Sunday 17 February 2013

Four legs good, two legs bad



 

To clarify: From the start, this post has nothing to do with ‘Animal Farm’, its author George Orwell or indeed much if anything to do with politics. It does however have a lot to do with pigs, people and to some extent definitions of what is ‘good’ and what is ‘bad’. Fear not though, neither will I be getting too philosophical or start digressing into a discussion on ethics. What’s it all about? ‘Snout and about’ of course:  “The public art project with a twist in its tail!”

Launched this Monday in the Orchard Shopping Centre and former ‘home’ to the wooden pig seats me and Michael Fairfax unveiled the pigs along with their new look to the people of Taunton. The, ‘twist in its tail’ that the project title refers to is that the original pig seats have been altered lest they be left to languish in a store room in the shopping centre rotting, gathering dust and in some cases, falling to bits. The other ‘twist’, perhaps, is that who could have predicted the reaction they would receive sparking some strong opinions of a ‘marmite’ nature. Or then again, to cause such a stir, a debate, ‘delight’ or ‘outrage’ may be exactly the point that was intended.  Reactions from, ‘Fit for the bonfire’ to ‘Drop them off at the recycle centre when you've done with them’, ‘They looked better when they were covered in pigeon mess’ and ‘This reminds me of the Italian woman destroying the Jesus painting’ to ‘21st Century makeover for 21st Century pigs’, ‘Love it or hate it that’s the beauty of art’ and ‘Awesome! I love them!’

 
Wow! “Welcome to the world of public art,” I tell myself. Still, could have been worse, they might have received no reaction at all. Besides, and it is important to stress, that these pigs are no longer functioning as they did as seats. They’ve not been designed with sitting in mind or to be aesthetically in-keeping with a particular location operating in the way that public seating is supposed to do. Love or hate them, they’ve been turned into ‘art’ objects that are to be auctioned for charity then after their purpose or destiny is a mystery yet to be defined.
 
What are my thoughts, well I think it would have been naive to think that covering one of Taunton’s beloved pig seats in collaged images of tools wasn’t going to promote some accusations of ‘vandalism’ or desecration. In fact, admittedly on a regular basis I commit the act of desecrating sheets of brilliant white paper with drawings, scribbles and doodles. I too, am long aware of the sentimentality and, as ridiculous as it may sound to some, ‘icon-like’ status that the pig seats in their original condition had (for let’s put it in perspective, they were only seats and not a unique commissioned piece of artwork). I grew-up in Taunton and have great fondness for the pigs and toads which is why the decision to ‘do’ something with the pig seats as to leaving them to rot and eventually be thrown away could only be seen as a positive thing  from my point of view (baring in mind I was also doing this for free). So much so, that my original reaction was ‘to auction them as they are’, that was until I saw the state they were in at least! When talking about restoration is it about restoring something back that was lost, preserving what is already there or re-enacting what something would have looked like when new? Or is it better to create something entirely new and use an act of destruction in order to recreate or transform? Therein lays the debate as to what would have been a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ use of the pig seats. Personally, I’d like to think my intervention sits somewhere between the two, restoring what was once there and additionally changing it to make it into something new, leaving my mark so to speak. Or to reiterate what I said in the guide book;
 
“I have adorned my pig with collaged images of hand tools. Featured are images of tools used in farming past and present which I hope create an association that alludes to the history of Taunton as a market town. I wanted to remain sensitive to the original design of the pig as I saw my role as one of preserving as well as restoring the original seat that I had grown up with. Much time, love and care was spent cleaning, polishing and staining the wood before collaging the tools onto its surface. The level of reverence and respect that has been demonstrated in restoring the pig echoes the treatment, appreciation and awe I have towards tools as the inspiration in my own art practice. I wanted very much to retain the original recognisability of the pig seat as an icon of my own and many others childhoods whilst giving it a new look as an art object that left my own mark, as an artist but still had an association with the agricultural context of Taunton’s market history.”
 
 
So if, ‘Four legs good’ is the pigs and ‘two legs’ bad is us, (the humans) then perhaps there is an irony in that quote that is similar to the reaction towards our (the artists) intervention with the pigs. Maybe we should have left the pigs alone and succumb to their own ends, they may have started a revolution and created a political upheaval before in a megalomaniacal reverse in fortune become the makers of their own undoing. But then again, maybe they are just pig shaped blocks of wood that had it not been for our involvement would have been on three legs and quite frankly on their last legs! Or who knows, could have even eventually found their way into Tesco frozen beef lasagne!
 

