Paynes grey versus Mars Black

working on current acrylic painting for signing board featuring at a wedding in Paris in June, its a toss up, usually use Paynes Grey as it is not as harsh as lamp black/mars black, but it may need to contrast more with the blue/purple tones already applied. Thinking out loud in technology:)

Payne's grey is a very dark blue-grey used in painting. It can be used as a mixer in place of black. Being less intense than black, it is easier to get the right shade when using it as a mixer. Payne's grey is a mixture of ultramarine and black or of ultramarine and Sienna.

The colour is named after William Payne, who painted watercolours in the late 18th century.

The colour Payne's Grey is named after a British watercolourist and art lecturer, William Payne (1760--1830), who recommended the mixture to students as a more subtle alternative to a gray mixed from black and white. In Artist's Pigments: c.1600-1835 Payne's grey is stipulated to originally have been "a mixture of lake, raw sienna and indigo."¹

Mars black is supposed to be much more powerful in
tinting strength
About three times the tinting strength of ivory. Not as black as ivory. Hold a magnet up to a tube of grumbacher academy mars black and then hold it next to a tube of Winsor newton artists grade mars black and you can feel the difference in pigment load by the degree of magnetic force involved.
Here a high pigment load can be a negative aspect. Black is one of the most feared pigments. Many have trouble with it and cite the dirtying, muddying nature that it has, yeah, it is black, and sometimes mud is just what you want. So with three times the power, mars can be even harder to handle than ivory. I know some artists who prefer the lower pigment load and tinting strength of winton ivory black. I feel this way about other pigments as well, for instance, I really like winton prussian blue due to the pigment load and my ability to handle it. I won't even try out a tube of Old Holland prussian blue, however, when it comes to other pigments like say yellow ochre, then bring it on because I can handle the highest pigment load there is.

Functionality of Maintenance

Functionality of Maintenance

Having looked briefly at the blog elements of my websites it became apparent that it lacked input of any description over the last year. There have been many reasons for this, one of course is basically burn out; both imaginatively and physically, not just plain lazy! I am aware that I have had a number of people who follow my blogs, in fact I have heard that it has been used as a teaching resource, nice to know there is some value to my rants and oddities!

There are a number of factors which have led me away from posting and I thought I would have a go at explaining a number of them, hopefully they will be honest and at times thought provoking. It will also be a platform for me to start posting regularly again.

I’ve tried to break down some of the main reasons for not posting and came to the conclusion to put them into ‘family’ factors which will allow expansion with related information, images and personal thoughts. These are not meant to be excuses but by going through them I will hopefully be able to resolve many of the constraints I have and more importantly, the desire to post in a creative thinking process. I’m not going to post these thoughts in all one go, too much at one time, but I will get back into the swing of it I’m sure L emoticon number #1 in full use J

for those that know me - just up my street!

Title: tongue twister. graphite on paper

If you have had the opportunity to see some of my earlier work you we know that I like to use expletives!!
Came across this on my inderweb travels.. shame its over the water, maybe the will transport over to the UK!

I have edited the words for tender eyes!

THE SWEARING FESTIVAL II
back to swear one
Saturday November 10, 2007
main event $12
panel event $5
TICKETS ON SALE HERE
*******
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10, 3pm, $5 door (no presale of tix for Panel)
Experts discuss HOW THE S***S AND F***S CHANGE THE WORLD
Linguist Dr. Jonathan Hunt
Author and Litquake founder Jack Boulware
********
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10, 8pm, $12 door
The Mass Swearing Experiment - A multi-media exposure of us and our mouths.
*
A Most Horrible, Vile Oaths contest - Where you get to offload on your personal targets.

The Verbal Abuse Duel - Curse off against a total stranger, but can you take the heat yourself?

LIVE MUSIC from Les Merdes - Sing along to the s**t parade
*
Filthy, foreign tongues – Foreign guests educate us on How to cuss your stale croissant? And how to tell the Spanish train conductor, Why don’t you get some f*****g toilet paper on these trains? Other bad languages to feature too.
*
Swear Into the Light - Curse torture, sponsored by The Dick Cheney Ideas Group
*
The Shite Discotheque Party
*
And loads more wrongness....
*
Raffle Prizes
*
Special Guests
The Swearing Festival explodes it all.

