Home of the Lost and Found

I went to a private view yesterday at the unlikely venue of Birmingham Dogs Home. ‘Home for the Lost and Found’ was an exhibition of photographs by an artist friend, Elizabeth Lee. They were, at times very moving, portraits of the dogs at the Home that Liz had spent the last few months photographing. She faced all sorts of technical difficulties as she wasn’t allowed into the pens with the dogs, meaning she had to photograph through the small protective mesh in very gloomy light. The photographs were installed around the Home, so you were taken on this quite harrowing journey past all these dogs in their pens howling for your attention. It was quite an experience. I nearly came home with a particularly forlorn greyhound, before being pleased to see that they had been ‘reserved’ and would hopefully soon be finding themselves in a new home.

I used to teach Liz years ago when she studied for her HND Fine Art. It’s great to see her continuing to do such interesting work. Here’s a link to her website which is worth visiting ‘Stanley Dog of War’ for, and a recent feature in the Birmingham Post on her work. She makes some really interesting points that I share about the difficulties of being an artist in the West Midlands. The exhibition continues until the 16th May at Birmingham Dogs Home New Bartholomew Street Birmingham B5 5QS, Mon-Sat 11.00am-4.45pm
www.birminghamdogshome.org.uk

http://www.elizabethjlee.co.uk/

www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/...art/.../snail-sheds-light-on-elizabeth-lee-s-opinions-65233-21559587/

'Diana and Acteon'

I visited the new exhibition at Compton Verney yesterday. ‘Diana and Actaeon, The Forbidden Gaze’ was an exhibition that initially centred around the mythological tale of ‘Acteaon, a skilled and dedicated hunter who, when out hunting with his hounds, happens to approach Diana bathing in a stream with her companions. Acteon is transfixed by Diana’s nakedness and beauty; Diana is momentarily passive and vulnerable in his gaze and seeks revenge for his intrusion of privacy. Diana transforms Acteaon into a stag and sets his own dogs on him, tearing him to pieces.’

The exhibition opened with a reproduction of a Titian based on the theme (which was recently acquired by The National Gallery). Some say that Titian was the first modern painter with his later works such as 'The Flaying of Marsyas' (below). The violence of the scene is superbly expressed in the painterliness of Titian's brushwork.

The show then explored in increasingly graphic and sexual ways, through both historical and contemporary works of art, how the depiction of the female naked body has continued to persist as a genre in European fine art. Importantly it looked at ‘the cultural and social influences involved in seeing- and with this, possible feelings of embarrassment, fascination, guilt and pleasure’. It certainly did push this side of things. I’ve never seen so many images of female genitalia under one roof! Often on a very large scale. How very rude...On a more serious note, it was another really varied and well curated exhibition from Compton Verney.

John Currin, 'The Dane', oil on canvas, 2006

John Currin, the celebrated American painter, had this piece above represented. There is a lot made of Currin’s virtuosity as a painter, but I’m not sure. He is skilfull to be sure, but no more than many painters. I don’t like the bits where he has ‘exquisitively rendered a golden candle stick’ or whatever. They just seem quite academic exercises you once would have dealt with at art school, and often spoil the unity of the painting. It’s the images and ideas that are interesting. But again, I’m not sure how interesting these are. I saw his retrospective at The Serpentine Gallery a few years ago, and really enjoyed it. I then caught it again a few months later at The Whitney in New York, and found it so empty and irritating. I find him confusing. He is very interested in interview however. There is a link below to an interview, where he talks about these recent paintings derived from Danish pornography. Apparently, the idea behind these came out of his anger at the 9/11 bombings, which I found fascinating:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/john-currin-the-filth-and-the-fury-795525.html

I’ll leave the last word to two old ladies I overheard in front of Currin’s painting, ‘ It’s all very interesting, but you wouldn’t be able to have it on your living room wall when the grandchildren come around’.

George Shaw and The Specials

George Shaw, 'For The Boys On The Back Seat, acrylic on rucksack, 1999

Wasn’t it brilliant to see the reformed Specials on ‘Later…with Jools Holland’ last week? It was a reminder of how powerful and original their music was. I was a bit too young to appreciate them in their heyday, but I have been a fan for a long time. I remember the impact they and other 2-Tone bands had on the older kids at my school though, who used to be dressed to impress in their loafers, parkas, and Bobby Punn trousers. The music and lyrics came from a working class culture that really struck a chord with myself and so many others in it’s authenticity. The social and political observations were always so spot-on. I’m kicking myself I didn’t get a ticket for one of the reformed gigs now! I got all wrapped in the ‘it’s not The Specials without Jerry Dammers’ thing. The band give a good account of all this in this month’s Q magazine.

