48 Sheet

The billboards have been speaking to me again.  Their messages leaping out of the paper and infecting my brain with subliminal commands, you feel empty, you need me, this will fill that hole, desire, obey, consume...

But sometimes forces of resistance manage to break through these portals instead.  Taking the form and twisting it, questioning the nature of these message boards to the subconscious.

Ian Richards

The dream state can be accessed to show us the potential of images in the media, that they can have moments of ecstasy, strange violent joy, if we only take the time to read them actively instead of passively.

(This particular intrusion of one reality into another was so powerful my camera couldn't capture it, so I borrowed evidence from DiG )

Elizabeth Rowe

The debris can be reformed, grow into new shapes, remind us of the creative possibilities we saw when we were young, before they convinced us that fun had to be bought.

Lucy McLauchlan

Or we can simply distill the adverts and logos into pure icons, sigils that refuse translation, while firing off endless associations.

Harry Blackett and Robin Kirkham

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EC Arts: 48 Sheet
Ian Richards
Elizabeth Rowe
Lucy McLauchlan
Harry Blackett and Robin Kirkham

Parfyme Backpack Factory

Met up with Parfyme again (We'd been in their Tent Show, and Pelle was part of Red Line Surveillance - building the mini bus shelter that's still there). They've been doing a Residency in Loughborough for Radar.

They travelled around the campus and further afield, getting "Ideas" in a custom made rucksack/mailbox - they were deliberately vague about what this meant, but when pressed said that perhaps something to do with public spaces would be good. They then took some of these ideas for activities on their current residency, and they may also feed into future work However, there was also an interesting suggestion that what they were really doing was to encourage people from a particular place to discuss what they thought would benefit them and if some people agreed, give them a push toward working on it together. Rather than being there to "fix" things, they were a kind of catalyst that could activate an area and encourage further public engagement.



This is from a set of photos up on Flickr of them exchanging Danish Sausage for ideas.

They came over to Birmingham for a couple of days, braving the snow to gather ideas around the Ikon, Brindleyplace and Digbeth, I didn't manage to see any of the things people suggested, but think it's a really good thing to just ask people to consider their environment in a different way, to change the course of someone's working routine, their train of thought. Whether any of the specific ideas get implemented is not the point for me, but instead that we start to realise we can work together to improve public spaces, and always be coming up with new ideas.



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Parfyme website

One Day Comic & Feature: Architecture

Works by Henrik Schrat (with guests) & Shezad Dawood form an installation at ESP that feels very different from the opening exhibition there.  It may be a happy accident that the artists were scheduled together, but the works complement each other well.  Although many dismiss comics and cowboy films as sidelined genres, here they are stretched and mutated into exciting new forms.

For One Day Comic, Schrat worked with others (including myself) to create each comic in just a day.  It was daunting, and seemed impossible at first, but with plenty of coffee and Henrik's enthusiasm, somehow it all came together.  The final results might not make much sense, but it is the process that's fascinating - it showed you how much you could achieve when you put your mind to it and when you had a tight deadline.

In Feature: Architecture, Dawood has made a film with participants including a Christian historical re-enactment society, Gay Leather bartenders, opera singers and an avant-garde art band (The Lonesome Cowboys from Hell) - I'm not sure I followed what was going on but there was something to do with a massive bar fight, a cross between Billy the Kid and Krishna, and zombie flesh-eaters. My kind of night out.

There's also some extracts from the comics on Henrik Schrat's website

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Feature: Architecture by Shezad Dawood
&
One-Day-Comic by Henrik Schrat
With special guests a.a.s, Access Local, Asia Alfasi, Simon & Tom Bloor, Celine Condorelli, Hans Christian Dany, Shezad Dawood, Stefan Heidenreich, Karin Kihlberg & Reuben Henry, Plastique Fantastique, Olav Westphalen

open 6 December 2008 to 31 January 2009, Thursday - Saturday 12-5pm 

Eastside Projects
86 Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham, B9 4AR, UK
eastsideprojects.org

Tomas Chaffe

Went to the first show at the new Moot Gallery space to see the opening of the Tomas Chaffe exhibition. I've worked with Tom before on The Quatermass Code, and know that his work often plays with the space of the gallery and other contextual elements. (He also co-organises Via Vaudeville events.)

'Viewer Added Value (Artist Run Gallery)' 2008, Plastic and screws  

The work was all fairly peripheral, but fortunately we were provided with a map so we could hunt the art.  The titles and materials generally tell you most of the story, my favourite being 'Approx. 192 x 1713 x 630mm (The Largest Possible Plinth To Enter The Gallery Space Without Altering The Fabric Of The Building)'. 2008, MDF, white paint and timber.  As you might guess, this was a scuffed plinth placed on its side, that could be ignored as a room divider or contemplated as a minimalist sculpture as you wished.

