http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 University of Dundee Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:19:58 +0100 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://sites.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 1) Welcome! The Introduction. Phew, you would not believe how tricky it is to begin a blog. (See note 1). The internet is hardly a Winnie The Pooh diary tucked under bed, not that I possess one. So, to all family, (hi Mum! Am on the web!), friends, tutors, future curators/collaborators, and anyone else who knows me; remember, degree show is an incredibly stressful time and nothing I blog or present should be held against me during degree assessment or otherwise, thanks.Over the next few weeks, I hope to give a glimpse into the run up of my degree and a wee voice to a mostly unheard final year fine art student experience. This opportunity with A-N is undoubtedly a good beginning to my art journey as I prepare to feel the force of institution boot up a tender backside into the big unknown. (Guess I am Working that Net as so heavily emphasised in our supporting practice lectures.)So if this is my final year, and my Uni’s show opens 19th May, that’s in 44 days, (almost 40 days and nights, almost correlated with thin cows and suffering. Must be a sign.) How is it then that I am not feeling particularly stressed? In fact, assessment begins in just over four weeks, (What, really?…) I even find myself, dare I say, happy? Worrying. Yesterday, I even caught myself whistling whilst drilling neon scoobs into my plaster blobs (more details later) and contentedly hammering away at my wooden construction. Obviously the calm before broken plaster, exploding technology and artritis. Luckily, there’s therapy in the art. Right: WHY ART? Five years ago, I was fresh out of a fantastic French degree experience from Sheffield University. Seduced by London’s glory I got with ID Magazine, followed by a fully-fledged career in PR. Not long after, it dawned on me that I cared not for how lastminute.com could be, in fact, I was secretly willing the implosion of one of my software clients as its global domination continues. Moreover, a painful hunger was ferociously gnawing at my belly; a compulsive urge to create. So, thanks to support from friends, I packed my bags, grew a beard, and contemplated my life direction. It was in China, on an un-sterotypical teach English/find self mission that I resolved to follow my (he)Art like some bad 80’s T’Pau ballad. It was also in China that much of the concept behind my art practice stems. Unable to speak Mandarin, a student’s bemusing banana accusation “Yellow on the Outside white on the inside” propelled me to confront my own BBC (British Born Chinese) displacement. Indeed, my cross-disciplinary approach defies any attempt of categorisation. My sculptures, doodles, video pieces, performances and installations move action beyond the canvas; a bid to engage the viewer and engender different ways of looking. I am concerned by our obsession with spirituality and exposing our search for jouissance in this post everything era of top 100 lists. Anyway, at that strapline, that’s where I’ll leave you today. Here’s 5 images I feel are key to the development of my early practice (from years one and two out of my three year degree course). So for now, hope I have given you a taster of my artlife; meet you at the next entry. JayFuture blog entries; a rough plan that I don’t intend to stick to: 2-4 All About My Work- Practice Breakdown (hopefully in the synopsis sense), exhibtions5 Now 6-7 Installation: Upper Foyer Gallery space 8 The Show!!!!9 The Future…10 Blogging OffYou can expect only 5 images per blog- binary digits have limits too. (Note 1: Besides being relatively tech savvy, I only just uncovered the term “blogging” last summer, thanks to a wizardry motion graphic I watched; Baghdad Blog- from those geniuses at onedotzero.)... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Dear blog, what a difference six days can make. You know something’s awry when you’re connecting with the philosophical strapline of a bank advert (?) “because it’s good to be normal again”. (Or something to that effect) For the first time since practising my art, I experienced that which I’d only ever witnessed in current Morriseyness of fellow students: art crash and burn. Let us call it CRAP, (Creative Rupture of Arty Practice). I was hit by CRAP rapidly; in all honesty, I did not see it coming.Having worked in a steadfast manner since day one of the course, I have always successfully juggled studio practice with external projects. For example, undertaking a uni exhibition (The Opium Room) in my second year, or being commissioned to film a documentary for Dundee City Council, 2005, or setting up a collaborative exhibition, Scrap, at Intermedia, Glasgow, 2005. I have always been resilient to CRAP. Until now, I thought that CRAP was essentially a scaremongering tactic like SARS or Pinnochio; I did not think the Big Bad Degree Show could get me. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I was forced to lie in bed doing nothing but eat chocolate and watch Urban Dance Idol at the weekend. It was dreadful. Luckily though, show only lasted half an hour. Also lucky, it only took me a day to beat the CRAP out. When it hits you, art stress is uncanny, not like any other type of maladie. It is not even that I felt panicked about time or unfinished work; I feel in control of this. It’s more like serious exhaustion, perhaps akin to being the poltergeist when it comes out of the TV; all pale and stretched. Since CRAP, I have mostly been taking it easy since it really would be a shame to die for art. I have also been suffering from a bad back from jumping up and down on a trampoline and lifting heavy goods. Twisted siatica aside, (like someone mercilessly jabbing at your nerves with a rusty palette knife), if I could give any advice it would be to speak to fellow students. Everyone is going through the same, just at different levels. (Also, don't jump on trampoline without first bending knees and pulling object close to chest).So, I have mentally and physically defeated the CRAP and am back on form. Moreover, I am very glad it was not bird flu. Ok, back to the art before a big bout of SH:ITE hits me. Stylistic Hindrance: Inverted Towards Enlightenment (period only)Here is my PRACTICE BREAKDOWN (oh, the irony) Degree Show: My space will be a multimedia installation incorporating animation, video alongside a hybrid interaction of wooden-plaster structures and drawings. I will also curate three sonic visual performances on the opening evening only, 19th May, including Derek Lodge (recent Word Processor show at DCA) and a Greek David Lynch fiddle player. I have recently completed all six of my video pieces, which is fantastic since I am extremely happy with how the each piece has transpired. They have also taught me more about my only process, which can’t be a bad thing. I think they stand strongly both as individual pieces, and I can envisage that the dialogue between them once together on site will hopefully create the intended sonic visual schismic. Hurrah. Videos One aspect of my practice involves using my body through video performance as an expression of the conceptual process. This may be through jumping up and down on a trampoline in a forest for six hours, (Trampoline, 2006) or digging into cement with a child’s shovel(Diggin U, 2006) or even masticating and spitting out cakes. (French Fancies, 2004.) This direct physicality is then transformed through my fascination with the editing process, which I feel is an extension of my painting and collaging techniques; a compulsion to arrange and animate objects within three-dimensional space. Besides the visual editing, I also place great emphasis on audio since my technique brings along with it the discourse of the DJ and VJ’s appropriation across genres, and ability to evoke fragmented sonic realities. Video Perfomance- examples Trampoline Inspired by our obsession with spiritual practices and self-help literature, Trampoline confronts our perseverance of life’s grind in hope of being rewarded with jouissance. The real time action suddenly freezes into perfect still or hyper-speed of the fall. This is representative of those treasured surprise occurrences that intercept life with elated joy and direct the viewer with meaning to live and watch on. It attempts to unlock our subconscious memory by engendering the strange surreal; it is here fixed meaning may be effaced and multiplitious identity reigns. Rapunzel A cross-cultural interpretation of the child Ladybird classic, my version is enshrouded in dark humour, eradicating romantic ideas of “happy ever after”. True to my distinct interdisciplinary style, sophisticated layering, editing and splicing of outmoded stop frame animation is combined with documentary interviewing techniques to blur the confines of the video-art genre. I challenge anyone who claims video editing isn’t as highly skilled or time consuming as oil painting. Fruit Loops Using found rotten fruit, four shorts; Apple Pile Grow, Accumulation, Midsommer Schism and Tray Play ; each focuses on the nature-tech interface and hints at cultural identity in the context of urgent ecological breakdown. That’s all folks, the plaster blobs are calling me.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Blob blog blobby blog. Bloggy bog. Bogster, blogster, blooog, bloogy bloggy blobbin bloogoidHelloWatched a really good Ang Lee film Sat night, The Ice Storm. It was like constantly watching the plastic bag bit in American Beauty for the first time, and it never gets stuck in a tree. Beautiful and balanced through its disturbance, yes. Yesterday though, I also felt like I was being haunted by my art. It was bizarre but true. For thirty seconds, everywhere I looked, I kept seeing references to rubbish; bins, litter, street cleaners… like The Usual Suspects crux where the detective pieces all the evidence together. Instead for me, I was feeling the intense need to record information. These symptoms have also manifested themselves before; having to retrace steps my steps to a piece of rubbish in the street and picking it up when passers by have passed by. I recycle crap in both a Duchampian found objects aesthetic sense and also to social-politically empower detritus; oh, the waste of others and its potent alchemy. This has been exemplified in Speed Dated, using footage of street cleaning vans, or Scrap, the installation was made of found objects, and of course, my plaster blobs; embedding broken stuff. If it wasn’t for the art, I’d be worried about how special I am becoming. Time for a lazy break?Sunday was spent in the slumbersome lullaby serenity of Velvet Underground and Nico’s Sunday Morning, I didn’t particularly feel like doing anything art/course related, so I didn’t. I listened to the latest Bleep/Warp records a friend has sent me; luckily my Sheffield friends are doing stuff that makes my brain tingle. In fact, their audio life has impacted my art. I chose to write my dissertation, entitled Pop Has Eaten Itself, on the sonification of the gallery space. From the Warp/Lex empire to Stoke’s recent Northern Soul organ recitals, The Vegetable Orchestra’s rootified Kraftwerk renditions to Cage and Marclay I quite enjoyed writing the X trillion word flow expected of us. I guess an important value is to let my subject, materials and process forge themselves around something I am instinctively passionate about. Otherwise it’s like dancing to garage/rnb in a soulless club; you’re all disjointed and being dictated to by the crap DJ, not losing yourself in it. From Aphex to Chris Clark, I first began to incorporate audio into my practice for my French Fancies video performance. Straight away though, I felt that I wanted to edit, delete and rehash what was already richly reproduced audio. Then there was the question of copyright, putting my friends through the rigmarole of paperwork hell was not something I wanted to inflict, especially since I tend to appropriate across the label. Consequently, I have turned to creating my own- it’s satisfying. I guess despite my hardcore allegiance to scratch culture following You Know Who’s death and mouse replacing paintbrush etc, a few of my arty molecules still urge me to embrace Hegelian wholeness, invert into abstraction and transcend as art genius. For instance, Tom sent me Prefuse 73’s latest Security Screenings. Where were the new sonic vibrations? It felt like just a regurgitation of Vocal Studies… and One Word…; I feel a bit cheated. (Battles and Jimmy Edgar on the other hand- bliss.) But then, today, as artists, can we expect to be