If you look around you, as an artist you will probably find a few ‘experiments’ you have embarked-upon. Some successful; some not so.
I have two indoor studio spaces, and a vast outside one called ‘the world’. My spaces contain some of the masses of ideas I’d like to unleash. The ones at uni relate directly to my Degree Show.
Painting/burning/slashing/smashing representations of ‘endings’, I have explored the idea of how I shall depict the last TV shows – the ones they were simultaneously watching when they expired. These are pixellated, corrupted, damaged images.
I have decided to paint on four 1.5m tall, narrow canvasses. Each one of these will have 50% painted and 50% destroyed in a way that represents each demise. So, I bought 6 canvasses which arrived yesterday.
Soon, the 50% destruction will begin, which I shall record in some way or another.
There will be questions to answer about life. There will be things to think about.
This week, we are also joined by Abraham Oscar Frostrithick, a Master Mariner in the old style, although not being terribly old himself.
Abraham has journeyed far and seen much of what there is to see. His adventures led him into many difficult situations, but none more so than on this seemingly uneventful day – the day he tried the blue drink …
But hey – before more of the back story, here’s an introduction to two of the characters born from my imagination and based on a lifetime of meeting such people. Of course, their story is at an end before it has begun, and that’s the point of all this. My tales are told in a flash; a moment of time that records their simultaneous demises.
So, this week we are joined by Frederick Smarmsworth – a hard-nosed businessman in his own mind, who in actual fact was only ever a low-level manager in a chain of Window Replacement companies. This has left him bitter. Yes, twisted too.
Fred, as he’s generally known, has nurtured a dark, secret side to his life. He has fed his mind with depraved imagery, and is addicted to stories of murder. In fact, you may be shocked to hear that Fred has murdered many people over a number of years. This tale is yet to tell – but the one we shall remember him by is the one we see today; Fred has himself been murdered …
Excuse me for taking you on this little ‘journey’ – I know how some people don’t like artists to look backwards at what has been, but I really do have to. I have always believed that everything you do is everything you will become. There’s no point in this Degree Project, 6IX Souls without the back-story.
So, before we charge headlong into smashing-up and burning the art of the future, let’s pause for a short while to think about/understand why.
I’m including here a choice few of my own artworks from down the years, as my Degree Project is in many ways a continuation of the ‘Destruction is Creation’ theme I have maintained throughout.
To understand where these pieces came from; why I had made them – and who/what influenced them is vital to me, at least. I never made anything without a reason. Some tales are untold, and most probably will remain so – but they all bring us to today. Today is the beginning of thy desperate end.
It could also be the end of thy desperate beginning.
Therein lies some of the concept …
