Woolworths Exhibition: Pick N Mix

The iconic British store Woolworths shut down last year leaving large vacant department stores all over the country. A group of artists got together and staged an art exhibition (of which I am part) in one in Leytonstone, London to coincide with the Leytonstone Arts Festival. The problem was not that we didn't have lights. We did. We didn't have air conditioning. It was so sweltering outside that a few hours after the opening everyone was on the streets enjoying the warm summer air (and gasping for oxygen). The view from across the street. This was probably my favourite piece in the exhibition. Proposals to take part had to somehow relate to the environment. Here an artist takes old red buckets, lines a shelf with them, and lights them internally. Very effective! The bar and DJ were behind the old check out till. The line up for drinks is pictured above. My piece (small square paintings of candy) slotted perfectly into the old candy bar racks. Click on the following links for publicity: London Evening Standard - Woolies Pops up Again as Art Gallery Time Out - Pick 'n' mix art: Woolworths returns as pop-up gallery The Guardian - LEYTONSTONE: Former Woolworths building to become art gallery Artists and Makers - Empty Woolworths Becomes Art Gallery The Independant - Observations: Plenty of treats in store as empty Woolworths gets an arts make-over Flavor Pill London - Pick 'n' Mix BBC News - Art Goes 'Pop' During Recession

Wimbledon

Wimbledon fever is going strong here in London. We took a walk down to Wimbledon Park and strolled among all the hard core ticket buyers who were camping overnight and lining up for tickets. Wimbledon brings a strange group of fans unlike any football match. You have a tent of older women out reading their books in the evening sunset right next to young teenagers who look like they are lining up for the next big concert. The sky is beautiful as we stroll along and the atmosphere is great...like a weekend camping music festival. We wander up to the tennis grounds (the green building above) only to find swarms of people and cars. Some who live nearby have rented out their front driveway for eateries like this "All Day Breakfast" joint. We risk our lives trying to work our way "upstream" in the crowds, which means we have to continuously step out onto a London road with the traffic coming from behind. DANGEROUS! My last shot. An accident that turned out very nicely. It is begging to be a painting.

On Marriage

There is a wonderful woman I have met who lives in a windmill. The very same windmill that J. M. Barrie is said to have written Peter Pan from. Alas I did not take photos of her home, but she sent me two poems by Kahlil Gibran. This one is for friends who are about to embark on married life. On Marriage Kahlil Gibran You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore. 

You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. 

But let there be spaces in your togetherness, 

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love: 

Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. 

Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup. 

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf 

Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, 

Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music. Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. 

For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. 

And stand together yet not too near together: 

For the pillars of the temple stand apart, 

And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow. The Marriage of Tristram and Isolde (Burne-Jones)

Technical Skills

I've been sitting in the gallery thinking all weekend and have come up with a few thoughts. As I sit with Isa Genzken's sculptures I seem to have slowly put my finger on something I have been or am missing. Part of what was so frustrating about my masters program was realising how unaware I am of art theory. Most art these days is heavy on theory and light on technical skill. I happen to love painting. I am good with my hands. I have a skill and have tried to hone it. But painting in the art world is on a very different level than being overly concerned with a honed technical skill. (Don't get me wrong, I do think that theory has honed skills too, just different ones).


Iza Genzken at the Whitechapel Gallery 

On the other hand, I am also not interested in a pretty painting for the sake of being a pretty painting. I want substance. I craved it after years of technical classes. Visually I want both a balance of technical and a breaking of all the traditional rules (see artist Justin Mortimer). Theoretically, I want some reason for making the work, whether technical (like experimenting with surface) or experiential (like documenting lives in Liberia), or philosophical (like any artist's current Artist Statement).


Justin Mortimer's painting Family Plot 

I am more and more interested in delving into themes and ideas when creating work. I want to do a series related to the ever present Facebook in relation to identity. Wow, I am sounding remotely art-speak. I think where my failing comes in are from a lack of understanding, interest, and involvement in current art theory and its consequent practice. It depresses me when it seems so far away from what I am aiming to do, which is paint. Theory often seems overly complex and caught in the cycles of thinking that don't free me as an artist. It was summed up in an email I received back from a friend who is both artist and curator, after I had sent him some job openings for curating and involvement at a more theoretical level in different art venues. I added that I didn't have enough knowledge in art to pursue them myself. To which he emailed back "but you would be an excellent painting instructor in the right situation." And suddenly it dawned on me that is precisely what my strength is. I am a painter. I like the challenge of the technical. I could think of quite a number of very successful artists (in the world of art) who built a career based primarily (but importantly, not entirely) on using that particular strength. It is the opposite of growth to feel discouraged, lost, and inadequate when trying to move forward in anything creative. I may be in a slightly different camp than my theoretical peers, but at least I now know exactly what i need to do.