SWEARING

72% of men and 58% of women swear in public.
Swearing takes up 13% of adult conversation
Spock swore in Star Trek 4
One South Park episode used the same expletive 146 times.

further looking!

following links that I scan usually delve a little deeper if it catches my eye - not to sure about having this sculpture in my living room but after seeing other work I like the use of mixed media and the technques used in their creation

by Rune Olsen

again delving that bit deeper, came across the original

in the trusted words of Rolf Harris "do you know what it is yet?"
Tako to ama
is an erotic woodcut of the ukiyo-e genre made around 1820 by the Japanese artist Hokusai. Perhaps the first instance of tentacle eroticism, it depicts a woman entwined sexually with a pair of octopuses, the smaller of which kisses her while the larger one performs cunnilingus. Hokusai created The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife during the the Edo period in when Shinto was making a resurgence; this influenced the piece's animism and playful attitude towards sexuality. It is a celebrated example of shunga and has been reworked by a number of artists. Similar themes of human females having sexual intercourse with sea life have been displayed since the 17th century in Japanese netsuke, small carved sculptures only a few inches in height and often extremely elaborate.

as mentioed, had a look at some of the more recent work, this I like

Thickskinned 2006 Graphite, masking tape, blue mannequin eyes, newspaper, steel, wire and acrylic medium 33" x 27" x 46"

not too sure about this

During my usual trails around the inderwed I happened across this artist. Took a closer look at what he was doing and on the surface looks like a great idea - mass art for the masses (update on Warhol I suppose). Then I went to the website to have a closer look at the work he actually produces.. to be honest the words that spring to mind are: quality? workmanship? I understand the concept, but I find the work produced is only worthy of the few quid he charges. Does it undermine the value of the work of others artists, who strive to produce work which shows integrity and a passion to create an artifact of personal value?

Roanoke College resident artist Steve Keene brings an assembly-line mentality to his work -- and passes the savings on to his customers.
New York artist Steve Keene, who has set up a studio in Olin Gallery at Roanoke College’s Olin Hall, creates dozens of paintings simultaneously, which he sells for $1 to $5. Keene says art should be available to everyone.
Keene has created album art, video sets, stage sets and posters for the likes of the Dave Matthews Band.
Steve Keene is painting at Roanoke College's Olin Gallery until Nov. 10, and since he arrived Oct. 26, he has painted more than 500 paintings.
Think real people can't afford real art?
People weren't just buying Keene's paintings. They were buying them by the fistful, by the armload. Broke young twentysomethings, college students, even a 6-year-old named Judah were snatching up paintings by the real, full-time professional New York artist (and sometimes dropping them, too). Other artists were buying Keene's paintings, as well. Artist Suzun Hughes of Roanoke had a stack of them in hand and was looking for more.
Why?
"It's fun," Hughes said.
It's also cheap. How cheap? Let's put it this way: If you're one of those people who hangs posters on walls instead of paintings because the posters only cost $10, it might be time to give Keene a try. His paintings cost $5. And those are the big ones.
The little ones are a buck.
"Anybody can have one," said Keene, resident artist at Roanoke College through Saturday. (His work will be on exhibit at Olin Gallery at the college for a week longer.)

How does he do it? Think Henry Ford, whose assembly lines brought automobile prices within reach of the common man. Keene is a one-man assembly line. He doesn't paint a picture a month, or a week or an hour. He paints 10 an hour, up to a hundred a day -- day after day.
"I really don't think of these as paintings," he explained, while taking a short break last week. "I think of it as a big sculpture that people are walking in. It's like Hansel and Gretel. You see a gingerbread house, and you take a piece of candy with you."

