Thursday 14 March 2024

Typewriter Art Workshop

 


Typewriter Art Saturday Workshop! This Saturday, March 16, a one-off art club with Professor Esther Leslie and Barrie Tullett, author of Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology and co-author of  RUHUMAN. It will be held at People's Museum: Somers Town, 52 Phoenix Road London NW1 1ES

I've been asked to hold the workshop because: 

a) I'm the best typewriter/visual poet they know

b) I'm the only one they know in London 

Joking aside, it should be fun. I hope to be able to coax people into using The Beast which is, I think, probably more intimidating than the common-size little typewriter...it positively snarls 'Dare to touch me!' I'm worried that if any children have a go it will eat them alive. Stranger things have happened.


Can visual poetry be taught? I wonder. Why not? Once someone gets used to tapping the keys and when they see the letter stamped magically onto the page they may also fall in love with typewriting. I hope to inspire them by prompting a sense of play. If anyone tries to create a face, I won't be able to help - ha-ha! 

Tickets here.

Wednesday 13 March 2024

Vispo: No Joke

RTomens, 2024

New type of paper. I got it from one of those other places on the high street...what are they called...shops? Not charity shops. I compared their price to ones online and they were £4 cheaper. There are 500 sheets in the pack. That's a lot of visual poetry. 
 

Thursday 7 March 2024

Eduardo Paolozzi is 100 years old!

 



No, he's not actually 100 years old - he would be. So what better excuse for celebrating Britain's greatest artist...

Is he Britain's greatest artist?

No, he is the Greatest Artist of the 20th Century!

Is he?

Here's how I know: of all the monographs on artists I have, anything about or featuring Paolozzi has been pulled from the shelves more than any other books. What other evidence do you need?



Do you need a book on Paolozzi? Yes. But I can't recommend just one. The Judith Collins one, simply called Eduardo Paolozzi, is very good and full of colour images. The other essential one is Writings And Interviews, edited by Robin Spencer. The link takes you to one available on Amazon at the cheapest I've seen (£92). It seems to be ex-library but I'd snap it up all the same if I was you because it's packed with interviews and texts by Paolozzi unavailable elsewhere.



My most treasured Paolozzi books are those he produced (with help) in the 60s, the 'artist's books', Kex, Abba Zaba and The Metallization Of A Dream. Another, Metafisikal Translations has eluded me so far, being too expensive. You can see my post on Kex here. Abba Zaba is featured here. The Psychological Atlas is here. The brown book with the embossed cover is The Metallization Of A Dream...





Paolozzi was born in Leith, Scotland. To celebrate his 100 anniversary Leith Athletic F.C. have produced shirts and scarves inspired by The Man. Great idea, eh? I'd buy a scarf but they've currently sold out. Wearing it in London would certainly surprise any Scottish tourists.



I'll say no more because, as you'll see if you click on the Paolozzi tab on the side, I've said quite a bit about Him on this and my other blog. Suffice to say he has been and always will be a great inspiration to me through his writings and Art. So here are more pictures...


From Bash, an unpublished novel, late-60s








 

Monday 4 March 2024

Painting/print: Cold Facts / Album Of The Week: Antolog​í​a 1: Obras para la Orquesta Experimental de Instrumentos Nativos - Cergio Prudencio



 
RTomens, 2024


Second in the silhouette series, using acrylic paint.

*



Prepare to have your mind blown by Bolivian composer Cergio Prudencio (that or shrug indifferently and click off, it's your choice but if you choose the latter you need your ears checking). 

'In addition to forming ensembles with highland native instruments (sikus, tarkas, mohoceños, pinkillos, wankaras, seeds, drums, etc.), the foundation is laid on the three structural principles that govern Aymara music: "arca-ira," which means alternation of sounds between two musicians; "tropa," which involves the formation of large ensembles of instrumentalists and sound amplification; and "wakiña," meaning community strength. According to Prudencio, the acoustic and expressive identity of Andean-highland sounds originates from these principles, as does that of the OEIN.'

I had to quote because, to be honest, I'm lost for words, especially when fathoming what the hell I'm listening to and I've only started listening this morning, whilst it undoubtedly requires many more plays to even begin to comprehend the depths and, yes, what you're actually listening to. 

