'Heartland' by Anthony Cartwright

'Kill Matthew Barney', Jock McFadyen, oil on canvas, 120 x 182cms, 2007

I’ve really enjoyed reading ‘Heartland’, the new novel by Anthony Cartwright recently. Set in Dudley, it follows the story of Rob an increasingly failing footballer who drops a league each season from Aston Villa down to his local Cinderheath FC. Its set against the backdrop of the 2002 World Cup, with 9/11 still fresh in people’s minds, and Cinderheath opposing the local mosque team. The BNP on the sidelines, and the Tipton Taliban are in the news.

Cartwright seems to effortlessly weave and explore these themes and find the human heart behind these complex issues of identity, race, and class across different generations, and finds the unlikely similarities we all share.

I really identified with so many of the characters and Black Country settings, and am keen for other members of my family to read it, particularly my Dad, who still works in a factory in nearby Langley, just outside Dudley.

We sometimes discuss the politics of the young men who work there which are borne out of Thatcherism and her dismantling of so many of the communities in the Black Country as all the heavy industry he used to work in closed in the Eighties and Nineties. At this time places like Dudley and West Bromwich (where I grew up),and Tipton, where he was raised ‘turned to rust’, as it is put in the novel.

They are areas which have seen a rise in BNP activity, as ‘political’ groups (I describe these in the very loosest of terms) like these often like to move in and exploit the fears and insecurities of vulnerable communities. I think a lot of our discussions circle around our feeling of dislocation from the current working class generation and the Thatcherite values that seem pretty embedded, compared to the working class community we grew up in. I think this is partly an inevitable generational thing, but society has changed so much in the last twenty years with a focus on the material and the interest of the individual over that of the many.

Returning to the novel, I was really impressed by the skill and craft in Cartwright’s writing. There were many different strands and stories within the novel, and he never seemed to miss a beat, maintaining utter focus on the heart of the overall story. I was also fascinated by how all the dialogue was spoken in a thick Black Country accent, which can be totally impenetrable to those from outside the region. I’ve always admired writers like James Kelman and Irvine Welsh and how the voices in their novels are authentic to their region of Scotland, exploring language and dialect in all its complexities, and I suspect Cartwright is no stranger to their work, particularly the subtleties of Kelman. Cartwright’s debut novel ‘The Afterglow’, was also great and had many echoes of Kelman’s writing for me. They both deal with the quiet and banal spaces in between events, the places where things really happen, brilliantly.

At the top is a painting by Jock MacFadyen, the rather brilliantly titled 'Kill Matthew Barney', that I think depicts a similar urban landscape to that ‘Heartlands’ is set in. I’m a big fan of his work.

My first print collection

Amsterdam

This year I’ve been participating in the Artists Access to Art Colleges Scheme 2008. I’ve been working in the printmaking department at Wolverhampton University, trying to develop my etching skills. On Friday the 4th until the 14th I’ll be exhibiting my first collection of prints alongside the other artists on the Scheme at Wolverhampton as part of the University’s MA Graduation Show.

I’ve really enjoyed the experience, and have spent quite a bit of time over the summer trying to develop these prints. I moved away from the portraits in the end, to create a more diverse range of images that I actually felt worked more successfully than the portrait work . This was partly motivated by my application for funds to the Arts Council to create a limited edition book of prints based on my ‘Seek My Face’ portraits for the Sandwell Archives being rejected (oh well… only several months of endlessly refining my proposal, raising quite a lot of support in kind, and a 35 page application form later-all for just £5000!But that's the game...it's pointless complaining). So I changed track anyway, and I’m quite pleased with the results, but feel that I have so much to learn…but that's ok and right.

Motorway

Bird

The Meal

Ken

Nigel

Tapes

I’m exhibiting six of the seven prints above. They are all etchings and aquatints, 16 x 12cms, and priced at £150 framed if anyone is interested in purchasing one. Just get in touch through the website.

This last print above is a more experimental soft-ground etching. The soft-ground creates an etched line that is more akin to a pencil drawing. I then experimented with ‘painting’ on the aquatint tones. It was my first one, and I'd like to explore it further...