original? As nth generation pirates, our swag bags are already full of pillaged goods. (I knew Johhny Depp had to come into it somewhere)I can’t help it though, I really don’t like art that looks/feels /is an outright compendium of all our contemporary extended painting art stars. You shouldn’t want it too much the wrong way and become it rather than taking from it, right? Maybe if you come to the degree show you will discount my installation as a load of rubbish. Hmm, that would be good. Hopefully, and moreso, it will engage you. I don’t think of my art as a question of liking, more of experiencing and triggering a possible learning. Either way, I hope I never stop getting influenced all from directions. I also hope I won’t end up cutting my ear off or turning to Buckfast. Luckily we have Cove Park and endless private views to disguise regular artist Outsiderness. Show me your open mind and I’ll show you my blobs. Here they are, in early stages of progress. I’ll tell you all about them next time round. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Welcome to special edition No. 4 point blog THE JAY YUNG BLOG BLOB APPEAL Hello. Can you help me please? I fear for the future of my blobs. It’s a very real, serious matter; innocent blobs sentenced to homelessness and death. I have created a family of blob creatures. When you look at them, they are temporarily playing freeze frame with you. Turn away and they become animated lives again, with their own characteristics, they shuffle around and converse with each other. They want you to love them, that’s why they exude colours that make you want to eat them, but then they are ugly as hell since they won’t submit to magazine beauty. They can’t help how they look, it’s because they are made of and mimic everything around them- from plant cells to comic-strip rabbits. They have been developing since June 2005, and are reaching the final stage of their evolution. However, they will only enjoy one single degree show week to live as fully formed identities. That’s why I am appealing for your help. Following the closing of the degree show here at DOJ, 27th May, they will not have a home. In such circumstances, they are threatened with instant execution. Through adopting a blob or providing an exhibiting space or storage facilities, you will be giving sculpture a chance. Here is some information on the blobs history and what you will gain: It really began with Banana. (See image from Blog Entry 1) Banana. Plaster, clay, cavity filler, cotton, Filmo clay 153x42x35cm Whilst teaching English in China, Banana was directly inspired by a pupil’s insult of my being “yellow on the outside and white on the inside”... inferring my Britishness... Plaster, clay and unconventional cavity filler define signs and signifiers that marginalise and incarcerate. The solid, dominating rectangular is too established to shift, within its boundaries stereotypes are drawn and culture is former. But binary division reveals incomplete identity through protruding stalagmite-like forms, pushed to the surface by the primordial filler. Order is disturbed, yet physical centre of Banana remains almost empty. Absence blocks completeness from uniting China-Hong Kong-England. This is the paradox of dystopian mind/body, self/society; impetus to uphold logic is as strong as will to abolish. Plaster Blobs These intriguing, awkward forms sit within their surroundings and attach themselves to each other like mute alien pets. Their virgin white plaster surface is etched away, embellished with delicious dripping, rainbow gloss and a schizoid flux of doodles, fabric and neon attachments. Embedded, the media constitutes their distinctive personalities; physical remnants of each blob’s history and memory. They challenge the linear, morphing in and out like bodily waste. We cannot help but associate each with a function; perhaps of figures reclining, or plant cells interacting. Though cumbersome in their mass and weight hinders, they hint at a secret animated life that can be regrouped, modified or exchanged. In their grotesquely pleasurable biomorphic world, each flirts desire/absence and begs for dialogue with the viewer. Please contact yung_jay@hotmail.com if you can help reach out and save blob lives. Your interest and generosity is greatly appreciated.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Hi Blog,  I’ve had a lovely day in the sun on Sun (no, Scotland is not constantly in a state of eclipse) and I am treating myself to a roast; in oven. I went for a stroll on Law Hill today (once volcano, lush views of the river Tay) Unfortunately, The Law caught fire due to dastardly kids. Luckily, there was an old war veteran to distract me from the fumes with tales of bayonets and small Chinese children on the end of them.  So, art-wise I am in my degree show space now.  Before I go into details (next entry) I just wanted to introduce my wooden sculptures; known as Wooden Skaletrix.  I started to assemble and construct these last summer.  Initially, I intended them to be simple hardboard stretchers to be painted on in the style of Base One and 2.  (See image below, Blog 1.) However, having exhibited The Opium Room exhibition, 2004, two particular site-specific installations influenced their development.  Odd Rite Out, entailed mimicking and extending the patterning on the gallery floor with my clay Buddha incense burners and wax coated wooden chopstick like figures; a comment on absurd spirituality.  Meanwhile, SinOpsis was a wooden structure revealing the advance of mighty China into the west and our perception of Eastern myths and identity.  The central wooden structure was hollow at its core, it splintered into a myriad of wall paintings and small post-it collage doodles that opened up endless viewing possibilities.  So, in terms of Wooden Skaletrix, I see these as an extension of these ideas.  Immediately, once in the workshop, I did not want to stop at a flat canvas.  I call them Skaletrix because of the simple notion of freedom a child has when constructing in his fantasy land, without constraint and imbued with wonder- pieces of plastic could lead to a whole new inhabitable dimension.   Wooden Skaletrix have grown in this way, becoming 3-d objects that have odd, redundant attachments, some with plaster bodies, and collage tinted with day-glo glory. The technique behind Wooden Skaletrix reflects this idea of assemblage, they are between the aesthetics and implementation of factory automation.  