"Nonsense is better than no sense!"

  I sell books therefore logically, I'm someone who fortunately enjoys books! I’m also an artist. I hope it goes without saying I love art. So anything that combines these interests very much excites me...

 

09:30am, Tuesday December 15^th, a wave of euphoria descends upon the Mead in Taunton Somerset. The postman in accompanying van has just delivered a colossal-sized VIP parcel. The visual cornucopia, feast for the eyes, art extravaganza that is Hive 2# has landed!  

 

Hive 2# Outside Cover of Casing (left) and Inside Cover of Zine (right)

 

First swarming in March 2015, issue 1 of the celebrated visual arts zine (collectively known as) ‘Hive’ was formed, featuring the work of 12 ‘deliriously excited’ artists, each making work in response to the theme, ‘Track six’. Their work collated/distributed into the completed zine by issue 1’s editor, Stuart Rosamond.  See[http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/here-are-my-bees.html].

 

“With the ambition of publishing biannually throughout the year each issue of ‘Hive’ is guest edited by a different artist who sets the theme, collates the work, binds it and produces the cover plus any supporting content. The brief, that each participating artist produces a response to the theme on an A3 sheet of paper/surface in any medium of their choosing making either thirteen copies or originals of their work and sent to said editor. Each artist as a result receives a completed copy of ‘Hive’ featuring their page and that of the eleven other artists.”

 

Are we clear?!

 

15 Minutes of Fame. Selfie with Hive!

Nine months later and the second issue of ‘Hive’ has just been distributed to each of the 12 participating artists. They are; Nina Gronw-Lewis, Rico Ajao, Jon England, Malcolm Plastow, Frank Edmunds, Eileen Rosamond, Megan Calver,  Kevin Hawker, Stuart Rosamond, Tim Martin, Ruby Rowsell and me (Natalie Parsley)! Hive 2# edited by Frank Edmunds, has set the theme for the issue, ‘...the wrong side of 15 minutes’.                          

 

 What proceeded from first opening my copy of Hive 2 was a series of increasingly delightful surprises. Hive 2 arrives in its complete own ark, an almost zealously protective, bespoke, outer wooden case/sculpture complete with Dada-esque style collage of mousetraps, cuttings, painting and text. In the same way that Hive 1 had its own tailored CD of track 6 songs, Hive 2 has its own additions that includes an Andy Warhol, ’15 minutes of fame’ magnet! Whoop! It is like being a kid at Christmas, but a hugely refreshing reminder that art can be fun! Both uniquely different, both reflective of the characters/interests of their host editors. Inside Hive 2 features more accompanying Warhol quotes to the theme of ‘...the wrong side of 15 minutes’ which are dispersed throughout the pages in between the artists’ work. It reminds me of ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’ children’s book which had the opening of envelopes and layers, of a book within a book within a book. This is a childhood memory and is something I’ve always taken delight in trying to incorporate in my own Hive contributions (my Hive 2 page includes a 15 piece jigsaw influenced by this very idea). Even in my offshoot zine, ‘Swarm’ [see: http://spannerintheworkz.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/keep-on-swarming.html] I have always been interested in the mechanics of books and book-making so that pages have holes in them, viewfinders, things to open and fold-out and are generally more interactive, tactile and open to discovery as art objects in themselves in addition to the content produced within their pages.

Snapshots of the Hive 2 Artists' work

From a Bookseller point-of-view it certainly seems as though the publishing industry has almost turned full-circle in recent years, in the wake of digital ebooks that threatened to topple printed book sales mixed with the recession and increase in online buying the publishing industry and booksellers have begun to fight back by recreating traditionally bound and special editions of books adding value with materials (surface design), quality of print, illustrations and more. Two brilliant examples being, the intricately designed fiction ‘S’ by J J Abrams that includes multiple inserts, recreated postcards, maps, notes and photos within its pages that become part of the storytelling and the elegantly produced, ‘The Strange Library’ by Haruki Murakami which combines imaginative typography and ladybird-style nostalgic illustrations. I digress but this tangent raises an important point on the imagination and creativity that can be involved in book/magazine design and I think is an important in the continued re-growth of physical book sales. Should more artists be making books? More artists involved in publishing?

