ockendenartiguess-blog

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Blue Velvet

In conversation with my tutor we agreed that looking into David Lynch films might help me develop my video creating practice, recently I found Blue Velvet on Netflix. As a film Blue Velvet is a strange one, it tries to portray itself as both this typical American sweetheart young love story while also being a twisted, gritty and violent crime thriller. The opening scene climaxes with the protagonist’s father suffering a stroke which kick-start the nonsense series of affairs that lead to said protagonist falling in love with a classmate, investigating a disembodied ear and having sexual relations with a mother whose husband and child are kidnapped. It’s a bizarre event but somehow Lynch makes it work, the dual themes of the movie seem somehow unaware of each-other while cohesively running parallel. Technically the movies age shows, the cameras used are grainy and the sound quality is low, but the direction is very modern and would easily stand up next to current media. Typically, Lynch likes his characters quirky and ironic, he is very aware of stereotypical characters and how they come across so he uses this to subvert expectation and parody the status quo. Dialogue and interaction is another facet that Lynch obsesses over, largely for the same reasons as his characters. Every conversation is incredibly awkward but delivered with such confidence that the juxtaposition smacks the viewer across the mouth, keeping them interested. In my later works I plan on using multiple actors interacting with one another, I will emulate Lynches technique. Learning from this movie is a strange concept; my work tends to have less overt narrative however there are multiple scenes that inspired me. The villain of the movie, a deranged kidnapper and sexual deviant named Frank, had two or three captivating monologues. In my experience with video art I haven’t used sound, lately I experimented with white noise but now I feel compelled to write a narrative piece to be spoken alongside the video. This is conceptually opening; my earlier pieces relied on the way I moved and the props I used to tell the story but using an adjacent sound piece similar to a monologue means I can be more abstract in my performance. Another striking moment of the work is a scene wherein a friend of the villain pretends to sing a song, by lip-syncing, as a performance for said villain which causes them to break down and start to cry. What intrigues me about this is the idea of performing then having a viewer, or secondary characters, reaction become part of that performance. In a future video I’ll record both the video where I perform as both the article of the video and someone watching them, reacting to them and the combination of these performances will be the end result.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joohno: El Fin Del Mundo

On the top floor of the Tate, in Liverpool, was an exhibition called ‘News from Nowhere’ by the names aforementioned. Having done my research I see that this would be the artists first exhibition in the uk, but the work stands like it would deserve to be anywhere. This makes sense as a large part of the inspiration is about arts place in society, the impacts and ramifications thereof. Several videos occupy the space but the stand out piece sits alone, across two screens, in the back room. ‘El Fin Del Mundo’ – an utterly inspiring piece of video performance art. I often find that video is hard to display, you can do it on a screen or a projector and either way it’ll be in a dark room. El Fin Del Mundo, or The End of the World as it translates, breaks the mold slightly as it is played on two screens adjacent to one another. In physical function the piece has a dual narrative, two parallel tales that work at the same time and use the same accompanying sound piece. Technically speaking, the camera quality is top knotch, the acting is appropriate and the set design is perfect. Speaking in broad strokes, the movie details an artist working before the apocalypse, and someone analysing what the artist did after the apocalypse. In the pre-apocalyptic world you can see the struggle for ideas and that art is gratuitous to make, a luxury but one that I no intrinsically necessary to life that we must passionately labour for it. In the post-apocalyptic story the bare-needs of life are barely met; food comes in pill form and you must work tirelessly to earn it, its the exact opposite of the accompanying video. The bulk of this is told through set design, density in the pre and sparsity in the post. All this technical skill defines the meaning, to put it into a line; art is gratuitous but magical. When the world works, but is about to end, artists will aggressively churn out art to beg people to change their minds and find a different way to live that doesn’t end in nuclear damnation. It is hopeful and idealistic, but all art should be after-all, it exists to change minds. But when the world is fractured art still matters, you might not see it or understand it because survival is more pressing, but the magic WILL hit you. The movie translates this idea by a certain sequence that takes place across both halves of the piece; It begins with the artist creating a sculpture using fairy-lights, he turns them on then admires their glow, then he goes onto some other work. While he is working on other things, the analyst in the future finds the fairy lights and considers them. Just as she’s about to put them away they light up, magically, and she wears the as clothes, living the magic of art. She then goes back to her other work while the artist finishes his work and considers his dead dog (a while earlier we see that the dog is dead. There’s some atmosphere for a minute before the dog is seen alive and well, running across the screen. IT was a beautiful piece, it re-inspired why art matters to me. IT does change minds and should always exist for the wealth of ideas and idealism. Furthermore it has inspired me to work across multiple screens, something I had never considered before, to use multiple points of absorbtion to enhance the overall impact of a piece.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

27/03/2019 Mike Pratt:

Running: Enter the lecture hall! DARKNESS!!! It’s dark. The lecturer is hiding in the shadow like a bad dream or a wet fart. Projector is on but they aren’t using it yet, we have a nice view of their windows standard desktop and like three files. I’m predicting sculpture. Call it a hunch. Missed the name, not sure when they stopped putting it up. Someone from the uni is yelling out dates and times for events at us. Why is he yelling? There is a Mic RIGHT THERE. I can hear, what, three out of every ten words he bleats? Sit down fella. Gallery in Gent? Kent? Says he’s gonna go backwards through his timeline. Considers themselves a painter but who uses 3-D things as paint. So he’s a sculptor. They like ‘a certain sensibility that comes with painting’ which means they’re egotistic and elitist. Talking about how he comes up with ideas, values experimentation but sees that it lends to circular ideas. Prefers working within a box. Was working as a chef so named his work after cooking/kitchen phrases. I like that rejection of preciousness. Ugh he’s another ‘its more about the process’ types. I’m sick of them. Give me meaning; give me a point or a purpose, anything! Not just six wax heads sloppily lumped together cos its’ about ‘the purpose’. I hope that last quote comes out in a nasal mock. Reproduces older works but with different materials. Works within a theme; torsos, kitchen sinks, heads… Mind numbing. Why do we reward ‘nothing’ art? Why is that the academic peak? I criticized this like a month ago h but Jesus Christ is it still relevant. Art matters because it has matter, not cos it is made of matter. His emphasis on theme is evident, a lot of his works are monochromatic and heavily use one material with little trickle of five or six. What does it mean though? Jack shit. Actual paintings now, fingers crossed there’s something here I can work with. Paints over paintings he did earlier, layer after layer, actively refuting a subject matter. His words, not mine. Started putting text on top of the painting to give a view of depth, but ‘the words don’t matter, I find that they just trigger the brain to identify and look for more’. Okay, so you admit you have no depth. An absence of depth AS a meaning can work really well, but just cos you don’t have any depth means you have to give the illusion of depth. That’s all I have learned so far. Other paintings are large scale abstracts, in essence, wide colours atop bigger swathes. BORED. Thoughts: I was really bored during this lecture. Now, to be fair, I skipped breakfast and coffee so I wasn’t at one hundred percent, but still; nothing gripped me in a positive way in the slightest. The way I usually conduct these reviews is that I give my vague impression, a view in their technical side, a view on their motivations and meanings, and then I discuss what I can learn from them. This particular review will go differently: Technically speaking, their work was flat and dull; Pratt’s entire technical focus is on brief transient and purely visual themes. For a piece he would work in green, another would be wax… that’s it. The only depth that could be found is his paintings, the layer idea he has is interesting; if he made a layer of a subject, coated over it and then wrote something meaningful and relevant on top it would be gripping. He does not, he literally said he writes what looks interesting and he said nothing of the actual meaning, but that takes me to my next point. He has no meaning. As an artist he does not convey a message, a symbol, a point or otherwise statement. Mike makes vacuous noise. He isn’t an artist; he’s a man who paints. That’s all I can take from this lecture. They really need to start actually telling us their names before they begin speaking.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

