Assemblage

Assemblage is an artistic form or medium usually created on a defined substrate that consists of three-dimensional elements projecting out of or from the substrate. It is similar to collage, a two-dimensional medium. It is part of the visual arts, it typically uses found objects, but is not limited to these materials. The origin of the artform dates to the cubist constructions of Pablo Picasso c. 1912-1914. The origin of the word (in its artistic sense) can be traced back to the early 1950s, when Jean Dubuffet created a series of collages of butterfly wings, which he titled assemblages d'empreintes. However, both Marcel Duchamp, Pablo Picasso and others had been working with found objects for many years prior to Dubuffet. Russian artist Vladimir Tatlin created his "counter-reliefs" in the mid 1910s. Alongside Tatlin, the earliest woman artist to try her hand at assemblage was Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, the Dada Baroness. In addition, one of the earliest and most prolific was Louise Nevelson, who began creating her sculptures from found pieces of wood in the late 1930s. In 1961, the exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" was featured at the New York Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition showcased the work of early 20th-century European artists such as Braque, Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Picasso, and Kurt Schwitters alongside Americans Man Ray, Joseph Cornell, Robert Mallary and Robert Rauschenberg, and also included less well known American West Coast assemblage artists such as George Herms, Bruce Conner and Edward Kienholz. William C Seitz, the curator of the exhibition, described assemblages as being made up of preformed natural or manufactured materials, objects, or fragments not intended as art materials. Hopefully you now know what I'm doing - maybe too much information.

Circuit Boards and wine making

I will not be doing any art work for about 10 days as I will be helping a friend with the grape harvest, Yes, wine making is what I will be doing for the next few days. Unfortunately it is not wine drinking, but the labour of picking the grapes off the vines, de-stemming them (thank goodness the de-stemming is done by a machine) and starting the fermentation. If you like wine from Portugal - lookout for "Quinta da Sapeira". The wine farm is run by Inês (a woman in a man's domian) and she has won gold and silver medals in Paris, Vienna and now Hong Kong

Vodafone

No matter where you go, who you are with, the time of day or night, you will inevitably see an advert for a mobile phone company. It is the pure definition of being ubiquetes. You can not escape it, it is like the panting woman that is about to give birth - there is no way that you can prevent it (well at least by natural means. Probably by shooting yourself you will no longer see these phone adverts. But if you blotch up the shooting, you may very well be seeing some more adds post recovery). Because circuit boards are a part of our lives, they exist in almost very item that you lay your hands on - so why not use then in our artwork as well. The phone that you are using, the watch that is on your arm, the remote control that opens the garage door and changes the canal on the TV - they all have one thing in common: the circuit board that makes them work. We have reached the stage where the circuit board is the modern day equivalent of the wheel. But just as you do not need to re-invent the wheel, just improve it, so it is with the circuit board. In all of the old appliances that I destroyed, the boards were large, the components were also very large and the space between the lines on the boards were very well spaced. Some of the newer boards, the soldered lines were very much more closer to each other, to the point that they were almost indistinguishable from each other. I suppose size does matter: less weight, space and raw materials.

The end of the week - a new painting.

The last post that I wrote mentioned the modern narcissistic attitude of most people, but I have to admit that most artists are a little inclined to be narcissistic. Have a look at some of the things that Salvador Dali said. But thank goodness, the artists that I know are only slightly narcissistic, but I'm inclined to think that being an artist forces one to be narcissistic to some extent. The reason that I say that, is that the artist needs to make some sales, and in order to convince the prospective buyer that he/she is making a worthwhile investment, the artist must "sell himself". Not all artists are good at this, but we try. The act of "selling oneself" relies on, at least pretending to be narcissistic to some extent. I have seen this carried to extreme, and have also seen very good artists not saying enough to promote themselves. Oh my goodness, will somebody please protect us artist from ourselves!

Narcissitic

I love my mobile phone and the internet, BUT I think that the digital world is turning the population into narcissistic self absorbed people. The amount of people that are taking "selfies" is alarming. We used to take photos of our loved ones, family and friends, but not of ourselves. But it might be argued that self-portraiture was the original "selfie". That might be so, but the whole population was not artistic - sitting in front of a mirrors, painting. What is more: the reason most artists painted self portraitures was because they needed the practice and could not afford a model, or one was not available at the appropriate time. As much as I love my electronic items, it pains me to say that it has resulted in a more lonely, depressed society. We are more connected to others thought the interment than actual speaking to them face to face. In some cases people are not even touching others. On a BBC program, (I do not remember which one though) it mentioned that people are even having less sex than before. Why? - because they more connected to others via the internet, than those in the room. Have you ever been lonely in a crowd - well this is the way of things now - a room full of people but they are all connected to some else at the other end of the world. I think that in terms of social health and inter-reaction, the world is very sick. Could this epidemic be one of the unforeseen deterrents of human population explosion that Malthusians could never have imagined?