 

The artist in me continues to be inspired and there is much to be enthused by in the zine process. They offer the collective opportunity to share/produce work with other artists/makers in a 2D exhibition that is sent through the post! Wonderful!





 

 

I'm a user

“She found a little bottle…and tied round the neck of the bottle was a paper label with the words ‘DRINK ME’ beautifully printed on it in large letters."

- Lewis Carroll, 'Alice's adventures in Wonderland'

Ah, welcome to sunny Oxford, Wednesday 21st August 2013.

If Baudrillard in, his 'System of Objects' is correct in saying, "...there are two functions of every object, to be put to use or to be possessed" then this shop would surely appreciate both. 'Objects of Use' on Market Street in Oxford sells, you guessed it, things of use and things (like any self-respecting shop that wants to earn a living should) to be possessed if you're willing to cough up the cash that is. And if you're not familiar with this blog, its not my habit to go around applying theory to shops, it just so happens that this shop had something in common with my interest of everyday objects (drawing them mostly -check out the artwork sections of this blog).

After being to visit Pitt Rivers, Oxford earlier that morning and admiring (as I usually do) the collections of tools, netsukes, keys, pigments and such, I realised that what is particularly appealing about Pitt Rivers is the way in which the objects are displayed and the way in which they are labelled with their original handwritten tags (ah see, maybe you were wondering why the Carroll reference at the beginning...and he studied at Oxford too, which is convenient for this post). Later, coming across 'Objects of Use' was a bit like walking in the shop version of Pitt Rivers where things were for sale but presented as though they were on display. The shop was more empty in terms of stock than I was used to, except it was empty in a less-is-more way, where each comb, trowel, pot, pan and pair of scissors was given its own space to hang or lie. The result is an impression that each object is of greater importance and more 'one-of-a-kind'. And why shouldn't it? If we all (as users/makers of objects) took more notice of the things we use and in turn more care in looking after them then maybe that could help us all become a little bit more sustainable...maybe.

On other thoughts, I have often pondered on the difference between an object and an artefact. Is an artefact really just an object with provenance/museum context? Or in general does it really matter what we categorise or label something to be? Is a hammer still the same whether we call it a tool, a thing, an object or an artefact? I don't expect to answer these now, but it is something of an on-going interest. 

So anyway, back to this business of labels, everything in this place has its own label complete with story of where it was made and what its made of. Yes, you too could own a wild boar hair men's hair brush made in Germany! Funnily enough, I didn't buy anything, realising I had probably enough objects of use at home that I could attribute my own provenance and history to. Of course I am a bit cynical here and can kind-of see the shopkeeper psychology at work, trying to get customers to buy premium products that are presented uniquely and given an almost superfluous back-story so that it can be justified at being priced at a higher cost, but none-the-less I think it works and having worked in retail agree that with the increase of online shopping the pressure for high street shops to offer, 'something more', 'added value' or an experience is the new norm. There's actually a lot of creativity that goes into it and I cannot help think of the Andy Warhol quote, "When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums" I cannot see why this shop couldn't be art? Maybe a lot of shops are? 

 

 

Check it out! -  http://www.objectsofuse.com/

 

Can the can! Book review: Chris Chapman '100 Cans'

 

So, welcome to the blog! Anyone who used to read my exploits on the SAW blog will be familiar that every once and a while I used to create a post that reviews a new art book. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I bring you those same proceedings here on 'spanner in the workZ'! This first review is very special as it features a self-published book by an artist Chris Chapman. I'll make no apologies for my obvious bias for the simple fact that Chris is a good friend of mine and peer whom I studied Fine Art with at Somerset College. Nonetheless I wish to (as objectively as I can) pay dues, review and acknowledge in the public realm her work presented in this unique and professional book.