20 MAR 19 Bee Hughes:

The projector shows a big ‘HELLO ’ which just hurts, it’s too early for cutesy shit. Someone at the door was giving out little artsy business cards with a Instagram handle on ‘em, guessing it’s this lecturers. They have a shaved head, a shirt and specs. I assume non-binary. Missed their name, though. Have a background in graphic arts. Won awards last night, says will go into shortly. Highly values collaborative work. ‘Art is a great way to engage with public but it gets harder to fund’. They speak quiet and fast, I’m missing a lot. Work is to challenge ideas. I just heard her mention Amanda Atkinson, I know her (my partners aunt). Work is feminist; points out problems women face in tampon costs and alike, much about menstruation, brings up that people can ONLY ever talk about periods and associative products is in advertising. Very good point, good to make people think about. Used her Vulva to make a print each day for eight months to hard-core document her biological flow, point he shifts and change that aren’t talked about and are societally shunned. They’re talking about sexism within Carrie. Hysterical women, they’re bad omens and when they’re on their period they’re simply irrational and basically a psycho monster. Will consider later. Still talking about menstruation and period poverty, discrimination and demonization of periods (those are the big words I can currently hear) but they’ve gotten quieter. Probably think they’re taking too long. This angle of work is so discriminated and laughed at by so many people in mass media, ‘feme Nazis’ and ‘Tumblr sjw’s’ get called preachy and burnt at the stake, but the way that this individual discusses these issues is very calm, relaxed and level. I really hope no one hear is just laughing at them. Though, they just said ‘patriarchy’ so, you know, good luck to ‘em. Makes their work ‘modular’, as often they make large work or articles with blood on them, displaying and exhibiting can be hard so they ake things able to be used individually. This note I enjoy. Had a soundpiece talking about periods in short sharp sentences. Period pain. Period blood. Some girl. Long period. Young girls. Stopped periods. The audio backdrop was echoed breathing. Will dissect later. As a biological male I find it hard to identify with immediately. Really enjoys using their feminine body in their work, used their back to write a poem and used the vagina prints for similar work (didn’t hear much detail) but it’s a very involved physical approach. Review: Bee is a busy one; the way she discussed her work leads one to think she has never sat still, rather she’s passionately and consistently been producing work. Technically speaking I don’t know that her works live up to the intention. The sound-piece she described and the vulva prints come from good inspiration but they aren’t new or original. Casting the vagina has been all over the place over the last ten years or so, printing is not so far afield. The repetition is interesting, if it had greater development it would be stronger, following the running narrative of her vagina would create a commentary that could be applied to lot of her ideas. As for the sound-piece, well, I was born a boy and can’t identify with it too much. Empathy gets me a modicum of understanding, comparison to my own chronic issues gets me further, but honestly it’s just lost on me. I don’t actually fault her technique for that, though, I routinely fail to sympathise with sound-art. Just not my wavelength. Her meaning is good, feminist intention is always valuable. I really didn’t realise that periods are mentioned only in advertising. Bit of an eye-opener there, but its right, menstruation is a dirty dark secret until someone can make money off of it then it’s all mother nature and femininity. This point in particular really taught me the value of really picking apart what inspires you and refining how you consider it.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

20/02/2019 Louise Giovanelli

20/02/2019 Louise Giovanelli Running: I haven’t written one of these in a hot minute. That’s due to a funky mix of being ill, hungover and the lecturers not using the damn microphone. Either way, today I’m adamant that I will get the shit lectured out of me. Before beginning there is a slide projected on-screen. It’s not got the right lighting balance to be really visible. She has the same hair and jumper as my flatmate, which is a lil trippy. Maybe I’m superimposing it onto her, maybe I can’t see cos I’m near the back, but she looks grumpy when she looks over us. It’s a mixture of contempt and superiority. Maybe I’m just tired as heck today. She dimmed the lights which usually annoy me, but I’m noting into my laptop so it doesn’t hurt me this time. Her brief overview: studio in Manc, started in a school in Frankfurt for her MA, wants to talk us thru the process, Chronological look at her work. Processes of work – Oil painting. First slides are of a plant and a fish-box. Photographs to base paintings. Tells us to inseminate ideas through Making rather than JUST THINKING. Valuable notion, actually. Intentionally uses simple subject matter. Hence plant + Box. More pics, manipulating balloons and other miscellanea from charity shops. Photographs bred an interest in physical relation to an object, how a figure functions along within space. Especially with transient objects. Fleeting objects. Goal became to give permanence to the objects via being held in often futile and odd ways. Paints very illustratively, accurate and realistic. Almost a combination of modern sensibility being yeeted at classic respectfulness. Then she became interested in the material of paint. Light, form, texture. With the prior focus being on Permanence, the lack thereof and trying to enforce it with paint it is clear how the paint itself became the next foci. She repainted the same paintings many times. How did she afford that oil paint. Paints the same painting, not the same object, but the painting 4-5 times. Became more interested in colour and painting jessos (don’t know that) and played with pigments. Nerdy painting, academic practise approach, irrelevant to me. She wanted her paintings to be harmonious and level. Arrangement significance. Interested in art history. Tuning out until she gets back to what might apply to me. I do like that she values the stories behind the paintings rather than the artist’s biography. She did end up keeping to what didn’t really apply to me, but overall she projected herself as a classic painter brought to the modern era. Thoughts: The entire value of this lecture can be summed up in a sentence; it reminded me to DO WORK. Doing WORK is being an artist and creates a snowball effect generating more ideas, which become even more WORK and so on. High value notion, overall, but then there’s Louise as an artist; just dull, simply and entirely dull. All the WORK they produce is only WORK. As in labour, no value or function just simple labour without depth. Technically she is very strong, capable of WORKing in a variety of mediums. Her skill is strong, the photos and paintings each describe a powerful eye for composition. Variety seems to the only failing in this regard. Then again, her WORK is strong enough, visually, that it doesn’t need a broad spectrum. My big critique is that Giovanelli is not a professional WORKing artist; she’s a professional WORKing art Student. With all her dialogue about permanence you would think she cared, but from the way it was delivered it felt like a student giving a presentation saying all the right buzzwords to get high marks. She reminds me of students that I’ve always disliked, the ones that have create vacuous nothings but know just the right way to describe and develop work to maximise their grade, but they don’t actually care for the art. To summarise my whole impression; there are artists, writers and all creative types that produce the work they love … and then there are people who make good WORK. Don’t get me wrong, I still plan to engage in my WORK in a similar way to her; making WORK to generate the next ideas. Only difference is that I’ll make WORK that has meaning.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

27/02/2019 Yellow Canvas: Too Late To Care?

