Erased graphite, Magic Tape and stickers on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
After a period when I could not work on large drawings because of a bad back, I am now back on form and have been working on a strand of the erasure work I began during my 50 Collages Before Christmas project.
“X Marks The Spot Where We Buried The Hatchet” – detail Erased graphite, Magic Tape and stickers on Snowdon cartridge paper 59cm x 84cm
“Making Up For Lost Time” Collage: paper and photographic elements on card
I have been merrily working away at this project in a measured kind of way. It has been interesting to work with collage in a much bigger way than I have ever done before with some at A1 and one almost A0, though most are around the 50cm x 50cm mark. I have found that some have taken much more time than I ever could have imagined – just physically gluing and trimming takes proportionately longer to ensure everything is just right.
The reason I chose to do the project was to give me a focus. Having been out of the studio for a while I was stacked up with ideas and didn’t want to be flip-flopping about. Well that didn’t work: the project is spawning more ideas than ever and it’s difficult to focus on any of it.
However, I am happy with the direction things are going and I have quite a few pieces on the go and working well (plus a few that don’t want to go the way I hoped!) I have been blogging about the process on a-n so you can read more about it there. Below are some of the collages to date. I’ll create a page with all of them when the project is complete.
“Keep an eye on Otto”
Paper, card, photograph and photographic elements 30.5cm x 41cm
“There’s Possibly No Way To Say This”
Collage of photographic elements on board 30.5cm x 41cm
“They Had No Right”
Collage and photograph on gessoed board 30.5cm x 40.7cm
“Abstract Drawings for Dummies III: The Ordering Machine”
Collage, pencil, ink, Inktense and photographic elements on Snowdon cartridge 59cm x 84cm
I’ll Find You In A Minute Or Two
Collage of photographic elements, paper and ink on textured gessoed board 50cm x 50cm
“Can’t Compare”
Inktense pencils on recycled Indian ledger paper with Polycolor pencil on gessoed board 30.5cm x 40.7cm
“Sometimes There’s Very Little Point”
Watercolour & handmade paper on textured gessoed card 50x50cm
“Beginner’s Mind”
Photographic elements, charcoal, graphite and acrylic on textured gessoed card 50cm x 50cm
“Nobody Knew The Cure”
Collage – paper, graphite, charcoal, and photographic elements on gessoed board 30.5cm x 40.7cm
“Two Blacks Don’t Make A White”
Collage: photograph and acrylic on paper on gessoed board 30cm x 30cm
“Gone The Days Of Rainbows”
Collage: acrylic on paper and photograph on gessoed board 30cm x 30cm
“You Didn’t Try To Call Me” Photographs, cardboard and acrylic on canvas 50cm x 50cm
The sixth offering in 50 Collages Before Christmas features more of my photographs of grids: some more from Bruce Nauman’s installation at the Hamberger Bahnhof, Berlin and some from boarded-up shopfronts in Bristol. Sometimes it is difficult to stick down collage elements in the precise positions so everything aligns exactly as I want but everything got measured, cut and positioned perfectly almost effortlessly. The photo has a little shine on the left which makes it difficult to see the small dotted marks on the photo which mimic the perforations in the cardboard – my favourite bit, except perhaps for the section centre left which delights my eye with its ever-so-slightly trompe l’oeil misleading.
“From Under Your Nose” Paper, acrylic and discarded photograph on gessoed canvas 50cm x 50cm
I’ve gone and done it again! A few years back I did a collage a day for a year – #Collage365. Then I did another every-day-for-a-year project – #Letter365. Only this time I have been a bit less demanding of myself. I think there are 63 days left till Christmas and I started the project 4 or 5 days ago. I know I am going to be away and busy for some of the time so I didn’t want to give myself any pressure. I also wanted to be able to do larger, more considered work rather than the very focussed work that the previous projects demanded. The idea came from my frustration of not being able to get the studio time I have been wanting. Necessary work on my studio roof and other calls on my time have meant I have not been able to engage in the concentrated work I need to be doing. I have sort of promised myself a “residency-at-home” for six months, following the idea of a “staycation”, where I can have an immersive experience in my studio and home landscape (mostly) and this project is how I have decided to kick it off.
Collage has started to creep into my work again – in the “Rings” series and the “Abstract Drawings for Dummies”, the first two of which are also the first two of #Collage50. When I was starting to put my studio back together after the work, I got out one of my large boxes of collage materials and just started working on things. I’ll have to find a way to get my studio organised round the things I am doing! Currently the floor and some work surfaces are covered with newly painted and marked paper I am preparing for use in collages!
The piece above, From Under Your Nose is Number 4 in the series. The photographs are discarded prints by Bridport photographer Brendon Buesnel that he gifted me as collage materials a couple of years ago. The piece below is Number 3, In The Room With No Soul. It features a photograph I took inside Bruce Bruce Nauman’s Room with My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care which I saw at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. A small piece of one of these photos has already appeared in #Collage50 and I can see it could be a theme that develops. Well, it’s a grid isn’t it!
“In The Room With No Soul” Card and photograph on gessoed canvas 50cm x 50cm
I will set up a separate page for the project in due course and try to get half-decent pictures of them all to make into a gallery slide show.