The streamlined, functional, engineered, efficiency of factory product, Skaletrix is blocked by my hob-nobbled creative individual touch, much in the spirit of West or Fischli and Weiss.   Here is some background info on my wooden sculptures, still in transition of becoming. Base 1 and Two, Gloss and acrylic on hardboard. Base 1:  110x110cm Base Two: 112x82cm, 12/2004Base 1 and Two form a diptych most explicitly dealing with my rupture with flat canvas surface and its limits in a Murray/Dunham sculptural/cartoon horror revolt.  Both canvases, biomorphic in shape, have morphed one from other. Dimension and canvas limits are treated with opposing techniques; Base 1 oozes primordial chemistry, paint is visceral, glossy, so good you want to lick it. Base Two’s language is a mobile dream, the luscious colour spectrum encircles order; linear progression of a-b-z-s logic.  Space is given utmost importance; logical formatting and sculptural doodles tightly process gender and multiplicity.  Social and political aggression is denigrated beneath the surface, but one can sense chaotic id vibrating beneath candy artifice.Wooden SkaletrixPart of an ongoing series; Wooden Skaletrix are the genderless complements of the plaster blobs; hybrid forms that have morphed from the molecules of scrap around us, attempting to complete their half-baked journey into almost something.  Work in progress; these naked structures are raw, both in the choice of materials- mdf, hardboard, wood filler- cheap, accessible, and conducive to exposing their making process.  Some will have plaster growths protruding from their sides, or found neon cabling, or other such objects embedded into or extending from them.  Their biomorphic history will be mapped onto them through hints of collaged doodles, (pencil, pen, gloss).  Falling short of useful, assertive identity they sit at differing heights, levels and dimensions, taunting the viewer to adjust their own physical position to fathom their puzzling characteristics.  They goad possible ingenious function, yet ultimately reside in useless states of being; a modern day reinterpretation of urinal aesthetic.I hope this is slowly beginning to give you some understanding of what my art is about.  Let me know when you find out. Blog soon. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Blog 5: Art to ArtWow, it appears that I am actually keeping to the scheduled blog contents outlined in entry one.  Seemingly, also I am on track for the multi-tasking extravaganza that awaits me as I move into my degree show space; Upper Foyer Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College.  I am revving up for installation next week by slowing down; this is a crucial stage in the A-Team plan and to prevent it from all going BA Baracas (when on plane, otherwise goldie looking chains are ok), I have to be head-space ready. I am ensuring this by finally spending some quality time with my Blobs and Skaletrix- the final stages of their animation. Finally…for me this is like scuba diving whilst eating pistachio ice cream; really good, but a bit tricky.  It’s tricky because I can’t quite take a big deep breath just yet; but I can see in sight the one big massive knot into which I’ll soon be able to tie the tiny remaining lose ends.  Lose ends being factors like; co-ordinating the woodwork, electric guys and exhibitions assistant all in the same place to put a shlef up safely.  This is to avoid Momart style fire massacres that could destroy the sponsored plasma and consume my blobs before I do.  Actually, Last Train to Artscentral could be good. But then, would I feel guilt from the knowledge that I could always have given the blobs, worth a million, to charity instead? Do you want to see the Tech Pagoda that I've almost finished constructing? Here it is, a few bits and pieces left to attach and putting the a-v in place.  I recycled the wood that formed an interactive structure at Scrap, Intermedia 2005. For me, such re-use and exposure opens up the possibility for exchange; those familiar with my work will have already experienced a part of the material’s history. I call it Tech Pagoda because it’s inspired by my travels to China and Thailand, I was struck by these awesome organic/man-made temples that supposedly offer connectiona to a higher state of being. Tech Pagoda will house three of my six video art pieces. I can’t wait for the SoniC Visual to collide into BooM.Function over form, but it’s best to have a bit of both; Jade Gooding.  I rest my case. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Hi Blog, It’s been a tumultuous week in art Labour politics for me and my Blobs, albeit without the jeering, two shags (not seen boyfriend for a while) and threat of deportation. Wednesday was the first day that I really began to spend time in the Upper Foyer Gallery- my allocated degree show space) to finish animating my Blobs and Wooden Skaletrix. This is the Photoshop/pull cake out of oven to decorate stage. However, the first day was also spent battling internally as I adapt to the practical limitations/health and safety stipulations of the site itself. Artists have strange ways of working; some like to build fortresses and set up an electric fence to ward off social interaction, others begin a knitting committee and have the whole college round for tea. I try and nestle myself somewhere in between. This week I am happy with how I’ve been able to adapt and negotiate emotions of feeling slightly exposed, trusting my work will not be knocked over and damaged (happened in year two just before assessment), and also renegotiating my work in relation to the space. To complete my blobs, I have converted the gallery temporarily into a studio, and have had to mentally knuckle down to block out distractions. My space holds a prime position, however, it is also the point of convergence for three surrounding degree show spaces, and has a glass front. It’s like being in an operating theatre and performing a face-lift on Orlan (again) but the theatre is situated so people must pass through for the pub, toilet, kitchen and nightclub. Ok, a slightly extreme analogy (and somewhat strange) but some might say, I have been experiencing such Green Wingness. I have worked round this and at this