Black on White

Untitled 2010

You must forgive my jumps between the past and present. This blog is like being in a time warp, for me it's important to identify these connections... So the current aesthetic has emerged through several elements converging...

• The black and white palette of the Dandelion project
• My continuing interest in reading sociological texts (an analytical lens for viewing social dynamics)
• Centring on myself as an individual, while acknowledging my cultural and political identity within a larger social structure.

Some time ago I came across an essay by Robert Hobbs ‘Looking B(l)ack: Reflections Of White Racism’, which was part of a wider project called '30 Americans', at the Rubell family collection in Miami. Hobbs starts off with a quote from Frantz Fanon’s seminal text ‘Black Skin White Masks’. In this quote Fanon proposes the construction of ‘Black’ identity being determined by Western environmental conditions. My explanation is rather basic, but I've also been preoccupied by the same idea...

From the Generic to the Specific

Dandelion Dispenser 2008

Hopefully you've read previous entries and seen the ‘journey’ so far... There is a stark contrast visually from previous work - currently it all appears rather cool and remote. This is indicative of the retreat from a socially engaged process. In order to protect myself from a prevailing notion of accessible ascetics (from the generic,) I turned to drawing as a more immediate and specific activity.

Two Self-Portraits 2008

In 2008 I began to draw myself again, an activity I hadn't done since foundation years... 'Two self-portraits are an attempt to reconcile the graphic smoothed out line (the vector path) with the idiosyncrasies of the hand made mark. A permanent line is stencilled on to a chalkboard; marks are drawn with pastels and pencils and recorded digitally. The drawings were rubbed out, then drawn again in a constant process of erasure and renewal...'

The ambition was to make an index of the photographs as a video, a slow, close up look at each drawing over time. It all became too emotional though - I struggled to commit to the activity. But the one recurring element, that black blankness signaled new beginnings...

Open Studios

I opened my studio last weekend… the whole process of putting the thing on (the group effort) took my mind off the work. Then finally - when I got back to it, I felt rather alienated. To remedy this I decided to make a bit of kit for the new drawings. Sometimes I find comfort in making something physical and immersing myself in process.

Having strangers in your studio a can be quite unnerving… many encounters are awkward as well as brief. That said in amongst those brief encounters, you meet a few friendly individuals unfazed by the privacy of the space. In this situation one gets practice telling the story of the work. When it’s all one big chain of events, it very hard to gauge where to begin. The story comes out in various versions over the weekend, but a few phrases remain in the aftermath as useful…

Control?

just a few spillages 2010

Some days I feel guilty that these blobs don’t seem to exist anywhere, maybe like the Petri dish every thing else is pulverised for the sake of one culture. I could use this play of words to talk about a wider political landscape, but it isn’t really about that… Anyway coming back to the process - the studio plays a great part. Its a rarefied space, (some would say fetishised even) it provides protection for artists and their work, comfort and status. Putting all that aside a studio provides a space, clear of debris and distraction- influence is carefully sucked through straw as and when needed – it’s all rather controlled – it’s a big fat incubator.

Duchamp Three Standard Stoppages 1913-14

Yes I admit – I like (many other people who make stuff) am a control freak. At the same time its funny that we spend a great deal of time trying not to know (gotta keep boredom at bay). I remember listening to Margret Iversen give examples of strategies used by artists for creating chance within their processes, in her words ‘Falling, dropping, letting go’… I’m thinking of adding ‘Chance’ - her instalment of those Whitechapel/MIT readers to my collection. ‘Participation’ was a good read – somehow ‘situation’ didn’t grab me. But I feel very aware of the conditions of the studio and its effect on my outcomes…

Untitled Black Series 2010

Blobs

'Blob' 2004-6

I’ve been into blobs for a long time… Looking back my palette wasn’t vast but it was a tad larger. In those early days, I totally obsessed about camouflage. The idea of continual change and adaptation to each environment or situation encountered.

I’ve been thinking recently about the motives for camouflage and also about that fairytale/mythical creature the changeling. The changeling appears to be a deceitful entity. Creating illusions that allow it to exist undetected by others, somehow deception and truth become intermingled.

The salt monster in Star trek 'The Man Trap'

If we look to the natural world, we see deception as a survival strategy. Consequently that deception is inherent within the identity of that creature. My camo was rather more symbolic, using the over exposed amoeba pattern (the ‘urban solider’ motif) the project focused on the dysfunctional – standing out not blending in…

I keep thinking about a black blob morphing and assimilating the world it encounters – its not sci-fi - not an invasion - just survival…

Structure/Anti-structure

The drawings became too tight - needed to remedy this some how. I found myself splashing ink around trying to loosen the whole process. Having put the older drawings away I responded to a memory, the new drawings totally exploded…

Untitled black series 2010

I took a step sideways recently… I thought about the futility of trying to construct ‘meaning’ (it was probably one of my darker days). Then I started to concentrate on the splashes, using the unit (spot) in an attempt to construct something out of them.

Untitled Black Series 2010