Studio

focus shifting from a theoretical point of view where human actors encode things with significance - towards a methodological point of view where the thing-in-motion reveals their human and social context

chimera 

i needed you to make it real - but then i knew you never would

and my mouth full of sand

i wonder what they are becoming, even as they stay the same

Anatomical Model Left Ear [comments] Mr A J Beyfut 7 Dec 2015 Realistic look and feel. Difficult to attach at first but double sided velcro pads soon sorted that out. Strangely these are 'slightly larger  than life' but if you put them further back on your head then no one really notices. Generally, though I'd say these are some of the best ears around and I would have given five stars if they sold right ones as well.

Mrs McK

falling into the phone looking away and seeing too much - seeing as self-definition - objects look back and their incoming gaze situates. in the space today - so interesting to see how previous works sit alongside the actual artefacts. seeing is never complete - especially when the subject is charged with danger or sexuality just spoke with a visiter to the space - asked him what he felt about the objects - the Dr Auzoux models - he couldn't look at them - he revealed he had a terminal illness we talked quietly for a while - his daughters collected him

James Elkins  - The Object Stares Back Seeing Bodies Our eyes are built to seek out complete figures - we instinctively repair fragments into wholes and search for continuous contours and closed curves. This phenomenon is called subjective contour completion. On a deeper level, subjective contour completion answers to a desire for wholeness over dissection and form over shapelessness. The night sky is such a shapeless thing. It is a chaos; it has no pictures,it does not represent any earthly forms. No border - no frame - no outlines - no up or down - no beginning or end - and for these reasons it is beautiful but intolerable to our eyes. To make sense we create from it - a tapestry of patterns and pictures, of mythical creatures, and geometric regions. The urge to make a continuous shape out of the pieces of our visual world runs very deep. When confronted with an unfamiliar object - we try to see something of ourselves in it - a reflection or an other, a doppelganger ...

chimera: 3] a thing which is hoped for but is illusory or impossible to achieve. 'the economic sovereignty you claim to defend is a chimera' an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially: an unrealized dream < a fancy, a chimera in my brain troubles me. 4] an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues of diverse genetic constitution.

but that wasn't enough

http://www.re-title.com/artists/julia-keenan.asp

 there on the steps in the sunshine for hours

salve 1 salv/ noun 1 . an ointment used to promote healing of the skin or as protection. "the wound should be washed with water and then a salve applied" synonyms: ointment ,  cream ,  balm ,  unction ,  unguent ,  balsam ,  pomade ,  rub , embrocation ,  emollient ,  liniment "lip salve" verb 1 . soothe (wounded pride or one's conscience). "charity salves our conscience" synonyms: soothe ,  lighten ,  alleviate ,  assuage ,  comfort ,  ease ,  allay ,  dull ,  mollify , mitigate ,  palliate 2 . archaic apply salve to. "the salved my cuts and stopped the bleeding"

'Lately I have been thinking about how my work as an artist could have value outside of the market and the discursive traveling circus in which information and opinion are reified as meaning. In a secular world it feels like art – both the objects (works) and the process (labour) would be massively useless, or worthless, if we stripped away all the commerce and concept. The extraordinary exchange in which ideas become money is quite magical really, like water into wine - and there are plenty of artists who devote their whole study to this alchemy. But me, I’m sceptical of enlightened attitudes to magic, since I feel like we’re a faithful species, always believing in something or other - and like Mulder & Scully, I want to believe. At art school you’re supposed to develop a practice. I know this because I teach there sometimes. Everyone tries to understand what their practice could be, even though for many people the whole notion of an art-school-standard ‘art practice’ s...

someone frightened me

read this quite by chance; these words  [love it when that happens] 'every material has a history in its production and perception. And in a way everything is already a product. Even if you have a piece of stone in front of you, somebody cut it out, somebody transported it. There is labor and  investment in every material you use. And I try to deal with this in the sense that whether it's pigment, gold, a car, a tree or Plasticine, the history of the material is always there. I'm not denying that history, i'm not erasing that history. I think that there is an awareness of the history in every material evident in the final look of the work. Connect with the history and the functionality of the material.' Gabriel Orozco. the new thing has many materials and associations - all together in a collage of chaotic weirdness, too much? perhaps - but the essence of it is chaotic so maybe that's okay?

i don't know how to do that 'She would step forward into it as if it were not a vacancy but a destination leaving her body pulled off and crumpled behind her like a sleeve' The Nature of Gothic by Margaret Atwood.

I was fortunate to hear Adam Szymczyk speak last week at Modern Art Oxford, he is the Artistic Director of Documenta 14. Here is the link to the lecture; https://www.modernartoxford.org.uk/event/whats-important-art-politics-with-adam-szymcyk/

model for a failed maquette

the thought of never i want to die

anticipated - mementos of past conflicting forces -the anticipation of invisibility - memories are relics - just kept inside.

powerful and perfect - almost manifesto like - especially at the end. savage too - fierce

Preparing for a seminar day at Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth - a 'Platform' alumni event. There will be a chance to present my practice - looking forward to some critical feedback.