Standpoint Futures Residency Programme

So this is a little funny for me to write/you to read as my second blog entry on my laptop, which has decided not to work since Thursday. Lots has happened since I last wrote my last blog entry, but we shall assume that you shall read this, if interested, when my laptop is fixed and I can upload.So skipping nearly a fortnight of activity…..

On Friday I spoke to Fiona MacDonald. via skype. She is currently on a British School in Rome residency, which sounds as incredible as I have imagined. We caught up with our respective residencies and she was a good sounding board for my experience so far. I do not believe i was the same for her, as i had a couple of glasses of wine too many at the book launch of a friends graphic novel. Nicola Streeten’s ‘Billy, Me & You’ is an incredible achievement and well worth reading. Find out more here http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/oct/15…

After too small of an amount of time in studio I went to meet Cathy Lomax and Ali Sharma at Transition Gallery. We had a fantastic conversation, primarily about our respective views on painting, both other peoples and our own studio activity. This is one of the most eye opening things about being in London. I have probably had more conversations in a fortnight in the big smoke about painting, than several years in Manchester. I shall have to think about why this is when I return and make efforts to do something about it, as the conversations I am having are proving fruitful. Our conversation focused at the start (after talking bout Sluice art fair) with a discussion about Richter. We had a good debate over our difference in opinion of his abstracts (mine-what is not to like!; Cathy-he stops being interesting with them!).

This carried on to question whether Richter is a good colourist or not. There was something interesting that was raised in the Buchloch talk I went to early in the residency where he responded to a question by T.J. Clark over whether Richter’s abstracts are not more associated with American rather than German culture, a central construct to Buchloch’s argument. He said no (after a pause), that they could only be produced by and in German(y), primarily because of their colour, which he believes is very German. This was something I had in mind when viewing the show and later talked about with Cathy and Ali. There is something in Richter’s use of colour in his abstract works, which is akin to the shell-suit one often sees in Berlin or the Burossia Dortmund football kit, but whether this cultural or not I still am not convinced by. The conversation continued in this vein, but focusing more on my own work. A lot was discussed about generosity within my work, something Dave Hoyland felt there was a lack of, which Cathy and Ali disagreed with. This finally led to a discussion of a conceptual approach to painting, I wonder if this is something that painters and non-painters both find equally baffling and is something I find intriguing.

I left Transition to meet my partner and two year old son from the train to show them London, as this is the first time for Ben in London. Over the weekend there have been visits to Coram fields, The Natural History Museum, The V&A, The Museum of Childhood and The Serpentine. Anri Sala is really worth seeing, a magical coming together of video, with associated live sound in the gallery. A saxophonist duets with a film or a self-playing snare drum bangs quietly with it’s film twin. My little boy particularly liked a musical box, both live in the gallery and in the hands of a man wandering the streets).

I am now back in the studio, editing a film I plan to show on Thursday and working on top of three postcards, with a far more impasto application of paint than before. I have also just seen Mike and will have to modify my idea for the print. I think this is probably for the best and will hopefully create a more successful and surprising piece.

Next week!

Andrew Bracey in discussion with Peter Ashton Jones, artist and co-founding editor of painting magazine Turps Banana

Thursday October 27th

6.30-8pm

Andrew will also be presenting work in progress at Standpoint Gallery over Thursday 27th and Friday 28th October, 12-6pm.

Andrew Bracey: presentation and discussion

Events:

27 October 2011 12-6pm: presentation of work in progress

27 October 6.30-8pm Andrew Bracey in discussion with Peter Ashton Jones, artist and co-founding editor of the painting magazine Turps Banana

28 October: presentation of work in progress

Andrew Bracey is intrigued by how we understand and navigate painting. Exploring the medium through film, animation and sculpture, he often employs a historical context through incorporating found traditional imagery within his practice. Sourcing reproductions of specifically figurative paintings, Bracey draws our attention to the classic archetype of twentieth century gallery display and changes the narrative through applied paint.

Combined with this Bracey is interested in exploring the space in which we encounter and engage with painting. During the residency he intends to appropriate scenes from films which represent a gallery experience that do not follow expected behaviour, exposing how various characters interact with the space in comparison to normality of a gallery visit.

Andrew Bracey is the last artist to complete a residency at Standpoint, as part of the 2011 programme.

Bracey graduated with an MA in Fine Art from Manchester Metropolitan University in 2001 and has since exhibited widely in the UK and Europe. He is currently a Senior lecturer in Fine Art at the University of Lincoln and a member of Suite Studio Group in Manchester. Recent solo exhibitions include Animalation, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, 2009; Frames, Mid Pennine Gallery, Burnley, 2007; Freianlage in Supernature, Transition gallery, London, 2007; Freianlage, Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 2007. Recent group exhibitions include Creekside Open selected by Dexter Dalwood, APT Gallery, London, 2011; We Are All in This Together, Bureau, Manchester, 2011; A Horse Walks into a Bar, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, 2010; Meanwhile in Manchester, Lombard Method & Grand Union, Birmingham, 2010; Unrealised Potential, Cornerhouse, Manchester, NGCA, Sunderland & Void, Derry, 2010; Global Studio, Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, 2010.

