Back to that time of tutorial – tutorial with Jonathon Kearney – who is quite remarkable as a teacher – smart, engaged & supportive.
I suspect I brought up the same question as the previous one – how do I tie my painting and drawing to my interests in history, politics, slime moulds, poetry, and literature. With a short diversion into diagrams, charts and numbers.
From the to-ing and fro-ing I brought up the possibility of modular art practise – everything connected but not necessarily available all at one time. Jonathon spoke about a book he had on new media art and creating art behaviour connecting with different points at different points in time / space digitally. I wondered whether a mushroom or lichen might be an interesting model. The lichen is a creature made up of many other creatures — the mushroom exists mostly beneath the surface with only the ‘fruit’ on the surface, the slime mould exists in all it’s body at once shifting its parts according to needs and environment….
Models for the thinking in thinking about art practise.
My first method of drawing – the way I learnt to draw – was I built forms from cross hatching, rather than planning a form according to what I see and then filling it in I would start at a point I thought interesting and build the forms using cross hatching, and occasional broken lines to track all the shapes. I would then take these forms between 2d and 3d and develop shapes I could keep on a thin line between familiar and unfamiliar. Drawing the human figure I could move the centre of gravity around and create a mix of fragile and dense, and recreate new forms using the structural integrity of the forms I’m observing. Painting and drawing are my ways of slowing down and focussing without needing much brain chatter – I simply direct my attention across the page.
I cannot work with cohesive beginning, middle, end; narrative. My brain doesn’t work like that. I need to work with anti-narrative. We discussed this – hence the analogies – I develop many lines of investigation at once. My drawing and painting holds its intensity as a form of quietude, this blog is how I test concurrent ideas – and reading – ideas that needn’t all be attendant at each exhibition / production. Quietude being slowness and contemplation here; allowing ideas to inform and be embodied in the arts.
‘Solaris’ and my notion of a future earth of mushrooms / slime mould came up.
Blake’s book of Urizen as a starting point from which apocalypse is inevitable. Urizen is the god of rationalism and rationalising – the mind forgd manacles – the cause of slavery and climate disaster; the first influence and primary subject of my immediate projects. Tracking and contextualising Blake in the antinomianism traditions I have books of writings by Levellers and Ranters. Potential local sources of information from archives and churches helps move through more recent and local history.
Plenty of material to draw inspiration from plus a deep well of techniques for production.
pencil on paper, a5 sketchbook.
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