Lily van der Stokker at Tate St Ives

I've just got back from a week in Cornwall where the weather alternated between non-stop drizzle and dazzling sunshine. On one of the rainy days I went over to St Ives and along with all the other tourists whose beach day had been rained off visited the Tate. The main attraction there is Lily van der Stokker, the Dutch artist who makes child-like sketches of flowers and pretty things which she turns into big wall drawings (complete with sofas and carpets). I have been wanting to see her work since she showed at The Drawing Room ages ago and I missed it, so it was really good to finally get to see it. The accompanying texts go on about doing work which is not allowed by the artworld - the pretty, the decorative, the feminine - this is a bit of a hackneyed argument. We have heard this many times before (I refer you to anything by Karen Kilimnik) and I would have liked something a bit more. Also couldn't find the catalogue that was mentioned in the gallery in the otherwise lovely Tate St Ives shop - I know that John Waters is a big fan and I wanted to read his essay. Also there are no images from the show on the website (moan moan moan) although this image is nice I really wanted to post one of the sofa pics.

But despite the moans I did enjoy it + the other St Ives / Modernism show is worth a look - especially liked the Morandi painting.

Cornwall part 2 post with Newlyn Gallery coming soon...

Puce Moment

The new show - Puce Moment - opens at Transition tonight (Fri 16 July) - it's named after a short film by Kenneth Anger which features a 20s starlet looking through her wardrobe before taking her elegant dogs for a walk. There are four artists in the show Ali Sharma, Paul Housley, Carla Busuttil and me - all painters. My work is inevitably Elvis inspired - this one is called New York 72 (Part 3)

Garageland 10: The Future

The new Garageland has just come out (it is unbelievably already issue no.10) and it's all about The Future. For some reason this issue took longer than any other to put together and was more expensive. Of course as per usual some pieces work better than others but overall I think it is really good and I'm hoping it will sell out just as quickly as some of the previous issues (Rock 'n' Roll for instance is now a collector's item). Highlights include a cover by the erudite and charming Mark Titchner, eco art concerns from Ackroyd & Harvey, two different angles on JG Ballard and a scathing look at futuristic fashion by Pigeons and Peacocks editor John William. My contributions are a piece called Tomorrow's Future which is a look at sci fi's future predicting and a painting of Barbarella which accompanies a film club piece about the film by our newest intern Sophia Satchell Baeza. The painting is actually from my ongoing Film Diary series and is called 10.05.10 She slept under clear plastic. The colour repro in the mag is a little strange on the painting so this seemed like a good excuse to reproduce it again here. Other recent paintings in the series are inspired by Jailhouse Rock, Far from Heaven, Top Hat, and Nowhere Boy. 

Always Early

Once again I have managed to arrive at a gallery before the show starts. Went along yesterday to have a look at Sally Mann at The Photographers Gallery and... it doesn't start until tomorrow. I went all the way to Oxford to see a Tracey Emin show a while ago that didn't start until the following month. I suppose it is because when I read about something I just expect that it is on now. Also I probably want to be the first person to see it so I can show off.

I used to be really interested in Sally Mann's photography back in the 90s  - haven't seen anything of hers for a while - looks like she is showing new versions of the old work about her beautiful children (see pic above) + landscapes. Will write more when I have actually seen it.

Meanwhile there is a new show opening at Transition tonight - Michael Ajerman's Fishemen, Strawberry and Devil Crab and I have a painting in this Clash / Ray Lowry / London Calling show at the Idea Generation Gallery which also opens tonight.

Puce Moment

I must admit to only being a very recent convert to Kenneth Anger. I have been aware of Hollywood Babylon for a while and have often referred to it when writing and painting but I always thought that his films were a bit like Andy Warhol's - interesting ideas but very boring to watch. Then Kirsty Buchanan (who incidentally is currently showing at Transition in Real Dolls) introduced me to Puce Moment and I was hooked. Puce Moment was made in the 1940s and features a 1920s starlet looking through her wardrobe. The colours are simply stunning and it is short enough to not be boring. I love it so much that it has become the inspiration for the eponymous upcoming painting show at Transition.