 

Titled, ‘100 Cans’ this book, pardon the pun, is literally what it says on the tin! 100 photos of cans found on roadsides, picked up by the artist and photographed. Sounds simple, and in a way it is, but therein lies its beauty. Who when out on a walk or in a car ever stops to look at a squashed beer can discarded in a hedge? Its rubbish, why would we ever pause to look at it, yet alone admire it? And you can forget about thinking about picking up someone else’s can, you don’t know WHERE it’s been! Chris Chapman DOES go picking up those cans, in fact she actively goes out specifically in search of them. Whilst most artists (and I hold my hand up to being in this category) are in the studio making mess from bought materials she is outside making it from the stuff that others have thrown away. It’s an exciting philosophy and one that has resonances of alchemy and the idea of ‘turning something out of nothing’. The intention certainly isn’t to make those who prefer the studio, like myself, feel guilty. I do, like many others, my fare share of recycling and don’t go around throwing my rubbish anywhere other than a bin, but it does highlight the issues of waste and how through an art practice of looking at something seen as ‘waste’ as ‘art’ can possibly be beneficial in pricking the conscious of our consumerist society and how we think about litter.
 

In Chapman’s words the project is fully titled, “100 cans after Andy Warhol. This book is one of a series highlighting the issues of waste, litter and flytipping in the local environment.” Art history fans amongst you will need no explanation to the reference this work has with Warhol’s silkscreen prints of Campbell soup cans in the 60’s-70’s. Back then consumerism, shopping and spending were the holy grail of American culture, the lifestyle, wealth, business and popularity that surrounded it. Supermarkets were galleries and galleries were like supermarkets to Warhol. Less than thirty years later and we began to see the affects of our consumerist and throw-away lifestyles. The glossy advertising, colours and logos of Warhol’s cans are replaced by the reality of their used, crushed, rusty counterparts in Chapman’s photos. In a painful irony Chapman’s cans look more like Warhol’s ‘car crash’ screen prints than his soup cans, but if anything it shows that despite his consumerist tendencies that Warhol was also all too aware of the fragility of man-made  objects. Perhaps in a way Warhol also had the right idea in highlighting the ‘beauty’ of packaging with his soup cans and brillo boxes showing a reverence for the packaging as to its contents. Maybe in ‘waste’ terms if we all had a similar respect or at least awareness for the packaging around the product instead of just its contents then maybe Chris would have to find another subject matter for her work?!

 

 

What’s interesting ,if not also depressingly accurate is that Chapman doesn’t need to put a context to these images in the way of saying where exactly they were found because they could be found anywhere. They are a common if embarrassingly familiar site on any road, park or hedgerow. Like the American artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles who swept the streets of New York as a piece of environmental art activism, Chapman is another one of that category of artists doing a service for society whilst also collecting the discarded cans that become the subject of her work.

 

 

For me, the images of cans in this book are depicted like ancient archaeological relics (each one coated in specks of dirt, encrusted with weathered signs of age, leaf litter and rust) are given the prestige of its own page, glistening against a white background. Some are almost unrecognisable as a can and become jewelled fragments each and everyone unique and of different shape. No two squashed cans are the same shape, the same contortion or the same rusting. It is easy to see how one can become obsessed with the formal qualities of these objects as each is so unique.

 

 

Walking to the shop for the paper this morning I saw several cans along the roadside and instead of not ever really noticing them at all, I began to first attempt to identify them like an urban can-spotter. I then actually picked several up and put them into a bag, ‘every little helps’. I can’t say that I’ll have the time or conscience to do this every time I leave the house, but at the very least I am more aware of cans and indeed litter than I used to be and if I can’t beat them by picking them all up then at least I can learn to appreciate them.

 

If you’re interested in contacting the artist then please email:

chapman@jcem.me.uk

Or you can buy ‘100 CANS’ and other books by Chris Chapman at:

http://www.blurb.co.uk/user/chrischapman