Whilst I think of the Art Ensemble of Chicago's slogan 'Ancient To The Future' that doesn't cover this anthology, really. It sounds, in part, 'ancient', as in traditional, yet is 'progressive', even avant-garde (I hesitate to use the term it can be off-putting). 

Imagine Edgard Varèse in the Bolivian mountains. If you like. I just did.

I'll shut up.

You listen.


Friday 1 March 2024

Music: Illegal Rave Tapes - The Complete Series 1999​-​2012 - Acrelid

 


Come and have a go if you think you're 'Ardcore enough!

I was never a cheesy quaver but I make up for it nowadays by sitting on the sofa in my slippers throwing shapes to Ac-i-i-id.

The collected Illegal Rave Tapes (10 cassettes) amount to 133 tracks of brain-busting brilliance by John Lee Richardson under the alias Acrelid - no, not brilliant as in, you know,  clever...or deep...or even highly inventive...just brilliant as in the most fun you can have with your trousers on - mebbe. 

It's all here, Acid-Breakcore-Junglist (etc) braindance built to honour the hardcore ethos and go beyond to the point of retrospectively crashing every rave that ever happened by beating up the bouncer on the door (gate) and busting open the cassette recorder then remixing it all at home. Makes Aphex Twin sound like the hippy muso he secretly was - heh-heh. On that note, you can even detect something of AT in tracks like Flummox, but throughout it all everything is here, every familiar skittering percussive D&B break, bass, Acid Techno squiggle rearranged, recycled to make you dance in your head. Top marks.


Wednesday 28 February 2024

Print: Corporate Identity / The child artist within

 

RTomens, 2024

Print made from a collage to which acrylic paint was applied....then printed over.


“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” 

- Picasso

Successful professional artists do seem to have grown up and remained artists. They made time for art. They went through tough periods of having no money, possibly even whilst also having a family, which might be deemed irresponsible at the time and only the right decision in retrospect.

Grow up! I've tried. I only succeed in the context of either hearing or seeing a friend do/say something stupid which evokes the 'Grow up!' response, but really, I've no right. I created my own privileged position of having time to make Art. Or...life just turned out that way. No kids, mortgage, car, career...no excuse really for not retaining that child-like joy in making Art.

We're probably all kids inside, even in old age. There's a part of us that is still...5...10...or 15. I think it's necessary in order to survive. Childhood remains visible to the inner eye...a sight assuring continuity...a place we might still feel we can be a part of...almost touch. It's better than only looking ahead into an uncertain future and old age.

I'm a child with adult eyes when I make Art. All that living and seeing what's happened in the world can't help but somehow influence the process, yet I'm not overtly a 'political' artist. I saw a quote recently which said all art must either be political, or mere decoration. Rubbish. There's plenty or room between the two.

Yes, when I make Art part of me is that child, gleefully just doing it for fun...trashing paper, splashing paint (and glue), typing away...not knowing what 'the rules' are or even believing in them. It was all inevitable from the days when I learnt to hate school therefore only did dead-end jobs therefore struggled to stay sane for decades, alleviating the misery with music, dancing, clothes and girls...typical working class.

People stop being artists for two reasons: Adult Life gets in the way, or they give up after going to Art school because they never Made It. 

Nowadays, without Work, Art keeps me sane and gives me something to do. If that means I don't lead a typical Adult Life so be it. I hope that child artist lives in me until I die.

Saturday 24 February 2024

Print: Steps To Nowhere

 


RTomens, 2024



One of a few recent experiments combing old vispo pieces with print and painting, all remixed in the print process. 


Monday 19 February 2024

Photo: Shoes in Kentish Town

 

RTomens, 2024


A singular shoe, often hanging from a wire overhead, is not an unusual sight in London. That in itself is an odd phenomenon. This morning, however, I came across this pair, neatly placed as photographed. It's as if the invisible/man/woman was waiting to cross the road. Shoes in search of feet to fill them? They had been placed, rather than simply thrown down. A prank by someone? An Art statement? Who knows...