You're not wearing your appliances. - Rosemary Nyle

Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.

To-do list

I love talking about making art and even more so about making sculptures. I've become a bit of a one song dude in this respect really. If you talk art long enough to anyone in the know, the conversation eventually turns to or comes to the conclusion that, making art is a process of problem solving. That's my experience anyway. That's why I think I like it so much. The challenge is everything to me. In fact whenever I meet someone to whom this is not the case I am immediately suspicious of their ability. Not for any other reason than if it is anything other than a personal journey, something must be missing.

Anyway, I'm leaning today, sun shining, too cold to be a fantastic day, skyward in my usual art making attire, puffy white blouse, boat shoes, no socks and baggy yet strategically and fashionably splattered pants and it came to me. I've been working (thinking) on a pair of sculptures for ages. At least a year (laugh if you want) I would expect. Nothing unusual I suppose, similar to all my work really but they  had an inherent problem in their manufacture I just couldn't solve. Today was the day. It's so very simple now it's kind of embarrassing but I just couldn't see it but today I did. That's just how it works. I'm really happy, it feels like a real win. Hope you've all had a good one too.

Ulysses Davis

Get Off My Back

Ulysses Davis was a Barber who's shop was home to hundreds of his wooden sculptures. When asked if he sold them he replied “They’re my treasure. If I sold these, I’d be really poor.”

Beast with wings

Tomg of Pontius Pilate

Strange Fruit

If you are interested in the late Mr Ulysses Davis I can highly recommend this book.

The owls are not what they seem.

Dear Facebook Friends, Showtime did not pull the plug on Twin Peaks. After 1 year and 4 months of negotiations, I left because not enough money was offered to do the script the way I felt it needed to be done. This weekend I started to call actors to let them know I would not be directing. Twin Peaks may still be very much alive at Showtime. I love the world of Twin Peaks and wish things could have worked out differently. - David Lynch

This is the truth.

SUNDAYS from PostPanic on Vimeo.

 sundaysmovie.com

story & directed by MISCHA ROZEMA - cast BRIAN PETSOS - SOFIA SISNIEGA - score composed by BEN LUKAS BOYSEN - director of photography JON GAUTE ESPEVOLD edited by MISCHA ROZEMA - vfx supervisor IVOR GOLDBERG - co-producer mexico STACY PERSKIE KANISS - production designer mexico ROBERTO BONELLI associate producer ANNEJES VAN LIEMPD - screenplay by KEVIN KOEHLER - sound designer JOCHEN MADER - producers ANIA MARKHAM - JULES TERVOORT

Out Of This World

Goose Fair Nottingham 2010

When we look back at it all as I know we will
You and me, wide eyed
I wonder...
Will we really remember how it feels to be this alive?

And I know we have to go
I realise we only get to stay so long
Always have to go back to real lives
Where we belong
Where we belong
Where we belong

When we think back to all this and I'm sure we will
Me and you, here and now
Will we forget the way it really is
Why it feels like this and how?

And we always have to go I realise
We always have to say goodbye
Always have to go back to real lives

But real lives are the reason why
We want to live another life
We want to feel another time
Another time...

Yeah another time

To feel another time...

When we look back at it all as I know we will
You and me, wide eyed
I wonder...
Will we really remember how it feels to be this alive?

 

And I know we have to go
I realise we always have to turn away
Always have to go back to real lives

But real lives are why we stay
For another dream
Another day
For another world
Another way
For another way...

One last time before it's over
One last time before the end
One last time before it's time to go again...

 

  - The Cure
 

 

Between Two Worlds

Alongside his esteemed career as a filmmaker, David Lynch has worked as a visual artist for 50 years, producing an extensive body of paintings, photography and works on paper. ‘David Lynch: Between Two Worlds’ is a rare opportunity to consider Lynch’s entire creative vision and the relationships between his practice as an artist, filmmaker and musician.

