...and so it goes

Since I last wrote here I tried to find what Sarah Thornton is saying now but I could not find anything more recent than about eighteen months ago -apparently she has taken time off journalism to write another book  - not sure what about but I imagine it would be interesting.

Anyway I came across something else that fits the part nicely  - would you believe: an art blog...surprise,that.:

Jonathan Jones on Art      ( based in the Guardian)

I have put his blog onto my list but here is a little of what attracted my attention.

Here is a typical piece by Peter Doig:

 

You would say quite characteristic of his style.

 

Now have a look at this:

 

 

Some law officer in Canada is claiming that when Peter Doig was young he was in a 'correctional facility' (aren't they  just great with words in that part of the world) for drugs and that he painted this and sold it to this guy for $100.  Yer man is taking a case to authenticate the picture even though it is signed Peter Doige and the artist says he has never been in a correctional facility. Anyway the point of the piece(which you should read) is that art prices have totally survived the recession and that even an artist like Mr Doig who certainly does not court the limelight is being seen as a possible source of money:

'Doig's art is dreamy and haunting; it invites meditation. But mercenary realities make the world go round. To love art for itself often seems an eccentric and marginal enthusiasm.'

- Jonathan Jones

 

 

I have spent the last few days reorganising my studio and making it ready for work, but in the course of so doing  I realised (once again) what a lot of stuff one accumulates  - all of which is absolutely essential, naturally. Doing this, I was reminded of a short piece I came across a while back regarding stuff. I think it might amuse:

 



 

George Carlin

 

Don't deny it  -you all relate to this!

 

I'll tell you more about the projects a little later.

The Critical Path

I have often mentioned Robert Hughes in these pages particularly in reference to his collected critical essays -Nothing if not Critical -and I come back to him again today because I have just watched a 2-hour documentary by him called  The Mona Lisa Curse:

http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the_mona_lisa_curse_2008/

As you can see, this was made in 2008, around the same time as Sarah Thornton's book Seven Days in the Art World. Now while both pieces of work cover similar ground their origins are rather different, Thornton being an anthropologist, and Hughes an art critic of fifty years. It is significant though that both were produced at the peak of the boom and as I already said of Sarah Thornton at the time I read the book I would love to know how they would see the art world now.
As it happens, Dr Thornton's views are readily available as she writes regularly on art in the Guardian, but sadly Hughes died in 2012, although he must have seen a great retrenchment in prices........if not perhaps in attitudes.

An artist friend of mine felt that Hughes got very grumpy towards the end and certainly he was always very opinionated (that should probably be borne in mind when reading his criticism). Nevertheless, if you watch the film, perhaps you might get some idea as to why he felt the way he did.

Some of the questions he asks at the end of the piece bear thinking about when one is a baby student in art college:

What use is art?

What is art for?

Can you answer these? -if not you should be spending the next three years ...... and maybe the rest of your life .....  thinking about them .

The Path of Outer Darkness

Yes indeed, much weeping and gnashing of teeth as we have been cast out for the 'summer' (I use that term advisedly).

I didn't honestly think I would be doing this tonight but I just couldn't resist it and anyway I have no life.

On the other hand I have a glass of wine and I am sitting here surrounded by the wreckage of the year!

 

Interesting day - I got called to see the extern -Dave Lilburn - an artist whose work I realised I already knew quite well when I saw some of it later in the day:

I had a very thorough examination of my work and motivations and he was particularly interested in my previous life and he felt that I would have loads of material for years to come just exploring this.
I was very heartened to hear that especially as I discovered later that John Baldessari is stealing my ideas:

After that intense start it was a slow day till 3.30 but at one stage I went out for a walk and caught some nice rays and some again new views of Limerick:

so much in this is typical of the city, down to the long school uniforms.

guess where this one is

 

A different view of the school and as you can see the rays didn't last long

Back inside and lots of coffee and chat plus a couple of profitable library visits;

 

This book is definitely the ultimate litho bible showing lots of great pics such as this:

which tells you where soft and hard begin in litho crayons and pencils, but also shows some tremendous litho work by great artists such as Jim Dine:

and this lovely townscape by Leonard Lehrer:

Another tome I spotted was this one:

and its contents are divided into wood engraving, etching, litho,etc.