Puce Moment (at Transition) features four painters - Paul Housley, Alli Sharma, Carla Busuttil and... me. I am making a new series of work featuring Elvis' 70s stage outfits - particularly his capes. I want to celebrate the beauty and over the topness of what are intrinsically quite crass clothes - I am hoping to somehow get his intense stage performances into the work and am exclusively listening to his 70s live performances while painting... it is still work in progress.

Tippi Hedren

I went to see a sold-out screening of The Birds at the BFI last night which was followed by Tippi Hedren in conversation. The film was great - I have of course seen it before, or at least I think I have as there were some bits which I really didn't remember. I suspect that maybe I fell asleep in the middle of it on previous late-night viewings as some bits were a complete surprise. It is a shockingly brutal film, something exaggerated by the cool, calm demeanor of Hedren's character Melanie.

I had expected Tippi to be a frail old lady, but from where I was sitting at least, she looked amazingly glamorous and very recognisably the star of The Birds and Marnie. Her voice particularly was eerily identical to the one we had just heard in The Birds. She was very at ease chatting about Hitch's obsession with her, Marlon Brando's weird behaviour and the allure of Sean Connery. I must admit to being less interested in her animal saving ventures but maybe that is just me. I didn't ask any questions but if I had I would have asked what exactly happens at the end of The Birds... I've always wondered.

The photo is of Tippi sitting in front of the big screen which is showing a clip from A Countess from Hong Kong.

Works on paper and some merciless self promotion

It all seems to be about working on paper at the moment. I say this with some authority because I have just just read Phil Allen's interview on Articulated Artists and Emma Talbot's new 'drawing' show at Transition shows her work taking a very exciting, new direction. I also know that there is an upcoming works on paper show at the Saatchi Gallery called The Power of Paper and I find myself working more and more on paper.

It is a well documented point that a lovingly stretched and primed canvas can stymie spontaneity - it has just taken too long to prepare and the slightest wrong move could ruin its minimal perfection. Paper is cheap and disposable - it doesn't have such a weight of responsibility behind it. With this in mind last year I started working on a Film Diary series. I note down each film that I watch and then make a painting from it, naming the painting after a description of the action taking place and the date I watched the film. I wrote a bit about it way back in November and there are some images from it here. A few of these paintings are going to be in a new show at Charlie Smith called Papyrophilia which opens on 6 May and also includes Andy Warhol and Chris Ofili! The image here is one of the ones that will be in the Charlie Smith show and is called 21.08.09 He tried to look cool but felt ill at ease.

Chris Ofili - Take Two

I saw the Chris Ofili show at Tate Britain for the second time today. The first time I found it quite disappointing - I knew all the early stuff and it didn't look as interesting as when I first saw it and the new work just looked terrible. This time I was a little more prepared for the new paintings and I found them slightly more interesting. Now I'm not in front of them I can't quite remember what it was that I liked - the colour maybe or the brushiness of the surface. But... they are still not interesting enough - they need  something - maybe he should re examine the collage, map pins and resin (but definitely not the elephant dung).

I'm Not There + Todd Haynes

Years late I have finally seen Todd Haynes' film about Dylan. I am not a Dylan fan and this is probably why I didn't rush to see it - also the idea of Cate Blanchett as Dylan was really unappealing. I shouldn't have delayed - it really is, like everything Todd Haynes that I have seen, brilliant. It is so complex and layered - a mix of extreme fantasy and recreated documentary - a sort of biopic and a history of American popular music. A twisted tale of the American Dream gone wrong, the hopelessness of fame, the stupidness of religion... its all there. I still blanch at Blanchett and Christian Bale as Dylan is sooo wrong but it is a masterpiece. Almost up there with one of my favourite films ever (also by Todd Haynes) which I urge you to check out Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (its banned but you can watch it here )

Arty 27: Magic/k

I've been working on the new issue of Arty which will hopefully be out in ten days or so. I am really pleased with how its looking... here is a sneak preview of one of my favourite spreads with work by two of my favourite artists, Emma Talbot and Delaine Le Bas.

Last Weeks Culture

Last week was a real cultural smorgasbord...
Monday - Laura Mulvey talk about the Hitchcock blonde at the NFT
Tuesday - Arsenal v Porto at the Emirates
Wednesday - Romeo and Juliet at The Royal Opera House (ballet)
Thursday - day off
Friday - The Tamsynettes pv at Transition Gallery
Saturday - day off
Sunday - Grizzly Bear at The Roundhouse (photo above)

phew... back to Arty Magic/k

Rose Wylie

Visited Rose Wylie yesterday and had a guided tour of her studio. It was amazing to look through her work and quite shocking to be told by her that we should walk on her paintings! Look out for Alli Sharma's interview with her at Articulated Artists very soon.