point; the beginning of the final week before assessment, I can say it’s almost been like performing a residency in such a shop window setting. In comparison to working in the open studio, I have noticed that the closeness between myself and my work has intensified, as I imagine to be the case when experiencing a residency environment.Maybe a bit too close. On speaking to my friend, Friday, I looked down to see a piece of fabric stuck to my hand. I was also wearing a neon pink belt with my Ipod dangling round my neck. Today I have a spot on the end of my nose (more chocolate) which will no doubt become shiny and red. I am also pasty due to being in Scotland. Please take a look at the images, I guess you are what you art. Back to it; today, Monday, I am adding final touches and removing all the tools and waterproof sheeting in preparation for the real test: installation begins tomorrow. Hello, end of play Mon- am on track, have finished the last stage of animation and shifted all floor protection and tools. I look and feel like I have been mining, but have faith that I will see my natural skin tone soon without gloss polish. Onwards….... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Lucky Blog 7?  Hmmm… disputable…Hello blog, I am glad you’re here.  Yesterday was not great; it was in fact the first day I almost disappeared into a big lumpy grump of unproductiveness- blurch. Tuesday evening I came across a technical difficulty concerning the sponsored plasma screen sourced from a generous local small business.  I intended to display Fruit Loops; four animated shorts, positioned so that the plasma lay on the floor on its back, screen facing upwards. Having initially been given the go ahead, I especially built a wooden platform, but was informed early Tuesday that positioning the plasma in such a manner may lead to an uninvited firework display (gas fuelled apparently)… something I’d rather avoid cost wise.  Plus, I am not for melting people on the opening evening; takes synaesthesia a bit far.  Ultimately the plasma’s tray display is now defunct and I don’t want to use it just because it’s there; though it is all so shiny and spangly, and I am sure it purred at me...  Nor do I want to stand it up in the corner just because it’s a bit woooo, a bit waaaa; it is important for me to retain the initial aesthetic- for the viewer to look down into the moving visuals.  The thematic context of the work and its relationship to the overall installation demands so.So, having carefully considered the options; moving it’s location, employing a horizontal tv etc… I’ve decided to opt for a projection from the ceiling directly onto to the platform postioned below.  This of course has thrown up a multitude of new challenges involving sound and general logistical conundrums that could drive any final year student 5 days away from assessment into a knotted art ball. But, I would be more worried if everything went according to plan; hitches to be expected after working with video and technology for so long now.  Plus, installation is gymnastics; you have to be bendy. So, what made me frown more than smile today then?  Well, having to deal with unhelpful people is not great, especially when you need it most.  This, plus a skiving third year assistant (actually said he forgot to bring his dentist note, bless), PLUS tiredness signals; flashing danger lights.  At this point, artist genius is easily irritated and slippage of tolerance levels means incoherent babbling and scribbles far from A Beautiful Mind.  It does not bode a well executed suspended projector shelf.  Forget artist’s block, by five o clock, I had a whole forest going on (ho ho). The urge to snort large measures of absinthe via the left eye had overwhelmed me.  Luckily, my tutor and a superhero woodwork technician came to my rescue and made me see the wood from the trees.  (Sorry.)  Because of the physical nature of this crucial installation stage and aforementioned plasma spanner; seeking external help from the clear thinking is very necessary.  Seeking help.  Yes. About time.  Remedy also arrived at nine pm, when I got together with others feeling the pressure and needing a good chin wag. Good old Droothy’s.7 ain’t so bad. I know I’ve done all I can today and I am still on track in the big scale of 5-day deadline.  Hello tomorrow, ya gonna be sunny coz I saw a glimpse of one of my videos projected alongside Wabbit! I thought, hey, I did that. ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Blog *888**** Apologies for the late posting, this was written on Sunday 7 May but have been slightly preoccupied with a certain show. In Chinese, 888 is the ultimate lucky combination of figures because eight is pronounced “ba” which rhymes with “fa”; meaning prosperity in life- both health and fortune. Chinese logic reveals when you repeat fa, prosperity and luck must proportionately triple. And you know how we Chinese are in spreading love in that area; just look in any chinatown shop window. Next to that white cat with rigormortis of the left paw you will find countless golden statue sets of long bearded old Chinese blokes with shiny bald heads and money slots in their back. Typically, there are three of them, one carrying an exotic oriental fruit to symbolise health, one a scroll displaying Chinese characters of fortune, and I can’t remember what the other guy did- just hung out. Anyhow, you get the picture that alongside casino culture and dim sum, lucky tidings of such nature play an important part in our culture. The importance of 888? As follows. Dearest blog, please excuse me if I make you nonsensical today. It is afterall, Sunday at 4:18 am. What? Yes, almost half four in the morning and I have been rudely awakened by the heating going off. That’s how sensitive I am at the moment, the past week I’ve been waking up at 6am... The heating then prompted me to recall my dream; a conversation I was having with my tutor about what I was going to do after uni. Can you believe it? I mean, I’d much rather be flying or running away from a grizzly panda with no arms. Ok, before I go into the conversation, (Freud said, never tell others your dreams- they may be interesting to you, but bore others to death. Ahh well.) Let’s deal with the waking up at six first. On Thursday 4 May I had a conversation that ran as follows (tweaked names and swearing to protect