Carrot and Curry Lentil Soup

This has become our current favourite dinner. It is fast and easy to make. It reminds us of the B'sara soup in Fez, Morocco. It has a lime/olive oil dressing that is spooned onto the top for a tang. YUM! SOUP 1 onion 1 garlic clove 500g carrots, chopped (about 6 generous carrots) 1 potato (sweet or regular) 150 g red lentils (about 3/4 cup) 1 litre vegtable stock 1 tablespoon mild curry paste salt & pepper TOPPING 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 lime, juice and zest Fry onion and garlic. Add the rest of soup ingredients. Cook for 20-25 minutes. Puree. Mix topping ingredients in a small bowl. Spoon on top of soup.

Michael Jackson Wake

Late Friday night I wandered down to Trafalgar Square in London, UK, and found crowds of young people gathered in a wake for Michael Jackson. Throngs of people came and went while the crowd would start singing one of his songs only to have it die off a few lines later. Up against the gate of the National Gallery a candlelight shrine had begun as people came and read the messages and lit candles. I love the way that dog is lit up in the picture above. Another shot of the square. I noticed the police quietly milling around just to make sure that nothing went wrong. What a nightmare job for them.

On Learning

"Emotions and motivations are also fundamental to learning. Strong emotion connected with an experience helps the brain store information in a way that is more accessible and more easily retrieved. Too much stress, on the other hand, can result in reduced blood flow to the frontal lobes, impairing the ability to think and remember clearly. Taking pleasure in a task is an especially good way to learn well. Our brains release a neuro-transmitter called dopamine in anticipation of the pleasure we expect to derive from a particular activity. The dopamine motivates us, increasing our energy and drive and encouraging us to engage in the activity. If our brain's expectations of pleasure in a certain activity is met, dopamine levels remain elevated. If the pleasure enjoyed is even greater that predicted, dopamine levels are increased and we engage even more persistently in the activity. Conversely, if the activity is less pleasurable than anticipated, dopamine levels drop sharply." Daniel Tammet, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Human Mind

Working Art

I have been working at a gallery invigilating this week. Yes, this is the same gallery I worked at as a grad student in London. I had reapplied a few months ago when they were hiring 30 people and wasn't even shortlisted. I later learned 700 people applied. Such is the current job situation in London.

Despite this I found out through the grape vine they were having trouble filling shifts. I called and now I am working odd shifts here and there - as much or as little as I like. Conveniently it is very close to my studio. What is interesting is that I now find myself sitting in rooms full of very avant-garde, post-modern sculpture, the kind that I don't actually understand (and as a result have a hard time appreciating). Perhaps this is my chance to engage it and try to understand where art has come from to bring it to this present day work. The gallery is a large historical gallery that consists of 9 main rooms, an auditorium, cafe, restaurant, archives library, and book shop. I spend a half hour in each room rotating around with other staff. One of my favourite rooms is a display of early purchases made by the British Council of now well known artists. The pieces were bought early in their careers and the prices they were bought at are shockingly low when viewing their careers nowadays. A Damien Hirst dot painting (right) was bought for £8500 in 1994 (one of the most expensive aquisitions in the show). This is the artist who made headlines at the beginning of the current recession for having sold £111 million at a single auction. Some of the paintings were particularly striking. I was most riveted by Frank Auerbach's painting, The Camden Theatre (below). It sold in for £1800 in 1976. Some works sold for as low as £54. An early Lucien Freud sold for only £157. It all seems rather inspiring. The impression I have always had in London is that these stars were stars while still doing their graduate work at school and they then easily stepped on the fast train to mega-success as soon as they graduated. I don't know how that translates to my own practice, but I was left feeling really good about my own art.

Man Found Dead Mouse in Malt Loaf

Click here for the BBC story.

A Day at the Greenwich Market

We spend Sunday wandering around Greenwich Market. To get there we walk through the University of Greenwich which is the grounds of the Old Royal Naval College, the centre piece of the Maritime Greenwich UNESCO World Heritage Site. The University has a 150 year lease on parts of three of the four Royal Courts and is breathtaking. Walking by the music wing one can hear wafts of music floating in the air. Soon we enter the well known Greenwich Market. There are all types of wares. My favourite was the jeweller making bracelets from old silver forks, spoons, and fish knives right there in front of us. The market is relatively small compared to its reputation. We wander the streets of Greenwich to find a few more open air markets selling what looks like "grandma's old things". It is a sunny day and we wander up the Thames. It seems we are not alone. There is a huge military ship docked in the river. Can you see the helicopters sitting on the front deck? We pass another small market with candy. A close up just to get your saliva glands going. We wander through Greenwich and find a great little pub with the most amazing meals that we hunker down to with friends for several hours. Sigh, what a nice day.