George Shaw, ' Scenes From The Passion', humbrol enamel on board, 2001

One of the most interesting artists of recent years for me has been the painter George Shaw. He is famous for his meticulous depictions in Humbrol Enamel paint on board of the Coventry housing estate he grew up on. He has however also created other pieces and drawings that reflect his admiration of The Specials too, and interest in certain areas of British working class culture. Culture as depicted in the films of Ken Loach, the ‘Plays for Today’ of the sixties and seventies, the books of Alan Sillitoe and Stan Barstow, and TV such as ‘Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads’ and ‘Auf Wiedersehn,Pet’ by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. It is an interest I share, but have not met many other people, least of all artists, with much interest in this, so I was naturally drawn to these influences in Shaw’s work. They are very subtlely presented however, in photo’s of his studio, or in catalogues rather than directly in the paintings. It seems to suggest the heart that beats beneath the work. Here's a good link:

www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/A/art_show/george_shaw/

George Shaw (with John Strutton), 'The Land of Nod,' installation view, Lift Gallery 1999

The recent films by director Shane Meadows, such as ‘This Is England’, and ‘Dead Man’s Shows’, seem to have a quality, passion and again, authenticity straight out of this era and culture too. You can see that he is obviously influenced by these things, but seems to have managed to bring them to a whole new audience.

still from 'Dead Man's Shoes'

'Peace, Love, Hope and Faith-Ken', Andrew Tift

I was blown away by this stunning new drawing by Andrew Tift the other day, whilst browsing on his website. It’s the best thing I’ve seen in ages; I find it very powerful and moving. On his website, www.andrewtift.co.uk. Andrew explains:

‘I met Ken at the foundry where he worked in Cradley Heath (about 18 years ago), Glynwed Foundry I remember it was called, long since demolished. Ken used to tap the furnaces and catch the molten steel in metal shanks. I never felt that I really captured him properly back in 1991 so I asked him if he would mind sitting for me agian, which he did just before Christmas.

He is a deeply religious man and has had a series of profound religious experiences so I wanted to bring this out in the drawing of him where I have used the ceramic crucifix which is on his wall in the front room. I wanted to make a drawing which was connected to Rennaisance art and religious imagery, especially with the atmospheric lighting used by Caravaggio so I wanted to create quite strong shadows and contrasts. Ken gesticulates with his hands while he is talking and this is something else I wanted to work on, almost in thoughtful conversation. He’s got such fantastic, big hands which were formed in the foundries of the Black Country and were an integral part of the portrait. The title comes from the candle holders on the ceramic crucifix which I felt was very the way Ken has lived his life.’

Here are some images of the different stages of the drawing’s creation. For me it is interesting seeing these. Despite showing each step, they actually reveal very little of the magic of how the drawing was made. Andrew describes his work as photo-realist, but in the best of his images they seem to really transcend their photographic source material, thanks to both his great technical skill and the sensitivity and thoughtfulness behind his compositions.

I also love the drawing’s subject. It is refreshing to see a sympathetic portrayal of a white, working-class male. It reminds me a lot of the people and places I grew up around.

My First Edition

On Monday I finally completed my first small edition of prints of ‘Robert’, an etching and aquatint. Believe me, for someone like myself who is prone to leave a trail of inky fingerprints on everything I touch, printing these prints to a professional standard on beautiful Somerset printing paper felt like a real achievement. I did manage to print one upside down, however. But as my friend who works at the University, Vin said that will be the collectable one someday! Yeah, in my dreams….

The Animals and Me (or 'Frog Blog' for short)

I found this frog dead on my lawn as I walked down to the studio early Friday evening. It seemed too good a drawing opportunity, so I scooped him up and have made these few sketchbook drawings over the weekend.

It was a strange coincidence because a lot of the talk in the Art department office this week has been on the theme of ‘animals in art’ as some of the students are doing projects based on this and been making drawings of their own at the Nature Centre in Cannon Hill Park, and some are off to Twycross Zoo next week. It’s a great place to draw. I also took my school group to the Sealife Centre for drawing on Tuesday which was good fun. It’s a theme I really warm to and have made a few of my own contributions to as you can see on the ‘nature paintings’ page. Here are a few examples of things I’ve been enjoying lately by other artists on this theme….