'Progress Report' 2008 Bound paper document

I feel I should make a comparison with the Martin Creed show at the Ikon at the moment, but as I haven't had time to see it yet, I should probably leave that one hanging: imagine I said something astute about simplicity, humour and the everyday.

'Losing Costs' 2008 Illuminated desk globe and electricity meter

The pieces stand up to interpretations to do with social issues, for example you can draw an eco message from 'Losing Costs', but I'm not sure if this is the most important thing about the work.

'Everything I'd Ever Known Is Behind My Thumb' 2008 6x4" inkjet print

The above print, only makes sense in this show, in the context it is being shown in (it's the same window as in the previous photo). I'm interested in the personal relationship Tom has with the space, with the staff, and with the viewer.  This grounds the experience, makes it specific, and rather than alienating you, draws you in.

In background: 'The Air Between Them And You' 2008 Mirrorpane, clear plastic and frame

Oranges Can Dance

Charlie Levine has just curated a show which continues her interest in selecting and presenting work in an experimental way. This was a solo exhibition in a small theatre room in a pub of Tim Robottom's collection of kitsch ornaments and other items that would often be seen as 'bad taste'.

Questioning ideas of taste and collectability, the ironic distance usually present in such shows was undermined by the audience selecting items that they wanted to keep, and so affirming that they do have value for them. Everyone proudly displayed what they had chosen, and hopefully they now have pride of place in new collections.

Oranges Can Dance was held at The Old Joint Stock Theatre Gallery, Birmingham, on 9th of August 2008, 6pm and 8pm

Oranges Can Dance on Charlie Levine's Website
Charlie Levine's Blog

Tiny Details, Grotesque Proportions

Went to opening of Elizabeth Rowe show at Walsall, I really like her work, and wanted to do a quick post about it. I usually try to write more about artist-led spaces, but unfortunately there hasn't been that much going on lately, might have a bit of a re-think about how to organise this blog...

As you arrive at the gallery, you see a display of juneau/projects work from their residency, great to see it here, like a music shop display from another world.

Liz's work is generally referred to as collage (she reworks imagery from catalogues, magazines etc) but is a lot more varied than this suggests. I'm really interested in how her recent work is bursting out of the confines of the frame, from tiny interventions that you almost don't spot, to a gigantic wall piece growing up the wall and ceiling of the space.

The imagery is surreal, schizophrenic, the products stop being tame and erupt into life, either merging into devouring monsters, or scuttling like insects at the edges of your vision. This is not to say that there is not humour in the work, in the face of the pressures of consumer overload, I'm left with the impression of liberation and play being found in the cracks.

Milee (Feng-Ru) Lee is currently doing a residency at Walsall, and I popped in to chat to her, she's been doing some beautiful drawings, and will be performing in the gallery at various points as her cute sheep character.

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Tiny Details, Grotesque Proportions is at The New Art Gallery Walsall, Gallery Square, WS2 8LG from 8th August - 28th September
artatwalsall.org.uk

juneau/projects site

Milee Lee's site

Wunderkammer

Wunderkammer curated by Kate Pennington-Wilson and Charlie Levine at BIAD, Margaret St Birmingham was a 'cabinet of curiosities' made up from the archives there and current student's work. David Miller and Edward Wakefield were lying inside perspex cabinets as characters drawn from when they were students at Margaret Street. Ed was lying in state, with audio playing (unfortunately you couldn't hear this very well with all the noise) and David was writhing ineffectually in his white ribbon bondage.

Charlie Levine Wunderkammer page (on her website)
Charlie Levine Wunderkammer page (on her blog)

Cory Arcangel

Went to the opening of A couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould at the Castlefield Gallery in Manchester. On the way I spotted some of those mosaics based on pixel imagery that you see around lots of places. They stuck in my head this time, considering the show I was going to see, particularly as the second one reminded me of the famous piece by this artist Super Mario Clouds (2002).

I'm a big fan of Cory Arcangel (Best. Name. Ever.) and was really looking forward to his new piece, where a piece of music was constructed from clips of video from YouTube etc. The images flashed past rapidly, each note a separate blip from a video, amateurs flipped to professionals flipped to cats playing piano. It was hypnotic and fascinating.

Older pieces were also on show, Permanent Vacation (2007) was a cute log-jam of two computers batting 'Away' auto-response emails to each other.

I Shot Andy Warhol (2002) was developed by hacking Hogan's Alley (the 1980s Nintendo cartridge) to create a bizarre shoot-em-up. There's an tongue-in-cheek connection between Warhol's work on iconic portraits, and Arcangel's use of people you can still recognise when they are simplified pixel sprites.

I was even lucky enough to talk to the artist in this lengthy exchange:
Cory Arcangel: Is this the queue for the restroom?
Me: Yes

Cory's blissfully retro blog

Castlefield Gallery

KateGoes...

