David Hockney

The Culture Show BBC2 at 7pm on 27th February 2012

David Hockney interview by Andrew Marr 

David Hockney is an influential living painter who has lived in California for many years, but started to paint his home landscape in Bridlington, East Yorkshire while on a regular Christmas visit to his mothers,' and stayed for six years. His father had been a conscientious objector and his mother a Methodist.

His paintings are filled with vivid and vibrant colours, painted on several canvases that have been put together like a jigsaw. He said that these landscapes had to be large and majestic. He has also filmed the landscape during the four seasons, using eight cameras, placed in the same locations throughout the seasons. These films move in a timeless sequence so that what you are given is a feast of colour and the seasonal changes as they naturally occur. I felt drawn into the film sequences and could have watched them for ages.

David Hockney has "come home." He is now in the latter part of his life, and as happens when you mature and grow older, the landscape of your youth returns to your hear and mind as somewhere that pulls you back to rediscover it. At least this is the way I see it. Now that I am getting older, I too look at the landscape of my upbringing as somewhere that I need to document at some stage in the future. There is nothing like it. Memories of the landscape of youth are powerful emotions and with age comes a recognition of its beauty and impact on your life.

As David Hockney spoke about his work, he said that scale is an important factor in seeing the Bigger Picture, as a way to view the landscape because it is itself sometimes imposing and sometimes all encompassing. He said that the Chinese see the landscape as something you walk through, the Europeans see it as if looking through a window at a fixed point. A Chinese saying he recalled was "Painting is an old man's art" and he spoke of there being an urgency in making the art and that they gold a lifetime of experience.

Hockney has been greatly influenced by Pablo Picasso's Still Life's. Duchamp's Woman Walking Down Stairs, Cubism's art of depicting space,the dramatic sense of space and the Cubist experience of space "Where I end, you being." He said of the Grand Canyon that is is a "Big Spacial Thrill." Hockney admitted that he is "Affected by Space, it thrills me" this can be seen in mot of his work, as in the Swimming Pools of his Californian paintings.


He has used the IPad to sketch and paint examples of work starting work on his canvases. The colours are wonderfully expressive and capture the mood of his pallet. There are so many different hues of colour and he said that you have to really look at what's around you to realise that its not just green, or just red, there are so many variations of colour when you stop to look long enough. He has captured this in his paintings which really are magnificent works of art. I am only sorry that I will not have the opportunity to view them. The exhibition in London is already fully booked and it does not run for long enough, in my mind.

All the canvases are being hung in their seasonal order. Picasso said "give me a museum and I will fill it" David Hockney has the same sentiment. he has been given the whole of the Gallery Space to show his work and you can walk through it from one season to the next. wonderful.

A few quotes for the programme ....
"You can teach the craft but its the poetry you cant teach" David Hockney

"It's what the artist does, not what he says" Henry Matisse

"There's never bad weather in Britain" John Ruskin

"An Artist can support hedonism, but he cant be a hedonist because he has to work to hard" David Hockney.

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing this programme, and it is so relevant to my work as a photographic artist. Seeing the light is the ultimate beginning and end to the way I photograph, and the way I see the world around me and the work I try to produce.

Hannah Guy

‘My practice is situated between photography and film. The point at which the still appears to become a moving image fascinates me.’
— Hannah Guy http://www.lensculture.com/guy.html

With Thanks http://www.hannahguy.co.uk/ for this image

Today's lecture was given by Hannah Guy who has recently returned to the South West from Canada. She said that her life, art and photography are integrated; I have recently felt this to be the case in my own life. I do not feel separate from my art and photography, I feel less like a student and more a creative practitioner.

I found Hannah's lecture very relevant to my own practise, and was interested in the artists she mentioned who have influenced her work. She named David Casper Friedrick, Mondrian, Rodney Graham and John Hillier. I have only previously heard of David Casper Friedrick whose paintings I discovered when I was looking at Elina Brotherus work. I look forward to researching the others.

Another useful resource mentioned was the "Singular Images Essays on Remarkable Photographs" by Sophie Howarth.