Some examples:

  I enlarged this so that you can see its subject - I have touched on Robert Gibbings already I think - his wood work is superb.

 All of these are wood just to show the detail that can be achieved.

Well. that's it from school, but we shall continue and I will, if its not too presumptuous, show you a number of the books I have picked up and which I think might be of interest.

The eye of the storm (...in a teacup)

Yes - the day between the last two days of the year.... perhaps a picture of a navel would be in order?

Assessment yesterday which I hope went well; although sometimes I really wish I could shut up a bit and not keep mouthing on; probably too late to change that aspect of oneself at this stage.

I completed my tour of the first year shows visiting fashion  - wow! what a lot of work - :

 

 

....and painting, and I was delighted to meet my first tutor Sylvia Shortall there and she gave me a tour of the work explaining what had been the objectives of various students; again a lot of work making the print studio look very prim and restrained!

 

The statements in many cases indicated quite intense and well-thought out positions.

 

One piece of work was derived from a visit to the basement -somehere I had never been so I went there immediately:

 

 

Must go back again when redecoration is over!

 

The last studio visit I carried out was our own  -  printmaking, and here is some of the work:

 

 

Emma Zukovic

 

 

Emma O'Hara

 

Liam Lewis

 

Karen Ryan

 

Rachael Daly

 

Eleanor Breen

 

 

Before I left I visited the Gallery where there is an exhibition of secondary school wotk - as far as I could gather put in by their teachers - some of which really caught the eye:

 

 

Kilkenny

 

Impressive -from a second year.

 

 

Then took off for another tour of

 

shows in Limerick

 

 

First, however, I would like to pop back to last Thursday when Catherina and muself paid a quick visit to Shannon Rowing cub for a jewel of a show curated by Derek O'Sullivan called 'Liminal' and it comprised  two printmakers - Glen McAuley and - and a sculptor - Michella Perreira -whose work I had already noted in 'Nineteen':

 

 

Glen McAuley

 

 

Tea Leaves from Michella Perreira

 

Windows from Brian Gregory

 

I liked the idea of Liminal because it related so closely to my concentration on Edge in the initial (first semester) project. I think I will have to re-incorporate that into my thinking, particularly in relation to decay and grime -industrial, urban., physical and rural............well that about covers everything, doesn't it?

 

 

 Here are two pictures of disasters, albeit on a small scale , but maybe great for those concerned:

 

 

 

 

a whole bagful!

 

Back to yesterday and the tour; first stop was the Printmakers where there is a new show by Rochelle Lucey  - 'No Diesel'

I had to laugh when I walked into this because the first thing I see is a wall full of great paintings and  the reason I laughed was because earlier I had been saying to the assessors that I was quite keen not to eliminate paint from  my longer term approach and here it was:

 

The theme of the show relates to the number of garages that have closed and there is a rusted petrol pump together with some photos. Rochelle's painting focuses on abandoned petrol stations principally between Kerry and Limerick.

 

 

From there we went up to Faber studios in Henry Street, another space whose existence I had not known of till now and very nice it is with big windows inviting the public gaze and perhaps reducing the nervousness many people feel towards art galleries.

 

Rachel and Sharon were there minding the shop and quite a stock this shop has. I wish I had got to see it earlier as there was a lot I would have liked to spend more time over.

 

 

 

 The name of the show is WAMI - Words Are My Inspiration  - and the thinking is once again to demonstrate the  blurring of birders between disciplines. This really has been a recurrent theme this year's in the Third Year shows.

 

My feet were beginning to give out now as I wandered back up towards the railway station but on the way I picked up another image of industrial decay

 

You can't beat rust for random.


The final visit was a very brief one to

where I looked at their most recent selection from the permanent collection -a lot of  Irish landscapes; here are two:

 

Achill Head - Paul Henry

 

- a place I really love and have painted and drawn myself (aspirational!!)

A Connemara watercolour by Percy French   - the cloud edge around the sun is beautiful.


This has been a long post and I promise I won't do that to my viewers again but I wanted to get up to date - More often and shorter, I promise.

Clear out tomorrow.