David Hockney, 'Dog Days, oil on canvas

Roy Lichtenstein, 'Grrrrr' , acrylic on canvas

Ken Currie, 'Study After Goya', oil on board

Walton Ford, 'Falling Bough' watercolour, 2002

Walton Ford’s giant watercolours are something else. A contemporary take on older wildlife illustrator’s such as Audobon. Apparently he does alot of drawing at The Natural History Museum in New York, which is one of the few places left with a large collection of stuffed animals still on view. It’s well worth a visit. I love it’s life-size Blue Whale model, which was the inspiration for the great film ‘The Squid and The Whale’.

Jill Greenberg’s brilliant book ‘Monkey Portraits’ is a must buy. Her website has something amazing photographs too: www.manipulator.com

‘The Animals and Me’ is a reference to a song by The Wonder Stuff. I’ve just finished reading the revised and updated ‘The Eight Legged Atomic Dustbin Will Eat Itself’, by Martin Roach. It’s a lively read documenting the rise of the Stuffies, Pop Will Eat Itself, and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin. It was a real trip down memory lane as I used to be a big fan of these bands between the age of about 17-21 yrs. I saw them all live on more than one occasion in my grebo days. ‘A great time was had by all’ as they say…

Glenn Brown and other stuff...

I visited the Glenn Brown retrospective at Tate Liverpool the other day. It was very exciting walking into the first room to be confronted by these huge canvasses of space stations and otherwordly landscapes appropriated from sci-fi illustrations and John Martin’s apocalyptic landscapes. I remember when these paintings were first exhibited and the controversy they caused. They were pretty outrageous, and still are.

From here the show moved you on through rooms that looked at the work that dealt with his interest in making paintings inspired by reproductions of others’ work, changing and distorting them, reducing thick expressive brushwork to invisibility and flatness. (Follow the Tate link, it explains it all much better: www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/glennbrown ). I really enjoyed Room Three with the collection of really nice re-interpretations of Frank Auerbach portraits. They were just incredibly beautiful on so many levels. I was getting really excited, wondering where things were going. And then…well, slowly I started to get incredibly bored by it all. The ‘flattening’ and distortions seemed to become really mannered in the worst sense. What started out as a critique of the materiality of painting and authorship of image, seemed to really unravel. All the paintings just had the same ‘look’ and had become distinctly ‘Glenn Brown’. Despite being made from a huge variety of sources they all ended up with essentially the same treatment of tiny curly marks with very little variety. It seemed to me to de-bunk the central critique running through the work, and the working methods of Photoshopping and projecting onto the canvas became more and more apparent.

The hand that painted them seemed less and less invisible too. But it was the style itself that seemed to suck the life out of any enjoyment of them after a while and the titles continually drawn from song titles seemed so annoying after a while too. In some there were little areas of flat colour I found myself really being drawn to as an escape from the figures and objects. Finally, I found myself reflecting upon how individually they would be very seductive in their scale, use of colour, weird, edgy images to a lot of private collectors. They seemed oddly very commercial.

Today I met Professor Tim Collins, Associate Dean for Research and Development at the School of Art and Design at Wolverhampton University. What was originally planned as a meeting about funding opportunities, slowly became a bit more of an intensive discourse about my portrait paintings. It felt really exciting being challenged about my work, and made me reflect about how when you are just working in isolation in your studio so much of the time it is difficult to get a more critical dialogue about your work. I do get the odd comment through the blog or my e-mail, but if anyone is actually reading this and wants to discuss the work further I’d really welcome it at times.

Finally, I took my students to see the David Cox landscape exhibition at Gas Hall yesterday. It was terrific, and they all loved it too. This was then followed by a trip to Ikon to Zhang Enli’s paintings (see previous blog!), which was greeted by utter indifference by the group. The student’s comments are often very insightful, and their cynicism with the ideas and the paintings themselves, confirmed my own doubts. And don’t get me or the students started on the work of Andrede Tudela’s installation in Gallery 2! Trying to get them interested in this made me feel like I deserved another half term holiday. They had some interesting ideas on how it could be improved though…