Fair enough. Walking into the gallery where Keene has set up shop is a little like stepping into a candy jar. Keene's paintings -- there are hundreds, maybe thousands -- are lined up on two long wooden racks that span the gallery. More paintings are propped against the walls. On opening night, adults and students and a few very small children circled Keene's wares at speeds ranging from contemplative to breakneck, sometimes pausing to pluck down paintings from the racks, as Motown music blared from loudspeakers overhead.
Meanwhile, between the racks, in a space marked off by yellow tape (the kind of tape you see at crime scenes that says, "Police line -- do not cross"), Keene worked. Keene paints on pieces of thin plyboard cut into rectangular shapes. On this night there were about 80 of them sitting side by side. Keene moved among them with his brush, making a slash here, a dab there, while half a dozen people sat outside the tape and watched.
Keene did not talk to them. Asked later what people were saying about his show, he said he didn't know.
"I don't interact," said Keene, who puts in 12-hour days painting. "I don't want to talk to people when I'm working."
200,000 sales and counting
Keene was educated at Virginia Commonwealth and Yale universities. Now a married father of two who lives in Brooklyn, he met gallery director Talia Logan when both were living in Charlottesville in the 1990s. Logan quickly became a fan. She estimates she has purchased more than 40 of Keene's paintings (an outlay for art that falls somewhere between the price of an iPod and a new pair of shoes). "They're addictive," Logan said.
According to Keene's Web site, his unusual approach to painting began to develop in the early '90s, when he was friends with many musicians and worked for a while as a disc jockey. Keene has created album art, video sets, stage sets and posters for the likes of the Dave Matthews Band, Soul Coughing and the Silver Jews. His painting borrows a lot from music, in fact, especially the improvisational kinds. Keene, who often literally moves into the gallery where his work is being shown and paints on site, considers his work performance art, and says people who buy his paintings (on the honor system -- there are payment boxes set up around the gallery) are "buying a slice of my time."
Keene has sold a lot of slices. He has done his art act in Philadelphia; Houston; Cologne, Germany; Los Angeles; Melbourne, Australia; London; and Florida, and estimates he has sold 200,000 paintings over the past 15 years.
What does he paint?
Anything and everything. Here are some of labels that appear on his pictures in hastily painted letters: "Hotel Roanoke," "Gertrude Stein," "Purple Rain," "Richmond," "Norfolk," "Virginia Beach," "Baseball," "October," "Rain in Salem" and "Sam's Club." There are pictures of the Beatles and Brooklyn and Athens and lots of flowers.
"Junk," Keene calls them, and "absolute nonsense." The point is to gather up objects, he said, in the spirit of Robert Rauschenberg -- who made art from dead animals and bathtubs, among other things -- and assemble them into a collage.
But one man's junk is another man's treasure. Or woman's. And whatever the reason, most of those buying up gobs of paintings at Keene's paintings at his reception were female.
"I just like his whole philosophy about art," said Julie Bivins, a Radford University graduate student whose husband works at Roanoke College. She had come to Olin Hall with friend Denise Valente, a respiratory therapist, and had a stack of dollar-priced "maybe's" in her hands. "I chose this one just for the colors in it. Our walls are kind of bare." Bivins was also eying one titled "Breakfast," with a dashed-off plate of bacon and eggs.
"I like the way a lot of them are funny," Valente said.
And Keene's prices? "Ridiculous and funny," Valente said.
Logan's take on Keene's art was a little different.
"It's absolutely inspiring," the gallery director said.

Tom Phillips Exhibition

Big picture
Widely considered a touchstone of postmodernism, Tom Phillips’ artistic project, ‘A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel’, has achieved cult status since its initial publication in 1970. One day, Phillips went into a book shop with the intention of buying a cheap book which he would use as the basis for an art project. He randomly selected William Hurrell Mallock’s A Human Document and began the long process of transforming it into a work of art. He paints, draws or collages over the pages, leaving some of the original text on show. This display will follow the evolution of the ongoing project from its beginnings to the present day, with different editions on show alongside related works-on-paper, as well as a number of new pages that have not been seen in public.
Dean Gallery, Edinburgh, until Sun 6 Jan

The painting of modern life

As some one who uses photography in their work, I will give this a whirl, from the brief intro on the site it looks good
For video introduction:

The first major museum survey of its kind, The Painting of Modern Life re-examines what has been arguably the most influential development in the history of contemporary painting: the use and translation of photographic imagery. Curated by The Hayward Director Ralph Rugoff, the exhibition charts the international evolution of this tendency over the past 45 years, including seminal photo-inspired works from the early 1960s by artists such as Gerhard Richter and Andy Warhol. Revealing the surprising stylistic diversity of this work, the exhibition also focuses on the great variety of subject matter from the personal to the political, addressed by featured artists.

'This is the rare show that can sustain an argument' (Daily Telegraph).

'This is a show that stimulates mind and eye' (Observer).