Developed closely with the artist, the QAGOMA exhibition features more than 200 works and is organised around three ideas – ‘Man and machine’, ‘The extra-ordinary’, and ‘Psychic Aches’. Moving between the porous divide of the body and the world it inhabits, the exhibition explores the subjects of industry and organic phenomena; representations of inner conflict; and the possibility of finding a deeper reality in our experience of the everyday.

Source (GOMA)

Gregor Gaida - All links leave this place.

Gregor Gaida - Falter 2014

Gregor Gaida - Attaboys 2012

Gregor Gaida - Attaboys 2012

Gregor Gaida - Rest von Schwarz 2008

Gregor Gaida - Lateral I 2007

Click here to see more of Gregor Gaida. 

SS Hororata

SS Hororata

The SS Hororata was ordered by The New Zealand Shipping Company Ltd of London on the 15th of October 1912 and completed by William Denny & Brothers of Dumbarton on 23th of May 1914. The 9461 ton vessel was powered by six single ended Scotch boilers running at 222psi, two quadruple expansion four cylinder steam engines producing 8493ihp @ 88.5rpm, driving twin screws for a speed of 15.7 knots (29kph).

Captained by Charles Campbell Taylor the 511ft 2in hulk and her 110 man crew could ferry 5 first class and 1066 steerage class passengers and cargo from the shores of Scotland and England to New Zealand and Australia in approximately six weeks. On the 24th of August 1914 she was requisitioned as Australian expeditionary force transport A20. In mid 1926 the SS Hororata ferried a little girl, not yet old enough to walk, from her birth city of Glasgow to be carried over the Bridle Path road from the port of Lyttelton to a new life in Christchurch, New Zealand. That same little girl has recently celebrated her 90th birthday. I was lucky enough to share it with her. 

 On the 5th of April 1943 the ship now called SS Waroonga was torpedoed by U-630 in the North Atlantic, coordinates: 57.10N, 35.30W. She sank the following day. 

 On the 10th of December 2014 the New Zealand born daughter of British immigrants and a New Zealand man of Scottish ancestry flew from Exeter Airport in the United Kingdom to Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand to be married. 43 days latter, Air New Zealand flight NZ7911, a Boeing 737 800 operated by Virgin Australia ferried the Newly-weds to Melbourne Australia...

 Happy birthday Nan. x

Some places are like people: some shine and some don't. - Dick Hallorann

The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980).

The contest will attract designers, both amateur and professional, from around the world who will have an opportunity to put their work and name on permanent display at the iconic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, which draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year.

The Maze will serve as an homage to the film, which was itself inspired by author Stephen King’s experience at The Stanley Hotel. It also will commemorate the 20 year anniversary of the current ownership of the hotel, which began May 1st, 1994.

 

“There are few hotels in the world that share a history and story as unique as

that of the Stanley Hotel,” said John W. Cullen, owner of the property. “I am

thrilled to share this special moment in my life and the hotel’s history. 

We have built this place together over the years and I'm excited to invite

everyone to be a part of its legacy through this special design contest.”

In true Colorado spirit, the hedge maze will be comprised of 1,600 to 2,000 Alpine Currant hedge bushes and will be a prominent feature on the hotel’s picturesque front lawn. A placard with the contest winner’s name will be placed at the site of the maze.

The ribbon-cutting for the maze will take place on the opening night of the 3rd annual Stanley Film Festival on April 30th, 2015.

The winning design will be chosen by a special panel of Estes Park residents, Stanley Hotel employees and film festival staff. The contest winner will have their name placed on a recognition placard in the center of the maze. 

Aspiring designers and Stanley Hotel enthusiasts scroll below for contest and submission details. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2015.


 Click here for the Stanley Hotel.

 The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). - See more at: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze#sthash.MmUzlPWW.dpuf

The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). - See more at: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze#sthash.Q4OLj6JQ.dpuf

The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). - See more at: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze#sthash.Q4OLj6JQ.dpuf

The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). - See more at: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze#sthash.Q4OLj6JQ.dpuf

The historic Stanley Hotel is excited to announce a public competition to design a 10,100 sq. ft. hedge maze inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). - See more at: http://www.stanleyhotel.com/themaze#sthash.Q4OLj6JQ.dpuf

Sometimes it's a little better to travel...