Yellow Canvas is an art-collective that I’m a member of, so far we’ve worked mostly on social media but recently we’ve had an exhibition. ‘Too Late To Care’ took place between seven and nine P.M within the John Lennon building. The exhibitions title is in reference to censorship debates, particularly the one regarding Tumblr, and how it is still a relevant topic despite some folks arguing the contrary. I thought it might be valuable to review my own work exhibited here, given how rarely a chance to properly exhibit work comes up. ‘Box up my hed’ is the name of the work I exhibited, 9:34 long video projected onto a white wall. I was fortunate in that whoever used this space before me had worked with projection, so the area had black paper draped from the ceiling to darken this little section. Even luckier there were a number of unused empty boxes lying around I had to surround my projector with. As the name suggests a large aspect of my work is box and boxes, so the surrounding boxes came in helpfully to bring the theme beyond the video and physically into the room. The only issue I had with the manner my work was displayed was that it was next to the door, which is because that’s where the black draping was, so my work almost had to go there. This gave the issue that my work took attention before people reached the descriptions of work and the statements regarding the exhibition. I imagine this could unfairly skew reception of the gallery as a whole. My current work focuses on Identity, how an individual knows that they are perceived so they’ll try to be perceived a certain way. The difference between who someone wants to be and what they actually are being is fascinating; my work revolves around this concept and describes it through narrative. ‘Box up my hed’ tells this story in six acts within the context of ‘being an artist’. I am the only actor, or individual on screen at all, and I used boxes, a painting, and countless photo-copies of the painting and some art books as props, among the work. Each act is reflective of things I identify artists having to do to declare themselves as, identify as or feel justified in being An Artist. Delivery is surreal and it almost parodies the notion of ‘Artist’. Having never used film and editing software before I was working out of my element which leads to cringe-worthy cuts and strange angles, it felt juvenile. Specifically there are several moments where, during a longer shot, I would edit in a short and striking action intended to shake and surprise the viewer, however it just looked like dated efforts at psychological thriller. Overall, the biggest value to the exhibition was the experience of managing our own work almost independently; we worked with our curator and assisted each-other in displaying work.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Rosa Johan Uddoh 28 NOV 18

Notes: Nice hair, long socks. Technical snafu, not her fault, late start tho. Quiet voice, starting with a song she performed as an exhibition. Her and two backup dancers do the song in front of a statue. They wear red, no shoes, and seem to have milk cartons/juice boxes worn as fascinators on their heads. Good performative presence, not the best voice, but that could be the mic/speaker quality. Was done over by the Tate, just the other day even. Rosa explores her concepts through fleeting, momentary characters s an effort of de-Colonialisation. Explored the objectification of her body by using it as a mold to create ceramic from. Plates an shit. Used them at dinner parties. Likes the concept of intimacy between inanimate object and a person. IT gives the object presence, charges them with an energy. Project; Guyhouse (I think that’s what she said, I coughed at the time she named it) based on an event that occurred. While she was in Cuba a sleazy guy was chatting to her, he mentioned that black slaves would use their thighs as molds for roof tiles. She talks about the guy with contempt, guessing he was tryna, with a gross opener. In response she began a workshop, where she and other black women would gather and make tiles together, using thighs as molds, but she made it about the communion of shared experience and frinedship-building. Like the reclamation. Made a point of exhibiting the thigh tiles in a gallery with focus on black feminism, it’s got me wondering about where and how to exhibit or display my work. Suits the Panto! Act 1: Windrush Scandal, Act 2: Who we are as a couple. Performance piece. The scandal was where a black family visited Jamaica via windrush, but couldn’t get back into the UK cos the office had lost their documentation. The fam was shipped back to Jamaica despite their home and life being in the UK. Days later Meghan Markel married prince Harry. I assume that’s the focus of Act 2. Act 1 consists of her having her hair blow-dried straight while the audio, from around her ears, was delivered to the viewers. Act 2 works with a number of helpers, of intentionally varying race and etc. all dressing up as parts of Meghan, person 1 would be the hand, 2 the head and etc. Rosa herself was dressed as a smaller Meghan, playing the flute to this larger Meghan. Thoughts: Today we were sang to a surprising amount, both well and poorly. I like Rosa’s performative approach; it’s very vocal and just abstract enough to keep interest while delivering her actual opinions and values. Thematically she also has good grounds, black feminism will be relevant and in need of more artistic rep for, well, ever if we aren’t lucky. Suits the Panto! Struck me more than anything else among her work, particularly the second half, the performative composition was strong. Having the tiny Meghan Markle, played by Rosa herself, almost try to charm the large, semi-amorphous as though charming a snake is such a bizarre vision. Furthermore, the way you can see into the puppet, granting visibility of the faces piloting the limp shape, added that unique behind-the-scenes style view that disillusions performance just enough to grant it significance. Overall, the effect was strong. The former half I found weaker, however this wasn’t due to its substance. In-fact, I like the substance, however it would only stand as a standalone sound-art piece. Perhaps playing as background accompaniment to a visual experience would do it better than preceding the more striking visuals, sounds and sensation of Act two. Order was the downfall, although, this ‘Acts’ concept has given me ideas on how to sequence my own work. After typing this I’m going to re-edit my last video, compiling it into smoothly transitioning acts, rather than the disjointed scramble it happens to be presently. Presentation and format are the elements she’s most inspired me in, format being the aforementioned sequence focus, presentation being locational. As Rosa parted she offered some advice regarding functioning as an acting artist, the most valuable piece being t consider where you perform (if you perform, of course), as locational relevance can make or break the reaction to a piece. It may not be the meaning or drive that influence the reaction half as much as the location, surrounding fact and history.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Chris Alton 21 NOV 18