Andrew Bracey will also be exhibiting with Castlefield Gallery at The Machester Contemporary on 27 – 30 October.

Website: www.andrewbracey.co.uk Blog: www.andrewbracey.blogspot.com

This special two-day presentation is part of Andrew Bracey’s participation in Standpoint Futures Development Residencies designed specifically for artists based outside of London. The presentation will include a discussion at 6.30pm with Andrew Bracey on Thursday 27 October, and an opportunity to meet and talk to the artist at any time during the two days.

The residency’s chief aims are to provide high quality, individualized opportunities to develop an artists practice and career, and to integrate London and the Regional UK art world to promote dialogue and interchange. Please see residency blog to keep up to date with the progress of each residency http://standpointfutures.tumblr.com/

Further information: Matilda Strang 0207 739 4921 / [email protected]

Thursday

Thursday saw me complete my first painting, a (nearly) sacrilegious painting over of Leonardo’s Virgin at the Rocks, I hope that something new is visible in the master’s painting by my additions. Only time can tell. I also met with the Standpoint resident artists over tea and cake and a most interestingmöbius-strip like conversation, punctuated by Milo, Peter Jones’ very fine dog’s, stinky farts. After this was the rather odd experience of editing the press release with Matilda for a body of work which is still in the future, something is written, I wonder if it will portray the work I end up producing or if like Buchloch’s talk (supposed to be on chance and intention in Richter’s abstracts) will end up completely differently.

I went to 2 private views last night, out of god knows how many, on first Thursday’s marathon of openings. Sean Edwards was at Limoncello, a gallery I really like for their consistently high quality of artists and shows. I then went around the corner to hear a talk by a long seen friend, Simon Burton, at Arch 402 gallery. Simon said something particularly arresting during his very frank and honest talk about the importance of being unfashionable. This is something I have often thought about and it was interesting to hear his thoughts.

I write this early on a Friday morning at Vulpes Vulpes, the very friendly environment in which I am staying. In a few minutes I shall get the bus to see the Richter show for the first time (I want to get there early to beat the queues) before going on to the studio. Then next week bizarrely my residency moves to Venice for the week where I shall most certainly soak up an unindigestible amount of art. Right I better go and catch that bus.

Monday-Wednesday

Where to start? I have been at Standpoint since Monday and looking back it feels a little like a whirlpool of activity has taken place in adjusting from life in Manchester to the big smoke; a whirlpool that very quickly feels normal. I intend to make the most of being in London and all that it offers, without letting the daily practice of being a painter slide away. Which takes me nicely to the fact that I am fortunate to be in London just as the major Richter retrospective starts and to visit this repeatedly is a luxury my manic-multi-gallery packed day visits rarely allows. On Wednesday I went to a talk by Benjamin H. Buchloch at Tate on memory and repression within Richter’s work. One thing has stuck in mind and made it’s way to the pub-based debate in the pub after the talk with friends. Buchloch stated that all the themes and ideas contained within Richter’s oeuvre could be traced back to one painting, Tisch (his ‘first’ painting produced in the West). He went on to maintain that in fact all artist have this one work that contains all their practice’s ideas and any subsequent works are unnecessary except to confirm this one work. I am pretty sure Richter would disagree with this. A Facebook post confirmed that many artists are appalled by this idea – “lazy arti historian crap, sorry”, “What a terrible thought to have to carry with you into the studio everyday – sometimes, but not always, theory can be terribly caustic to practice” or “So flawed and subjective a statement, as to be meaningless”. My own thoughts are that this is an interesting notion, but one for critics to worry about, not artists or else we would all give up now after only being able to reach check mate with their work. However I also wonder what my Tisch might be?

Anyhow back to the residency. The work I plan to produce over the 5 weeks I am here is a continuation of recent work in which I have been replacing the figure in reproductions of classical paintings with a hand painted geometric abstract mass. I intend to focus on the familiarity of the National Gallery’s collection of paintings and use and visit this wonderful place extensively. So on Wednesday I spent a few hours wandering in the labyrinth looking anew at these works and listening in on tours for paintings by Veronese and Massys. I shall be returning to the National regularly during my time in London.

Around the National I also went to several neighbouring galleries and this idea of infusing myself with art whilst in London is vital to be getting the most out of being here. So I also managed to catch the last day of Gordon Cheung’s show at Alan Cristea (I particularly responded to a still life painting which seems to suggest a new line of enquiry), Raqib Shaw at White Cube (art with one purpose, to be bought by billionaires with no taste), Phylida Barlow at Hauser & Wirth (every bit as fabulous as everyone is saying) and Charles Matton at AVA (fabulously intriguing miniatures of studios, libraries and other curious spaces). Then the studio, every day the studio.