Post by Gilles Porte.
I'm absolutely in love with this old guy and the song he's playing, whatever it is.
I'm absolutely in love with this old guy and the song he's playing, whatever it is.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Saturday, March 07, 2015
LUCKY ME IN LUCY SCARF
A small package arrived a couple of days ago with Destinataire
in big bold beautiful handwriting above my name and address . I tore
open the un-English soft brown wrapping paper to reveal something I have
never in my life received before: an object beautifully made by hand
especially for me.
A scarf knitted by lovely Lucy in France, in a palette of colours she knew I would love because she's attentive and noticed the colours that often crop up on Blaugustine, and a quirky shape she knew I would love too, a kind of triangle with long tails that you could wear in lots of different ways. It has a perfect name as well - Baktus /Karius after Norwegian children's book characters, though Lucy is not sure why.
What I am sure of is that there is nothing in the world like a friend who knits a scarf for you and sends it to you out of the blue, just like that. Merci Lucie, merci encore!
Here it is in normal scarf mode.
And here it is in hat and moustache mode, for when I want to tame wild horses in Mongolia.
A scarf knitted by lovely Lucy in France, in a palette of colours she knew I would love because she's attentive and noticed the colours that often crop up on Blaugustine, and a quirky shape she knew I would love too, a kind of triangle with long tails that you could wear in lots of different ways. It has a perfect name as well - Baktus /Karius after Norwegian children's book characters, though Lucy is not sure why.
What I am sure of is that there is nothing in the world like a friend who knits a scarf for you and sends it to you out of the blue, just like that. Merci Lucie, merci encore!
Here it is in normal scarf mode.
And here it is in hat and moustache mode, for when I want to tame wild horses in Mongolia.
Wednesday, March 04, 2015
VIDEO OF PAULO FREIRE
If you need inspiration, a renewal of faith in humanity or just a recharging of your enthusiasm batteries, watch Paulo Freire, the famous Brazilian educator/philosopher, aged 75, at the end of his life. Observe his eyes, his smile, his voice...do you agree that he's got access to the fountain of youth?
Monday, March 02, 2015
AROUND THE WORLD BLOG HOP
is the title of a round-robin kind of project which the multi-talented writer, artist, publisher, blogger and good friend Beth Adams has invited me to participate in. It's a growing link-up of visual artists who are each asked to answer four questions, post the replies on their blogs, then nominate another artist who takes up the baton on the following Monday. Although I would not normally join a chain, I'm flattered that Beth invited me and besides, it obliges me to try and pin down some thoughts which have lately been flickering around my head like butterflies, evading my grasp. So I'll treat this as an inner investigation.
1. What am I working on?
Ever since finishing the 40+ relief blocks for the Trans-Siberian book - more than a year of exciting, demanding, concentrated and difficult work, now happily completed and out in the world in its final form - I've been wondering: what's next? I always find it easier to begin new work when the task is tied to some outside responsibility: a deadline, an exhibition, a book, a painting, an event - that is awaited by others. This sense of fulfilling an obligation (even one deliberately chosen by me) is a powerful motivator and confers a discipline that I otherwise lack. When there is no particular destination for a project - then I waver from one possibility to another and it's much harder to get going. So: what I'm working on now is deciding what I will work on now. Uppermost among possibilities is continuing the autobiography, and returning to Augustine, my alter-ego, in some new form.
Detail from The Lesson 1992 78 x 29 x 15 cms Mixed media construction
2. How does my work differ from others of my genre?
How does Picasso differ from Braque? Van Gogh from Gauguin? Rembrandt from van Dyck? You'd need to go through the whole of art history, examine ancient and modern concepts of art and individuality, analyse specific artists' aims and influences. Nothing is absolutely new under the sun. To find my own voice in art means to shed influences I've outgrown and assimilate others which continue to inspire and strengthen me. A perceptive critic looking at all the work I've done over the years would be a better judge of whatever may be distinctive or innovative in it. Anyhow I don't know what my 'genre' is. I work in a lot of different ways: painting, printmaking, books, 3-D media, writing, comics, etc. and I hope to add more etceteras before I depart this planet.
Augustine and Inertia - 1985 - from the series The Augustine Adventures
(see this strip larger on the main Blaugustine blog)
3. Why do I create what I do?
Because it's what I know how to do. Because I've never wanted to do anything else. Because it allows me, at least some of the time, to remain a child in a world of adults.
Page from graphic novel-in-progress
4. How does my creating process work?
I suppose in much the same way as all creative processes do. The trigger might be a memory, an observation, a sudden spark, an encounter, a continuation, something heard, or read or seen. The trigger then becomes a desire to give shape, to give birth to the idea. Experiments with different forms, techniques, materials. Many many trials and errors. Allowing chance and intuition to have their say. Establishing discipline, a time-scale. Starting. Stopping. Starting again. Succeeding. Failing. Failing better. Starting again.
Detail from My Life Unfolds 2012 Accordion book
That's it.
I will now pass the Around-the-world-blog-hop baton to my friend Phil Cooper, an Englishman currently living in Berlin, whose collages and other artworks impressed me from the moment I first saw them. You're on next Monday, Phil!
1. What am I working on?
Ever since finishing the 40+ relief blocks for the Trans-Siberian book - more than a year of exciting, demanding, concentrated and difficult work, now happily completed and out in the world in its final form - I've been wondering: what's next? I always find it easier to begin new work when the task is tied to some outside responsibility: a deadline, an exhibition, a book, a painting, an event - that is awaited by others. This sense of fulfilling an obligation (even one deliberately chosen by me) is a powerful motivator and confers a discipline that I otherwise lack. When there is no particular destination for a project - then I waver from one possibility to another and it's much harder to get going. So: what I'm working on now is deciding what I will work on now. Uppermost among possibilities is continuing the autobiography, and returning to Augustine, my alter-ego, in some new form.
Detail from The Lesson 1992 78 x 29 x 15 cms Mixed media construction
2. How does my work differ from others of my genre?
How does Picasso differ from Braque? Van Gogh from Gauguin? Rembrandt from van Dyck? You'd need to go through the whole of art history, examine ancient and modern concepts of art and individuality, analyse specific artists' aims and influences. Nothing is absolutely new under the sun. To find my own voice in art means to shed influences I've outgrown and assimilate others which continue to inspire and strengthen me. A perceptive critic looking at all the work I've done over the years would be a better judge of whatever may be distinctive or innovative in it. Anyhow I don't know what my 'genre' is. I work in a lot of different ways: painting, printmaking, books, 3-D media, writing, comics, etc. and I hope to add more etceteras before I depart this planet.
Augustine and Inertia - 1985 - from the series The Augustine Adventures
(see this strip larger on the main Blaugustine blog)
Because it's what I know how to do. Because I've never wanted to do anything else. Because it allows me, at least some of the time, to remain a child in a world of adults.
Page from graphic novel-in-progress
4. How does my creating process work?
I suppose in much the same way as all creative processes do. The trigger might be a memory, an observation, a sudden spark, an encounter, a continuation, something heard, or read or seen. The trigger then becomes a desire to give shape, to give birth to the idea. Experiments with different forms, techniques, materials. Many many trials and errors. Allowing chance and intuition to have their say. Establishing discipline, a time-scale. Starting. Stopping. Starting again. Succeeding. Failing. Failing better. Starting again.
Detail from My Life Unfolds 2012 Accordion book
That's it.
I will now pass the Around-the-world-blog-hop baton to my friend Phil Cooper, an Englishman currently living in Berlin, whose collages and other artworks impressed me from the moment I first saw them. You're on next Monday, Phil!
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