Anna Gahlin’s contribution to “The Binding Grid of Creative Connection” and the packing it was in
I had a moving couple of hours opening and recording the contributions to my collaborative piece “The Binding Grid of Creative Connection” which I will be working on during the first two weeks of my show “Black Squares, Black Lines & Black Magic” at Black Swan Arts, Frome. So far 55 artists have contributed a total of 117 pieces for me to work with. I am really touched that so many people – people, mostly, I have never met – have taken so much time and care to make something for me to do with as I choose. People have trusted me with their art and given it in good heart. Most people packed their little 4″ x 4″ work with meticulous care. Many included a short note or a card with good wishes and words of support. Sometimes there was a little story about the piece and for me the greatest joy was when someone said how much they enjoyed thinking about and doing their piece. Pure inspiration. Thank you everyone. I will still accept contributions for the next two weeks. Do come and visit me at the gallery to see th eprogress and unfolding.
Martin Heron’s contribution
I have had pieces from France, Norway, America and all over the UK. Artists of all ages, amateur and professional, experienced and emerging, have put themselves out to send a creative gift. Some people sent multiple contributions. Three was a frequent number but a few sent more than 10 pieces! As yet I am still to discover who sent a pack of sixteen wonderful, double-sided squares, carefully packed, but didn’t enclose even a clue to their maker. Please let me know who you are so I can credit you!
Anonymous contribution to “The Binding Grid of Creative Connection”
With so much care and generosity taken with these gifts I am really conscious that I want to do justice to them and make the contributors be proud they were a part of something. I start work on Saturday on it and at present have far too many ideas, but I’ll soon find my way through it. I say I start on Saturday but actually I have created a big black square and drawn a grid on it. I stuck my own first contribution on it:
My own starting contribution for “The Binding Grid of Creative Connection”
“That Matter We Talked About” Acrylic on canvas 400mm x 400mm
For my next show in the Round Tower at Black Swan Arts, Frome, I want to do a couple of collaborative pieces and for the first of them I need the help of other artists. The working title of the show is “Black Squares, Black Lines & Black Magic” and I want artists to make something, anything, that is their interpretation of or idea about that theme. It can be anything at all, in any format or media as long as it is exactly 4″ x 4″.
So if you are an artist in any discipline please send your contribution to me c/o Black Squares, The Round Tower, Black Swan Arts, 2 Bridge Street, Frome, Somerset BA11 1BB. Please do it NOW! I will be creating the piece during the show which runs from 6 November – 29 November 2015 so if you wanted you could bring me your piece (I will accept submissions up to 21 November) but you know you’ll forget – so do it NOW!
There is no higher purpose, no charitable intent, other than to create an interesting piece of art that is influenced by the chaos of multiple artists. I do not promise that your work will be used and if it is used it may not be obviously visible (those of you who know my work know that the work is often unseen!) When you send or deliver a piece you pass all physical and intellectual property rights to it as an object or idea over to me to use in any way that I see fit. Yes, I am asking you to make a small gift to me of your work with no chance of anything in return except the satisfaction that you will have played a small part in a web of art.
The one thing I do promise is that every artist from whom I receive something will get a publicly-visible credit at the exhibition. That name check may in itself become an artwork, who knows?
It is quite likely that I will also tweet the image and name of pieces sent in, but I make no promises on that in case time and numbers forbid.
So get cracking on your “Black Squares, Black Lines & Black Magic” submission and send it as soon as you can. Thank you very much in advance
*PS I need to have a physical contribution. So if you make a digital piece please produce hard copy for me to use. If you are a musician or a poet or dancer or whatever you can still take part as long as you make your contribution into some kind of hard-copy 4″ x 4″ submission.
“An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)” Acrylic on canvas 400mm x 400mm
I am delighted to report that I sold 15 pieces during Bridport Open Studios and generated a lot of good feedback and met some wonderful people. My new works on canvas were particularly well received and i sold “An Index of Metals (Thank You Brian and Robert)” pictured above. I also sold “The Bit They Know About You” (pictured below) which is one of my favourite pieces, so I am particularly pleased that someone has seen its merits. I hope it gives the buyers much pleasure for many years.
“The Bit They Know About You” Acrylic and Indian ink on Saunders Waterford paper 559mm × 762mm
I suppose I am now going to have to change my Twitter header as the artwork I was using, “Mystery Evolves” (below) has also gone to a new home. I am fortunate too that quite a few smaller studies and collages sold, as well as the larger pieces mentioned in previous posts.
“Mystery Evolves” Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm
Outfall 2 Ink & watercolour on paper 559mm × 762mm
I have been pleased with the quality of visitors to my Open Studios this weekend. Most people have displayed a keen interest in my work and I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and talking about art. I’m also pleased that I have sold something each day – including today when I was technically not open! A visitor over the weekend called this morning to say they had decided to by “Outfall 2”, the piece pictured above. It’s quite a special piece for me and I am delighhted it has found an appreciative home.
I have also sold some of the small studies I framed up and another larger piece, “You Were Born And So You’re Free”
You Were Born And So You’re Free Ink on Somerset paper 559mm × 762mm