Chance Encounters...

Jacques-Henri Boiffard

I enjoyed ‘Subversive Spaces, Surrealism and Contemporary Art’ at Compton Verney the other day. The exhibition examines the legacy of the Surrealist project in two distinct spaces. Psychic Interiors uses themes of psychic disturbance- anxiety and hysteria- to explore the spaces of the home. Wandering the City follows the Surrealists’ preoccupation with walking around the streets as a means to discover hidden social spaces as well as unconscious fears and desires. It is in these spaces, both private and public, that the ghosts of Surrealism are to be found, stalking both our homes and our streets.

The whole exhibition was really thought provoking, but I found myself being drawn to the latter theme of Wandering the City, as I recognised in this idea parallels with my own approach to subject matter that I previously hadn’t considered, and was surprised to see them in an exhibition on Surrealism, as it is an art movement I’ve never really had a lot of personal interest in. For the Surrealists, wandering the city was a means of letting themselves be surprised by chance encounters, and discovering their own fears and desires. Jacques-Henri Boiffard’s dead-pan, black and white illustrations for Andre Breton’s novel Nadja suggest that the most banal location can become the setting for the unexpected.

It is this ‘chance encounters’ theme that I particularly related to, as I approached my recent portrait work in a similar fashion. In both ‘Seek My Face’ and ‘Audience’ for JCC, nine times out of ten, I hadn’t met the sitter before turning up to draw them, so I had no expectations of who I was going to meet. I had normally just arranged the sitting by phone or e-mail as I tracked down possible sitters from all sorts of contacts, or from pinning up a notice for volunteers.

I found this way of working on portraits really exciting, as it helps eliminate the possibility of selecting sitters for the character in their faces or because of their lives of jobs or achievements. Inevitably, I had to then ‘select’ individuals from all my drawings to create the paintings, but the starting points always tended to be from creating a situation where there was room for surprise and ‘chance’, in what would be a very intimate one on one situation between artist and sitter. I try and force myself into a position where I have to deal with the form and features of the sitter in that precise moment and place, as I also don't use photographs as an aide memoire or record.

'Bernard'. oil on canvas, 60 x 210cms, 2007

I approach my ‘Nature’ paintings in a similar vein, especially the work done on location outdoors, but feel that this is still relatively under-developed compared to my portrait work. I try to be completely open minded to seeking subjects, and often set-up to paint or draw when out walking, looking for that surprise in the banal. It often only reveals itself as you observe and translate what you see in a drawing or painted study. Also, the continued use of my sketchbook to draw just for drawings sake, has lead to my recent ‘Eve Of The Day’ painting and others which are just developed from drawings made of flowers in the neighbour’s garden, when I inadvertently find myself in front of something with my sketchbook. It is often only later when I’m in the studio and I have chance to reflect on my ‘chance encounters’ with the landscape that things start to suggest themselves as starting points for a painting. It’s about being open to these things and trying to avoid cliche.

'Motorway', oil on canvas, 90 x 60cms, 2004

Up until this week, I’d never made the connection with Surrealism. This ‘chance encounter’ with the exhibition has proved really exciting and something to explore further. Don’t you just love it when that happens…?

More Monkey Business...Chris Cowdrill

I went to Twycross Zoo with my photographer friend, Laura and also Chris Cowdrill. Chris is a really talented illustrator, and has great drawing skills. He manages with great observation, precision and economy to really capture a subject and filter it through his unique style. He makes it look so easy too, but anyone who has ever picked up a pencil would know how difficult these things are to do successfully. Here are some of his sketchbook drawings from our trip, and a link to his website:

http://www.chriscowdrill.co.uk/

Too Much Monkey Business...

