Censor religion
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Appropriately enough at this time of year, or more exactly, at Easter, it seems the new PC watchword is religion.
An Austrian artist, Gerhard Haderer, has been taken to court in Greece for blasphemy.Here’s the article
I read it, and I wasn’t shocked by what he’d done at all.
Why is it religions and their leaders believe that they are above criticism or satire?
I could understand if we were still living in a world where religion was the be all and end all of life, where the only escape from a crappy life was a reward in heaven and disobedience to the ruling religion was death.Unfortunately, or fortunately, people just don’t believe any more.We don’t need props to keep us going, or to give meaning to our lives.
If you cannot poke fun at institutions (and that includes people who believe in organised religion and those that don’t) they become over-inflated with their own sense of worth so….
Welcome your Orwellian future…
Good Friday?
Friday, March 25, 2005
Apparently it’s Easter.I didn’t really notice not being particularly, ok, at all, religious.
But it is a good one, I have the weekend off, and it feels like the very beginnning of proper summer.The light changes in the mornings, it smells brighter, and the list of things to do starts getting longer.
There may be a gardening frenzy ahead, or at least a pre-gardening frenzy.Time to find the best place to grow basil again.
Scary Tuesday
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Sunday morning..
Sunday, March 20, 2005
and so far I’ve woken up at half past nine, drank tea, helped a friend to clean a pub, drank tea and watched children trying really hard to kill themselves under the guise of ‘playing’, ate breakfast, drank tea, gone shopping, put up a new curtain pole and curtain.
And now I’m off to paint the newest thing.Well, as soon as I’ve drunk some tea of course.
I’ve been playing with photocopying stuff too, above is the result of one thing.
What I like lately, is to look at my stuff, and see where it can be improved, and how much further it has to go, especially in terms of technique, paint handling, and colour theory.Sometimes there’s a huge jump in those terms in between paintings, sometimes, you can hardly see where something has changed.I’ll be changing my palette (and soon be moving back to oils again) to see what difference that makes.
When you don’t have that much contact with people who paint ‘classically’ for want of a better word, you have to get and take any help you can.
Also, I’ve been getting organised.Reading about marketing, business, etc, and getting scared about it all.But that will pass, and hopefully, I’ll be left with an ability to put all the things I want to, into practice, and benefit from doing that.
The Good, The Bad and The Just Plain Silly
Friday, March 11, 2005
I went, very briefly, to a private view tonight.I really enjoyed it, and I really liked the work too ( not all of it, but most of it).I liked it because it was fun, it was sophisticated, brash, subtle, tacky and glamourous.I also liked the voyeuristic/scopophobic aspects.I ended up buying one of Shorts works, because it emboided practically everything I mentioned, plus, it went a bit further, the quality of seeing tripled in a way.
And then on the other hand, I was reading the Arts and Books review in the Independent this morning, it had an interview with Damien Hirst about his recent work.(You can read it here)
Surprise, it’s painting.I’ve on the whole not enjoyed his work much, the famous vitrines were just as much Duchamps and Francis Bacons as his, the Humbrol toy was just a bigger – ok, huge – version, the polka-dot paintings were fabric – and yes, I know art can be about looking at ordinary things differently through whatever medium an artist chooses to use.I didn’t find his work particularly awe inspiring or as original as critics supposed, but then, I suppose it’s the job of critics to convince you of this stuff.
Anyway, back to the new stuff.I got quite snippy about this, for two reasons, silly as they sound.
The first reason was his studio assistants.He mentions painting these paintings, or more accurately, his assistants paint these paintings, and he comes along and adds the finishing touches.This may be an invocation of studios of old, where the master intsructs the acolytes, but it also sounds like a British Thomas Kinkade in the offing.
The other reason was that he said basically what a lot of representational artists say anyway.Now you’d think this would be no reason to get upset, except, because it’s Damien Hirst, suddenly, it’s ok to paint.I sound bitter and twisted, I should be grateful, it’s a shot in the arm, a big clap for painting, an endorsement of it, and critics will follow suit.
I hadn’t noticed anyone stopping painting in the meantime because it wasn’t fashionable though…
Icons
Thursday, March 10, 2005
It’s as finished as it’s going to get, now I wash my hands of it, and scurry to mice and chavs
Bitter and Twisted Day
Monday, March 7, 2005
won’t be going to see Man Incoporated after all.He’s cancelled the current tour for a grander version later on in the year.Bitter and Twisted? Me? Yup.Although I’m also forced to say I understand, guaranteed pay wins over possible income anytime, well, for bands anyway.
I’ve been trying to get in touch with various people for ages, and no luck at all, people who are supposed to pose, people who are buying paintings, haven’t seen them for the dust lately.I’m a good luck charm really.
Anyway, today I will be mostly pottering around instead of doing the stuff I should be doing, like uploading new images, so I’ve slightly cheated, and the thing above is the last one of the three Jack paintings.
Tea in the Pub
Thursday, March 3, 2005
Yeah, I know it sounds like I live my entire life in the pub but it ain’t so…honest guv guv guv..
Been re-painting Icons again, it’s a bit of a nightmare.Just when you think you’ve got stuff sorted, it comes along and bites you in the arse..
I’ve been really dissatisfied with the way I paint, I’d like to have more texture in my paint, but every time I start, I end up putting it on in glazes, and being really stingy with the stuff.
I’ve had to give myself a good talking to recently about this.
Rock Dog
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
Went back to Wales yesterday and today to see my parents and for other things.
My mother is going to bite the bullet and have an exhibition to ( finally) show some of her paintings.She is a watercolourist ( or however they’re called ), something I have no grasp of whatsoever.She’s good.
I also met up with one of my longest friends, Carole.She’s nearly finished her book and will be published shortly in a magazine called Velvet.We sat and smoked and chatted in The Rock, a pub in Aberaman.It’s a lovely pub, a proper pub, not a designed and themed monstrosity.
Catching up quickly is really funny.You both get short bursts of news and tie in your stuff to fit the others, while still allowing for the odd non-sequitur.I usually do those, because by the time I’ve remembered I have something to say, the conversation’s moved on.