Norton featherbed frame and Triumph engine.

“Sometimes it's a little better to travel than to arrive” ― Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. Pirsig.

I dig bikes. While the world was going mental in the early 2000s over the ridiculous rakes and obese rear tyres of American choppers I was building a Cafe Racer. In fact, back in 1995, my first bike, an 88 CBR almost got chopped so many times with the idea of building a Cafe from a new jap road bike. It was obviously far too good for something like that, it was mint but it could have happened in a moment's weakness.

Anyway, I like bike docos too and I've seen heaps of 'em. I've often wanted to post one here just for the fun of whacking a big dirty, greasy slab of engineering on an art blog. Unfortunately, Cafe racer docos tend to be the kind of thing you would expect on an art blog. Bearded hipsters in new old t-shirts put away two tools, close the garage door, which we are expected to believe has been open for weeks as they build their bikes from scratch and take a ride for twenty minuets on a groomed forest road before stopping at a gallery for wine with other bearded skinny people in brown. What a crock. I gotta say, it holds some truth, Cafes are style you'd expect from an art lover but it seems to me, this coupling is redundant and somewhat perverse. Maybe this post is too but fuck it.

Anyway, here's a short Board Track piece from Vimeo. The irony of the riding being filmed in a grave yard is not lost on me for many reasons, especially since he talks about art being pointless because you can't take it to friends to see and enjoy. His beast is obviously not road legal but no bike touched a gallery during the making of this video. That is good enough for me... :-D

I like when people who think they aren't creative become creative too.

Rolling Art - A Documentary from Josh Lopata on Vimeo.

TWAD top tip for the fashion savvy - as fuel prices rise I believe we'll see more mopeds on the road and street legal Board Tracks will be the must have, dig it! You can quote me...

Red car, grey car.

So, here we are. I'm a Kiwi. That's what we call ourselves in New Zealand. And I'm in New Zealand for the second Christmas in a row. If I'm honest I feel really spoilt and I should because I am. The rubble and bumpy roads can't hide love and sun, family and clean water. Hospitality is common here but no less hospitable and more so in many ways. It's 10:25pm and a man I look up to just said he feels Christmasy after a Christmas movie. Me, I feel Christmasy too, because of him and his family. I'm a lucky guy and I sit, trying not to get in the way of this household routine on a comfy couch in a corner with a special vantage. I see this family work together and laugh and share and do stuff only a family can do. I am lucky and they are good. 

I've been shopping today. Most have. There is a rush still going on out there even at this time. We passed it coming home from the pub. A sticky floor pub. My kind. There are people out there having fun and some not. There are people splashing out some some over extending. There are Mums and Dads, husbands and wives heading in different directions for sneaky surprises and some just having to make promises for next year. The better year. I feel more like that. I never think I do enough, be enough, buy enough, think enough and remember enough. I'm right too. I don't and can't. I'm just not very good by comparison and believe me, I have good comparison. My heros hold me to shame and so they should but I try my best and always will. But my shopping was not for Christmas. We did our humble mission a few weeks back and now I just cross my fingers that under that colourful paper is a thank you that might ring true. I cross them again. We bought flowers and ribbon and paper puffy ball things for a church. We bought flowers for two beautiful ladies to brandish and honourable gents to flash. We bought pure white for warning, this is the end of the pew. I solemnly declared truths to an official much younger than I and we drove in heavy steel queues. We bought miniature British flags for luck and spoke with a fine woman who to all this is routine. We planned our wedding. 

It's weeks away yet, well, two. Well almost two, but it's just like tomorrow for so many. It's a common reference. An olive branch, a rainbow, a book or a ring. It's a statement and a promise, a smile and a hand shake. It's just a very simple thing dressed like the Emperor. I hope that's OK to say. I hope it doesn't sound like I don't dig it because I mean the opposite. I mean I know truly what it is. I mean I know that beneath all the glitz and cake, the wrapping and pine, beneath the ceiling and ceremony, that these days, tomorrow and my wed, are nothing without the people. Nothing without kind whispers, nothing without love and nothing without your smiles. So like others of it's kind, tomorrow and this day in a couple of weeks is set aside. It's there so people like me, who get caught up in other days' toil and competing with ourselves and television standards, will take it out and spend it wisely. We'll sit and talk. We'll share and give. We'll tell each other how important we are and listen while better people tell us the same and be amazed and humbled. These are good days and every one of them should be taken.