The Museum of Everything

I am probably the very last person in the whole of London to do it but I finally made it along to The Museum of Everything this afternoon. The approach to the museum is via a little alleyway which made me think of the good old days of the old Saatchi Gallery in NW8. The Museum, just in case you don't know, is a quirky space made up of small rooms, passageways and one high ceilinged chamber - sort of like a Mike Nelson installation. The 'exhibits' are a collection of outsider art annotated by short texts written by art (Peter Blake, Mark Titchner, Grayson Perry) and art appreciating (David Byrne, Nick Cave) luminaries. If you know a bit about outsider art there are some big names here such as Morton Bartlett, Henry Darger (his work is pictured above) and Louis Wain (not sure I thought of him as an outsider but he did suffer from schizophrenia so that pretty much qualifies him.)

I find myself slightly uneasy about the whole premise of the savant artist and outsider art in general. These are people on the margins of society, often mentally ill - we gawp at their work as if viewing Bedlam inmates. As for the idea of art having more value if it is by untutored people surely that questions the value we place on education altogether. Having said all of that there is loads of 'outsider' art that I like - I just wouldn't want to be seen as a Ben Nicholson type figure ripping off my own version of Alfred Wallis.

All in all this is a very impressive collection of work and the Henry Darger and Morton Bartlett rooms are unmissable.

1956 - Elvis's first ever TV appearance

Elvis came out looking like he had been shot out of a cannon... 
(Peter Guralnick Last Train to Memphis)

William Eggleston and the Unreal World

The new show at Victoria Miro is by legendary American photographer William Eggleston.

Eggleston was born in 1939 in Memphis Tennessee to a wealthy family (cotton plantation etc etc) and my favourite pieces of his work have an essence of the American south embedded within them. On the surface his compositions have a throw-away quality and if you have ever watched William Eggleston in the Real World you may wonder whether there is a touch of the emperor's new clothes about what he does - he generally only takes one shot of things he is interested in - the antithesis of the way that most photographers work.

He is very fashionable at the moment - there was a recent piece in the Guardian about all the bands who have used his images on their album covers. Of course as a resident of Memphis there must be an Elvis connection and although Eggleston apparently has no interest in the big E there inevitably is. Eggleston was commissioned to take pictures of Graceland and these were used in a Graceland guidebook in 1984 - the story is that the powers that be (probably Priscilla) were not that into the photos and the guide was withdrawn - hence it is now very collectible. The images however are still around and can be seen online and purchased in an expensive portfolio. They are archetypal Eggleston - colour saturated, throw away, hyper real and other worldly. They also look very much like any images that tourists take of Graceland (I say this because I have taken lots of photos there myself including the image above).

I sound like I am criticising Eggleston's work but I really am not - I love it. He was in attendance at the Victoria Miro's PV but unfortunately I missed him. A friend of mine who did have the honour said that he was very charming and still very much the ladies man.

Elvis is 75

Tomorrow would have been Elvis' 75th birthday. To celebrate I have been immersing myself in Elvis world. I have watched everything Elvis that has been on BBC2 and 4, listened to everything Elvis on Radio 2, flipped through all my Elvis photo books, listened to Elvis from Baby Let's Play House through to Long Black Limousine, started re reading Peter Guralnick's amazing Last Train to Memphis and yesterday I even watched a video of Jailhouse Rock.  Because of reading Last Train to Memphis I am mainly in Elvis' early years and have just moved with him from Tupelo to Memphis. I know it is hardly a new observation but it really is amazing how poor he was back then and explains so much about his over consumption in later life.

I am now looking forward to Michael Freedland's Elvis Trail programmes which are coming up on Radio 2 (by the way I am not generally a Radio 2 fan - maybe it has just got a bit better now that Terry Wogan has retired).

The pic is from the 1968 special which was on in a weird shortened form on Saturday night. Still watched it though!

Space and James Taylor

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Space gallery at the Triangle, Mare Street, Hackney before going on to check out Dumb Waiter at James Taylor Gallery just off Well Street. 


