The Pearl Fisher

“The Antwerp Papers” 13 posts including nocturnal visitors and ladies with pointy teeth now available at http://thepearlfisher.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 8 June 2010Email received late Monday evening:

“Hi Alex
We will need DVD’s of your work. At the moment we only have a Showreel which was great for showing to the British Legion but we need:

Caller (sic) on two DVD’s, one of the Caller and one of the players, so we show it on two monitors from two DVD players
Ghost, the three pieces shown from 1 DVD consecutively

All three looped and in DVD PAL format”

Happily I was well prepared for this eventuallity and had only to package the DVDs in protective wrapping ready for the following day’s post. The communication arrived while we were watching “Charade” a film I had seen previously but, like so many things, could not quite remember how it went. As such the experience was one of repeated mild revelations as twists came to me just before they were revlealed. As the title suggests there was a deal of pretence in the film, storytelling which the slightly blank Miss Hepburn always fell for. I most enjoyed the settings. The opening scene: a ski resort with snowy mountains (sometimes projected), Hepburn dressed head to toe in black masked with huge sunglasses seated in front of reflecting glass only partially concealing swimsuited blondes behind. The empty apartment: stripped by our heroine’s now dead husband. The rooftop: site of the struggle with the claw handed man. It’s giant lit sign smashed in the fight. Cary Grant’s tiny office where all is revealed, a proposal is made and love declared in four parts.

Monday, 7 June 2010

A Shock

The storm has arrived all is grey blue. A thunderous cannonade sounds above. Some minutes ago I discovered a message from Sue Jones in my work email. I have transcribed a part of it below:

“We have had to change our plans with the Royal British Legion, due to
the extremely complicated licensing laws. We will only be able to show
the work on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June. We could move the work –
but my view is that there isn’t a suitably place and we’d end up
compromising the work by moving it around. I think the short showing
will work fine in the context of the Biennale, where works are anyway
shown for very different length of time.”

“Call” has fast become my favourite piece made for Whitstable and while I agree it would be silly to turn it into an itinerant beggar, I am sad that it shall be so fleeting in it’s appearance. Although maybe it is somehow in keeping with the sublunary nature of much of my work.

Sunday, 6 June 2010

Forebodings

The weather is closing in. Dark thunder clouds propelled by a sudden evil wind have darkened the sky over Ipswich. My companion is huddled nervously next to me fearful in the expectation lightning. Earlier she kindly acted as my portrait photographer. A profile shot was needed in order that I might match my sideburns with Mr Cushing’s. I selected the Van Helsing incarnation from “Dracula 1972 AD” a crazy film which somehow struck a chord. My image looked so pale and bloated in comparison to the eminent actor I was forced to consider some exercise and to do some editing before it could be published here.

The Process
I marked up the position of Van Helsing’s sideburns, noting as best I could their length width and angle. Then I superimposed my own image and marked the corresponding measurements on my face. Finally I removed Van Helsing to reveal my pasty visage.

I have just received a message from Miss Phillimore, the designers are happy with my resizing efforts, all is well.

Saturday, 5 June 2010

An Apology

Wracked with guilt I have written an apology to Miss Phillimore.

“Dear Miss Phillimore
I am writing to apologise for my somewhat grumpy reply earlier. My only excuse, and it is a poor one, is that I am suffering from a rare form of dysentery at the moment with concomitant sleeplessness. If the new image is no good I can borrow a friend’s camera tonight and fake something suitable.
Yours sincerely
Mr Pearl esq”

As I was transcribing the above email a seagull cruised sharklike past the window. We are at such a height here as to be level with that bird’s most common flightpath. It is disconcerting to be eye to yellow eye with such a beast.