Mobile phones

What would we do without them now? Who are them ? You know - mobile phones and the internet! Internet is just great, its what we are using right now, and it con be done on your phone (Old news, I know). Anything that you want to know, anything that you want to see (the good and the bad), it's all available, just a few key stokes away. Talk about an utopia. I can not imagine what life would be like if we no longer had internet. But all this depends on digital circuits - and they are beautiful in their own right. It is almost like abstract expressionism. Jackson would have been very impressed with a board if he had seen one.

Wired Ring

This is a new dawn for me, yes - I know it is an awful cliché, but it was the first that came into my mind - sorry. This new way of doing gold leaf has sparked off a creative intensity that I have not had for many a year. Serendipity is such a pleasing experience. The finding out of a thing by accident is truly invigorating. Having dismantled an old phone for pure fascination and anger, because it no longer was useful, I discovered how beautiful the digital board was. And what is more all these boards are hidden away from sight, almost as if they are to be unseen, unheard, the ugly ones. But, it is they that are most fascinating, captivating and enchanting. It seems almost sinfully to cover them up. A lot of old digital equipment has now been dismantled at home, and is being used in my art. Over the next few weeks, images will be uploaded showing the results.

Life with Phones

I have not been around for that long, a mere 55 years, but I have noticed one major change in our lives: The extent that we are now connected to our phones. When I was young, phones were only used to make phone calls (Wow, but that is absolutely true)and, you were not always lucky enough to have a phone installed in your house. I have memories of one of our neighbours, coming to use the our phone once in a while. It was not considered an object of entertainment, but rather a very important part of emergency communication. You did not call anyone for a social chat, it was used for short brief necessary conversations only. But today, it is used for a thousand and one uses and new ways of using this ubiquetes item are been invented daily, from social to business or even medical emergencies. You can even make phone calls free But, do you remember the economic principle: "There is no such thing as a free lunch". You might think that you have all these wonderful apps for free and phone calls to boot, but you ARE paying. Please don´t get me wrong, I love the modernity, but it comes at a price, some times not in the form of a direct cost, but a indirect cost, health and medical bills. Please use your phone with discretion.

Phone Art

It seems to me it's time for a change: I have a predilection at the moment to do more abstract art, and with the current, or should I say the "on-going preoccupation" with mobile phones being the theme. Have you ever given any consideration to what it would be like to have no mobile phones and the internet. Do you think your life would be better? I think in some ways it would be better: like spending more time with family and friends, and one might even be more productive. I knew an artist that would not have a TV in the house, because it prevented her from painting (Unfortunately, she had to give-in to buying because of the husband and children. Needless to say she is no where near as productive as she used to be) This painting that is displayed today, has been done on gold and silver leaf, and the frame is part of the creation. I have many more ideas about this type of creating.

The Blue Haired Lady

Have you every been "just-messing-around" and that piece of art seems to be the best that you have done in a long time? well this is what happened with this little canvas. It was lying in the studio and became a useful item on which to clean my paint brush. So, after a while it had accumulated a variety of coloures and textures. Then, looking at it, without any particular objective, using the brush that I was about to wipe clean on the canvas, started painting the outline of this woman that was balancing more on one leg than the other. The coloured seemed to morph into the body of the woman, it was a very visceral moment. The feeling was completely satisfying and a sensation that one tries to replicate again and again with each painting. Unfortunately it does not always raise to the occasion. It is very much like having a run a very fast 10km (or any other distance), and one is on a high for a while. The next time one goes out to run this distance again, one knows that to achieve this "state" a certain amount of discomfort must be invoked first: the lack of oxygen, the fatigued muscles and the wanting to stop, before the sensation of flying starts to happen. Sometimes I think painting is very much the same, one need discomfort to bring out the best in one. But it has to be self induced, and a want. There is a common way of mentioning this: "break out of your comfort zone"