Sunday 10 February 2013

And now, some shameless self-publicity

Well, there’s no point having a blog about your art work if you aren’t ever going to refer to any of your art goings-on. It’s on that note that I’d like to introduce you to ‘Snout and About’, a Taunton based art commission that I have been involved in since October last year.


A bit of background info courtesy of The Brewhouse;  “The Brewhouse and Orchard Shopping Centre have joined forces to launch a unique art project which will trot from place to place around Somerset's county town. Snout & About was developed to champion local artistic talent, support arts in Somerset and bring an exciting and memorable, piece of public art to the people of Taunton.

The hardwood pig benches were a much loved feature of Orchard, formerly known as 'The Old Market Centre' and loyally served the community as a meeting point, a resting place and children's attraction. Unfortunately after a decade, they were in worse-for-ware condition and were removed during the centre's refurbishment. Last year, Orchard donated the pigs to The Brewhouse so that local artists could breathe life back into them.

The pigs have now been reinvented as magnificent pieces of art thanks to the help of local artists Michael Fairfax and Natalie Parsley. Both artists independently renovated the pigs in a way that they felt reflected what they represented. This has now resulted in two unique pieces of art that have a hint of familiar, yet are new and innovative. The pigs are being kept under wrapped in blankets and will be revealed at the official launch next week.”
  
As a child growing up in Taunton, like many others, I have fond memories of sitting and playing on the pig seats back when The Orchard Shopping Centre was the Pig Market. As I grew older it became a place to meet friends on a trip into town. Now at twenty-six years old and as an emerging artist in Somerset,  I was incredibly honoured and excited to be offered the opportunity to transform, restore and ‘artistically enhance’ one of the Taunton pigs!

So if you fancy it come join us on Monday 11th, at 11.00 in The Orchard Shopping Centre. I’ll also be looking forward to posting some images of my pig and writing some of my thoughts on here as the project unfolds.
Follow the project on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/snoutandabouttaunton
Details of the Auction evening at The Brewhouse: http://www.thebrewhouse.net/main-house/1685/snout-about-charity-auction

Below are more dates of where the pigs will be and when:
Mon 11 Feb - Orchard Shopping Centre
Tues 12 Feb - Taunton Library
Wed 13 - Thurs 14 Feb - The Museum of Somerset
Fri 15 Feb - Imagine Design Create at Shakees
Sat 16 - Fri 22 Feb - The Brewhouse
Sat 23 Feb - Goodland Gardens
Mon 25 Feb - Fri 1 Mar - The Deane House
Sat 2 - Sun 3 Mar - Castle Green
Mon 4 - Sun 10 Mar - Orchard Shopping Centre
Mon 11 - Fri 15 Mar - Musgrove Park Hospital
Sat 16 Mar - Vivary Park
Mon 18 - Fri 22 Mar - Somerset College
Sat 23 - Sun 24 Mar - St Mary Magdalene Church
Mon 25 - Thurs 28 Mar - Ginger Fig Gallery
Fri 29 - Fri 5 Apr - Orchard Shopping Centre
Sat 6 Apr - Waterstones
Sun 7 Apr - Taunton Marathon
Mon 8 Apr - Market House
Tues 9 Apr - Taunton Library
Wed 10 - Fri 12 Apr - Museum
Sat 13 Apr - The Brewhouse


Tuesday 5 February 2013

A pretentious blog post about a pretentious art film

Roll up! Roll up! See, the magnificent ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’, bask in the beauty of the Mona Lisa, be wooed by the fair Frida Kahlo, witness poetic choreography, sublime felting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking for one day only as the marvellous yet mysterious, House of F, present, ‘Fakes, Fraud’s and Flagrant Rip-offs!’
 