First up Laura Oldfield Ford showed a couple of episodes of Boys From the Blackstuff. Although I know lots of classic moments from this series (written by Alan Bleasdale back in he early eighties) I don't think that I ever watched a complete episode - I found it too depressing. It was interesting watching it now - it was all a little clunky but very moving and the episode where Yosser built the dodgy wall and head butted the boss, surrounded by his three small kids was quite heartbreaking - 'gissa job'. The politics and aesthetics of the early eighties with the confrontational atmosphere of Thatcher's Britain is fundamental to Laura's practice, so it was really interesting to revisit it.


Next up was a Miss B's Salon event entitled Agitation, Polemic and Design... and their contemporary adaptations chaired by Ruth Beale to accompany her show  What I Believe ( a Polemic Collection) (pictured above). The show features Ruth's own collection of pamphlets, each one containing a polemic on an important issue of its time.  The speakers were Ruth, Laura Oldfield Ford and Modern Activity (the designers of Le Gun and a new series of DEMOS texts amongst other things). It was really good discussion, very wide ranging. I was interested in particular in the ideas around the way that artists such as Ruth (and Jeremy Deller) collect and present work about political ideas without offering an opinion as opposed to Laura's stance whereby she is fully immersed in her political ideas. There was also lots of stuff about politics and design including an insight into the importance of colour - apparently purple is very much favoured as it lies somewhere between red and blue and whether print was a nostalgic outdated medium for disseminating information.


I then managed to catch a bit of Tony Palmer's excellent short film Wigan Casino, scenes from which were used in Mark Leckey's Fiourucci Made Me Hardcore. I've been meaning to see this for weeks and it really didn't disappoint  (its on until 19th December if you are over in East London).


Then on to James Taylor Gallery to see Dumbwaiter. I heard a rumour that Saatchi had visited a couple of weeks back and I'm not surprised, the work looks as if it has come straight out of the Saatchi book of art. Spec-tac-u-lar. From the impressive installation featuring weird petrol pump / one armed bandit type machines, flashing lights, red curtains, projections and a prone figure by Lee Holden (pictured above) to the labour intensive pin board / wallpaper room of Margaret O'Brien and the huge inflatable landscape by Neil Bromwich and Zoe Walker.  

Hockney Repeats at Tate Britain

I've seen the David Hockney room at Tate Britain a few times and thought that his three huge landscape paintings (made up of lots of smaller paintings) which all looked very similar were a bit rubbish - although I quite liked the repetition. It was pointed out to me yesterday on a flying visit that only one of the paintings is actually a painting and the other two are photographs of the original. This makes it all quite a lot more intriguing and interesting. It also means that I obviously do not look at things properly.

I can't find a picture of the room to post here (the Tate website does not have an image - maybe there are copyright issues) only an image of the painting which is called Bigger Trees Near Warter Or/Ou Peinture Sur Le Motif Pour Le Nouvel Age Post-Photographique, 2007

Rubbernecking

Rubbernecking the new show at Transition is all about paint. Jake Clark instigated the project and came up with the title and the other participating artists. The basic idea is that it is all about a different, slightly cartoonish way of looking and how this relates to painting.

One of the participating artists Rose Wylie (the others are Jake Clark and Phillip Allen) is showing some unstretched collaged canvases of footballers - for some reason this makes me think of Walter Sickett who in his later years painted stuff from pictures he saw in the newspaper. There the comparison ends though because these have much more in common with Guston than Sickett. I absolutely LOVE the fact that one of them is actually of Wayne Rooney (see the picture above which by the way was taken by Damian Griffiths who is currently showing work in Transition ShopSpace)

Garageland 9: Migration

Its finally here and the feedback so far has been good. I was probably less than enthusiastic about migration as a subject initially but I think we have stretched the theme in unexpected directions. Consequently there is some really interesting stuff in the mag and I am completely won over. I especially love David Webb's piece Mother Hen about his grandmother's migration from Tanzania to England.

You can get the issue online now here or from stockists later in the week. Sadly Borders are no longer on the scene so we now have a huge shortfall in our distribution (and money owing) - if you have previously bought Garageland outside of London from Borders why not order online or even set up a money saving subscription (which is still at the old price until I manage to change it so hurry up!)