Swag

What I've done and learnt so far on my first weekend off since October.

Yesterday I went to the Tate Britain on my own and it was amazing. The new stairs are beaut, and i'd never looked at the Henry Moore room which was also amazing.
Then I went to see the Painting Now exhibition, as i've been getting really interested in painting for a while, but it scares me because I don't understand it (or maybe I do, but the contemporary painting world exudes some sort of air of importance that makes me feel like I don't and can't understand it).

Anyway, while I was looking at Lucy McKenzie's work, which is really nice, I had so many good ideas for my own work - resolutions to ideas that i've been keeping tucked away in notebooks for a month or two and didn't know how to continue.
But now I know - so today I shall set to work.

But I also realised that the way I take inspiration from other artists isn't really all that much about their artwork, it's just being in the company of other artwork and feeling the time, thought and energy that went into their art and it transferring to you, or something.
And sometimes it's just the descriptions (For example '...free standing enclosure that could be entered at one corner') of art displays (in exhibition catalogues or whatever) that have some sort of promise in them which makes you excited and inspired. Also the initial impact that the form and space within some 3D artworks has on me is enticing. It's the promised (but as of yet undiscovered/undisected) potential of others' artworks to be able to relate to you and what you're doing.

You can mould your mind into other peoples' artwork, and with your own ideas racing around all the time anyway, there's more possibility to feel like you can slot into place with it. Actually - I think you're making it slot into place with you - Aspects of the form and space and matter can be instinctively applicable, or examined and extracted, and reworked for your own meaning, maybe to help in producing your own art.

It's a very frenzied and intuitive experience, and sometimes I have to go and sit and think and analyse the ideas I just had (depending on whether I want to make a distinctly communicative art/design work, or something more atmospheric and open and suggestive).
It is a bit annoying when you've had this super exciting and inspired period of revelation and resolution, and then the next day you've lost your hold on it a bit and it seems silly. But I need to learn not to question it again but rely on my instinct, because that's the way that I react to other art, so it's obviously very powerful. And if people need to take time to think about my art after their instinctive response, then good - they should be putting in the effort; if they're looking for a message or clarity rather than just enjoyment then they need to put in effort for it to be rewarding.

Anyway here is some Lucy McKenzie, and some notes I took about it:

Loos House 2013

Quodlibets (Fascism)

...ideologies that are intrinsically linked to aestheticism
...so the paintings appear as moodboards - styles to select for expression and moulding in the home (like my tattoo)
- Is identity merely an assemblage of appropriated parts that can be tried on at whim?
- Craft being a main concern can be misconstrued as Conservative

And my brilliant jumper

which looks nice with my hand towel yes?

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It is now Sunday night and I have not only had spaghetti bolognese masterfully cooked for me by Dom, but I have done the following things:

1 - developed my new idea for a piece based on the virtues of watching Soap Operas

2 - finished another Swagman dress with amazing elbow deep pockets (photo coming soon)

3 - remembered something I wrote in Bosnia which I will make into a piece soon

4 - planned a painting of a sketch I made in a graveyard in Bratislava

5 - finally scanned my mock-up booklet about co-operation which I will hand make

And this is how this idea began about 6 months ago, so different!

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And this is mock-up of a pocket-sized booklet (or 3 booklets with belly-binding) about co-operation; the concept, why we need to improve it, and how. and also how it's tempting to veer into Tribalism instead, but we shouldn't.

It might be hard to follow but the same book appears in the same place in each scan, but turned over a page each time - so if you commit to a bit of mouse scrolling you can read it all.

Swagman Dress (I) and other stories

The first one i've made. When I don't take good photos of what i've made I like to make silly collages.

Like here where I thought a cushion I hand quilted for my Grandma would be appreciated when paired with some Pre-Raphaelite sheep on a cliff edge.

(The Land of Lambs and Pillows) 

And here is one of the 4 different nighties I made for all the ladies in my family for Christmas - Mother and daughter matching ones. This is Mama's one.

Notes...

Some plans/notes i thought i'd lost, and seem very funny now that i've found them

Another mono-print i'm proud of.

Done some prints i'm real proud of :)

Sometimes it all comes together!

The Swagman Dress... plans

Australia

I thought i'd better write about this now, despite feeling very inarticulate, because tomorrow it won't be as clear in my mind. Today I went to the Australia show at the Royal Academy. It was so rad mannn. It felt very fresh!
(with the exception of a furry white toadstool sculpture, and a few painted sketches by an 18th century British settler, one of which was titled 'Meteor seen by me', which were just funny)

I really liked the native paintings, they're so amazing to see in real life and seem really honest, and also like a lesson, and an effort to be person of a functioning proud community. They have a modest certainty of direction.
I also loved 'Evening Shadows, backwater of the Murray' by H.J.Johnstone. It was the kind of landscape you can only imagine, or see in films like Hook. It reminded me though of where I went night canoeing near Yungaburra in the The Atherton Tablelands and we were lying back in our boats in the dark and the whole sky lit up green because there was a meteor. A meteor seen by me. That was pretty special. But yeah, the painting was so calming and serene and just represented the kind of life I live in my head!

Here's a detail from it (it would spoil it to try and show it in full on screen).

Then there was a photograph by Axel Poignant which made me pensive, and gave me an idea for something i'm working on at the moment. It's called 'Swagman... on the road to Wilcannia'.

Swagman was the term used for a transient worker. After the Australian economy crashed in 1929 almost a third of Aussies were unemployed and so began the Australian Depression. The Swagman in the photo is wheeling his worldly possessions on the search for work.

I am currently making some utility dresses and tops, partly inspired by my research into co-operation and self-sufficiency (people and society would be better if we all had the skills to look after ourselves - so i'm making my own clothes and designing ones that encourage craft and skill). The garments all have pockets, mostly large ones, to accommodate all the tools for pursuing the skills with which to be self sufficient. They can be worn in the studio, the fields, the dining room. They're versatile and all made from end-of-line or reclaimed textiles, with next to no wastage being produced in my making of them.

The idea of the swagman carrying all he needs, and taking it upon himself to get what he needs, identified with my idea. He also has a little talisman tacked onto the back of his bike, as if to show that wherever he goes and whatever he does he'll always keep his 'self' intact.

His state of transience also identifies (on a quite disparate scale) with my having left uni and unsure where or how to apply my skills, and flitting between ideas of what to pursue next and in what manner. Trying my brief hand at various things. The long and undulating road ahead of him is obvious in what it represents.

Such transience can be frustrating, but has an aesthetic romanticism that is allowed in hindsight, (hence why we find films like 'Days of Heaven', and people like Woodie Guthrie so alluring, despite their inherently serious subjects.) It helps us to romanticise a less than favourable situation; you'll take what you're given and make it yours with your own bare hands, because it's interesting that way. 'Such is life' as Ned Kelly said, just before he was hung.

And while you're doing the best you can with what you've got, you'll look good doing it too (hopefully) in these clothes i'm making. So yeah, these dresses and tops are utilitarian but also romanticise self-sufficiency, skills and craft, and the spirit of hard work (the latter is a whole other story where I can talk about Bruce Springsteen endlessly so i'll save that one for another time).

And this is just lush colours ; 'Rain dreaming at Nyunmanu' by Mick Namarari Tjapaltjarri. paint on linen.