At the Elephant Enclosure:

Is he dead?
Nah
He looks dead. He isn’t breathing…
He’s not dead
His arse is as big as mine
No it ain’t

Or in the Monkey House:

Hey Dave, he looks like you, only not as ugly! (overheard several times. Replace name accordingly)
Thanks
Look at his bum.
Oh no, he’s doing a poo…
Look Mom, he’s doing a poo!
Yes. Let’s go and look at the Giraffes…

These were just snippets of conversation I overhead last week, as I was drawing at Twycross Zoo. It was so busy with the school holidays in full force, it was quite difficult to find anywhere to draw. I’ve been more interested in trying to draw the animal enclosures themselves, rather than the animals, for some time. I particularly like the Gorilla House. It was only when I managed to find the one enclosure that was not occupied by a gorilla, that I completed the sketchbook drawing below.

This clean and tidy place was ‘their bedroom, and the messy one with gorilla’s in next to it was their living room’, according to two small children.

Down on the Farm...

I had a lovely morning last week drawing at my friend Liz Monk’s farm near Bromsgrove. Liz has lots of Highland Cattle which I was particularly keen to draw, and spent my time perched on my stool in the middle of the field as these huge animals circled inquisitively around me. I did get a little nervous when they almost ate my sketchbook. The horns were rather big, but Liz assured me they were only being nosy.

I went with my photographer friend, Laura Gale, who specialises in animal photography. She took some excellent photographs, including the one above of me ignorant to the slowly advancing cows, including the very large bull. Who said you should never take your eye off the subject when drawing? Laura was a bit more prepared for the muddy conditions than me in her red wellies compared to my trainers. It made me smile later on when I went to find her in the sheep field. I arrived just to see a large flock of sheep come fleeing down the hill, swiftly followed by Laura in those red wellies with camera in one hand and large portable flash in the other. ‘I don’t think they like me’ she said. Here are some of Laura's photo's. I think they're great. They really capture life on Liz's family farm.

Chadwich Manor Farm is also the home to Liz’s ceramic studio and gallery. She is an excellent and very experienced ceramicist, and you can watch Liz at work as you browse the gallery. It’s a great set-up in this wonderful location. Here’s a link to Liz’s website:

www.lizmonkpottery.com

I’m off to Twycross Zoo with Laura this week. I’ll keep you posted.

New paintings

'The Eve Of The Day', oil on canvas, 100 x 300cms, 2009

I wanted to draw your attention to the fact that I have added ten new paintings to the ‘Nature’ section of my website. They include the one above, which I only did last week, and others that I have been working on largely this year. I was keen to develop this side of my work, particularly after the large group portraits I was commissioned to do last summer for Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College, which was very challenging. Indeed, the first painting I did after that commission was ‘Spring’, a very energetic painting which was an attempt to just paint much more freely and expressively after the control and stressful conditions I had had to work with on the portraits. I painted most of it flat on the floor.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my painting practise over the last few months has been very much informed by the experience of seeing my brother’s condition worsen as he suffered from cancer and eventually died. The motifs of flowers and trees have taken on an increasingly powerful resonance for me and became important metaphors for some of my feelings and experiences. Of course, it is a theme that has traditionally been used by artists for centuries to explore issues around the fragility of life, loss and death. Interestingly, I didn’t really look at this tradition again. My initial motivations behind the images were always more formal ones, as they usually are, to do with different ways of painting, exploring compositional elements, and trying to push the work into newer territories. It just inevitably rose to the surface as I developed the work. It could be seen as quite clichéd a theme, but for me it just felt very real and ‘right’, making you realise where these things come from. As the months went on I have worked with a heightened compulsion I’ve not felt for a long time, which seemed to disappear almost as soon as Stu passed away. Some of the paintings are only just begiining to make some sort of sense sense now. I think the act of painting itself has just given me a space to explore and work through difficult feelings, and this in itself has been really helpful. Like a good friend. The artist Maggi Hambling has often said that the relationship you have with your painting must become like that of a best friend, which is something I have always really liked, and now more deeply understand.

That is some of the background to the work. At the end of the day, the paintings have to stand alone and exist on their own merits. I’m currently looking into venues to try and exhibit them as a body of work in a solo show next year sometime. I hope you find them interesting, and any comments are always welcome.