Saturday 26th January, I have the day off work! A red letter day indeed and what better way to spend it than visiting some art with a friend. But, not just any old art, no, this was to be a surreal, fun-filled experience of the likes that can only come from the mind of artist (and friend), Annie Jeffs. Somewhere in a tithe barn in Fitzhead for one day only, Annie Jeffs, Kate Burrows and friends as the ‘House of F’ collective (you can decide yourself what the ‘f’ is for) came together to put on an exhibition celebrating, fakes, fraud’s and rip-offs. It is safe to say that they deliberately don’t take themselves too seriously, which is refreshing and also, by how it looked, a lot of fun! Plasticine replicas of Van Gogh’s, Vincent’s bedroom in Arles’ and Vermeer’s ‘Girl with the Pearl Earring’ by Annie Jeffs (or Annie Jiffy as she is sometimes also known) are actually brilliantly accurate to the real paintings and can’t help but make you smile when you realise they are made with nothing other than a child’s modelling material. If you only learn one thing from seeing a House of F exhibition, it’s that art is fun. If you wanted to get analytical about it then you could make all sorts of associations between the intuitiveness and child-like-ness of play and using plasticine and the similarities that kind of play has with creative intuition and spontaneity. But let’s not over think it because over in the corner there is a stack of toast and a jar of marmite that is inviting us to come over and have a go at painting a portrait of the Mona Lisa on toast. And why not! Actually, this was really tricky to do, but the variety of results was fantastic. In many ways, my favourite piece of the day, and that’s from someone who hates marmite!

Moving on, the slightly chaotic, busy barn hall, taking care not to knock over any boards, animals or small children, I make my way to a rolled up parchment (pictured) depicting black and white drawings of the Poll Tax riots. ‘House of F’ always has had political undertones, proving it isn’t all toast and plasticine! These drawings were great and were created from a first-hand account by the artist who had also been there. I particularly like the way you had to unroll the parchment from left to right as the narrative unfolded.

Next, I pass a felted replica (or at least I assume it is) of Van Gogh’s ear in a box and some truly brilliant photography (pictured) depicting abandoned rooms that look, let’s just say, a little worse for wear. But you don’t need to be an ‘artist’ to know or appreciate that sometimes these sorts of decay and abandoned neglect in buildings can be beautiful, haunting and make for one really interesting photo! Again, without sounding too discerning, my only criticism of these photos was the painted, collaged frames that surrounded them that really detracted from the images themselves. Less is more!

 
  By now I was getting parched and what I really needed was a drink. Heading to the barn’s upstairs gallery, I was delighted to hear they were serving G&T and what better way to serve it, than from a tea pot, served gracefully, by none-other than Frida Kahlo herself! Woah! Definitely surreal! Refreshed, I progressed to view Kahlo’s felt-made self portrait and some equally surreal sculptures of the likes pictured below.
 

 What better way to conclude this eventful outing than with the premier screening of, ‘A pretentious art film’ in the snug, secluded seat of the fireplace (and also in wide-screen!). Reading the reviews on the wall of, “This film was such a momentous piece of art that I hid myself from the world for 3.8 weeks in order for the stunning metaphor to immerse in my mind” and “I feel privileged to have this film grace upon my retinas” set a high expectation of what I was about to see. It shows, one woman and her boat...er I mean bath tub...one woman and her dog.....three men in a boat......three men and a woman falling out of a boat or indeed a bath tub....dancing and then the end.  The images now in my retinas I stopped to reflect on what it all could mean?..... It’s easy to get caught in ‘not’ taking this film seriously (as it’s not meant to be) but even saying that is a bit like saying, ‘how do you be cool?’ when some things don’t need explanation, they defy it. However, me being me, I can’t help but naturally take some earnest in being serious about not ‘being serious’ and whilst I find it funny, I also find it kind-of clever in the way it is unashamedly taking the piss out of itself and the context and pretentiousness of some art. With running the risk of sounding too pretentious myself, I do wonder what makes a pretentious art film so pretentious or not? And is it more the context and formal-ness of the gallery space and institution that makes a work seem more pretentious than it is? Or is it about expectation, and that we don’t expect to find a pretentious art film in a tithe barn in Fitzhead but we do, in a gallery like Spacex? So interesting....even if it wasn’t supposed to make me think, it has! Have a look for yourselves.      
 
 
There you have it! Weird, brilliantly rubbish and above all fun! Eat your heart out Marcel Duchamp! Upon returning to the real world, I couldn't help but smile.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, 'The House of F'!