List of Artists:


Richard Artschwager, Robert Bechtle, Vija Celmins, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Thomas Eggerer, Judith Eisler, Franz Gertsch, Richard Hamilton, Eberhard Havekost, David Hockney, Johannes Kahrs, Johanna Kandl, Martin Kippenberger, Liu Xiaodong, Malcolm Morley, Elizabeth Peyton, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Gerhard Richter, Wilhelm Sasnal, Luc Tuymans and Andy Warhol.

more cruising

Having spent an hour or two! looking around on the scarlet impernet I occasionally come across something that takes my eye, leads onto other things and sinks in to my lower depths of my mind - to be retrieved at some point and used as a reference or just sits there and scores on the intriguing/wow front. This is one of those occasions - cool sculptures, exploring more of the work through searching; apart from the instant visual humour, the concept being many of the works: are what attracts me to his work.

I am interested in the object, in liberating it from its field, giving it a new validity and meaning. It is integrated in a different system of values and ideas: in that of art. In this way it loses its function and takes on another. I do not want to go so far as to say that the object is no longer recognized. Rather I want to have the appeal of the recognition effect on the one hand and that of alienation on the other, which the object emanates. Source:Erwin Wurm interviewed by Desirée Schellerer, Design Vienna, (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts, February 16-March 27, 1989)

You may recognise one or two pieces - they have been taken further and used in an advertising campain regarding a greener environment (sorry, didn't save link along the way)

Erwin Wurm, one of Austria's most important and internationally famous sculptors, has been preoccupied with expanding the concept of sculpture since the 1980s. Wurm is primarily a sculptor, and traditional sculptural concerns such as the relationship between object and pedestal, the function of gravity, the fixing of form, and the manipulation of volume, play through all his work.

beats ashtrays and wobbly coil pots

Over the years I have dabbled with ceramics, through teaching it pupils and at various stages to adults during evening classes. It's not a medium that I have an infinity with, I struggle with its properties and have at times used it as a medium for small sculptures. Understanding different firing and glazing techniques is an area that as the years have gone past never really got to grips with. Visiting galleries and exhibitions I have recently seen a lot of ceramic work which I must admit does intrigue me, but not the bowls etc but more sculptural approaches. Sitting in our kitchen we have a piece by Eoghan Bridge titled:Rotund Horse and Rider which we acquired (courtesy of the Linda Blackstone Gallery)

Some time ago - well last December, I met an artist Kuldeep Malhi who was also exhibiting in the Sesame Saloon we shared a chat and a drink! I found his work beautiful and again strangely enough it was ceramic. I was facinated by the work, enquired on the techniques used and basically loved the organic and sensual shapes created.

here's an example:

Blush

Blush was a direct influence from early Indian sculpture especially the Eleventh Century temples of central India, their sculptures and carvings which display explicit erotic imagery are astoundingly beautiful, they charm and seduce. They are bold yet sensitive, fantastic yet poetic, demonstrating the intimate relationship between sculpture and architecture; sensations and qualities that are reflected in the work of Kuldeep Malhi.Dimensions for these pieces range from 6cm to 27cm. Each piece is fixed to the wall with a screw and can be removed easily. There are 15 pieces in each set, the number of pieces in a set can be increased or reduced through negotiation and priced accordingly. Currently all Kuldeep Malhi's wall installations are slip cast earthenware. Different colour ranges are available on all works.

Searching around as you do, I hit upon these ceramic pieces, which has sparked off my creative juices: formulating a new body of work based upon a piece a produced last year - 'its all .......' (acrylic on canvas)

where one piece will be ceramic based (will need to sharpen up my firing and glazing skills, or alternatively do a collaborative piece with Kuldeep, if he is agreeable!) More on this new body of work in a future post....

back to the plot!

The ceramic pieces that I came across are very different from the normal ceramics you see and apart from the comic book theme - batman, I find the concept and final outcome exciting. Any thoughts?

artwork by Shigeki Hayashi ( some incredible stuff)

all day I dream about .... update II

well, having been away soaking up the sand, sea and saltwater (didn't get much time for any of that!) I have returned and locked myself away in the 'shed' to continue with the painting.

Currently working on 5 pieces as I have to wait for the paint to dry!!

