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Lectures, talks and reading groups.

Materiality and Immateriality: negotiating the role of the maker in the 21st century.

An interesting lecture given by Ian Monroe today. 

I was a bit lost on some of the philosophical ideas but I started to understand the concept of ontology and how anything can be  seen to be an object and exist as an actual thing. Probably a bad explanation but I will be researching some of the people and artists he mentioned including

Katie Patterson

Celeste Boursier-Mougenot

Janine Antoni

Mark Fischer

Jeremy Deller

Also mentioned was Ian Bogost and 'Alien phenomenology'

And Afro futurism. I recently saw the film Sun Ra so I'm intrigued to delve deeper into this as I wonder if I can get anything from it regarding my own stories and artistic practise. 

www.ianmonroe.net

I will also be looking at Ian MOnroes work as I feel an affinity with his work especially after my first piece 'Adam tries to get Geraints attention'

Methods and materiality.

Painting in the expanded field.

An interesting seminar with Geraint talking about how painting can break free from the canvas and move into other fields. 

I've recently been looking at Anthony Caro and I didn't realise how influenced he was by american abstract painting in partictular Kenneth Noland( who I know very little of in fact). I find this cross over really exciting.

Cedar Lewisohn. Artists talk.

I came away from this lecture a bit angry. I felt as though Cedar was justifying the gang music videos as not harmful or influential to children. I  disagree. Glorifying knife carrying and violence surely cannot be a good thing? I started to think its like Lord of the flies. We are in a consequent free and lawless environment for children and when the adult world sits back and does not protect children from these things, what are the kids to think?..It must be OK..

Hanaa Malallah: Art and Vivid Ruins

I enjoyed Hanaas lecture. 

Looking at the current destruction of sacred sites in the Middle east made me think of a parallel in the UK. The Reformation must have been even more destructive. Now it is a distant memory and all the ruined abbeys are now great places for days out with a coffee shop and gift shop.

David Gryn – on curating

It was good to hear Davids advice on the art world and how to approach certain aspects of it, in particular film which is his main subject and Daata Editions. He said to send him a film if we had one. I will send him my 100 drawings/100 minutes film.

Maryclare Foa – on psychogeography

This was a really good lecture, with singing as well. I knew nothing of the word psychogeography but without realising I am very interested in the subject. I love to walk through London and take in sights and makes mental notes. My contextual practice essay was a walk through my fictitious town. I have also just made a new film.(link in my online research folio). A series of 30 second films of a walk through London snipped together with narration over the top.

I have an idea for something called a 

Psychogeographic novel. I may copyright the term!

Benet Spencer. 

Really good to hear Benet Spencer discuss his work and methodology.

I was very interested in his earlier diagrammatical, almost map like paintings. They put me in mind of Philip Allen works from a similar period.

His new paintings are much looser and retain the sense of collage which he uses Photoshop and also handmade methods to produce.  

His current exhibition at Wimbledon Space is a joint show with Steven Rendall. Both artists are concerned with the relationship between painting and collage.

China's Van Goghs

China's Van Goghs tells the story of the mass industry surrounding Chinese factory painting and in particular the production of thousands of van Goghs each year. It follows one man Zhao Xiaoyong who takes orders from a client in Amsterdam to produce vast quantities of Van Goghs.

He decides that he wants to visit Amsterdam to see the actual Van Goghs. Eventually he does and is amazed at them having only seen photographs. He also tracks down his buyer of fake Van Goghs but is disappointed to learn they are sold as souvenirs for tourists and not in a large gallery.

He goes back to China and decides he wants to paint his own work which he begins to do. Not surprisingly they look very like the Van Goghs he has always painted only they are using his own images.

I would be interested to see if his own paintings are now selling for lots of money after the publicity of the film.

Seminar on Curation

This talk was about different ways artists and curators could look at spaces and think how they could be curated in sometimes more unconventional ways.

 El Lissitzkys cabinet was aimed at integrating his researches in abstract art with three-dimensional environments.

Aligheiro Boetti’s airplane jigsaws was a way to create a constantly moving artwork and exhibition.

Whistlers Peacock Room

After our show at The Nunnery I think we could have been more challenging in our hanging of the show.

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