Notes: Actually had his name on the screen at the start. I like that, wish more of ‘em made it obvious off-the-bat. He’s fiddling with the lights, dimming and shit, I really hope he keepd them on. Had to miss last weeks cos I couldn’t make notes (all lights were off and weird music had my attention all fucked over) and I don’t wanna miss another. Fucking nightmare. He’s a head of Artist Turf Projects? Will research. Middlesex uni, second year he started a project about Antifa, again will research, all anti fascism. Nice, I’m startin to like the fella. Involved in many protests, fighting against right groups. Yale Biruma? Europe will be stunned? Research later. Lot of that going on, today. Began a social media following called EDL to fight the EDL. His version was English Disco Lovers, and he was fighting the English Defence League. Very fun, cool . Fought them on account of them being fascists and wrongly-right. Political boy. Made memes following this idea, meanwhile he learnt about the origins and basis of disco and compared it to his quaker upbringing. Began to understand the basis of disco, where its from. The word itself comes from nazi-occupied france, where jazz and soul music was banned due to its association with black and jewish culture. Folks had to go to underground cafes, called discoteques, to listen, and over time it evolved. Discoteques themselves became safe havens. Got so big, with his EDL, that folk began turning up to protest the bad EDL in disco gea, playing music and dancing along. Gained google fame, people sang and danced in rebellion. People within began self organising, without his direct input, they only asked for his permission. All function as anti-racist, anti-fascist units. Good boy, I like him a lot. Time for a video about his good EDL. There’s a buff white guy flexing, gtting ready for a day out. Saluting Churchill. Wearing an English flag as a cape, probably the bad EDL type. Pints with mates. Its all to a song? On a bus, clapping and hugging with more pals. Drinking a lot of pisswater. Left the bus cos of roadworks? He’s now at the good EDL area, looking confused. Now he’s dancing along with the disco lovers. The colour turned over-saturated. All happy dancing together. Theres a riot nearby, the bad EDL I think. Ends with him saluting both Churchill and a woman I do not recognise. The band was called Let the Machines do the Work, they made that music video with about 400 quid and filmed it all at an actual EDL (the bad one) rally. I think this guy loves poking at patriotic identity. Don’t hate; Gyrate. He makes art in a targeting, antagonistic way. I really like that. He finds something flawed and pokes it with a stick relentlessly, I love it. People, movements or even a bench, such as Camden Bench. Made a fake, unreal band ‘Trident’ with his mates as a jab at Michael Ashcroft. The artist should bite the hand that feeds it but not too hard. When the Ashcroft work as displayed the gallery refused to exhibit any work with his name on it, for fear of repercussion, on account of Ashcroft having wealth and power. They feared his influence, so they penalised the art. In retaliation Chris wore a t-shirt, to the opening night, saying ‘Don’t talk about Michael Ashcroft’. Fucking stellar. Thoughts: I like Chris, I love his motivations and the ways he’s gone about his practise. Inspiration is something I have difficulty finding, but Alton has got me some…granted, it makes me wanna turn my practise on its head hard-core, but then you do have to shake things up now and then. There are four ways I particularly adore his work; Firstly, it’s all a bit tongue and cheek. There’s jokes had, laughs made and a fun time had by all, but the important, meaningful matter still powers through. This is a rare and powerful skill, good satire is hard to find and it often has an issue I’ll bring up next. For example, his English Disco Lovers is such a fun little jab that snowballed in the most organic way possible, all because it was funny in just the specifically right way, and it was relatable. Secondly, he knows where to quit and mix things up; a lot of media, satire and other artistic output, overstays its welcome to the point of self-parody, which can work, now and then, but Chris knows when to adjust his approach and try new things. English Disco Lovers reached a point where, for Chris, it became a bit too much, the sheer scale of his influence, the threats he received for it, along with the duration of the project, had ran out his effective time working hands on at it. He bugged out at the most effective time. Lastly, he was down to earth. This is a compliment I feel gets washed over as a non-compliment, but in a successful artist it can be hard to spot. Also, I really mean it; he mentioned the random chance influences on his work, such as having a surprise forty eight hours to produce work as an interview, and the uncertainty of how he approached his work. There is immense pressure, within creative practise, to know front-to-back what and who you are, how you stand among your peers and why you’re the one who should be seen and heard, but that is all bollocks. Alton knows it, he rocks it and helps remind us budding students that it is okay. As for the aforementioned inspiration, well, it’s that I plan to get political. See, his work has a point. Statements and meanings all over the place, it gets people thinking, I realised this and I was struck with an overwhelming sense of futility. Not in life, but my work. Sure, it’s fun, it’s my style and it interests me, hell I’m even trying new things and experimenting…but to what end? That’s the inspiration. Alton has me wanting to make a difference again, so I’m going to start looking into politics more, finding out what needs to be screamed and find my way to shriek, well, so to speak. The point is to draw reference to bad things and bad people, tell everyone they’re bad, and have fun while doing it. I’m gonna do that, god knows how but eh, I’ll rustle up something.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Lacopo Seri 24 OCT 2018

Thoughts: In todays lecture, we all screamed together. So, based on his presentation alone, I really like this guy. The entire lecture hall was engaged, I mean it wasn't the most informative or descriptive lecture in th world, but we had fun! I went in incredibly grumpy, due to lack of sleep and fatigue (too many late nights) but I left kinda bouncy, very perked, with a multitude of ideas for communal and group art performances. As for his work, what he did at the presentation today (notes and descriptons below) was a pretty good description of applicable communication. The way he interacted with the students really showed that language isn' necesary, that it can often only border and box people as seperate. Fun and laughs can be had by all, it only takes listening and acting. It sparked ideas within me about how to really enage the viewer, or potential viewers, and make them notice. Granted, I'm a much less confidant type than him, but all things begin from a starting point. Seri has an online portfolio I took a look at, further cemeinting his performative image. A work wherein he hired himself out, for five euros an hour, to be a generic-type artst really spoke to me; my current work being about identity, within artists, and its value. See, his performance here was just a demonstration about how futile and not-art commercialism makes art. In his own words, he was both exploited and the exploiter, which describes the absent meaning to the art he created, and to being an 'artist' as a whole. I also really enjoyed a pice wherein he got a lot of people to anonymously write up their masturbatory practice, then randomly allocate someone to read out the dirty doings. Again, I see the emphasis on identity here, the notions of secrets and the hidden-self come through strongly. BAsically, I like the guy a lot and am gonna spend a while looking through his work, tonight, so good job. I'll be humming nonsense all day... Notes: The bloke is Italian and looks like that guy from Fab 5. Y'know, the annoying one. Good start. Forewarnin', underslept and tired. Big headache. Maximum cynicism, minimum effort. Video seeming to be playing on projector, of hands- He cut us off by making us all move closer. Dick. From here he REALLY looks like that guy... Anyway, video seems to have stopped. Actually he also has a vague look of Aiden Turner, too, like if he and Fab dude has a lovechild. Seri took over Playhouse bar, during Biennial, and made a rule that you could only talk about philosophy. Also, on every subject change you gotta drink. Cool. It's fuckin' finally starting, yikes. He's so quiet...also not talking english. I don't think he's talking italian? Maybe mumbo but could be italian. Immensely gestural, his tone and pace are very flippant. I like it, its hyper-communacative. Nw he's just dtood humming. His video still isn't playing but now everyone is humming with him? I musta missed something while writing. He's getting everyone to hum a tune together, it feels very wholesome. So far I'm guessing his focus is group vibes, his drinking piece being a social game, along with todays excersize, screams group vibes. So, now he's pointing at folks near the front and making them be high pitch. Thank god I'm near the back, I haven't been able to touch that note since I was six. Maybe his work is more about language and its application in society, the boundaries it makes and the ways it isn't needed? Now we are clapping in sync. Yeah, he's cool, shame I'm so tired that I'm not mega-game for his fun. Next up is clapping, blowing-raspberries and humming together, in sync and out of sync. Whoa, now it's meowing and barking at one another, this guy is a wild one. Hah, he's straight up speaking like a dog, its brilliant. Ah, his video was a projection of some paper on the desk by the front all along, now he's drawing out lines that direct the notes we all hum. He drew some scribbles, which we sung, and also like a house. Damn.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Jade Monserrat 17 OCT 18