Some go with current projects - funny portraits, some just appear from no where and the Adidas one is the starting point for a series of paintings as previously posted.

Applying the second coat I changed the tone slightly, giving it a slightly more yellow/lime hue, after that had dried, I looked again and have mixed a sharper hue using lemon yellow and (now in fear of saying this!) fluorescent yellow. The effect just gives the basic lime green an edge and pulls it up from the canvas. Anyhow, time and third layer will tell.

P.S. just thought I'd mention - well done to Jafabrit for her exhibition, looks great and I hope you will gain success from it.

worth every penny

Just in time for Halloween - the Jack O' Lantern version of conceptual artist Damon Hirst's "For the Love of God"(click here for info). This small craft pumpkin was covered with silver spraypaint, then encrusted by hand with roughly $40 worth of fine rhinestones. The insurance needed to cover this thing will be phenomenonal. Thanks to
http://death-worm.livejournal.com/ for producing this artwork and for the links that followed:

Damien Hirst has been accused of copying yet another artist’s ideas.
Three weeks after the artist unveiled his diamond-encrusted skull with a price of £50 million, another artist, John LeKay, has told The Times that he has been producing similar jewel-encrusted skulls since 1993 (see image 2, left). He also believes that it is not the only one of his ideas that Hirst has used in some way.
LeKay, who claims to have been a friend of Hirst’s between 1992 and 1994, and who shared a mixed show with him in New York in 1994, said of the diamond skull: “When I heard he was doing it, I felt like I was being punched in the gut. When I saw the image online, I felt that a part of me was in the piece. I was a bit shocked.”
LeKay, a 46-year-old Londoner who lives in New York, created 25 of the skulls in 1993. Inspired by Mayan skulls, he used crystal to make his skull glisten. “When the light hits it, it looks as if it is covered in diamonds,” he said.
Over the years, he has explored the idea repeatedly, covering skulls made of soap and wax with artificial diamonds and Swarovski crystals.
He said: “I would like Damien to acknowledge that ‘John really did inspire the skull and influenced my work a lot’. Damien’s very insecure about his originality. He used to say, ‘You’re a better artist than me’.
“He can be affectionate and is fun to be around, but he struggles to come up with ideas. It takes years of work to develop something. My stuff with crystals took a lot of research. You don’t just get there. He’s impatient. He’s a lazy artist.”
While Hirst is still looking for a buyer with £50 million to spare, LeKay’s skulls have sold for less than $2,500 (£1.200).
Last week Hirst’s Lullaby Spring – a medicine chest that would be mistaken for just that if placed anywhere other than an auction house or art gallery – changed hands for £9.6 million at Sotheby’s, making him the world’s most expensive living artist.
Hirst made his name by pickling a shark, then won the Turner Prize in 1995 with an exhibition that included Mother and Child, Divided – the severed halves of a cow and calf preserved in formaldehyde. LeKay claims that Hirst took such ideas from science education products sold by Carolina Biological Supply Company.
“I gave Damien a marked-up duplicate copy of the catalogue,” he said. “You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647 – it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece. I gave him the catalogue to help him find butterflies.”
The similarity between Hirst’s diamond skull, For the Love of God, and skull-themed jewellery with Swarovski crystals produced by Butler and Wilson was reported earlier this month, but Hirst is no stranger to plagiarism claims.
Last year Robert Dixon, a graphics artist, said that Hirst’s print Valium bore unmistakable similarities to one of his circular designs on page 74 of The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry, published in 1991.
He claimed that when he initially contacted Hirst in 2003 he was taken aback by the e-mail response from the artist’s manager. Apparently unaware of Mr Dixon’s involvement with it, the manager said that Hirst had drawn inspiration from a book given to him by a friend – The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry.
Mr Dixon told The Times: “So Hirst’s manager wrote back to say the drawing was ‘nothing to do with you’, not realising that it was.”
Neither Hirst’s office, Science, nor his dealer, the White Cube, wished to comment yesterday.
Inspired
— Norman Emms, who designed a £14.99 plastic anatomical toy that was reproduced as a £1 million, 20ft bronze torso by Hirst, later received a “goodwill payment” from the artist
— The Stuckists, a group campaigning for traditional artistry, displayed a shark that hung in a London shop window two years before Hirst’s work was first shown
— The actor Keith Allen said that the theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn paid £27,000 for a Hirst painting that had been done by Hirst’s two-year-old son and Allen’s ten-year-old son
Source: Times database