Hannah's practise includes lost and found objects which she said allows the past to talk to the present, along with collection cabinets, family history and photographs and letters. These are all objects that have come to the fore in my own practise. For my final major project this year I am continuing with my research into the object and the self, and also the philosophy of Duality looking at opposites such as light/dark, lost/found and absence/presence. These are all concepts that I find fascinating.

Our final major project will culminate in the making of a book, Hannah suggested we look at the website photoi.net

After the lecture we had a short seminar and were able to discuss with Hannah, who has experience in curatorship, our up and coming exhibition. She asked how our work links together and gave us some tips on topics we should add to the speeches we have to give on the night.

Art College: Exeter Visit

 The visit to Exeter today was a very useful exercise. Admittedly  we didn't have much time to peruse the art or long, but it gave me the opportunity to find my way around the city so that when I visit again I will know where to go. I don't know Exeter at all, but I will now return on the train in the near future to re-visit the Museum and Phoenix Gallery , and also take the opportunity to photograph the many architectural features in the city, and take a walk on the riverside. It will be good to spend a whole day there. 

The photographs of Margaret Cameron and William Fenton were on show at the Museum, this was the main exhibit I wanted to view today. I wasn't disappointed. 

With thanks to http://rammuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/roger-fenton-julia-margaret-cameron-early-british-photographs-from-the-royal-collection for these images.

Clinton Parry Esqre’, 1868. Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)



Queen Victoria (1860)

Queen Victoria's Target by Roger Fenton

Another exhibition at the Museum was the "Into the Light." Walking through this gallery space I was struck by the colours, and freedom of expression that I felt on viewing them. I especially love paintings that are completed in the landscape and not in the studio. These have a wonderful sense of uninhibited brush strokes and drew me into the scene.

A painting that particularly appealed to me was Studland Beach (1912). This had the effect of stopping me, and wanting to look more deeply into the scene.

There is something intriguing in this painting. There is a great deal of negative space here, the two girls on the left corner are only shown from the shoulders up and the four subjects on the right have their backs to the painter. the title of the painting is a little ominous to my eye. The painting holds many questions.

Another of Vanessa Bell's paintings I found on line which is a beautiful view out of a window. windows and doors hold a fascination for me.  She was recognised as part of the Fauvism Movement.

Portrait of Vanessa Bell

U1 Artist Collective ..... copied from a friend's wall on FB

Whimsical ..... reminded me of childhood playfulness.

http://vimeo.com/22395129

Absence and Loss

Absence and Loss, a set on Flickr.

Experimenta images for my final major project shot on Mamyia Prof 67 using Ilford 100 Delta film expired November 2000

The Piano

Today I visited Clive Pinkham, a Piano Maker, at his home in Stoke Climsland. He is a well known and respected piano maker, and has been in the music business for many years. Walking into his home was like walking into "Piano Heaven."

The following image is a piano similar to the one I have bought.

With thanks to pinkhampianos.com for this image

As we spoke I discovered that he had been a concert pianist, but having tired of the lonely life it demanded, he decided that he would set up a music shop in the East of the country which was very successful. When this became too stressful, he moved with his family to Stoke Climsland, where he custom makes pianos for clients all over the world. He has a personable approach to his business, and after spending several welcoming hours with him, I chose a piano for myself.

I could not afford to buy a new one, and so I chose a previously owned piano. It had belonged to a Russian lady who was now moving abroad I think, or  into a smaller house where she could not fit the piano. It has the most beautiful sound and it will be the best piano I have ever had.

I wanted to treat myself to a well made piano that would last a long time, and would have the sound it is meant to have. I did this, not only for myself, but also for my mother and the memory of her that I carry with me every day.

My mother was a gifted pianist, but she had never had the opportunity to own a great piano. This has always been a regret for all of the family. If only ....we had been able to buy her a really good piano. But my belief is that she is always near me in spirit, and I think that she will be very happy to listen to me play as she did when she was alive.

The piano will bring with it a whole host of memories. I already have many, but I'm sure that when I place my fingers on the keys and begin to play familiar tunes, more will come flooding back.