the innocent) Me: tap tap (on keyboard, uploading blog 7) Mary: Fick fick, let me check that computer. Fick, there’s no disc. Fick, let me check your desktop a sec. Me: er, sure. Have you lost something? Mary: Fick, stressed. Thank fick, it’s still on there. Fick. Me: Good stuff Mary: Are you going to be long? Me: Well if you let me get on with what I am doing I shouldn’t be. (forced laughter) Mary: forced laughter Enter Mary five minutes later. Me: All yours We embrace, curtains fall. Saturday,: Studio ‘General Course’ next to Upper Foyer: Me: hey Noah, Eve. You two are awfully quiet, usually I can hear hysterical laughter. Noah: We’re absolutely shattered. Me: Where’s Herod? Eve: He had to go home because he’s feeling a bit ill and can’t physically do anymore. Me: Fair enough (We go out for a fag break. I don’t usually smoke, but have taken up taxing occasional rollies because it’s a break from the upper foyer and into daylight, so have others e.g Abraham/Moses join us) Moses: A few of us went to the pub last night but all sat in silence because we were too tired to think Me: great And so on. Read following aloud in Lloyd Grossman voice if desired. Clearly, degree show is taking its toll and turning us into irrational zombies. I hope its temporary. Back to Freud. Waking up at six, in Freudian terms must symbolise a few things. I am really almost there now. Tech Pagoda is in place, all audio-visual is at the ready, suspended projector is suspending without risk of decapitating viewer (best delete that bit to avoid anti-888) and all that remains is the chess/stratego positioning of my blob pets- most crucial bit. Plus three days to go until assessment. So,back to the dream conversation with my tutor; an extension of a real coversation that occured earlier in the week. He has just chosen me for a residency at Cove Park this summer. I could not help but get a tad emotional…. Tutor: [THINKS: oh dear, the young one appears distressed] [SPOKEN]: “What’s wrong?” Me: [THINKING ONLY- READ QUICKLY TO MIMIC REAL TIME] Well, I really don’t know how to express my thanks to you. It’s been a seriously amazing journey and the most important one I could embark upon, coming up here after Sheffield and London to do my art. You have told me when it’s crap and pushed me that bit further each time to make it ok again. I am going to miss your teachings terribly. I have decided to get over losing your superior mentoring skills with the following self-help strategy; I will imagine you as a Yoda type figure who appears whenever I am in times of art need. You will appear sat on a cloud in Chinese emperors clothes, and less green than Yoda. You will wave a Mac G5 at me and impart your greatest teaching: ‘Follow your instinct young Padowan’. Then you will fade away. Me: [SPOKEN] Thanks for giving me the opportunity to live the dream. (or something even worse than this Whitney Houston blunder) Hopefully nobody will read this. The relevance of 888? Choose your tutor wisely, they are a crucial part of your development and only internally mock you when you go all gooey. Oh, and lucky Cove park that’s why. I wonder how the blobs will grow here? Speak soon... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Heelo. I am Wabbit and I’d like to express my regrets that Jay can’t join you today.  She asked me to apologise for her neglect of you blogerees this past week.  Things have just been a little busy for her and she hasn’t had the chance to qwertyuiop catch up. You see, since beginning of the assessments last Wednesday, she has been putting her belongings into little boxes in preparation to move out of her current abode. She has also been lying down with 15 needles stuck into her ankle and back. The physio says that Trampoline really catapulted this mechanical nerve failure, but she will not need to construct a small walking frame with go faster stripes just yet; the “alternative therapy” is working.  He can tell by the fact that the area surrounding the needles are going pink.  Hew hew, that will be the gushing blood sir, ready to erupt.     Excuse my glitcheroids, I am afterall a splaty plaster blob.  Do you think my smooth sleek ball is too polished? Sometimes I wish I were less tall and more like Utter! Nob, he has such a nice doodle atop of his flathead.  Anyway, Jay is smiling a lot today since she is making last minute preparations for this evening.  It’s degree show opening of course and she needs to make sure the guests all feel welcomed and cared for.  That is why there is much bottled and tinned liquid arriving in boxes and also why she is making sure the performers (beat box, dance and lyrical ruse) are all on form.  Moreover, she’s looking forward to greeting her close ones that are travelling from afar over the next week to discover me and my clan, and to absorb some of the noisy moving stuff going on in her space.  Anyway, I must go now and shuffle into my position.  Can’t be caught out of place now… must also orchestrate Hoodie, his hood keeps sliding down, and as for Ftumptch! Stop fidgeting!!!P.s Jay says that she will have more time to blog you next week for sure.  Oh, pssst, she found out yesterday she got a first class honours.  Me oh my, must have been me, yes, look at how delicious I be. The show mush go on. More family pics next time... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Big Blog ten This week, I feel like my days have been groundhogged. My inner self has been spirited away and I am pretty much a floating head. The past: Friday night: 4:30pm- Kemikal, beatboxer fails to show either himself or amplifier system. (necessary for other two acts). Do not stress and deal with. Source from Derek Lodge, half of performing duo. Cab it get it5:00pm- Derek forgets guitar, cab it get it. Set up baby drum kit and rehearsal with new amp5:30pm: put unsensible shoes on in toilet, find bottle opener6pm: Friends arrive6:30: guests arrive- space is completely grid locked. Drink wine, look at people lookingDerek Lodge and Michael Mallette perform: wigs, comedy lyrics, drumming, guitaring; fascination8:00 Michael Jackson, Glasgow/France, rocks my show, transforms chinstroking well-behaved into boisterous, cheering rabble; truly quality, especially slo-mo falling and wolf swinging. Kinetically erupts in small confines of performance ‘stage’ without damaging blobs/kicking anyone in face. His movement+sonic awesome against backdrop of Trampoline, projected large scale. 