I don't usually write about bands here, but I do sometimes make exceptions if there's some kind of art/performance angle, so my excuse for writing about KateGoes is that they have a different theme for each gig, dressing up and acting in keeping between songs. Of course I'm sure plenty of you are familiar with their output, as they're a perfect recipe for a MoseleyHeath band: seasoned with Misty's Big Adventure, a pinch of Pram, hints of Novak and L'Augmentation, but full of secret ingredients of their own.

Shockingly this is the first time I'd seen them live, although I'd heard some of their tracks online after entering into a correspondence with Kate, who charmingly wrote me a rap about a time we met. I was glad to finally be free to get to one of their gigs, and this one seemed to be themed as a family get-together - apt for Christmas (although in a throwaway line as they left it was revealed that it had actually been a funeral...)

Kate and her 'little sister' were dressed in frilly party dresses, and other members were meant to be her Gran, Grandad and Dad. Family photos were projected behind them, creating odd Tony Oursler effects when faces hit the balloons.

It took a while to get used to the 'overtired little girl' chatting between songs, but it perfectly suited the Slits/Dresden Dolls pitch of the songs - the kind of feminine tactic that can irritate some, but throws the 'crazy woman' stereotype back in people's faces if it's done well. The strength of the songs held the performance together, much tighter than on CD, childhood memories are filtered through knowing adult sensibilities, then freed up again in the sugary high of making such effortlessly catchy pop.

It's easy to get distracted by the whimsy and references to POGs, but go and listen to Heartbeat on their Myspace page: a sweetly harmonious nursery rhyme that disguises obsessively intense emotions. It takes me back to being a C86 loving teen, shivering with semi-requited lust, wanting to get so close we fused. Never has a squeaky toy sounded more ambiguous.

Hell, they even gave out party poppers and did the conga around the room, what's not to love?

KateGoes Myspace Page

Heath Bunting Status Project

Went on Heath Bunting's psychogeographical walk in Nottingham, where we were trying to find a 'route' between places by linking their 'status'. He'd made a map of Nottingham based on things you had to provide to be able to access certain things (store cards, railcards, the lottery etc)

When we found a connection between places, we wrote it on the pavement (Able to provide proof of address etc) and as we went we discussed issues, such as identity and how it can be constructed.

Heath Bunting's site and the Status Project
Status Project at Trampoline
Larger versions of photos on my Flickr page

Last of the Urgents

Colony's new curated group show coincided with the launch of their book As if something once mentioned, now plain to see

One wall of the show was united by Jo Mitchell's wall painting, a snaking path linking nightmarish drawings by Nikolas Arvanitis and dreamy paintings by GL Brierley.

I didn't catch who made the kitsch/baroque confection in the middle of the room, but I did have to use my cameraphone to see the decorative money inside.

The quietly disturbing exhibition seemed to be less appealing to the audience than the bar and music in the book launch, but there was some powerful stuff here, that wormed its way into my head and set up home in the mouldering ruins of art.

Colony

Where The Deer And The Antelope Play

A joint show between WebsterGotts and Mandy Rees, a sweetshop coloured overload of balloons, 70s wallpaper patterns, and hallucinatory cowboys. The Western theme lassoed the artists together: Bearwood became a border town in a dream, where plastic faces bobbed around in a melodrama of gazes, a stare is so cold and hard it knocks down a man like a bullet, and people are lost in a shifting surface of pattern.

WebsterGotts

Mandy Rees

Birmingham is lucky to have new artist-led spaces putting on light and engaging show like this, it's what really puts us on the map, so lets hope they get the support they deserve, whatever their future plans.

The show will be open 10-4 Saturdays, 11-2 Sundays until the 9th of December

Crowd 6
WebsterGotts

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Sorry about the image quality, I keep forgetting my camera and having to use my mobile

Artober

A lot of my friends have been down in London over the last few days schmoozing at parties for the Frieze and Zoo Art Fairs, little knowing that the event of the weekend was right here in the Midlands: The launch night of the Artober Festival in Leicester.

The incomparable Richard Peel did a solo proto-ballet, miming Club Silencio-style to a recording of his own voice and songs (can you imagine how postmodern that was?). If I sound like I'm mocking it, it's only 'cos I'm so jealous of his genius. If you missed it, you're a fool, buy his book to try to make up for it. Yes that's a cardboard guitar he's playing.

Cheesy compere Dave from Metro-Boulot-Dodo asked us to come up with even worse puns than the name of the festival, I came up with loads, including my favourite: Whoregust - a summer festival celebrating the oldest profession.

During this, Phil Henderson heckled Dave with the killer line "What about Goth?" a propos of nothing, then did a compelling keyboard set of drones and repetitions. It was constantly teasing the edge of being painful: Phil's expression switched from absorbed masochism to serene sadism and back again.

At one point you could just about hear him say "Goth" in the middle of some inhuman whines and muttering. The joys of delayed gratification.