This academic year, my projects have concentrated on linking the past with the present, on memory and objects of memory, the philosophy of the inner self in relation to family, nostalgia, and the study that the objects we keep and hold dear, are an influence on us and our lives. They may be objects of sentiment, but I feel that they are much more than this. In remembering past events and people, I think the object can teach us a lot about ourselves, why we remember and how we remember.

I was reading an article by Martin. A. Conway, "Memory and Desire," given to us in a contextual session about Freud and memory. I found this very interesting. The writer was remembering a time that to him felt as though it had no real consequence in his life. But reflecting on how he remembered it gave him an insight into why he remembered it. "memories can reveal more than a person might care to reveal. Freud in his chapter on screen memories (1901, Chapter 1V in the PEL), observed that these types of memories - low emotion, low meaning, and rather enigmatic - were often encountered in memories of childhood events, and in the very earliest memory." (Martin: 48)

Martin goes on to explain that when he reflects on this memory, he sees himself as though looking from a different perspective, from above himself. Freud reasons that at the time of the event when you are a child, you can not think of it in the same way as you do when you have grown into an adult. It makes sense that when you are older, your life experience, and one hopes, wisdom, will see more in the memory than what was there at the time.  Martin writes that the memory of sitting and reading a book at his desk no longer surprises him because now he sees that memory as a transition period in his life . Freud points out that one very clear implication is that the memory has been "worked over," has had the perspective added after the formation of the memory. (Martin: 54) Freud's view was that the knowledge memories bring to consciousness can often screen or hide knowledge closely related to fundamental goals or desires, this knowledge has the potential to cause intense destabilising emotions in the rememberer.(Martin: 54)

I wanted to emulate my mother's piano playing, but I simply was not as gifted as she, and I also didn't practise enough. I enjoyed being able to play, but I was not as passionate about music as she was. I have many memories of feeling sad that I could not quite live up to her expectations, even though I wanted too. Now, later in life, I know that my mother was an inspiration to me and I needed to feel passionate about something. I have now found my passion in learning and in the art that I create.

Expired Film January 2012

Lomography January 2012, a set on Flickr.

Some images I shot with expired film.

A Museum for Myself

First image portrait of Peter Blake with thanks to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/jun/05/week-in-pictures-peter-blake

  With Thanks to http://www.holburne.org/peter-blake-a-museum-for-myself  for text and image at bottom of page.

Peter Blake: A Museum for Myself

14/05/2011 - 04/09/2011

The Holburne Museum's opening exhibition will display the personal collection of and artwork by Sir Peter Blake

Sir Peter Blake is one the country’s most enduringly popular and important living artists and he has collected since childhood. This exhibition will explore how Blake’s collections reflect his abiding preoccupations and have informed, shape and feature in his own work.

A Museum for Myself at the Holburne will display many of the extraordinary objects from his collections and important works by Blake himself together for the first time. His astonishing collections include Victorian collage and folk art, pop ephemera, works by his artist friends, showbiz autographs and marching troupes of toy elephants. They include such such strange and wonderful things as General Tom Thumb’s boots, Max Miller’s shoes and Ian Dury’s Rhythm Stick and the exhibition at the Holburne will explore the creative relationship that Blake has with this cabinet of curiosities.

The exhibition will include works by the artist from throughout his career including his pioneering works such as Locker (1958) with its collage of images of Brigitte Bardot; collages of found objects including the title work A Museum for Myself (1982) an arrangement of some of his favourite things to more recent works such as Elvis Shrine (2003) and his series of Museums of Black and White.

Arranged around him in his West London studio Blake’s collection offers a wonderful kaleidoscopic mirror of his mind and obsessions which have been reflected in his work for decades. There you find stuffed animals in tableau from Mr Potter’s Museum of Curiosities; Punch and Judy Puppets; the paraphernalia of the fairground and souvenirs of the wrestlers and pop-stars who feature in his art. At the studio door stands the waxwork of Sonny Liston which features on the cover of the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper album, Blake’s most famous work.

