After St Martins - I felt I had sewn everything up, practically speaking, and in terms of showing things.
I felt I could move on, not necessarily carve brand new directions, but at least not be concerned with finishing things off.
I had put a body of work behind me.
The "brief" that I received from Dave Pollard, the day he had actually found a new venue to move into and reclaim.
At this point, I bumped into Dave Pollard and Peter Hadfield at the start of the reclamation of a derelict factory in Smethwick.
In the end after a fair bit of deliberation I ended up outside of the factory in the large fairly well covered "yard." As I dreamed this project up I didn't know that a large show was being planned.
Link to Dave Haden's flickr site:
Youve read the book, now see the film
The basic team that held keys, slept there on occasion, roughly knew what was going on and helped with basic maintenance work.
After the show "Radioactive" in the autumn, we decided to immediately kick in under our own steam and under the guidance of Emma Chetcuti who was working at "the pUBLIC" at that time we put a show together called "Grotto" in time for Christmas for very little money.
We transformed the downstairs interior of the place and put hundreds of cheap Christmas trees in the large semi exposed area.
Unfortunately, and largely due to Midlands Today who we foolishly contacted for public exposure we ran into a lot of health and safety problems, meaning that we couldn't really invite the public in during the hours of darkness. Which was of course when the show looked at its best.
I mounted a complementary show of small collages which I felt were bright enough to complement the festive air of the whole thing. Being adjacent to the Dickensian section of the show
"As I was saying"
Link to fifteen other images of some of the collages I exhibited:
Working with a large cross section of people, often from the local area.
This scheme lasted for a couple of years before carrying on under the financial title of SOZO, the last project being the Festival of Extreme building.
One of fifty pictures from a show named "Repetition" in Walsal 2006
at Alan Cheezemans Gallery - Chameleon
Link to the pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150253554971424.372236.707526423&l=f8666cd206
In Situ
World Wae Two Project.
The children drew onto small squares of copper which I soldered onto a framework of welded steel.
During this period, I was also involved in building a children's garden at Heartland's Hospital and staged a large show in Digbeth with Peter Hadfield.
Called "the Green Street Show"
Inside of one of the structures. "Mouse Turret"
more on Mouse Turret:
An office that I built with Peter Hadfield at a gallery cum presentation area called "the Edge" situated on the ground floor underneath Friction Arts.
In the same year as the festival of extreme building.
Harry Palmer outside his office.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150268134071424.376566.707526423&l=3b62fc90c9
I was left a whole pile of polystyrene sheets by Bob Morris when he left the Ladywood Studios.
I sat on them for coming up to three years, wondering what they could be used for, Until I received a communication from Duncan Jones in Central Library, wondering if I wanted to make use of the window space on the ground floor.
I had been working on a set of cartoon- like water colours whilst on holiday in Simi, Greece and felt that this could be the perfect opportunity to carry on with some "classics" !!
I kept it in a non linear narrative, rather than face the accusation of "you have left this or that out".
I also concentrated on the Argonauts rather than just Jason, remembering whilst I was producing it that the whole thing is basically about Greek exploration of adjacent seas over a fairly long period of time.
Link to images of mural:
Script for the Cube.
A communal art venture above the Wilton Market in Erdington High Street.
2010.
Unbelonging
The motive behind my work could be described as "unbelonging"
I don’t think that we should get too cosy with anything,
The ball should be kept up in the air.
I like to displace things,
Nudge different slants,
Jog memories,
Provide moments.
I normally have ideas in mind that are waiting for a host to house them.
I like to react to existing situations, often using materials and vessels that I have found.
This can often inform the way the work progresses.
I work toward a reaction of "what ? – wow!" as oppose to "wow! – what?"
Design for a banner for the Cube to go over the entrance at Wilton Market.
Since then, I have been involved in some public art activities, but seem to have returned to painting more often recently. At times I seem to be almost leaning toward illustration - maybe a home based activity, but one I do seem to return to along with murals from which there seems to be no escape!