I hope where ever you are things are good. I hope you have time and some cash left. I hope your family invited you round and your friends are well. I hope tomorrow is relaxed and honest and that honest is kind. I hope you have a good day and take time to remember someone who's not there. I hope Christmas is more than Christmas. I hope it is a family day and a friends day.

b

Johnson Tsang

Guardians' Fall

Click here for Johnson Tsang's wordpress.

The Schwarzschild Man

Schwarzschild Man. Clay, 300mm

The echoes of the past speak louder than any voice I hear right now.

Hope you're well T.H.P.

b

Break those bones whose sinews gave it motion.

Method actor Rourke in "Crazy Rich Guy".

The Hollywood grind can be a tough one. After my short stint as a stunt double for Mr Pitt and some more well-known film talent, I felt I needed a brake from the spotlight so I packed my bags and moved to the good old United Kingdom to pursue my art. I copped no small amount of flack for this, especially from my agent who thanks to my acting skill and race horse like physique was in a rather comfortable position. I understood his nervousness and as stunt doubles and raw acting talent like myself do not grow on trees, I have always done my best to put him in touch when ever I could.

Surprisingly, I am not the only A-lister who has chosen the visual arts as a come down from the bright lights of Hollywood. On Friday night, film legend and possibly the second sexiest man alive Mr Mickey Rourke burst into the performance art scene. I must admit to being a little apprehensive when he first contacted me for advice on his career change. I have a lot of respect for Rourke and his ability to maintain his punishing collagen routine, but his first artistic endeavour titled "You'll never beat the establishment" seemed too academic, too complex for a work straight out of the box. None the less, the piece staged in Moscow, featured a taught Rourke playing the hero "Western man" and Mr Elliot Seymour as "He who must be pillaged". The set dressed almost convincingly as a boxing ring staged an epic David and Goliath styled dance but at last, this time though, the true hero wins. It was a glorious piece of work and although completely sold, my only criticism would be as good as the choreography was, it was apparent the powerhouse Rourke was holding back but I'm sure a few more performances will iron out the kinks.

Art's new Adonis takes a break.

I had the opportunity to chat to Rourke after his stunning private viewing.

TWAD: Congratulations on your new piece. It seems obvious your careerer in performance art has been cemented. Where did you find inspirations for this new direction?

ROURKE: Yeah, thanks Baz. You're obviously a huge inspiration for me but I think my main influence for this particular work was Bono. His piece "I'm trying really hard to save the world but being environmentally sustainable is actually really really dangerous" really spoke to me. I don't think the working classes or sorta smaller countries like Africa, Iran and Afghanistan know how hard it is to be rich and famous. It's a lot of responsibility and stuff.

Artist Bono in his horrific bike accident make up.

TWAD: Any other artistic influences?

ROURKE: Um, oh yeah, Kim Jong.

YWAD: Kim Jong-Un? That's pretty left field. Tell me more about that?

ROURKE: Well, like she's just a normal chick right, but she just gets her arse out and like, BAM! Amazing stuff. 

TWAD: Arh, Kim Kardashian? So you like her work?

ROURKE: Um, what does she do? I mean, that photo's hot ya know. All big 'n' shiny 'n' stuff. We've got it in the gym.

TWAD: Quite. So, your piece seems to be saying, we are not going to go away. Is that the sort of direction you were coming from?

ROURKE: Yeah, we are rich and proud ya know. Like, there's a lot of protests at the moment, kinda getting down on people with money ya know. It's like they (the protesters) don't know how much we do for them. I mean, I buy coke from this dude right. He buys it from another guy and he buys it from someone else. That's my money feeding like three guys, plus I always tip the concierge at places. Like, I make a heap of cash right but I probably spend even more than I earn!

