ARTISTS TALKING

# 8 [27 March 2008]

This is the working front cover for the comic book.

 

An opportunity has arisen for a potential exhibition as a separate body of work, so I've been busy making a proposal for the interest of Magne Furuholmen and Paul Stolper gallery.

I have also submitted some Illustration work for D&AD. 

Several pages for the comic book have been created, but are in the process of being adjusted to fit an evolving storyboard. I will upload images when they've been converted to jpegs, but because they're still in the process of editing, they remain as photoshop files which I'm working on. It means that I can't really upload any images of the work in progress. Also, the last tutorial I had has made everything feel completely futile for me right now. I'm on my Easter break. I'm getting work ready for Art Practice And Professional Context submission - more faffing about instead of doing actual work. I got more useful advice speaking to an illustration tutor about the way the comic book will look; currently it looks a lot like a graphic novel. I wouldn't mind, but it needs to look like a comic, so I need to source some appropriate paper to print onto.

# 7 [27 March 2008]

I have conducted a mini curatorial project to see how my final show will work. It's not easy considering that I have a lot of work to do for my comic book and I'm still not getting enough time to spend actually making it...

Half my time is spent doing Illustration work, which is continuing the doll aspect of my practice, but it means that if I have to do these curatorial projects then I'm not making the comic, and the comic is the main part of the work. The comic book will become an artist's book of sorts.

In order to accommodate the comic within the installation, I made a frame to display it on, as I'm hoping to print copies for people to take away. I made a mock-up of the two pages I had created at that stage, to form a very rudimentary version.

The glass frame was one I found. I have yet to build a larger scale frame, but health and safety concerns probably mean it won't be a glass one in any case.

I've also been making a proposal for the space  for my degree show.

The space I have in mind needs to have internet connection, as I'm planning to have a live webcast of the creation of the show.

 

 

 

# 6 [27 March 2008]

Yesterday I dreamed myself alive again..... typical.

 Many images are being appropriated to re-create a comic book narrative in this way. Recent images of the band members of A-ha are made to look as if part of the original comic book imagery within the video.

# 5 [27 March 2008]

The Cabinet of Curiosities

I am taking part in curating an exhibition with a group of talented artists at the Greestone Gallery. This includes a retrospective piece: Perfectus Pupae et Hominis Cicatricosus (Latin: Perfect Dolls and Scarred Human Beings) 2005

Opening is 2.00p.m. on Wednesday 13th February at Greestone Gallery, refreshments will be served. Continuing from 10.00 to 4.00p.m. daily until 25 March Monday to Friday.

The Cupboard Project is a platform for artists to exhibit work in a cupboard.

The Cabinet of Curiosities is a joint exhibition to showcase the work of those of us artists/curators who have initiated this venture to launch The Cupboard Project.

The Cupboard  Project continues after its inception for other artists to use to exhibit their own work.

 

# 4 [27 March 2008]

For taking part in Magne Furuholmen's Scrabble exhibition (also known as "Mange Magne") May - Autumn 2007 the artist has been bestowed with a personally signed letter from Mags in gratitude for the contribution, and also a limited edition CD of the sound part of the installation. The artist reserves the right to play the CD to subdue boring conversations at will.

Magne Furuholmen is a successful practising artist and member of the Norwegian band A-ha.

He invited his myspace friends to collaborate with him to create a series of dolls of him for an exhibition at Sørlandets Kunstmuseum in Kristiansand, Norway.

I made two dolls for this exhibition which have been uploaded onto his website. 

http://www.a-ha.com/cparticle7840-417.html http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=26829 

http://www.magnef.net/dolls/'

Collaborations with Magne are ongoing.

# 3 [27 March 2008]

I was writing in my dissertation a reference to the window, or "mirror" in Take On Me" where the girl has already gone into the comic book realm, but still appears as real....

in the precession of the simulacrum, she represents the viewer, who is also drawn into that world... this was with reference to Velazquez' Las Meninas, that the painting is viewed from the perspective of the subjects, the king and queen, who appear as reflections in a mirror. I was thinking of the frame in the Take On Me video that they dance in front of as being like that mirror.... so I had this idea of building that frame in my studio, so that whoever enters the space immediately becomes involved in the video; the unreal becomes real. I also came across a drawing of the view outside the studio window, that I did and never used. I think that would be excellent juxtaposed with the other work, because in that image the real world outside the studio becomes part of this comic book world.

 

# 2 [27 March 2008]

I wanted to know what other people thought of these images, whether it comes across as some kind of Pop Art (Warhol) or some obsessive fan, because that is not what this work is about. I didn't receive enough feedback to gauge whether anyone was receiving erroneous "screaming teenage fan" ideas from it, because I am aware how it could be construed that way; this artist was too young to have posters of any one band all over the wall. Sorry to dispel that misinterpretation, but I've never been any good at obsessions. Reference: http://www.eyestorm.com/artists/profile/Vic_Reeves... I was merely playing around with the images, doodling, and as I was doodling images of Morten Harket I was simultaneously doodling whatever thoughts were in my head. Considering I was writing my dissertation simultaneously, the theories I am researching are foremost in my mind. I wasn't planning on continuing along the Take On Me/ A-ha direction; I was using it as a vehicle to develop further ideas from, however, when I thought about it and discussed it in relation to Baudrillard, I started to receive positive feedback that dispelled any concerns I had that it would end up looking like some kind of obsession.  

# 1 [27 March 2008]

"The imaginary was the alibi of the real, in a world dominated by the reality principle. And, paradoxically, it is the real that has become our true utopia - but a utopia that is no longer in the realm of the possible, that can only be dreamt of as one would dream of a lost object."

- Jean Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulations 

Following from previous animation work, in a similar vein to Candice Breitz's Re-animations,this work reconstructs and continues a comic book narrative based around A-ha's 1986 music video Take On Me, in which the fictional realm of the iconic 1980s music video is conflated with events that are contemporary to 2008.

Recent images of the band are being redrawn in the same style of drawing as Michael Patterson's animation, as part of an installation that explores the series of coincidences that make an A-ha fan’s world part of a virtual and real collaboration with the band themselves, a relationship that transcends the boundaries of celebrity idolatry.