Thoughts: Montserrat could write an amazing book, but couldn’t present to safe her ass. During the entire lecture, a long one at that, she was talking from a tablet. Notes and bullet-points are great memory joggers and organisational aides, but only if they assist rather than dictate. When reading from a script it must be written to be spoken, not just written. Her words, points and values were all very cool, and I like her intent, but my god if the delivery wasn’t so heavy that if you dropped it it would crack pavement. Were her ideas written in a book it would read well, but throwing all the big words together when smaller ones would do the exact same job only implies that you’re insecure in your point, trying to sound extra smart for credibility’s sake or that you’re bullshitting. Granted, her purpose has had much conflict and has been widely contested over the years, so some leeway is granted, yet I would argue that a spade is just a spade. Her focus and goals were demonstrations and rebellions for the sake of social justice, namely championing black rights and feminism (also how the two coalesce), which I absolutely advocate. I actively would make art on the subject, problem is I am a very white, very middle class penis-having fellow, and can’t really carry a torch past being an ally. To critique her art I have few options, as we only saw the one piece projected onto the wall, a piece wherein she wrote a list of lines/quotes on a plain white wall in black charcoal/ink while she was naked, then an aging white guy, fully dressed, cam and rubbed it all off. I listed a number of the lines below. This performance didn’t enamour me with her artistic practise, as I don’t think it displayed her point well; some quotes felt kinda poignant while others felt lacking and needing context, the nudity and scaffold (used to reach the upper wall) only felt like a distraction and detrimental to the point. However, I’ve seen her work performed live where similar work happens, but to an audience, which I feel makes her work stronger. The intimate setting makes her delivery seem intimate and directed, it sits better in my mind and feels much more impactful, which often is the only point of art. If I’m to critique her modus operandi it would be insulting her interest in art history, where her degree is and a large focus of her inspiration draws from, which doesn’t bother me at all. Colonialisation and institutionalisation were words used a great number of times, with both valid and pale effect. How racism was, and is, intrinsic to governments, law enforcement and all walks of life impact her a lot, which is good, she makes good points on the matter, when you can parse them from her dense messages, my problem is the area she emphasises; the past. Slavery and loss/change of culture, with all the social displacement that comes with, which was really bad and everyone knows it was bad, but it is less important than talking about the ways slavery has led to current black poverty and crime. Speak of that, critique that and fight that, not a bunch of dead wads. To conclude, I like her goal but her methods are hit and miss. All her ideas are good, bar one I’m probably bias about; I think you should talk to whites about race. How can I, without being informed and educated about, know the ins and outs of racial and feminist struggles? Personally, I’ve never known poverty and have had a million opportunities to squander. Truly, the world is my oyster, through no action of my own. I’m definitely racist in a bunch of ways I don’t know, I’m definitely sexist too, but not for lack of trying not to be. A perfect world would have a year-long course where you are taught and learn of the struggles and cultures of each background and walk of life, I’d aggressively embrace that opportunity if it existed, but it doesn’t and I can only know so much. But, artistically speaking, she is sound, I like her, like her goals, I think the quotes on her wall were a little cliché and weird but I get the goal. I can’t really take much from her work because, well, she wouldn’t want me to. I have some ideas on how to inventively use making-then-unmaking in my work, but that’s all, folks. Notes: Before she started there’s a photo being projected of a man (I think) hiding behind some scaffolding, looks kinda cool. Does a bit of all types of art, eclectic practise, paint, sculpt and perform, etc. I’m a bit far back, really hope she uses the mic. Institute & care at the Bluecoat? Will have to look into. Has cool, very long, hair. Ah, the still picture was actually a video of a woman I believe Jade herself but I’m too far back to see. She’s painting on a wall, words and lines, will list later. She ain't using the mic :( Art history degree, very academic? I SAW A VIDEO OF HER LAST WEEK, doing the same performance as in the video but live. Cool. Emphasis on breaking instutionalised racism. How it’s hard to wriggle out from, and when you talk to white folks about it they shrug off the blame, “I’m not an institution I’m not racist”, but that is institutionalised itself. Relates her wok to ‘Why I don’t talk to white people about race’. Her presentation is an odd delivery, she’s reading from a tablet and it’s well written but inorganic and not a ‘presentation’. Its good cos it’s all encompassing and gets all her words in, would get a lot of marks, but it sucks to hear. That’s the art history student, nerdy. ‘Artists have no impact on the value of art’. Relatable, that much I agree on. ‘Art has no value in Marxist terms’, neither does much, is the issue with Marxist terms. Like four people would actually matter and only two would like it. I like her views on art as a profession; she’s all about making it a viable career path for more peeps, from all walks too. She’s a little funny too. I can’t digest her text, though, the delivery is TOO dense. Gonna see if I can get a copy of what she’d read from. ‘The north Yorkshire rural landscape is a testimony of territories’ fuck yeah, it’s a xenophobic cesspit, they chuffin ‘ate enyone ‘oo ehn’t lahk ‘em. Legit though, they love cis-whites and a pint of bitter. That’s it. An aspect of her affinity for identity work is that she doesn’t know her father, merely notions of his race and origins. She feels a name for a government group made for the betterment of the community, e.g.: commonwealth, is just an empty benevolent gesture. I like that. Words from her video: -The mundane few -broken something on these men -They insist on being alone -The significance which is always difficult to grasp. -execute certain individuals. -Reasoning is assimilated. -its Justness must not be questioned -The existence of a given object -phobia of all proven conversation Now a white dude is rubbing it all off the wall. Also, I should google multi-directional memory.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Joseph Noonan Ganley - 10 OCT 2018