11pm+ Raining. Show friends Dundee in rain. HappySaturday, hungover, pack heavy stuff. Friends transport stuff north-west England- vehicle toppling over. Dad cannot make it : transport has botched up from England. Shout at transport company; no use. Dad will not see show. Sad. Sister arrives from Amsterdam. Chinese meal. Full.Sunday, show show to sister, pack. Sunday Evening: pack, sister leaves, disturbed sleep; must leave flat soonMonday, invigilate, weird. Busy. Sat in space. 9-8:30pm. People see only your art. Competition grows- painters- who has most red dots stickers? Personal reality: blobs will never seek mantelpiece gloryTuesday: pack, leave flat. Invigilate. Society of Scottish Artists interestWednesday: Stay at friends, pidgeon poos on arm whilst riding bike to physio. 888. Uni buys two doodles for collection. Give talk to seven suited men from Dundee Guilds Association. Approached with offer to create artists books for a six part event in well known bookshop; non funded. 10:00pm Comforted by Big Brother wrong reality, throw objects + swear more than turrettes bloke at contestants. (Beg your pardon officer.) Missing own homeThursday: Acupuncture at hospital 8:30am.10:00am Chinese Arts Centre PAD Scheme co-ordinator flys up from Manchester to visit my show. Spend day with her. Lunch treat at DCA, discussing mentor scheme, opportunities for me, my future and tailor made plan of action. Is fairy artmother and has semi-magiked black art hole away. Lovely day. 18:52. Typing this. Eyes closing. 10:30pm Friend begins National Express journey from Brighton. 11 hours. Is very good friend. Will arrive 9:30 Friday. Will show show and hug Scotland till Sunday evening. Very tired. Must sleep. Cannot syntax, am wrinkly. Computer suit door broken- cannot access images for this page. Will add images when door unbroken. Cannot bear thought of invigilation space now, legs must carry to friend’s home. Must stop typing. Goodnight 7:23pm. Thought enters: tomorrow last day of term, next week deinstalling, goodbye blobs, Dundee Uni etc. Big boot, tender backside arrive. Will not deal now, must fail to register. Hope to refuel,----------------------------- ----------------------------- Dream: time do nothing me soonish please thanks . speak next time... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Dearest Blog 11,The Black Period- Monday 5 to Sunday 11 June onlyHello there. Well?Starting to get my breath back, following a month of factor ten whirlwind dervishness, intensified by my rental contract ending at the same time.So, here I am back in the North West.Unfortunately, it did not start off too great. Not because I am touching the void. Hel, no! That’s yet to smoulder.The combination of bird poo and 888 did not foretell cookie fortune, much the opposite. En route from Dundee to Manchester, my rucksack was stolen. Of course, it contained my two books filled with three years of paintings and sketches- they marked the progression of my cell aesthetic into schismic doodle, this plus all documentation of degree show ( 8 rolls of slides and film) not to mention £450 Minolta camera (Hong Kong), passport and all credit cards etc plus ipod for good measure.The remaining five bags safely returned with me. They contain collage material- i.e old receipts, nik naks found in the street, bits of wood and general sCrap.Typical.I am not really sure how to handle this loss, I am feeling upset and angry, primarily because such original paintings are useless to the thieves, and will probably end up in the bin nowhere nothank between Dundee and Manchester. Broxden roundabout?The irony of it all. Did the Chapmans feel this need to lament on Momart crisis? Something signals no. Probably the team reproducing copies of Hell for an oncoming show.Moreover, this loss is compounded by a certain ‘cry wolf homework syndrome’. Documentation is the currency for installation and now I ma definitely skint. I have a soupcon that "Jay cannot provide evidence of her previous show or drawing/painting development since her art work was stolen en route Megabus by the masked art highwayman" will be shunned by future exhibitors.The feeling of losing art: something so precious and personal is grieving process which feels almost wrong. It’s irreplaceable material stuff but  akin to the loss of a loved one. You feel almost ashamed that you harbour such emotion- Greek myth reveals adulation of one’s own art work fates being poked in eyes by a big sparrow then turned into bat with no wings over 3000 years. Horror war.Doom and gloom.Wabbit: [rustle rustle] Hang on. Everything’s dispensable, you really shouldn’t get precious, author’s dead, long live post-modern bin bag. Hurrah atta spirit!!! Blobs say Ho!!!!!Jay: Wabbit get back into your bubble wrap. Oh pants ye, I am auratic and my drawings transcended all humanity into the cosmos. Past Go, over Sun Ra and into oblivion.Wabbit: oh dear… splobbleJay: See ya in the next and almost final blog. I have three days to wallow in sulk.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 Hello reader,  Be you dedicated blogoree since day one, or just visiting to find out more about my art practice;  mostly THANK YOU =>>>> for blogging on with meThe degree show boot was as expected; leathery and steel capped, so university days already seem like a distant surreal memory, erasing themselves like Aha’s ‘Take On Me’.  I’ve got my professional hat at the ready; I need to.  Luckily always this and not dungarees with paint on.  Phew. I hope that this unravelling online account of my practice over the past month has given you a refreshing insight into my art passions, capabilities and aspirations. I have sought to provide an honest slice of my art dreams-dashes and day-to-day jouissance.  I can safely surmise that it’s been quite a rollercoaster and I am only at Chesington; Alton Towers still to come. Here’s to a future of :quality art for me and you that makes me relish that sublime moment despite any stressful, crap, penniless times to come.  I hope I can carry on making because I don’t know how not to now. That’s also thanks to Dundee Uni: the tutors, technicians, office secretaries and security… It was all just right for me.  It helped me get here, and that’s not too bad.  HOPE I hope people continue to smile or raise their eyebrows when they look at my work.  