Ye gads!!!...I see it's already been well over a month and a half since my last post on here and I was so determined not to lose the flow...oh well. Just looking at the stats on here there've now been over 600 views of the Hitching Tales blog but only 39 of the following, rambling entry. I did say when I started this that I didn't care if no one read it and that it was really just for me to lift the lid on my jumbled headbox to relieve the pressure and try and focus my confused thought tangles...and yet, it would be nice to know that there were a few folk who check it out regularly. I do still have a whole list of longer topics I want to cover, bigger pieces, I just need to set aside the time. Seems if I don't share the link on social media no ones going to know to check though, then there's the fact that if it's an art-centric post I'll share it via the Bonehive Facebook and Instagram pages, if it's Deviated Instinct related I'll share it from the band pages and if it's just general waffle then maybe from my personal page, I probably should have just focussed on one thing but then I'm not a very focussed person and I feel like I'm generally all over the place in my head so maybe it's a truer reflection.
Anyway onwards, stuff...
Rudimentary Peni Tribute poster.
I had originally only intended on ever doing a limited run of 50 of these, they sold out really quickly and I've since been asked multiple times if I'll be doing another run. After some general ponderance I've decided to do one more (final) run, This time when they're gone they're gone. The reason for my initial reluctance was that I was more than aware that although I'm sure a good few liked the piece purely for my art I'm sure the majority wanted it purely because they were fans of Rudimentary Peni and perhaps if I'd left off either the band logo or 'Death Church' it perhaps wouldn't have sold so fast. I felt a little uncomfortable about the idea of perhaps simply profiting off another's name. I mean in theory I could produce endless 'tribute' pieces of favourite bands knowing there'd always be a market of that particular bands fanbase. However remember this piece was actually only intended for inclusion in the 'International HC & Punk Black Book' that Freddy Alva kindly invited me to participate in and offering posters only came about after being repeatedly asked about the possibility .
Anyway, immediately after they had sold out someone who had been unable to order one in time alerted me to the fact that someone had already listed one on eBay at a higher price. More to the point in the blurb on there it wasn't immediately obvious that it was neither 'official' RP stuff or that it wasn't Nick Blinko (although it should be obvious to anyone), still, I was uncomfortable with the thought of anyone mistakenly thinking this was anything other than a well intentioned tribute. Plus just generally disappointed that someone would buy one with the sole intention to immediately try and turn a profit but then again sadly I should never be surprised to be let down by people in this world.
So, all this has led me to making some subtle alterations to this second edition, simply my signature in the corner and the words 'a tribute' added after Death Church, nothing that spoils the general composition but also hopefully leaves no one in any doubt as to it's origin and intention.
I probably overthink these things but there ya go.
Stock is ordered and I will post on my social media pages when the poster goes live in my Big Cartel webstore.
A fork in the road - Those Inspirational Moments
I've been floundering (creatively speaking) of late, well for a while, as has been documented in some of these entries. I feel I need something to jolt me one direction or another, I have a thousand semi formed, half baked ideas all going off in different tangents and I can't decide which way to turn and head off, I need a shove. Anyway that got me thinking, maybe I should share just such a moment when something really hit me for six, artistically and then informed the work I made for a while.
First time I visited Barcelona in 1998 I spent some time visiting The Fundacio Antoni Tapies, though if I remember correctly it was a typically rushed affair at the end of the day just before it was closing (which also reminds me of the time literally running around the Uffizi in Florence before they closed, trying to see all the treasures of the Renaissance at high speed in 10 minutes is not the way to view great art, but I digress).
The Fundacio Antoni Tapies
Anyway I was already really into Tapies work from all the awesome huge books they had in the Art School library (this was prior to using the internet much) but nothing could prepare me for the power seeing some of these works 'in the flesh' would have. One particular piece literally stopped me in my tracks. It was magnetic and seemed to exude such creative energy I just sat in front of it transfixed. I think I could have sat there for hours.
GRAN MATERIA AMB PAPERS LATERALS 1963 260x195 cm
Of course this reproduction does as little to convey the spell this piece held me in as does the meagre 6x4 inch postcard I purchased of it from the gift shop, still to this day that (now much faded) postcard has been stuck to many a studio wall and ideas pin board and now acts a bit like a totem, almost like things around it are able to draw a charge. It was the pure physicality, the glorious depth of surface. Unfortunately I've since forgotten how to speak in bullshit art speak so I find it near impossible to convey exactly what it was/is about it, only that I knew I needed to explore these ideas and feelings in my work on return and it almost single handily pulled things together and focussed my disparate ideas.
Taking this as a starting point and running with it working in a way inspired by this and also by surfaces and things I saw in the urban landscape it became my central way of working for two or three years. Looking back on that work it's still probably my favourite stuff and certainly was the most enjoyable and fun to work on. Obviously with the space, materials and daily inspiration of being around creative people it was easy to immerse myself in this at art school, then straight after I got my studio where I had the space to continue in this way. Unfortunately, after that the prolonged period of depression (previously mentioned in a prior post) kind of put the brakes on things, then I had to give up my studio space and without room to make larger, messy work I switched tack and almost moved the polar opposite direction with small, tight drawings and paintings on paper. Yet, over all this time I still feel like there's unfinished business there and that I hadn't really explored it as far as I'd have liked.
Here are some details of a few pieces from that period (1999-2002).
It's been on too many year end 'to-do' lists to be funny but with warmer weather here and now a large garage space just waiting to be made a mess of I really have no excuses. I think it could also be time to make some use of all the reference photos I've taken on my travels. Prague is definitely one of my favourite cities, it's obviously full of the most wonderful architecture, art and sculpture and yet the thing I always get so exited about and end up taking tons of photos of are random crumbling walls and these little portal things they have on the buildings, I'm guessing they're housing some sort of power outlet or meter or something, who knows, but I just find them very aesthetically pleasing. I've always had it in the back of my mind to somehow intergrade then into my artwork somewhere, somehow, so maybe this, combined with going back to exploring abstract relief work could be another jumping off point.
I've also had a hankering for a while to make a series of acrylic abstract paintings, perhaps these two streams will feed into each other. Frustratingly though in the meantime I have several band related projects where record covers need to be done ASAP for imminent release so will have to continue struggling with the small, tight illustrative stuff for a while yet. These are all for bands I play (or have played in) by the way, I think there needs to be a totally other post about why I hardly ever take on cover art commissions from other bands anymore and why I'm not really up for doing record cover design these days.
Also, note to self, now that the plague days seem to be subsiding and the world is gradually opening up I need to make the time to go to more galleries and perhaps I'll have another of those wonderful eureka moments when seeing some artwork in the flesh really sparks something new in me and my work. They're the best times.