TWAD: Ah yes, reminiscent of the banker situation? Very deep Mickey.

ROURKE: Yeah, like the bankers, yeah. See that wasn't even their money ya know. So how come they get the blame for losing it? That's not cool. An' like Bono right. Like, he's doing that charity song right but he pays for the limo to get there an' stuff. Some of those things are so big it must take like four guys to drive 'em. Don't forget, money's green and white! You remember in Harley Davidson and the Marlboro man, wait, you wanna do a line or two before we go on?...

Honestly, this is powerful stuff. I suspect we'll be hearing about this piece for many years to come and I think it is safe to say Rouke and Bono for that matter will be entertaining us for many years yet. May the rich keep us all honest.

I have to guard against order.

I have to guard against order. If it’s too chaotic, nothing comes out. If it’s too ordered, it becomes sterilised. You have to find the way between these two things. - Anselm Kiefer

I shall not pass this way again. - Etienne de Grellet

Thanks Speckles

The trees have shed their last and the grey sky has begun to weep. Winter is very slowly creeping across this ancient land. Our neighbour doesn't rise till lunch these days and although busying with nuts and seeds his days are short. Like him we've made preparations and there is a certain nostalgia in the air as again, a southern Christmas calls. My sinuses have even pre-emptively lubed in readiness for the dry winds and pollen of the beige Canterbury plains. They're good like that. I suspect this is sympathy hay fever for my future self. I wish I could do sympathy work or sympathy problem solving but the Gods would never settle for that. I blow my nose. Our house is in slight contrast to the plains. Beige, yes, with raw card but stacked high and jagged, calling great shining birds and leviathan hulks. These bizarre towers are blind to the coming celebrations, pub punctuated friends, in-jokes and family familiar. These boxes, they stand ready but they see further than I dare today. The pub will not be for granted, least the family time but as we prepare for festivities, we lie to ourselves of our "holiday". A bag and good shoes are for the holiday. This other collection of memories and work, gear and packaging is for something else. And the holiday belongs in part to it. We are moving once more and the boxes, birds and steel whales are hungry and will not wait any longer.

Four years is a long time when you are 10 years old. When you are 18 it is a life time but when you miss, it is a death. And we've missed so many in these last four years. Some have made it easy with well wishes and calls. Some have made it easy with none. But blessed, the great and mysterious Schiphol has ferreted us at times and just enough, to remember where we were and sometimes, why we came. And we did come and in ways conquered and in some lost. But it was just and righteous.  So what now. Who now will we miss. The southern homeland and this new old, equal. This another place. This promise more fulfilled than we could have hoped. More complex and complete than we dared to know. More warm than foreign wind should be and somewhere amongst life's other plans, home. This must be some kind of witchcraft. We never signed up for this. We've said good bye there and now we must do it here. When did this happen? How is my family here when they should be there? Why are they not there? I know well the differences and yet now they are me. I know what I miss and who and where and now they and it and the places are here. 

There is a small neighbourhood, quiet between the flats of University of Nottingham's students and the same city's drug dealers. It's surprisingly manicured. Just down the road from a long gone factory that produced British motorcycles and just off a street named after one of the West's great explorers known for his idea to sell some harmless tobacco. It was home. There was a humble Crocus nestled amongst binging students and concrete thugs. It was home and school, and a style of pub and refuge. It was my first link and I knew it then as well as I know it now. It was precious because of that and always will be. But like Raleigh's tobacco became fast far more than the sum of the parts. Sophie, Alice, Lester, Adam, the NTU girls, Charlotte, Jenna Kay. You are never far from my thoughts. Paul, thank you. You are a true gentleman. Kind Marie, if you were a stone from this day on, the grandest of wings would still wait for you. Alyn, I have no words. There are none. I honestly could never thank you enough. I hope that echoes for aeons like truth should.