Finding it incredibly difficult to use the word artist in my comment. I may be mistaken but my understanding is that Hirst rarely actually lays a hand on any of his supposed works of art. Where is the massive regognition of the technicians and professionals employed in creating a "Hirst".( and whats their cut of the £50 million) That is unless of course Damien Hirst himself sat for hour upon hour painstakingly positioning each stone onto the skull.
D B Hepburn, Aberdeen, Scotland

Yeah, but - it's not a very good idea in the first place is it? How long did it take you to think it up? The comedy value of this scandal is that in a few years time a Damien Hirst work will be worth its true value: zero.
Jack Bloxam, Edinburgh,

And here's one I made earlier. Where is the art world moving too when the use of materials that are already in existence can be valued at 50K. Both the skull and the diamonds were not created by the artist. The concept and fixing of the two materials I assume are. Now where did I leave that plastic gardening can perhaps if I stick some silk flowers on it, may be the white cube will interested in it.

all day I dream about .... update

spending a little bit of time on the painting, decided to go for a lime green, like the contrast with the black and the fresh look it will hopefully give. Noticed after working on it that I may need to increase the size of the brush that I am using to get a flatter surface. Although on reflection, I do like the marks that are left on the canvas, the movement created, I have in the past always left them so I don't think that will change, also, as I paint arse about face - paint the background after painting the image it does give the surface of the canvas a texture. Haven't worked out the colours for the three bands (Adidas) and the text/placement on the canvas.

post: quick photo of work in progress (taken in half light on the decking!!)

the one that got away - ext I

following the collapse of the intended signing, I have been working out what to do with the painting.... have come up with an idea..... just finalising it today (over a pint!) to sort out logistics and other things! have created a blog site to monitor its progress.
With post with full intentions in the next day or two, depending on my forthcoming short travels.

all day I dream about sex

Some of us may remember this logo from our teenage days. I used to own several pairs of football boots, trainers and kit bags with this image festooned across them. I recently bought a pair of 'sambas' and practically live in them. Maybe its because I hanker after those days when I was youthful (probably more like fitter!) and wearing them releases past experiences - scoring a try for the school, carrying a white holdall as carried by the Dexys Midnight runners or just bumping around in them, who knows. But as time moves on so do we, but we can always try to revisit them: friends reunited has proved that. As with time, things change - looking at the new image/styling of the Adidas logo its lacks heart and it does leave me cold,

So where does all this fit in with my painting?

Working on a small project about items that evoke a personal response I intend to complete a series of 6 paintings which reflect different stages in my life.

As a school kid, we often heard the phrase "all day I dream about sex" with reference to Adidas and many other connotations (which i cant think of at the moment), it always stuck in the depths of my mind and seeing Adidas sports wear always make me think of that time and saying.

Returning to a larger canvas than the ones I have recently being working on I have started painting the afore mentioned painting; size 100 x 75cm

First stage - marking out in paynes grey (again image not brilliant - taken at night in shed!)

the one that got away

As you can see, I met the Chapman Brothers!

The visit to the frieze exhibition was a strange affair: when approaching the show you could smell money - limousines everywhere and gold and diamonds dripping of line stretched necks - how do you make a chicken neck look glamorous? anyway....

I had the painting in a rucksack and along with my printed flyer's entered the 'tent'. Security was tight - earpieces, walkie talkies etc.

I passed a group of people carrying placards - "where do I smoke", "where am I?" - not to sure if this was a demonstration or performance art, they were being given instructions on how to walk etc. let them got on with it thought, I have my own fish to fry.

Initially, I was informed that I couldn't take my rucksack in with me (should have bought D&G handbag!)

Removed painting and flyer's handed in bag and walked to the entry isles. (the painting at this stage was in a discreet Tesco carrier).

