Hatchfest

Hatchfest hits Asheville in April, these are mock ups of my intended contribution.



Pay-per-view, 2008/2011, (as imagined on the Pack Tavern building).
coin-operated light installation (interactive prototype).
Dimensions variable.

Pay-per-view is not a new idea in itself, but in this case it operates a bit differently in three areas.

• One person will pay for and instigate a few minutes of projection time, for communal rather than purely personal benefit.
  
• Each purchase of 4 minutes allows the consumer to contribute to the experience by choosing and arranging objects within their own projected image. Consumption does not need to be passive.
  
• And the resulting artwork could be seen as a series of contemporary fine art products conceived and designed by an artist... but produced cheaply in the public sphere by a hired operator and some of the consumers themselves. Facilitated by generated power, just as a factory would be.
  

I won't be there (my exhibition opens at the McColl in Charlotte that night by odd coincidence) which fits in with the concept. Industrial ideology assumes "unskilled" workers will make the product according to instructions and pre-determined procedure.















This is a rough suggestion of what the end of the park will look like with my own installation on the Pack Tavern (right) and Gene Felice's laser tagging and interactive display on the City Council building (left). ( Note : This may not be at all what Gene's piece looks like, I just roughed it out quickly from remembered Graffiti Research Lab Youtube clips). It shows the general idea of scale at least. Also on show (not visible here) will be a screening of Juried entries to the photography competition, as well as a troupe of fire eaters and a local band.

The city committee apparently was reluctant to include any mention of the word tagging when approving Gene's piece ... so it was changed to laser "writing" - this keeps the taggers happy but obviously is not yet part of the committee's graffiti vocabulary.

Still to test locations and equipment to work out any issues before the night itself. Power will be courtesy of the City of Asheville and/or the mobile Art Lab vehicle with generator operated by the city's Parks, Recreation & Cultural Arts Department.


Downtown Asheville - shown here with imaginary projections on the Asheville Art Museum, and the Legal building. Interesting for another time maybe... Hatch looks like being more lively at the other end of Pack Place.

Publication coming out

The fall has been very busy with other things but contains some interesting milestones. My work will be included in an upcoming book called "Hyperdrawing : Beyond the lines of contemporary art" edited by Phil Sawdon, Russell Marshall, and others at Loughborough University in the UK. The new book will look at aspects of drawing that go beyond current expectations of what drawing can be. Their first book, "Between the lines of contemporary art" focused on ways contemporary artists use relatively traditional materials associated with drawing and included work from 43 artists including Cornelia Parker, Tracey Emin and David Shrigley.

Meantime also, I'll have something published in TRACEY which is an online, peer reviewed journal at Loughborough University, run by a host of interesting academics including Sawdon and Marshall. I have been a fan of TRACEY for some time, and submitted an article in response to an open call on the topic of art and technology. After a radical rewrite - peer reviews are very useful - digging in to the meat of what I wanted to say, I managed to really clarify ideas that have been trying to come together over the last couple of years. I think it will be very fruitful for future work.

Here's a link to TRACEY
and a link to my article specifically here

Recent activity

I have fixed up with a venue to show in Artprize 2010 in Michigan this September. These images show little rough mock ups as I start to turn my proposal into reality, and the curator starts to plan the layout.

Proposal in brief is : to display an artwork in 2 parts showing shadows of furniture items from Grand Rapids (known for this industry) next to wall paintings derived from shadows of furniture.

The premise is that a shadow is insubstantial but actually created by a real object in the present. Painted images are more permanent but already record a moment in the past. Like shadows, the furniture products can be understood as concepts (figures on the quarterly index of manufacturing, numbers in a catalog etc) as well as real objects. It seems appropriate that these ideas become visibly part of the city's fabric during the festival.

I had originally thought for this to be outside at night and 50 feet long but it is inside and may be smaller. That's good, it can take many forms. Now it can be seen during the day and I've not sorted out weatherproofing of exterior light sources yet, so that may be something for later and more funding. I'm happy as the curator from the local art college is very contemporary, and the venue has a strong conceptual basis for the show.

Its great - the exercise of applying for this show produced a new idea for a site-specific installation, and the opportunity to bring it to life.

Light and shade

Teaching classes has occupied most of my spring. In between all that I went to Atlanta to take part in OBSCURA at Eyedrum, with a projection onto their gallery facade. Here I am doing experiments for that in the back yard... how dark does it have to be for a projection to show up?








































It worked out. Projection on Eyedrum facade, March 2010.

Installing at the Hunter College/Times Square Gallery

Drawing (elements), 2010, (in progress) granular rutile. (photo courtesy of Claudia Bueno's husband)

The rich red purple color of granular rutile sort of shows here, in contrast with the blackness of the ilmenite in the last post. Looks good on the grey floor. What struck me as I worked on this was the absolute sense of flatness, of a thin skin held down by gravity. And that's all that holds it... a few repairs have been necessary. Air from the heating vents, a scuff at the edges and a small boy walking into it for several feet. Phi said he'd had to fix it already. Part of the deal, its fragility so letting it go, having it be altered is a given.

At the opening people asked if it was spray paint, and whether it was a mandala. Amongst other things. Some likened it to a view into space because of the sparkles. I started to think of it as the surface of a lily pond that you could also slightly see beneath. The cooktop elements made me think of ripples from falling rain or something, the smaller shapes at the edges flotsam washed to shore. I wish I could make another 12 of them, all different! I'd use other rationales to construct its patterning if I was able to sweep it up and do it again.

New Work

Drawing (metal and plastic from the beach), 2010, granular ilmenite and acrylic medium on Arches paper, 22.5 x 22.5 inches.

New work for the show Smoke + Mirrors/Shadows + Fog at the Hunter College Times Square Gallery, February 18 - April 17, 2010.

(Getting better images at the photographer tomorrow). Its been interesting to make work in a short space of time - the usual frenzy of experiments, high points, dips, despair and determination ... leading to work that holds its own and takes me forward. The way that chance and intention work together is really interesting.

3 new works this size (framed to 36 x 36 inches) and 6 smaller works are heading up to NYC via UPS next week, along with the raw materials for a 10 foot floor drawing. Can't imagine explaining to Airport Security why I have 20 lbs of granular ilmenite along with assorted oven elements and plastic trash is in my hand luggage...!