Monthly Archives: September 2016

Forest in a suitcase

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Just before I pack my mini forest into a suitcase to take to Wales on Thursday for filming there was time for one more spooky snap tonight, with a ’20s German Expressionist film version above, and a lurid ’70s horror film version below:

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The models will be set up on a table top for filming sequences that will go into a trailer for the new picture-book version of Hansel and Gretel by Clive Hicks-Jenkins which will be published by Random Spectacular in November. With Halloween not far away it’s the perfect time for some spookiness!

 Sunday sketch 

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Wonderful end of summer sunshine this weekend, beautiful light and still warm enough to cycle round in a T-shirt; long may it continue! I did this acrylic sketch of some sweet peas growing in my friends’ garden this morning. I love these flowers and I love this garden, it’s going ever more frothy and shaggy at the moment and there’s so much going on I could paint noting else for a long time, the contrasting shapes and colours are magical.

Yesterday was another sunny warm day too and we had a wander round the trendy contemporary art district of Mitte in Berlin. We went into a hip art magazine shop, well actually these weren’t magazines, they were quarterly journals; more hi-brow and certainly more expensive. But I did find this little gem, Elsewhere. This issue, number 3 ,was right up my street, and had articles on the two places I live at the moment; Berlin, my main home, and the north Kent coast where I live when I’m working in the UK.

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And the writing is good, I particularly enjoyed a piece about Faversham creek, a few miles up the coast from my UK base in Whitstable. There’s a link to the journal’s website here. It’s been put together by Julia Stone and Paul Scraton, who’s also contributed the excellent Caught by the River website.

The ‘spirit of a place’ or the genius loci has always been a strong driving force in my artwork. Genius loci, that phrase captured by Paul Nash which seems to fit so much British art (incidentally, the Tate is doing a major exhibition about Paul Nash coming soon, which i’m very much looking forward to). But I like Elsewhere’s generous interpretation of the subject, including urban and suburban places, as well as imaginary places ‘that exist only in our heads – whether lost bur remembered, or imagined and invented.’ Definitely my cup of tea!

 

Im Wald 2

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Im Wald or In the forest, but as I’m in Germany at the moment, and i’m gearing up to some filming for a Hansel and Gretel book trailer next week with artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins and filmmaker Peter Telfer I thought i’d make the effort with a bit of Deutsche. Just trying out some snaps trying to get the feel of twilight on the edge of the forest, of the encroaching darkness that envelops the trees once the sun goes down and the first flutter of panic when you realise you’re lost, it’s getting dark and the only sign of habitation is a decidedly creepy looking cottage…

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And back in the UK some new trees emerging, plus a new cottage as the original ‘witch’s cottage’ is now firmly ensconced in its new home inside one of the bell jars so not much use for filming!

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Here in Berlin we often get out of town to go cycling in the big beech and pine forests that cover much of the countryside in this part of Germany. The forest certainly get me in the mood for this project, it goes a bit Blair Witch out in these woods sometimes!

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Back to the woods

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Now that Semblance is over and done it’s back to some dark forest-themed work this week. At the end of this month I’m collaborating with artist Clive Hicks-Jenkins and filmmaker Peter Telfer on a trailer for Clive’s new picture-book version of Hansel and Gretel for Random Spectacular, due out in November. You can see a great post on the evolution of this book on Clive’s Artlog here.

The short film will use footage of the models, intercut with puppet stop-motion sequences. Clive has described the aesthetic as “a kind of Svankmajer’s ‘Alice’/Dr. Caligari mash-up, additionally referencing…schlocky ‘horror movie’ trailers”, i.e. an absolute dream to work on!

I made a witch’s cottage model last year which will be travelling to Wales at the end of September, along with a suitcase packed up with gnarled trees, expressionist skies and cans of glow-in-the-dark spray. I think when I was little this would have been exactly the kind of thing I wanted to do when I ‘grew up’. So this week I’m experimenting with different lightings and moods, colour casts and backdrops…

 

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And here are a few snaps of the Semblance show which came up and went down in the blink of an eye it seemed. Me, Phil Gomm and Phil Hosking had a blast putting this exhibition together over the summer and when we finally got all the work up on the walls I think we all felt very pleased with what we’d achieved.

 

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We had a lot of people through the door, a lot of positive feedback about the show, and we all had some sales. It was a tad melancholy as we took the work down last week, though; it’s been like going on an adventure together this summer. But one of the many good things about showing at the Horsebridge is that you can walk round the corner, sit on the beach and watch the sun go down with a beer in hand which always lifts the spirits. So that’s exactly what we did after we packed up the work, swept the floor and turned the lights off as we left…

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Semblance – up and running

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After a long, long hot day yesterday we got the Semblance exhibition up on the walls and ready to go. I think we all had a sense of déjà vu when we set to with spirit levels and picture hooks again at the start of the day; this is the third time we’ve all shown together here. There were moments when i wondered if I would ever be finished but got it done just in time before the gallery closed and we stood back and saw that it all looked good – phew!

The show will be on at the Horsebridge Centre, Whitstable until midday next Tuesday 6th September and we’re having drinks and nibbles this Saturday from 2pm if you fancy dropping by – i think we’ll have recovered by then 😉

Thanks to Phil Gomm for the installation day photos:

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And here are three Phils being daft at the end of the day; we’re either jumping for joy that it’s finished or we’ve started to go a bit barmy by this point (me on the right in swim shorts, i.e. lets get out of here and down to the beach) :

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A few snaps of the work on display, firstly some of my collages; Winter Night here on the right, with Nightwatch top left and Moonlit Landscape bottom left. There’s also some of the text which i’d had printed as transparent decals to add a bit of narrative and provide a some context to the work:

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Two more collages; Sanctuary top left, House on the right, and a small painting on wooden panel, The Tower by Lamplight bottom left:

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Another collage, Midwinter on the right, and a pigment print from one of the photos I’d taken of the models I made last year, Reculver Dream 1:

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A couple of pics of the models themselves in bell jars. They were such fun to make and I love how they look, lit up in their little worlds – they’re my favourites!

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And a couple of transparent Duratrans prints mounted on lightboxes:

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Phil Gomm’s series of richly dark interiors, complete with glowing light presences, looks spectacular on the opposite wall:

Beam, C-type print on Kodak metallic paper, 2016, Phil Gomm

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Elipse, C-type print on Kodak metallic paper, 2016, Phil Gomm

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Phill Hosking was exhibiting screen prints for the first time, but as you can see, Phill has mastered the medium from the off and his prints look stunning:

Dark Matter (detail) , Screenprint, 2016, Phill Hosking

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Three Wishes, Screenprint, 2016, Phill Hosking

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Phill also paints like a dream and is showing some beautiful acrylics and oils:

Crowd, Acrylic on canvas, 2016, Phill Hosking

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Last, but not least, a big thank you to all the fellow bloggers and Hedgecrow visitors for such tremendous support in the months leading up to the show – it’s very much appreciated!