Thoughts: Ganley, I feel, has strong internal direction, with very decisive intent. Although, despite all his talking I’m still not certain what his underlying intent is… Early, during the morning, we were informed his intent and angle was ‘appropriation and fashion’, and the latter is far more apparent than the former. Dresses were a focal point of both his videos and installation pieces, as were other textile materials, this is the fashion, but where is the appropriation? Maybe he does it in a format I’ve been unable to interpret as appropriation but otherwise, I’m blind to it. To use the unchanged words of another, to read from them and draw work is, inherently, not appropriation. Its mimicry, inspiration or some word I don’t know. Maybe I should make one up for it, make Shakey Spears proud. Also, I’m uncertain I see the value of following te deceased to the point of failing to form your own identity. Everyone knows you can’t hide in a shadow forever, so when you wrap yourself in one you seal your mediocre fate. Abouts this thought, I decided to research some of Ganley’s other work, leading me to ‘The Secret Language of Elzabeth Tolbert’ and ‘My Father Rehearsal’. Perhaps myself and his work speak separate languages, but I can’t really see them for looking. There is the same textural emphasis and use of recorded word, but it feels very, very similar. But, see, the bulk of my confusion lies in his idea that his voice must function as a protagonist, to connect his viewer to his work, his materials, so that the two may commune. In my opinion, as I’ve seen evidenced countless times over the years, communication with art goes like this: you take a piece in, by whichever sense/s the piece can be absorbed by, then you feel the piece, then you consider it. This all happens within maybe, at most, five seconds (continuous or performative pieces, however, happen as an infinitely repeated series of these steps, which culminates into a broad-intake). Using his voice as a protagonist only, really, makes his piece hit another sense, I don’t believe the excerpts Ganley uses or their medium of delivery elevate the interpretation of his work significantly. Then again, it did give me a headache, so with momentary-bias aside I can appreciate that audio elements can bring new levels into work. As for what I’ll learn from him, well, I’m not too certain how I can relate my practise to his. My work is very internal, objectively myself and representations thereof. Joseph expresses himself through admiration and expression of other, famous and dead individuals. Very different angles there, however he does make me want to learn and understand the few characters that do inspire me more deeply, which has always been a weakness of mine. In the end, at least I’ll never assault a very dark room full of hungover and tired fellows with bass, like he did, and there we have it. Lesson learned. Notes: I feel as though I made more notes than I gained from, last lecture, so this time I'll attempt to be more decisive, really cut to whats useful. Told this'll be a 'practise overview'. Ganley is based in London, from Ireland. Likes appropriation art and fashion. The dude looks a *little* like a dweeb. If he wore any colour he'd look less dweeby, but the teeny specs, neat hair and oh so generic black duds.... Wants us to do the first bit of work: 1: Write the name of someone in the room. 2: Write something about them. 3: Pass it to someone we don't know. To what end, I wonder. He's turned the fuckin lights off, the div. (Notes may be innaccurate/incorrectly interpreted hence, owing to the sodding lights being off) Says he's better at being asked questions than presenting himself. Meand he's shy/arrogant/likes it when people look interested. Might say he's doing it for other people, or apprival, maybe for a reaction. Follows folks he find interesting (I assume 'interesting' means 'like him', or at least in his eyes) but that are dead. Visits archives, reads all relevant books. Very...intellectual? No. od whas the word, it's all book-learnin' and shit. ACADEMIC. The guy is academic. Femme Fabrications? Thats his work. He's showing us a still-image, of some kind. The dark is making note-making difficult. Using my phone-light here, darkness is really strong for intimacy with performative or dynamic presentations but when you're reading about pictures it feels utterly irritating, without a redemptive factor. What about that little task he asked of us, though? I'm holding this paper waiting for a reward. Was it just to seem performative? Now he plays an audio excerpt, autobiographic narrative, inspired by Joseph Cornell, his subject of research. HE's using his own voice as a medium to 'protagonist his materials to form attachment to the viewer'. Cool notion, ish. Pictures from his installation, displayed, also seem to be in darkness. It looks like its for delicate emphasis, but I wonder if it's a performative note on how this guy likes his voice to be heard. Like here, we're dark and he's taling, just like his exhibition. 'Death is preferable to a loss of innocence' I reckon he is obsessed with perception, how a viewer can communicate with his work. I can respect that modus operandi. Another clip...the darkness, sharp audio and bright, flashing imagery is giving me a fierce headache. I feel like he’s trying to sex his voice up, its all low and gravelly compared to him in person. Maybe he had a cold? Either way it sounds forced, like’s he’s too into ASMR. More Cornell direct biography. Not sure what his goal is, what he’s trying to put across. Communication with audience is his goal, but to communicate what? Video. More of the same. Getting dull. This vid was at the end of his installation, bares some of Cornell’s intimate secrets and facts. His videos strange audio, with its rapid pitch shifts and unpredictable tempo changes, was actually modulated and altered zip sounds. Would be cool if it wasn’t a cacophony of bass-overloads and wailing shrieks.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Heath Bunting - 03 OCT 2018

Review: So today we got mumbled at by a very arrogant man, with a shiny head and some actually good ideas...but perhaps the worst execution I've yet seen. I'm really not a fan, his delivery was poor and his art tended to be between 'bad' to 'dangerous'. In all fairness, the man IS a terrorist. Well, not anymore, not legally. His work has cosistantly had the goal of undermining 'the system', taking power away from large corporations, and generally flipping off the status quo. The methods he used were really innapropriate to be honest, incorrect and the wrong type of dangerous. Most notably, his bio-weapon (as described below) is the strongest example of the sheer endangerment Heath doesn't care for potentially putting people in. It defines snipping the nose to fuck-off the face. Worst of all; his motivation is good! Genuinely, I agree with every core idea, what he's wanted to do and say, but his fucking work is awful. It forgoes consequence and repurcussion for the sake of being a bold statement. It doesn't only cross legal and visionary lines, it crosses moral and humanitarian ones. Infuriatingly, the bulk of his presentation was autobiographical in nature, spoken more pride than I knew someone could deliver in mumble. For my last personal attack I'll call him over-priveliged, because he acts so. I tried looking into his education and background to justify such a claim, but he's hard to find. Maybe that's the terrorism? Who knows...that said, he was living on the streets for a while. Eh, whatever, he acts like he can afford any consequence, so I'll treat him as such. Learing is the key to these lectures though, and I've learned a big one; don't be this guy. I'm gonna thoroughly consider the repurcussion of my art, my ideas and creatie functions just so I won't be like him. Our ambitions run a little paralell, so I'll keep my scale in check. In saying that I find my most significant issue; I think I'm a little liek this guy. Just maybe, if I was born in his time, I'd have been framed for planting a bomb too... We can only dream. Notes from Lecture: So, A.I. This guy is gonna do a Skynet. Hope whatever he does is cool, A.I is fascinating shit. Career history; Commercial Artist, Poliitical Artist then Military Artist? Or Martial, apparantly. He sounds bored. Like his own voice is droning him into dust. And Kinda uncertain, but then again, presenting sucks. Feel ya, bud. Says he's currently training artists in outdoor survival and security? Bit of a weird one that. Okay so he has a massive list of shows and exhibitons he's done, projected at the wall, from like the 80's to the now'ties. Massive tho, seriously. MASSIVE. Young life involved his reletionship with authority. Noting that is either his whole point, or arrogance. Sounds like he doesn't like that it was like that, by his tone, however. The guy was homeless in europe, he begged nd stole until he realised he needed a trade. Began making lil things (no picture and he didn't even describe them)from collected shards of glass from bottles, windows and shit. Lead him to learning about staining glass, performative and comission-driven. Says the most valuable thing he learnt was how to sell. He's sounding SOOO bored. Apparantly he went thru that before going back to the streets, to be a street artist. Claims he was reacting to how it was "illegal to be young in the 80's". Don't know if thats much changed, nowadays it's illegal to get experience. His tone is turning prideful. Thank god he's less dull. Dude threatened some police with a hammer when they thought he was stealing some glass, but he claims this made him seem more innocent. Going on about how fighting implies innocence yet submitting suggests guilt. He's white, though, rozzers would have beaten the hell out of him if he was black or middle eastern. Privelidged fuck. Getting done with him tbh. He started working with chalk, says he got in less trouble this way. Now, earlier he was banging on about the trouble he got in and he was so proud, now he's going against it. I mean, he was gonna attack a cop. Got soft? The long list of exhibitions and shows displayed is in an odd format: -Work Title, Vague what-it-is, Location, Funded by (x). Most x's say 'None, none, none'. Either this is something I don't quite get, or he's an arrogant prick. Quote: "Has anyone heard of a bulletin board?" You condescending shit, half of us may be millenials, but we aren't media blind. Jesus. In the mid 00's he made 'Internet Art'. Made this site where it asked people if they'd see it's URL written in chalk anywhere, if so when and where. Meh, kinda cool for its time. Starts claiming it's a statement about how media makes your work worse. See, buddy, publiscity tends to be bad if A: Your work sucks. B: You are incable of receiving criticism. C: You don't actually like your work. The man is so tiresome. It's getting like rhetoric, he isn't repeating the same few words over and over but GODDESS does it feel like it. Plants? Zoned out for a sec and now we're on plants. Cool. 'If you can make a plant a super-food (by genetic engineering and breeding) then you can make a weed a super-weed, and you should, for the balance' (Not a literal quote, but the gist) But...but people need food? Not weeds? This dude says he did this to attack some food company who were trying to dominate the market, which is a good principal, but his means are awful. He's made this weed a "Weaponized bio product". That is indeed a middle finger at the company...and everyone who eats food. So, like, everyone. Congrats, guy, you're a dick. Any clue what would happen if his weapon fell into the wrong hands? Probably something not-great. When someone from Copenhagen, Denmark, offered to put his weapon into a missile (an actual rocket-powered missile) he said that was too far. I don't like him. Another project, guides for how to cross illegal borders. Kinda cool, still relevant as hell today. Ah, now he's a superior atheist. That's all my patience can handle.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Between you and me and everything else, by Leo Fitzmaurice - 02 Oct 2018