Family Photo

This great photo was forwarded to me from my mom via her cousin. My grandma (from my mom's English-Canadian side) sits on the far right with her two sisters. Girls run on both sides of the family. My grandma was as opinionated and stubborn as me. We often clashed as a result, but when we had the same opinion we were a force to be reckoned with (ie: pop is bad for you). I love this picture and could stare at it forever. Above is my grandma again (left) with my uncle and my great grandmother who I met very briefly as a young girl.

A Revolutionary Road

I quit my one week old job yesterday. If I am utterly miserable than best to change the current situation. This has occured once before and I remember someone telling me not to be a quitter and to stick it out. I was stunned. So stunned I didn't quit for a year and a half. Is this how the majority of the world think, I wondered to myself? Is that why so many people stay in jobs they don't like? I realized on the ship in Liberia that I had never worked for someone full-time for 7 months before. I didn't like the oppression or the dominion wielded over me. I have always worked hard in casual, part-time, or full-time seasonal jobs. I remained my own boss and lived a simple and frugal life. I admit this can become wearing in different ways. I watched the movie Revolutionary Road and it left a bad taste in my mouth, as it was it was meant to. Like the heroine, I have pursued the dream of being an artist believing I would make it one day. What is your definition of success? This question posed in art school was meant to break down the superficial ideas and free us to make our own art. The right answer was wrapped up in increasing your own abilities and creating in realms that had not been discovered, whether by you or others. It was to broach your own safety zone and step out into a chasm ignoring societies pleas to play it safe.

"When the boy was a man he would be known as someone who took large and reckless actions, and he would often think that he had first been like this at Rebus Creek Road where he had first gone beyond what he was brave enough to do and changed himself because of it." (Peter Carey, His Illegal Self). But I have never quite been able to convince myself of this notion of success despite developing my sense of what is accomplished and challenging art. I have humanly wanted to be recognized by my peers, by the commercial world of art and by the theoretical world of art. Fat chance, is todays feeling despite Nigel learning that artist's minds are either floating in a cloud of brilliance or wallowing in a sea of despicable loathing of ones own work. My mind keeps slipping back to a friend of mine, another artist, who was struggling and from an outsiders view (the title I bestowed on myself at the time) I had the answers. I could see that she should market herself differently, should get a part time job to support her art while she was still fledgling, and start giving herself a time and money limit. Of course I placed myself in an entirely different category. I was beginning to sell, I lived simply, I had definite goals and time frames. Such are egos and my disbelief when she told me I didn't support her art. Now I wonder how different I am from her back then. Do people look at me and in their mind know what I should be doing differently, think I should give up, move on, grow up, and finally enter the real world? I admit I am surrounded more by people now whose subtlies I read and I know this is what they are thinking. They don't need to say it or show it. It is more what they don't say. So I am left wondering what next to do and in my mind these are the only realistic alternatives. 1. Jump into my art with all the gusto I have, living, breathing, eating, and sleeping art for a time more before reassessing. 2. Look into something completely different, completely reliable. 3. Pursue something else artistic that would renew my passion, but place me at the bottom rung in another field. 4. Continue with my art alongside a part time job.

Careers

I have been doing a lot of pensive thinking lately. Some thoughts have to do with things I am doing, books I am reading, movies I am seeing, but most have to do with where I am currently in life and where I see myself going. Maybe I am at a crossroads. I keep meaning to blog about all these things, but when it comes to sitting down and writing something, I am not in the mood. Maybe my thoughts are half formed still. There was a brilliant exercise I had to do in a writing/public speaking/art class I took in my undergrad art school. The homework was to write a page a day in a notebook...sort of like a journal. What we were to write were thoughts or opinions or anything as long as they were analytical. My two best ones were on why the world was so moved by Princess Diana's death (yes, this does date my schooling) and why cemeteries are so valued by the living. Perhaps I will try and repeat that exercise in this blog. It forces a further thought process in my half finished thoughts. That said, I have been looking for a part time job lately to pay for my studio and my transit. A day a week would be ideal. But it seems that most jobs here in London are over applied for and not a single company bother to get back to you if you have not been shortlisted. This leaves you wondering if the job has been filled or whether you are still waiting to hear. I had my fingers crossed for the library job. I have been thinking seriously about other careers too. Why? How could I when I have invested in this one so far? Well, this one can get discouraging not only with working long and hard with few monetary rewards, but the world of art is not always a savoury place. Part of the problem is when I do those on-line tests to discover what your best career fit is, it is always in the arts. Maybe I just need more structure. Maybe I need a bit of a change for a while. I did in fact get short-listed for a part time job last week and started this week. Of course what was advertised is entirely different, both in location, in commitment, and in hours. There has been no training, the schedule is sketchy and I am expected to be flexible, make it my life priority, commute for an hour (each way), and earn minimum wage, while being sometimes abused by the public. I dread going, but admit it has had a one positive effect. It has made me determined to do something else. I am refocusing with an extreme intensity on my art work and studio time and am seriously considering other careers, not as a replacement, but as a compliment. I need something that is a bit structured and makes a bit more money.