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| RTomens, 2025 |
A small piece (you can tell by the size of the type, can't you? Of course you can!). This was even more the result of rapid improvisation than my usual work In other words, I started with the squiggles using carbon paper, which means working 'blind', not being able to see where the marks will land, exactly. Suddenly they called out to be framed, which gave the type a definite space to be placed in and the type was very random, as were the marks at the top, which took on the impression of 'rain'. A base was created at the bottom, with no idea of putting anything on it until I noticed the cut-out figure lying on my desk amongst other cut-outs for collages yet to be made. I drew around him to see what could be done around the figure. Nothing elaborate...the 'Os' seemed to want to cluster around him and the straight typed lines created a kind of movement. The title comes from text in the figure.
It so happens that I've been wrestling with memory of late - nothing new there, I suppose. My recent talk at the Warburg Institute took the loose form of a retrospective, starting with collages made during the Punk rock era. It didn't quite go as I hadn't really planned, of course, but leading up to the event I dug deep into the archives, finding a lot of 'forgotten' art.
Here's a collage from 1977, possibly my first ever. As you can see, it's a basic scrapbook-style collection of band images. It's a miracle it's survived this long...the same could be said of me.
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| RTomens, 1977 |
As I tried to say in the talk, the spirit of Punk is important to me. Don't worry, I don't walk around Camden Market wearing a leather jacket with 'PUNK'S NOT DEAD!' painted on the back, sporting a green Mohican haircut (that would have to be a wig in my case). I've no interest in seeing a band from those times (one surviving original member) either.
No, I mean, the spirit of DIY and the Punk aesthetic. That's DIY as applied to Art. But hey, don't all artists do it themselves? Some get others to do the actual making, as you know, but what I mean is that Art should be of 'the people' in the sense that Punk at it's best was a grass roots movement. No college course necessary. No qualifications. Some might call it Outsider Art, but even that's become an officially sanctioned movement.
I didn't start out with this philosophy. I just made art. The idea of writing, reproducing via Xerox and distributing was reborn during Punk, but instead of music-based zines, I copied and stapled together my art. I didn't attempt to get into Art collage, already having built up a strong aversion to any form of education since I was a kid at Junior school.
Without wishing to bore you with my life story in Art, here I am, over 50 years later (I started drawing around the age of 11) making 'stuff'....mostly typing, these days, but also some prints and collage. Whilst the network for exposure has expanded to infinite proportions online, I don't work very hard at that. As another artist said to me the other day, for some online exposure is a full-time job. Good luck to them. For some of us creating is what's most important and we do as much online promotion as we can stand.
So I pack away the crusty old Punk collage...and carry on...
TTFN
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