Exhibition: So as part of a workshop thingy today I met my Tutor in this little exhibition at Room 9 of the Walker Art Gallery. t consists of this room, rectangular, with all these seemingly (be ready of a lot of 'seemingly') random portraits from a bunch of different, seemingly unrelated artists, scattered across the walls seemingly bereft of pattern, logic or order. All over the place. Fascinating, yeah? Until you see the last painting in the room, the only piece found on the eastern wall, displaying a woman sat on a beach facing away. There's a quirky contrast between all these faces and the rear of this chicks head. I didn't actually look around the room until my tutor was halfway done talking, but the eyes of one wall struck me, all seemingly looking at the same thing. Sounds creepy, but nah, see, when you follow their lines of vision they all coalesce right at that solitary bird with her back to the viewer. Striking concept, work from all over the place (Philip Sutton, William Roberts, Thomas Hargreaves...), of all different time periods, movements and shit, without a link all brought to one shared thought. I was amazed, but then it went downhill. Firstly, when you stand where the girl being scrutized by all the portraits is you don't feel looked at; I trotted on over to it, excited to be weirded out, but they all seemed to be looking behind me. Probably should've felt even more unsettling, but dissapointment tends to overrule. Secondly, I picked up the little booklet about the collection; It begins with where he studied, which always puts me off, then it goes into weird details about the room. "At first glance Room 9 looks so much like many others ... look closely and you'll notie something unusual" Thats sucking your own dick a bit much, eh? Every where else in the Walker is neatly organised, the paintings hung in uniform alignment and the rooms thematically matching, by era or movement. It's clear that something is 'up'. The booklet also has a quote from Fitzmaurice: "I'm fascinated with things that have a front and a back. We're very 2D creatures, slightly asymmetrical with a front and a back. We make so many things in our own image." A statement I would enjoy and agree with, if the work intended to show this did. The work makes statments about perspective, insight and perhaps identity. The front back element is so on the nose its useless. 'Oh yo lemme get like fifteen fronts and one bak, yeah, thats humanity. Aren't I clever' Thoughts: I did a little research into good ole Leo, and he has a common denominator. Space, use of space. Using space weird. Making sace work in ways you didn't know it could. Thinking outside the box. Thinking outside another box. Making a third box, putting the first box in it then making a fourth box and deliberating which box to put in box four while box two is a room away, filled with ants and entirely on fire. Or some shit. The exhibitons I found were namely 'All in the Mind' and 'Up in the Air'. Think about these names and what clever little trick, some child cartoon level plot twist, you could attribute to each. The former took place in an unused mental asylum, the latter in a high-rise flat block. Shocking, eh? Its kind of a cheap trick, but still has A value, though. There's a community element to all his work however, which is respectable. Shared art is a cool concept. However, about Room 9... In terms of concept, very cool. The sheer weird and enrapturing factor of having the paintings chucked about the room, in such fierce juxtoposition to every room you go through to see this one, is brilliant. The slow discovery of the paintings eye lines matching up to figuring out that they're all looking at the same focus is a fun and thought provoking journey. But does it do what the artist wanted? I don't reckon so. Room 9 screams attention, exploration of space and, like so many installations, it challenges how you view art and galleries. It gives me ideas for putting work up in a gallery where maybe you can only see it from one spot, or you can see several pieces at once. Perhaps seeing different bits of different pieces in sequence, as one moves around the gallery, telling a tale paralell to the art itself. In summary, weak yet inadvertantly inspiring.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Okay so Mk II

So I'm still not a fan of blogging, so over summer I sat and thought about how to keep a blog ongoing and enjoy it. Hours of meditation, council and giving the fuck up got me the answer I was lookin' for; my way forward. Know what I like doing? Complaining. Know who like to complain? Critics. I'm gonna start running this Blog like I'm a critic, but for more than just the lectures, I'm gonna start going to shows and shit, find all the art I can, and critique it as honestly and fairly as possible. This means I'll be ripping on a lot of work, I'm (evidently) a highly fussy feller. Now and then I'm gonna sound done with blogging, because I will be, but I gotta try and be critical somewhere. Enjoy? W/e.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Harold Ottoh - 14th March 2018