I was stopped and asked what was in the bag and then asked to explain why I was taking a painting in - was I an exhibitor? (not quick thinking here on my part)

"you can't take that in with you", so I explained etc. he called over big honcho security and informed me that I couldn't take it in, they would look after it for me. Smiles all round, trying a bit more blag, still no further. Ok, they could look after the painting. Before doing so I took out the flyer's - "are they flyers?" - after reading one he said that I couldn't take these in, they don't allow multiples in?? They are business cards.... you can take one in

This was getting hard work

OK I'll just take the one in.............. pulled out several and stuck in pocket (ha ha)

after 20mins finally got into the 'tent'

Found white cube stand to be informed that the 'bro's' weren't signing/defacing notes at the present time - looking around, not for the foreseeable future either, they had nicked off, done their stunt, they couldn't tell me when they would be back.

Had a look around - basic summary of work - poor, to much stuff trying to be art, trying to be controversial, many pieces were 8-9 years old.

Was I inspired - no

Did see anish kapoor - walked past him

Did get my photograph taken - don't know what that was about, but he did follow me for a while!!

Obviously, there are levels in the artworld and at this level there is little consideration for quality draftsmanship, skillful painting - image is everything.

Managed to slip a few flyers here and there, but generally all I wanted to do is get out and get some fresh air.

Upon exiting the place I was handed back my painting and flyers.

What to do with the painting?

Thinking about that, read a book recently - taking a fridge around Ireland, gives me an idea!!!

the other side......

THIS REALLY APPEALS TO ME:
The alternative to the Art Frieze show, more in keeping with ground roots:
Free entry
New work by artist both well known and up and coming artists
Also you can own the work for free
the deal is:
go and have a look during the week and register the piece you like, then on Sunday, first come first served - could be a mad time, but its worth a punt.
http://www.freeartfair.com/

Its not going away is it?

looks like everyone is getting in on the act!!!
source.the telegraph:
Frieze Art Fair and the contemporary art auctions in London this week have become the focus of media speculation that this might be the moment when the art bubble, which saw prices for some artists climb by more than 50 per cent last year, bursts.

Cut out and keep: Musician, performance artsist and collagist Linder made this photomontage for a flyer for the punk rock band Buzzcocks in 1977. It is now on sale for £10,000
Far from being a disaster, this could come as a relief for many.
At Frieze, which opens its doors for the fifth consecutive year to invited guests tomorrow, there will inevitably be works for sale by artists who epitomise the art boom. But there will also be those that question the very workings of the market.
Former dealer David Hickey will give a talk about how to sell art without selling out. This is an issue which obviously concerns the fair's organisers, Matthew Slotover and Amanda Sharp.
One of the remarkable things about the Frieze brand is its oblique relationship to the market. Frieze magazine, founded by Slotover and Sharp in 1991, never discusses art-market matters. All those gallery advertisements and no mention of money – as if it might sully the art.
Instead, Slotover and Sharp have mastered the art of the soft sell – in their magazine by giving the art critical kudos, and at the fair by including it in an elitist environment, frequently without descriptive labels and almost always without a plain-to-see price tag.
But how far has Frieze been sucked into the culture of "art fair art" – ie, art made for instant consumption at a fair? Are they aware of how many artists find the fair depressing?
One said to me last week: "For a lot of young artists, Frieze is the worst thing that has happened in London because it makes them feel excluded, and puts pressure on them to think commercially rather than creatively."
In his introduction to this year's Frieze catalogue, Neville Wakefield, who has organised several projects within the fair, asks: "Do art fairs have an influence over the kind of art that is made, as well as how it is sold?"
His purpose has been, he says, to "throw sand into the Vaseline-slick presentation of art".
One of the artists he invited is Richard Prince, whose work routinely fetches more than a million dollars. For the fair, Prince has produced a custom-made high-performance car, but is it art?
The answer, presumably, is yes, when it's a Prince.
Other projects commissioned by Wakefield include an invitation to the Queen to attend, and a regular loudspeaker request for a minute's silence. The Queen will probably not appear, but her absence will be greeted by daily sounds of applause.
With the announcements appealing for silence, Wakefield asks "whether art's traditional claims to gravitas can still be heard above the clamour of social networking and commerce". Probably not.
Among the shimmer and gloss, a healthy sense of irreverence for the market raises its head. New York dealer Gavin Brown, for instance, has invited artist Rob Pruitt to turn his stand into a flea market.
To live banjo music and the sound of old records from the collection of curator-turned-DJ Matthew Higgs, and against a background of impromptu fashion shows and performances, browsers can pick through a wide variety of objects associated with well-known figures in the art world.
There will be sculptures made for fish tanks; a selection of clothes owned by former Andy Warhol "superstar", "Baby" Jane Holzer; and a beaten-up old Eames couch from artist Elizabeth Peyton's studio. Have your photograph taken by Sam Taylor-Wood with Pruitt dressed as a panda.
And none of this will cost much. Rubber stamps made by Yoko Ono that read "Imagine(s) Peace" will be on sale for £10 or less.
On White Cube's stand, Jake and Dinos Chapman will draw on any English paper money you give them and hand it back for free. "We're reversing capitalism," says Dinos Chapman, admitting the stunt will come close to a fairground attraction.
But maybe on this occasion the Chapmans have been upstaged.
In the most radical departure from art fair commercialism, the Free Art Fair, held in central London this week for the first time, will show works by 25 artists or artists' groups, including artists in the Tate and Saatchi collections, with a combined value of £40,000.
All you have to do is register your interest in person, and then join a queue by 6pm on Sunday when the works will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.
Artist Jasper Joffe, who conceived the idea, says the fair "offers an alternative to the market frenzy which we see at this time of year, and opens a debate about the value of art".