Exeter started as a trading hub for Devon, the political kind. It was also one of the first places to offer treatment for sailors who became too close to that old sailor's friend. That was long ago now and the treatments are now catered for they say, under a new framework called austerity. I'm not sure how well that is working but caring is not short here. Leon, the first person I met in Exeter, in a toy shop. It was great. Micky, Ali, I couldn't have done it without you guys. Abi, the time has flown too fast and we share too little. Hayley, Nathan, everything you have built is everything you are. I have huge respect for you both and look forward to the rest of the story. My best wishes to you and your young family. Lisa and Yuchen. You offered company when I could not and you have my heart for that. See you in NZ. Natalia and Shaun. The pleasure has been mine. Thank you for welcoming me and offering us company. Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Neil, where do I start. I suspect I will get a chance to try but know I'll never cover it all. Katie and David. How am I even able to address you so very informally. I am honoured. Might I be learned one day. Might I be wise and caring and selfless. Might I build a home and family and have them proud of me and wish to see me. Might I open my home to strangers and have them sit and eat and be welcome and forget they are a stranger. Hear me gods. I will weather my hands and my face if we might strike a deal. Eva, you have been on my mind for too long. I have dear wishes for you. You like all these names will be forever in my thoughts. Sincerely, being there was everything at that time. You are a blessing. Leen and Zaid. This is the beginning for you again. I feel it too but you are good and good will find you. I hope you settle in well and soon. Mr Speirs, soon to be Doctor, soon to be Minister. My hope is that many have the chance to meet you and your work is never hindered. So many more names. The Notts punks I never got to jam with. The Exeter colleagues who offered so much support and understanding to Jo and who kept each other well and sane or tried to. The folks who have shared lunch and dinner and cider and beer. The guy who sells the big issue on the high street who never seems like he sells the big issue on the high street. Jo's family here who've offered support, comradeship, homes, beds and a place within their fine ranks. It has meant the world to me and more to Jo. And Jo. There is just not enough time or space. One from seven odd billion souls. From a glance to a smile. From a smile to a wink. From a wink to a poked tongue to a drink to a night to a life time and beyond.

On the 10 August 1901 Charlotte Anne Moberly and her friend  Eleanor Jourdain travelled in time. I suspect I will too, back to this 1960s tribute to utilitarianism. This house of Moberly and the house of King Edward. I'll laugh and shake my head. I will forget the trials and the cold and the Britney Spears tracks and I will feel old and distant from here but I will feel just as close to you all as I ever have. I hope at times you might remember me. I hope I have left something behind. I hope I have been human and I earned your time. I swear to do justice to the kindness you have shown me and pass it on to others you might never meet, but it will be my gift to them from you. I've never learned as much as I have being a stranger. I'm Barry and I'm a Foreigner.

I shall not pass this way again but I might just pop in for a bit. I hope so and hope to see you. I hope you might be glad to see me and that things are well.

b

“I shall pass this way but once; any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being; let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” 

- Etienne de Grellet

Back in 5

I would like to thank every body who has taken the time to stop by my Etsy and a very special thank you to those who have purchased from Order of the old bones. It's been a great year getting to feel out Etsy and an test the quality of my craft item against some of the most amazing crafters in the world. Although the 'handmade' definitions seem to have changed a bit over the lasst year I think Etsy has a great community and one I've very much enjoyed being a part of.

As you may know, I am off in a month to get married to the lady of my dreams and in a freakish turn of events, will also be moving. Internationally no less. This of-course means I'm going to be very busy but it also means, for now, OOTOB will be closing for a time. I hope to be back up and running late January early February 2015 in a new city, with new stock and a new direction I hope you all will enjoy.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement. I promise, next year will be HUGE!!!

b

 

No borders.

It's always interesting seeing where my views come from. For some reason, views from the Ukraine have shot up in resent weeks so a very big hello to you all over there. It's been a while since I've posted but I have a few in the works. Thanks for stopping by. Sending you my best wishes.

b

Beyond the eternally-formless state.

METACHAOS from Alessandro Bavari on Vimeo.

METACHAOS is a short film by Alessandro Bavari. It hit the net a while back and I've only just realised I didn't post it here. I'm good like that. You can check out more work from Alessandro Bavari here.