Notes: Guy comes in and Funk music starts playing. IT's like the speaker reacted to his entrance. Strong start. He's wearing Half a sweater front, not even the full vest, like some form of knitted bib. Looks dapper, ish, when he wears his blazer atop it. What does it say, of a man, who cannot commit to a simple unity of attire, I wonder. Gave a dropper cashmere beanie back to a gril who dropped it, I like that he disrupted his bit for it tbh. "this lecture is gonna be a lot about research and referances". No. YOU are MY research, I car about your work, you turd. ugh. "Realness" is significant for him. Would presume that eludes to motive and identity. Performance artist, I'm guessing? Likes this woman (missed her name) who went around NYC shaking every sanitization workers hand. HAh, hes going round and shaking all lecture attendee's hands now, I like that objectively but I never respect homages enough. Or properly; I hate em. Thats a lot of hands. I want to refuse, just to disrupt it gauge how he reacts and measure him from it. He never got to me, fucker got bored. Was only the third row (of like 20). He works inspired by gestures, as a concept moreso than a physical motion, this part was "Greetings". I like that, kinda. Obsessed with sincerity in art, and the question "can art be sincere?" Maybe not you, if you only eferance and mimic. Sincerity is almost washed over in contemporary art where sarcasm is appluaded. He likes "space the place", its lofi scifi/blacpolitan/political broadcast/photo music video. Based in politics, dial ridiculousness up to eleven and mke a scene. Love it. Sun Ra claims to be a myth, unreal, like all black people in this society. Will pull apart this with his link to sincerity later. Gesture 2 is "Resistance", its in relation to a porformance he's been doing for 10 years, claims it may be time to give it up. He placed three ping pong balls in his mouth and stared at nothing for the length of song. No one clapped, they arent meant to. Turns out he was mimicking a guy from the top-left of the album cover to the song he had on in the backround, Exile on Main St by Rolling Stones. He looked into " three ball charlie", the man he mimiched (black, like he is). Circus boy who could fit thre billiard balls in his mouth. Likes that one Grace Jones album cover that everyone knows. HE finds her history with her photographer fascinating. Theres that research he done. Enjoys the capture of androgeny. MY INTEREST IS PEAKED. Talks of how flsly the Jones cover was made, all physically brushed an manipulated into the imposible long shape we see. Next album cover is " maggot brain - Funkaholic". Also, Betty - They say i'm different", he's mimicked them all on and off stage in real life,trying to physically look like the covers. Gesture 3 is Grasping Opacity. Disagree with it as a gesture. The opaque is not the obscure. Edourd Gloisant (?) poetry of reflection, for opacity. Disagree, you see a shadow as opaque but its obscure by definition. Starting to get really dull now, tbh. The zeal he had earlier is waning, I'm glad he made me so interested though. I felt his obsession with references would be so flat and lifeless, but he brings new life to them. Gesture 4 - Transmission and reception. Attention had died, be at piece. (Doodle of man on motorcycle - Bd quality) Notes: Probably the most interesting lecturer since literally the first, contraryto my last rearks in the notes section.I was, intially, very put off by his mention of referances, I know so many artists who hide behind nodding at artists to mask the absense of notable identity in themselves, saying " HEy look im like this guy" instead of "Look im me!", the latter of which is absolutely the greater. Sincerity is significant to be, but then I find that nothing factual in this world is sincere; intentions and motivations can be, but if something is remotel tangeble, it has lies through it somewhere. His attitude towards it was somewhat pale; mimicry (albeit self aware, thus greater) didn't say particularly much new or valuable and, honestly, he offered littler beyong that. Gestures have to be actual gesture to be a gesture. That sounds objective, but its rather earnest. Saing a phrase is a gesture is poetic but transient, giving only to the point you want to make in a more intelligent-sound manner. IT's all pomp, really.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Lucy (Missing Surname) - 6 March 2018

Notes: Graduated LJMU 3 years ago, guess theres a comraderie there. Her first talk going, I respect that shes new to this, will keep in mind ongoing. 'Giz a Job' was her post-graduation attitude, I like it. Interested in political sculpture, converts political dialogue into an algorithm then from that she creates a sculpture, geometric and angular, as dictated by said algorithm. Poly-residency, took part in a Poly-Residency where her and other artists (ambiguous number) shared an open studeo space over an extended time-frame. Focuses on things she did wrong, emphasis on that you gotta self-advertise otherwise the world will miss you. Postal delays meant that, due to relying on postal service for work/competion of work, she and 'James' had to perform a live mid-exhibition installation, purely by accident. She has a really good appreciation of fault and wrong, and identification of such, so she takes it with her into future works. Emphasis on making sure you get your deserved credit, she's been missed on lists of who did what several times. Never accept being Payed in Experience. Thoughts: Another one who I believe I would enjoy knowing as a friend, or aquaintance, more than as an artist. Converting her work into an algorithm is difficult to appreciate, I suspect its more simple than the complicted maths thrown around at high level mathmatic education or theoretical physics, however I see the value in producing to a formula in a self aware way. It generates mass-content and provides an interesting intellectual conversation oint around her work. The idea of sharing a studeo space with other artists, open to public view, is kinda thrilling, would love to give it ago only with, say, four me's not me and thre eothers. I've been a long time excuse-maker, so I love her for admiting what shes done wrong, and how she takes it into her next work. Its an aspect of practise I'm gonna focus hard on encorporating into my own life and work.

[ockendenartiguess-blog]

Amy Stephens - 28 Feb 2018

Notes: She is LATE AS HELL. Fair enough, it snowy and you cam from london, but I don't love waiting an hour for an hour of barely entertainment. Based in London, born there but raised elsewhere. Cool. "IF you want to do Conceptual Art you have to have good reason behind it" - Not 100 percent sure I agree, but fair enough, I suppose. PRoffessionally works as an architect. Huh. Lots of chair based sculpture, doing stuff to chairs and presenting them as the piece. Marriage of 3D sculpture and Arcitecture? Apparantly theyre representative of the female form. Apparantly. Was a painter, artisctically, until she got addicted to chairs. I kinda like that notion actually. Hah she painted a painting using a vibrator as a brush. LEft the vibrator next to the completed piece. I like that. Spent time making "unfinished work", enjoys taking something from her last work into the next one. A figure or shape. Writes an abstract continuous narrative, a story between pieces. I value that she recognises that all art is contemporary in its time. It's a fact easily clouded by bullshit movement appreciation. Enjoys drawing and photography, or printing, to underpin sculpture. Enjoys making traditional formic sculpture to go along with her abstract shit, as an effort to make the narrative more cohesive. Thoughts: During the lectures opening I judged her unfairly harshly cos she was late. I don't feel bad but that, but have re-reflected and honestly, all my views and appreciations of her work remain unchanged. I disagree with her view on conceptual art, I think that it requires a more objective mind-set to understand, not a grander basis of concept (which is to say, you don't need to better think through your own concepts, but look deeper into, and see more, concepts aroudn you as the artist). I really appreciate how she spoke of her transition from, relatively, traditional artist to an almost chair-piece exclusive unit of artistic production. Further still, I like her focus on not finishing work, no one ever finds work they value finished, not wholly. Ten minutes/weeks/years/breaths after you "completed" a piece you'll want to tweak it. Overall, I like her as an artist. Wish she would have spoken more about her understated emphasis on femenism, though.