The positive side of life

After the happenings of the last 24hours, a good thing happens, well several in fact.

as agreed, I met Ruth (client who has purchased a painting - 'woman and son eating chips, Charmouth') outside the Tate Modern. As per usual, I arrived well before the meeting time and decided to go and have a look around.

It was worth it, left feeling inspired by two drawings:

1. pastel drawing on velvet paper by an artist called Kontis - can't find out anything about the work etc, pastel drawing of two men on a beach (I seem to have an infinity with beaches), beautifully drawn the detail was immense... the same quality as found in the work of Nicholas Middleton then i came across a piece by Jenny Holzer -researching bits about her work it is a bit political but the piece in the Tate has a wonderful sentiment and is drawn using times roman font - the style i use in my work, when i can get hold of it I'll post it.

Then of course:

The Turbine Hall .....

the new 'crack in the floor' installation by Colombian artist Doris Sal-credo titled: Shibboleth, a 167m chasm

I like others, got down on hands and knees to have a closer inspection, how deep did go down?, how was it made? great art, just watching people walking over the gap, trying not to step on it, following the whole crack through the hall.

had to get some photos, lucky I had a camera with me!

in the black bag is the painting for Ruth (it was raining!!)

had to put my foot in!

think of a colour

As mentioned in an earlier blog - the use of colour in the £10 note painting. many years ago I attended an exhibition of Frank Auerbach somewhere in Cork Street around 1983-4 (not to sure where and when and searches have come up blank)

what he had instructed the gallery owners to paint the walls a blue grey colour (I've tried to get as close as I can) and then, the most suprising element - about 12" from the floor, painted around the whole gallery was an orange line - no wider than 1cm - it looked fantastic, the contrast with the backdrop, which didnt detract from the work itself. funny how things stay lodged in the depths of your mind!

£10 note saga!

well despite coming home after witnessing QPRs first victory of the season! I picked my emails, following the positive contacts that were made with the white cube, I recieved an email that basically has put a downer on the project:
Dear Paul,

Thanks for you e-mail. Although, Jake & Dinos appreciate your charitable intention - they will not sign your painting. The whole point of this years Frieze performance is not to make any money and they will not sign this in order to potentially gain a profit from them doing so, even if this is for charity.

Well, things are not as one intended, got a little wound up, Jo replied to the email and as of this evening not had a reply - s'ppose they are very busy at moment to deal with small fry!
Anyhow, as in earlier post, there are positve and negative aspects of life... I have thought of several responses to this;
1. don't bother
2. get back at them - an initial mind set driven by anger/frustration/annoyance..... go to the art show, queue as everyone will, present them with the original tenner, get them to put their mark on it then rip it up in their face.... not really going anywhere with that one to be honest, like spitting the dummy out of the pram
3. still take the painting and see if they will sign/put their mark on it despite what they have said.. this will probably piss the off and get no where
4. print and give out mini flyer's with image on, title of painting (have come up with it) and my website.... even at a push, might get them to sign one of them I have already printed a number of them and will drop them around the exhibition ..... its more passive and possibly could generate a bit of interest.

title for the painting:
'the one that got away'