The exhibition will be the opening show at the renewed and transformed Holburne Museum, itself built around an individual’s personal collection. It will be the first in what is hoped will be a series of exhibitions that explore the figure of the collector and the creative act of collection. Indeed in Blake’s case the collection itself can be seen as a work of art. 

TASK What is Memory?

Synonyms/Antonyms
(Antonym is the opposite meaning of a word. Synonym means identical or similar words)

Synonyms .... remember, recollect, nostalgia, mind resources, reflect, commemorate, flashback, minds eye, reminisce, retrospective, reminder,diary, impression
Antonyms .... forget, amnesia, ignorance,

1. Write one sentence beginning memory is.....
2. Write an absurd definition of memory

1. Memory is to be immersed in a sense of a time or place when an event or events of an emotional nature embedded itself in your being.

2. Memory is like a pancake, smells good, tastes good, but once eaten is dissolved.... until the next pancake.

"Nothing stands out so conspicuously, or remains so firmly fixed in the memory, as something which you have blundered " http://quotes.dictionary.com/author/Marcus+Tullius+Cicero

"The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust"
http://quotes.dictionary.com/author/Elizabeth+Bowen

The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »The charm, one might say the genius of memory, is that it is choosy, chancy, and temperamental: it rejects the edifying cathedral and indelibly photographs the small boy outside, chewing a hunk of melon in the dust.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »

Family

My daughter has been making short films for a while now, but this is the first she has created using her own ideas and imagery. I thought I would share it on here. Obviously as her mum I am very proud!
http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D5NpQA7LxdMw&h=MAQElqaJFAQGtqRkv_Oo9Z7hVSjqEbu1pVNfI8yTBWkgFPw

Adding

During the past two months I have been de - cluttering our home, but today I seem to have taken a step backwards. I attended an Auction this morning at Shobrooks in town, and although I only went there to pick up some cheap frames to use for our exhibition in March I actually bid for and won four items. That wasn't at all what I had intended to do.

I bid and won a Metronome, I have wanted to replace one that I had lost several years ago during a house move, but had resisted paying too much for one. So today I bid up to £12 and won it. Unfortunately it doesn't work. Typical. Now I have wasted £12 on an item that doesn't work and is no use to me. So what will I do with it?

My other winning items were a book of old postcards, a leather bag full of music and another box of old postcards of churches that I'm not sure why I bid for.

I am searching for inspiration for my major final project as I have a mental block at the moment. But really, why did I let temptation overcome sense. I don't know. The only way I can stop myself from being tempted is to defer from attending auctions. But I did have fun, I enjoyed the spirit of the auction, the hammer slamming down after the final bid and the thrill of having won an item, even if it was totally useless.

Today I went into the auction cold, I hadn't viewed the items first, I just got carried away by the excitement I feel about the upcoming exhibition we have in March, wanting to find the right frame for my central piece and just enjoying the moment. So maybe I shouldn't beat myself up for having wasted a little money because I did enjoy the experience, I had fun, I interacted with the people there, and maybe it will give me inspiration at some point in the near future.

I'm convincing myself of this because I know I now have the bug and I will be searching for other local auctions.

Before I finish I just want to add that there was a piano at the auction that I bid on but didn't win. This was fortunate as I have no way of transporting a piano, and the item has to be taken within 24 hours of the session. I have no idea what condition the piano was in and this makes me grateful that I didn't win it, (thinking now of the metronome). But it has made me think that I really would like a piano and when I consider the items I did win, the bag of music and the metronome, I think my subconscious is telling me something. Music is a good resource to inspiration. I can play the piano but haven't done so for many years and I think it would be beneficial to play once again.

The theme for my major final project is family, memory, object and landscape.

This is the artist statement I wrote last week:-

I am exploring objects of memory and the connections linking the past to the present. It is my intention to convey my belief that those who come before us have an influence on our lives within those objects of memory. I am exploring how everyday objects become part of our inner life, and researching the philosophy of the objects and the inner self.

Using my love of nature I link family, object and self, with the landscape as a platform for my photographs.

Experimenting with Object, Memory and Landscape