That’s the ultimate because I can hear their cogs working, when they stand, observing, reach out to touch, or return with a friend, that’s what makes me think; artist almost? No not artist, more, a 3D renderer of Bill Bryson’s inner workings.  Ok, an artist. Thanks to the entire A-N team, from editorial to IT to subscription, you are indeed a genuinely sound bunch who inspire art and are art inspired.  You care to nurture the talent and it’s been bloborific: theraupeutic, routine to the art madness, challenging and fulfilling; a site to trace what I have done this year and how. If you ever get the invitation to blog here, reach. Hopefully Happy Birthday 25 A-N will have me for an update in the future…The Blobs take their bow for now; All the best, Blobbing off,Kai-Oi Jay Yung (interdisciplinary artist)>>>>Let’s make good art for she he you me  Spurrrrghh hehu huh. Get off, not the Oscarts you know.  Blob head. “Jay Yung’s weirdly beautiful anthropomorphic sculptures somehow combine cellular imagery with an ice cream and fairy-cake aesthetic” Moira Jeffrey, The Herald, 26 May 2006“Waste is turned into an art form… Jay Yung’s interactive head turning exhibition embraces rubbish as an art form” Chester Chronicle, 16 November 2005“A cacophony of exuberant work…its starting point the tension between two identities manifests itself as… order versus chaos or beauty versus ugliness” Dundee University, May 2006“Get your blobs out” Nuts, hopefully neverGotFirst Class Honours, BA (Hons) Fine Art, University of Dundee 2006 BA (Hons) French Language and Literature, Sheffield University, 1999, 2:1Prizes/Awards 2005-6The William Armstrong Davidson PrizeAlan Woods Memorial PrizeChinese Arts Centre, Manchester, Professional Artist Development SchemeShortlistedThey Had Four Years 2007, Generator Projects, DundeeThe Wimberley Medal      Tell Meyung_jay@hotmail.comhttp://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/mpn/story.php?sid=745The Future 2006:  Exhibitions/Activity June: A-N On the Front Cover: ‘Future Forecast’ 2006Friday 23 June The Wormhole Salon III, The Whitechapel Gallery, East London7-11pm http://www.whitechapel.org/content.php?page_id=2592http://www.newtoy.org/MENU6.swf30 June - 1 July NAN High Tides and Low LightsJuly Blurring The Neatline, The Embassy Galleries, Edinburgh17 June – 16 July14 July: Trampoline video event, Live projections from a roaming vehicle: sites including Edinburgh castle, Cowgate Bridge, Museum of Scotlandhttp://www.blurringtheneatline.org/index.htmAugustCove Park Springboard Residency, Scotland, invitation courtesy artist/tutor Graham Fagenhttp://www.covepark.org/AboutUs.htmSeptemberVideo Projections: The Old Blue Last, London, in conjunction with Vice Magazine, 2006 Thank You:Graham Fagen, http://www.grahamfagen.com/Matthew Dalziel http://www.dalzielscullion.com/Derrick Guild http://www.artnet.com/artist/7540/derrick-guild.htmlClive Gillman, Dundee Contemporary Arts, http://www.thecourier.co.uk/output/2005/01/27/newsstory6757663t0.aspPhong Van Dam, Alan GreiggEddie Summerton (for letting me on the course)Jenny Brownrigg, Dundee Uni, http://www.exhibitions.dundee.ac.uk/>>>>Debbie Chan: fairyartmother: here’s to all to come http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/mpn/index.php... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684 2007 update “This is all fruit and sex.” Scrawling page one of my degree show comments book, these letters evoke strange detachment from an intensive three years exploring fine art at Dundee. Eleven months post-graduation have hazily disappeared in new projects, proposal writing, and budget calculating. Highlight exhibiting includes The Whitechapel Gallery, a focus documentary on my practice for Channel M, a commissioned project crossing theatre-video, and new installations for the Liverpool Biennial. I held my first solo show at Chinese Arts Centre, Manchester, sold pieces at Scope, New York and plunged into live art and review writing for January’s a-n Magazine. It’s necessary to be fluid and adapt my practice since art globe is slippery with shifting parameters. No number of lectures or canvas stretching could prepare for market dynamics. I’ve encountered self-interested commercial spaces, press hungry curators overlooking the point, and trying artist verbose. Learning to drive art career can be hazardous, tiring. Gravitational core is my own personal and professional values, alongside nurturing relations with fellow artists, individual curators and residency directors I respect/trust. Guidance from my Professional Artists Development scheme, support from bodies/networks and experience of others prove invaluable. Geographically, I am back to beginning; Liverpool’s exciting flux and open artist community facilitates the right climate to develop. Paradoxically home yet spirographing wide, I’ve just returned from an EU supported Munich residency, practicing alongside five artists from Peru to Marseille. I’ve also just been Arts Council England stamped for a South East Asia-Americas project of my own. That’s not to say I am financially secure or hold a permanent studio space. Importantly, I have forged strong collaborative friendships; such connection, scintillating ideas invites all possibilities. Working hard to generate new work/spaces is ultimate pleasure; that I may trigger exchange with a wider audience enforced by the moment between self-material; video, performance, paint...! I am busy looking ahead, elbow grind ushered by compulsion for different ways of making. Up next, a short Berlin residency, then managing my funding for a large-scale project celebrating Capital of Culture 2008. Furthermore, my new role as gallery educator, Tate Liverpool, can but inform my practice. I enjoy this relationship with art; it beguilingly continues to morph, multifaceted. Fundamental is extending art context into the real and capacity to assess my experiences. Art blossoms my concept with cultures, people, forms and political voices. Emerging as a professional artist is irrefutably challenging, but following my instinct, I should be ok. Kai-Oi Jay Yung, interdisciplinary artist, graduated from the University of Dundee in 2006. www.myspace.com/kaioi ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 01:00:00 +0100 http://sites.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/414684