Vispo: Antisocial / Being antisocial / The self-belief of an artist

 

Antisocial, RTomens, 2026

"Don't be antisocial" someone once said to me. A girlfriend...when we were supposedly being sociable but I didn't find the company agreeable. Instead of being rude, I clammed up. Confronted with either blatant ignorance or plain stupidity I tend to clam up. Or I used to, back when I knew more than two people, socially. 

I'm not inclined towards being rude...actively. But. Yes, being quiet can be rude. I'm a temperamental artist - ha-ha! That's my excuse. No. It's not. I don't have one other than the genes I was born with...if they determine character, which I think they...might?  

It's not that I've ever felt a sense of superiority, you understand...except when in the company of common people who are not artists! Ha-ha! I must stop making those kinds of jokes...you'll take me seriously, perhaps. If anything I play my talents down. Arrogance is not a virtue, after all. Who is more annoying than the braggart blowing his (it's usually a 'him') own trumpet for all to hear. I wouldn't mind if that metaphorical trumpet signalled a talent on a par with Louis Armstrong, but it rarely does.  

Yet bragging, I'm sure, gets people places. After all, who's going to buy a timid, insecure soul? What do they project? Weakness? A lack of self-belief? To sell oneself one must be in promotional mode! Yes, it's true. I have rarely been in a position of having to sell myself, unless you count job interviews and in those, I suppose I did try to be the 'right person for the job'. Unfortunately, most of those jobs were ones I didn't want in the first place.

How does an artist sell him/herself in a world where they feel they don't belong? By 'artist' I mean creatively inclined, which immediately places someone outside normality. Because society may only embrace the successful artist, ironically. The struggling one is of no use. He/she is unappealing! Look at them,trying to make a go of...what? Being an artist? The fool! Their chances of success are virtually zero! A mug's game! So my dear ol' dad would tell me regularly, without ever saying 'mug' because that wasn't in his vocabulary. Instead he offered what he considered to be sound advice, which was to get a trade. It probably was sound advice to a working class boy. Like all sound parental advice, I ignored it.

Vispo for sale: Help! Art! Help!

 

Available here

Mind Games booklet for sale!

 

I have a few copies of my booklet, Mind Games, left over. It's available to purchase on eBay.

The Eternaut by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López.

 

A new arrival. You can read about it here. I had to show the design because books this handsome don't come along very often. Well done Fantagraphics. 

Poetry Day at the library / Visual pooetry? Those crazy kids!

Who could resist a poetry party? I could, actually, except I was invited to take part by Jim Pennington - great interview with him on the Thomas Pynchon site here . He manned the mimeograph machine, running through stencils made by anyone who wanted to take part. Below is one example. I reversed the photo to make the thought bubble readable, although I'm sure, you being so smart, had I left it you'd be able to work out the reversed word. As usual with Jim's demos, people were thrilled to watch the magic happen as their work was rolled out. God knows why but a woman wanted to sketch me and that was mimeographed too. Christ! Do I really look like that? I fear the likeness was incredible. 

The Beast was there for anyone to use and it proved popular with kids. Of course, they would love a weird machine that they'd never seen before; one which, by prodding a letter, it appeared on the paper as if by magic! I was there in a supervisory capacity rather than encouraging them to do anything creative. I could have done that, of course, but preferred to let them do their own thing.

Doing their own thing meant, for one girl, writing this...

...and so visual pooetry was born! I would use the term but it might tempt some people to suggest that, yes, my work is shit...

Collage: Develop Creative Powers / Were you born to make art? / Rhapsody in Video - a very scarce Nam June Paik book!

Develop Creative Powers, RTomens, 2026

Yes, I try, I TRY to develop my creative powers - those latent (dormant?), inherent, even? It can be taken two ways: develop what you have...or...actually develop some where there were none...right? Oh that ol' question: born with art right in you, or develop it through...interests? Parental encouragement? Teachers? Ah, those poor teachers at my secondary school...they did try...but what a disappointment I must have been, to the Art teacher in particular, who could see some talent, let's say aptitude, but could he get me to knuckle down and get the qualifications needed to go to college? What do you think? Yeah, me, the rebel without a cause.

I lean towards the born-with-it idea. Why? What else explains my drive to draw at the age of 10? Certainly not parental encouragement. My folks were not creative in the slightest. No-one in my family was artistic. They watched the telly whilst I drew pictures in the same living-room. So it went. Rush out of school once the final bell had been rung and into Work. 

