The Weight of the World

Sometimes,
I don’t want to save energy by "carrying" all available jobs at once. – looking to see how much ground I can cover in one move, and therebye not having toto come back for extra things at some point in the future.

What can happen is all the thought processes pertaining to each task get shuffled into one conglomerate.
And at some point later down the line, everything has to be re-evaluated and separated. A daunting task for the future.
Work can be restfull and meditative.

Rebel Freedom Fighter.

found under a bridge on a canal going into Birmingham.

On the day that Gaddaffi and the UN started to play footsie with each other.

Gaddaffi calls a ceasefire and everybody says he is playing ultimate brinkmanship, as if anybody with half a brain wouldnt expect him to do that anyway.

Its another (recent) moment where nobody really knows what exactly is going to happen next.

The UN had to do something otherwize every tin pot dictator in the area would take it on himself to ruthlessly crush any form of political dissent, knowing that in the long run he would get away with it.

There were a couple of revolutionary spokesmen on a TV news channel, whose comment was "what is he going to do when people all over Libya come out on the streets again thinking that they are going to be protected by a UN mandate?"

I wouldnt like to be a mersenary stuck in a tank in the middle of the dessert unable to move in case I got blown up, a sitting target you could say.

I certainly wouldnt want to die for a dictator.

I dont know which one I detest more, him or his son.

Are Yuh Yeller?

Nice to have a bit of sun



the telling stories mode

From Achilles Shield
Unfortunately linking up with Libya.



At present, my work seems to be going instinctivly back toward the telling stories mode: making pictures or things that comment on something else that actually exists, or illustrating a story already written, or making up my own narrative. Very often a slice of a yarn that need not have been completely written or finished, but is expressed (mainly) in paint form as though it was finalised and brought to a conclusion.
The other alternative, which at present I seem to be moving away from, is the creation of artifacts that simply exist in their own right.
Maybe this is a clumsy way of explaining them as they seem to need to exist in a specific environmentin order to work. – T o become apparent as to what their own existance is about.
-So they are beholden to other factors – they have to fit into an area, both physical and social, in order to become relevent, explainable, and to produce their own life and existance.
But their actual narrative is largely their own: as a viewer , the audience by and large makes up the history, function and coundrums involved.
Possibly,
The main reason I am moving back to the telling stories mode, is that these expressions exist in their own right, they are largely relevent to wherever they sit.
In order to make or present them, I don’t have to be particularly beholden to anyone.

Tsunami

These are part of a bigger picture I was working on, following the last tidal wave.

It still isnt finished.

Are these tidal waves happening more frequently now?
How long did people on the coast have to get to higher ground?

and on the news, Gadaffi seems to be out the window today.

What will happen to the small, low islands in between Japan and wherever?

Show Time

Water Dragon

I cant help but feel that its coming up again for that time of "Show Time". Its been eight years since Ive had my own one man show - although I have shown large amounts of work at other events like on various occasion at the x-ray factory, Heartlands Hospital, Central Library and hung a couple of communal shows.

I havent specifically taken over and "owned a space"

Specifically stated "this is me with all my warts"

Not just a comment about or in a certain area or event.

In a sense, you can hide behind the event or definition of the thing itself. A bit like being a drummer in a rock n' roll band as oppose to being the singer.

Its time to lay "me" on the line again (and probably suffer for it) Showing stuff that could go back over a handfull of years -even futher if relevent. In fact the inclusion of two or three images that directly relate to what I'm doing now would be pretty informative, and does seem to be part of the spring cleaning process that I'm going through at the moment.

It needs to be in Birmingham - although it coul be in Cardiff and I wonder why I havent begun to think about this until now

One I made earlier

Totem Pole, 1988

Owned by Mike and Angie Kellet