February 2012
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January 2012
1 post
December 2011
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“Art is difficult,” says the 66-year-old firmly. “It’s not...”
– Anselm Kiefer reflects on his work before the opening of his biggest UK Show at the White Cube Gallery in London.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/dec/08/anselm-kiefer-art-white-cube
November 2011
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“Art is for everybody, but not everybody knows that.”
– Poul Borum (1934-1996), noted Danish poet and critic.
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October 2011
5 posts
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““Beckett will not hear of being interviewed, whether orally or in writing. I...”
– ‘The Letters of Samuel Becket,’ reviewed by Michael Dirda
http://wapo.st/vGdxgy
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““One cannot live outside the machine for more perhaps than half an...”
– Alex Ross in The Rest is Noise
http://www.therestisnoise.com/2011/09/thought-of-the-day.html
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May 2011
2 posts
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“As a writer I’m fascinated by an interrogation of the idea of home. What it is...”
– SKYDIVING BLINDFOLDED, VON SIMON STEPHENS
Or Five Things I Learned From Sebastian Nübling
Keynote Speech at the opening of Stückemarkt 2011 on 8th May 2011 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele.
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Hamish Fulton's Slowalk (in support of Ai Weiwei) →
It is inspiring to see another artist create a work in support of another. Hamish Fulton’s Slowalk. It reminds me of the Buddhist practice of Walking Meditation advocated by Thich Nhat Hanh.
April 2011
10 posts
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PJ Harvey live session: How I wrote ... The Last... →
This song from her album Let England Shake makes me think about my complicated relationship with England: the place of my birth and where l have felt the most unrooted. It therefore relates to The Last of England and my temporary sculpture The Last of …..
It also reminds me of Donovan’s Universal Soldier (http://youtu.be/G9-49abv3l8) and The War Drags On which we studied at school...
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Salman Rushdie on Ai Weiwei →
Dangerous Arts
By SALMAN RUSHDIE
The New York Times, Published: April 19, 2011.
Governments of the free world must make sure artists, like Ai Weiwei, who courageously stand up against authoritarianism are safe.
“When artists venture into politics the risks to reputation and integrity are ever-present. But outside the free world, where criticism of power is at best difficult and at...
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Listen to the pronunciation of “Minä...
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Minä rakastan sinua
The text series Minä rakastan sinua (I love you) creates a paradise and memories of an idyllic childhood: drawn from a personal memory or a perfect fiction.
Whoever declares their love “Minä rakastan sinua” is a matter of speculation: boy to girl, girl to boy, both to each other or someone out of the picture frame such as their mother or father.
Text first entered entered my work as...
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WatchWho’s Afraid of Weiwei
Part one of a PBS Frontline DVD which can be viewed online or purchased directly or through iTunes.
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Kurt Schwitters Exhibition at Princeton Museum →
Schwitters “….. has had a huge effect on post-World War II artists and is revered by many. Two of the collages in the Princeton show are from Jasper Johns’s collection; two others are owned by Ellsworth Kelly. Robert Rauschenberg, who introduced Mr. Johns to Schwitters’s work, was a major fan. And a Schwitters effect, however indirect and unrecognized, can be spotted in much...
March 2011
9 posts
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Schwitters Merzbarn →
This is a dedicated website which focuses on the Elterwater MerzBarn and Kurt Schwitters in England.
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Schwitters and The Last of ................. 2011
When working on “The Last of ………..” l could not help thinking of the Kurt Schwitters 1947 “Merzbarn”, which, as a student, l walked past everyday. It is, according to Anthony Graham-Dixon, “….the seminal piece of twentieth century British art”.
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The Last of England →
The painting by Ford Maddox Brown (1821-1893)
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The Last of ................. (temporary sculpture...
I grew up in Birmingham, England and attended the Moseley Road School of Art from 11 to 18 years of age. We often frequented the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the painting “The Last of England” by Ford Maddox Brown made a significant impression.
“In 2011 reflecting on his own life with its farewells and departures, he created ‘Temporary Sculpture 2 “The Last of…..” ’.The...
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New York, 1976
I met Sean Scully on my first visit to New York in 1976 with Jean Fisher and Duncan Newton. There was only one way to describe the difference between England and New York at that time; major culture shock. All the museums, galleries, bookstores, diners, music, Canal Street and Pearl Paints, hundreds of photographs and the Circle Line Cruise in the city that never seemed to sleep.
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WatchSean Scully: ‘There are no certainties in my paintings’
7.40 “It should be something that is happening all at once, that is inhabiting you and that you are doing and you have one way or another managed to get yourself into that space and there’s an angel on your shoulder. That’s how you should make art. If you are plotting art and trying to make something to get...
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The beautifully shaped truth about sculpture
So much pious pontificating rubbish is spouted about the function and value of the arts in society that I was delighted last week to catch the great sculptor Anthony Caro putting the subject into wise perspective during an interview with my colleague Alastair Sooke on the latter’s BBC Four series Romancing the Stone.
“What is sculpture for?” Sooke asked Caro. “To please the eye and feed the...
February 2011
7 posts
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“Marxism is about leisure, not labour. It is a project that should be eagerly...”
– Eagleton, Terry. “Indomitable.” Rev. of How to Change the World: Marx and Marxism 1840-2011, by Eric Hobsbawm. London Review of Books 33.5 (2011): 13-14. 25 Feb. 2011 <http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n05/terry-eagleton/indomitable>.
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Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters →
“I would’ve liked to have been Poussin, if I’d had a choice, in another time.” Cy Twombly.
When I announced to my friends [1972] I had decided to write my dissertation on the subject “Nicolas Poussin: His Vision of Landscape Transformed into Landscape Painting” theie reaction was one of shock and disbelief.
“Whenever l leave Poussin I know myself better” Klaus Berger,...
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Vermont Studio Center, thinking back to
I often discover, after the fact, that my drawings/prints/collages often influence the subject and composition of my photographs.
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Consett Bay, 2011
Monday 21st promised to be the lowest low tide of the month at midday and it was spectacularly so.
Whenever l walk along this short stretch of shoreline the photographs l take are sometimes almost identical to those of last month or several years ago.
Coral, shell and stone; provoke, nourish and satisfy.
Looking towards Bath.
December 2010
7 posts
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“Large ink and charcoal drawings have been liberating because of their non-precious materials and have informed images for smaller mono-prints. I have spent considerable time thinking about images and drawing ideas before printing.” NW Vermont sketchbook.
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Vermont Studio Center Residency
Joan Miro wrote “My dream, once l have settled down somewhere, is to have a very large studio …. in order to have enough room to hold many canvases, because the more l work the more l want to work.”
My dream was answered with a four week residency at the Vermont Studio Center in the small town of Johnson, which l have recently completed.
“I thought having a designated...
July 2010
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