I haven't made art consistently since leaving school. There were fallow periods when I was probably too depressed about my working life to do anything creative. Still, during Punk I made a few zines. For some reason I was attracted to writing more than art as the 80s dawned. So I set about writing novels and poetry. I even bought a typewriter. My handwriting has never been great. A few poems were published in workshop zines. I read poetry some on stages around the Aylesbury area. And so on.

You can teach Art but can you teach someone to be an artist? What's the difference? Perhaps there isn't one. I used to think being an artist was a lifetime's impulse to create...an overriding urge...a need? Now, I'm not sure. Someone could be that driven artist for just a few years, then stop because...they no longer felt the urge...or a career took over...or family life took over...etc. I make no grand claims to being a 'dedicated' artist. I mean, I don't pretend to be...anything...except a man striving to maintain some sense of equilibrium...against the odds stacked in favour of going crazy when confronted with...everything from daily life to political conflict...and seeing Mars bars gradually shrink in size. I swear, it's not that my hands have got bigger since I scoffed one as a child! 

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Here's an  incredibly rare book, Rhapsody in Video. It's unusual not to find more than one page about a book about such a well-known artist. I've searched but not been able to find any except this one

It's here.

Vispo: I Have Found Fear / Taylor Swift and visual poetry / London Interzone - 3-day William Burroughs event / Comic strip print

I Have Found Fear, RTomens, 2026

I was wondering if Taylor Swift liked visual poetry so I asked AI and here's what it said...

 

My private joke now exposed to the world! Have I no shame? I found the answer amusing; the way AI twisted the genre to fit Taylor Swift. Of course, yes, another medium can provide examples of 'visual poetry'. Tarkovsky in film, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks etc. To my surprise, the reference above to Swift's Tortured Poets Department lead me to the video for the single and her lyric captured below.

Who indeed. She's known some bohemians has Taylor. Well, the character in the song has. Perhaps her reference to and use of a typewriter in the video boosted the typewriter's popularity? Have sales rocketed worldwide now? Do Swifties plague their parents for a typewriter? Would they actually use it more than once? They do make nice home decorations, don't they? That is true. I don't blame anyone for succumbing to the lure of a lovely-looking machine just to put on top of their sideboard. Mine's a bit big, though, for a decorative object. And, let's be honest, too ugly. 

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I designed this poster for London Interzone. I'm not sure how many tickets are left for each day. 

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Vispo/print: Can't Find My Mind (version) / Be creative every day...for your health! / I Was A Crazy Beatnik! / Pull My Daisy film

Can't Find My Mind, RTomens, 2026

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'Daily participation in the arts is as important to health as getting five-a-day or 10,000 steps, one of Britain’s most influential scientists has said.

   Prof Daisy Fancourt, of University College London, recently became the first ever associate scientist for the Royal Albert Hall, and is determined to prove that the arts are vital for well-being.

   She recently published a paper showing that reading, listening to music or visiting a gallery or museum may slow the pace of ageing, but the effects of art engagement are vast, ranging from boosting mental health to lowering blood pressure.

   “The message is that we need do something artistic or creative every day, even it’s only for a few minutes,” she told The Telegraph.

   “When we regularly engage in the arts it’s actually a low-intensity psychological therapy, it increases neurotransmitters like dopamine that are involved in happiness, and reduces stress hormones like cortisol. Whilst we treat them like a luxury, my research over the last 15 years has just been consistently showing me that they are much more than that – it’s a human necessity. We’ve seen the effects of big campaigns like your five-a-day of fruit and veg and get your 30 minutes of activity and your 10,000 steps, but we’ve not had those same conversations about art. There’s not been the same idea that actually 15 or 20 minutes a day of doing something creative and artistic has benefits.” '

- The  Telegraph, 04/7/2026

Nice idea, Daisy; trouble is...most folk can eat fruit or veg easily but doing something 'artistic' or 'creative'?  That could be asking too much of people. Even eating the supposed 5-a-day fruit'n'veg can be a challenge. Do bike couriers deliver fruit 'n' veg? Can I get it on an app? Does a pizza topped with pineapple on a tomato sauce base count for anything? 

According to Prof Fancourt I should be psychologically very sound - but - um  - I wonder...and dopamine? They say social media addiction is related to dopamine hits, don't they? Trouble is, it's also responsible for rage and stress. Also disappointment for the artist when his/her latest masterpiece posted for the world to admire only gets two likes, one from the partner/husband/wife and the other from that serial liker who does it only to get attention themselves - huh!

