Much has happen since my last blog, I have finished pieces of art, seen French street performances, returned to the forest, been eaten by mosquito, cooked penguins, learnt about wind movement, been to the countryside and had BBQs.
My first French titled piece of art is called "tout le monde est tres occuppe, je pense que nous devons aller pecher" (everybody is too busy, I think that we must go fishing). This sentence has been written on my studio wall since my arrival. It is important to me to make work that expresses the value of play and questions the speed of modern life. The work is contained within a briefcase, which acts like a plinth and has enough curious objects to make the viewer spend time observing it. It is easily the brightest thing I have ever made and I am satisfied with it.
Also this week I have been making many tiny penguins. I realised that the concept of the bird that cannot fly is key to many ideas I have had in the past and I want to use the penguin as a platform to express these ideas. I seem to be unable to escape the ideology of flight. I also am returning to old habits by instantly dreaming up complex ideas. Although I am weary of become trapped in a world of physics I have made a prototype of a machine that physically animates a falling object. This bodge machine works at the moment but not to a level where it could work independently of me. The recent decision that it is too complex means that for now it can stay in the corner of the studio.
With my love for trees and constant search for new materials I have started to collect sap. I spent 3 hours in the forest on Wednesday scraping the wonderful smelling liquid from the trees and fighting mosquitoes (the mosquitoes definitely won). This new substance is amazing but I can already see how soon everything will be covered in what I now like to refer to as tree treacle.
The new words of inspiration that are written on the wall are "tout le monde voit le vent souffler" (everybody sees the wind blow). These words are in fact lyrics from a song that is quite famous. I find them very poetic and am now ready to concentrate on developing ideas around this notion. With help in the form of driving and translation, Aurelia Cordiez (dedicated intern at L'H du Siege) took me to various large stores to buy the new necessary materials. My studio once again is filled with new things for me to play with. And with the help of Tanya Morris (an old school friend and aeronautical engineer) I hope to start making some bigger work.