In theory the art every day idea is good, but in practice, is that full-time worker going to manage it? No time before going to work and too knackered in the evening. OK, I managed it when I worked full-time as a hospital porter, most nights, but that was due to my fantasy/belief that I was a character in Pull My Daisy. In other words, I was still a beat rebel poet/painter/writer even with an ordinary job. My mate Chris would come round and we'd be crazy beatniks for the evening. Here we are in the hospital accommodation, my little room. No cooker. A sink in the corner and a bed. You could barely swing a cat but, hey, us cats sure did swing! Ha-ha!

Joking aside, I would also recommend little creative acts every day. Use a pen/pencil and pad. Set up pages on the computer to write on. Write a poem! Draw a stupid animal. I mean, it doesn't matter if it looks stupid! Draw abstract shapes! Just be wary of posting them online because the reaction might put you off or, to be positive, be inspiring.

Here I am, talking like a friggin' life coach when I have more important things to consider like how to watch the England vs Mexico game which starts at 1am tomorrow morning. Kerouac never had such problems...

Vispo print: Meltdown / Heat, abstraction, visual poetry and imperfect lines

Meltdown, RTomens, 2026

We're having a heatwave in the UK - cue the collapse of schools, rail networks...and the current political leadership - ha-ha! Combine that with England playing in the World Cup tonight and it's a safe bet that there will be much booze consumed and probably a few very sick people later.

I had no intention of creating anything to do with heat when I made Meltdown this morning but as I played around with the components they took on the impression of flames. Only the impression, mind. In abstract works people naturally want to find recognisable elements. Visual poetry can be purely abstract. Much of mine tends towards it. The use of legible words contrasted with the totally illegible is a tension I like to create. In some cases, even making the letters illegible to the point where they become solely marks. In that form, is it really 'poetry' of any kind? Like art, if the maker wishes to say it is, I suppose. 

Visual poetry has always sat on the margins of art and literature. Less so in its earlier forms when wordplay was prominent, but that form evolved into a myriad of experiments with what a typewriter could produce, from dense clusters of letters to mark-making. I have my preferences when it comes to being a viewer. You can guess what they are. 

Meltdown comes from this piece: 

Once the main shape was finished I felt it needed something else, but had no ideas. LJ suggested the red lines. I wasn't sure. She offered to draw them so I let her. I should have warned her that the pens meet some resistance from a page that's already been printed on but instead I watched as she did her best. I could have strengthened to lines afterwards but decided that their frailty, in places, was a pleasing sign of the imperfect human hand sometimes. In the age of AI, imperfection is a precious thing. TTFN!

Vispo: untitled / The artist in the art

RTomens, 2026

As I said to LJ the other day whilst sitting in the garden, what people get with my art is not just the art itself but the whole history of my creative experience and, even, my life. That sounds pretentious as I write it, but I stand by it. What do I mean?

I mean...ingrained in every mark are the molecules of my life? Is that what I mean? Perhaps.

True or not (I've never researched it), a friend once told us that Picasso said something extraordinary when asked to make some art, instantly, by a TV presenter. He made one crude squiggle. When the presenter expressed mild disappointment, saying it only took him a few seconds, Picasso replied "No, it took me twenty-five years." 

That is what I'm saying. Anything I do now is the result of, in my case, over 50 years of making art. "So what?", you may ask. So what indeed, except that it is worth remembering that art does not really spring newborn but comes from many days/years spent thinking, imagining and creating. I don't mean to sound pompous and my claim does not mean I demand to be treated as special. I'm the last person to elevate the artist. I've no romantic notion of the artist as demi-god in a society of mere uncreative mortals. 

Punk tried to destroy the gods. It failed. Its exponents became gods themselves. But...for a while...it felt as if it was destroying all the old gods. Likewise Dada in the early-20th century. It, too, came to be worshipped and preserved as something sacred in museums around the world.

If I cite Punk and Dada as key influences I refer as much to their attitude as their creations... perhaps...since in saying that I fall into the trap of attaching a general attitude to the exponents of both whilst knowing that many individuals with varying attitudes made up both movements. Yet when looking at history we tend to simplify everything with common labels and definitions...because the reality is too complex. 

The artist in the art is different from an artist supposedly pouring his/her heart and soul into their art. I've no doubt it's been done by many if, for a minute, we accept the possibility. It's a romantic notion from another age (18th/19th century?), one of the tortured, starving artist. Can there be such an artist today? There are enough tortured people, some of whom might be artists, I suppose. Jean Dubuffet famously coined the term 'art brut' for the work of patients in psychiatric hospitals. I wonder if such hospitals encourage creativity today? It might be a good idea.

You may not see 'me' in my art or, perhaps, I am there in ways less obvious than self-portraiture or expressionism. I may be there in quotes I choose. My thinking is there...my thoughts...my taste...and so on. All that aside, everything I've ever done shapes the art.