:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Thursday, May 15, 2008 ::

Type Art

From my friend Keira,

"Hello !
Hope you're very well...all of you.
I wanted to share with you my latest (very short) film , where I typed a picture of Bournemouth Pier using my old typewriter. I recently showed this, and the picture/s at Aruba, the bar situated on Bournemouth Pier approach as part of an event called Muse Platform, you can see footage of this event here.
I will be doing more typing at events soon so please check my website for news.
Thanks!
Keira"

Labels: Art, Film, Typography

:: Dan 15.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

"A little piece of trivia I didn't know, apparently Stanley Kubrick asked Roger Waters if he could use music from Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother' for Clockwork Orange. Someone's re-imagined what the opening sequence would have looked like if he'd said yes and this is the result." [via grom]

Labels: Art, Film, Literature, Music

:: Dan 12.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Not A Penny 06
Originally uploaded by gusset.

Motorboy - 'Abandon Your Soul to Hades'
From the 'Not A Penny Off The Pay, Not A Second On The Day' show at the Old Motorcycle Workshop, Stokes Croft, Bristol
www.stealfromwork.org

More added to my Steal From Work flickr set, which also includes the 12 Days of Xmas show from last year.

Labels: Art, Flickr, graffiti

:: Dan 7.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

New Steal From Work show. A group urban art show celebrating International Workers Day.

1st May – 11th May, 2008
Opening night - Thursday 1st May 7pm-10pm
Then open everyday 12pm-7pm (closed on Tue 6th)
The Old Motorcycle Workshop
15-19 Stokes Croft (opposite Pieminster), Bristol, UK

After the huge success of December’s ‘12 Days of Xmas' we bring you our next major group exhibition.

Lost behind the jangling of Morris Dancing and Maypoles, May 1st has long stood as the date to remember the common struggles and achievements of workers around the globe. ‘Not A Penny Off The Pay, Not A Second On The Day’ will be a celebration of the working classes, featuring a truly international line up of acclaimed urban artists

...and...



1st - 11th May 2008
Various venues, Bristol, UK

It's a lovely coincidence that the Not A Penny show coincides with this event, as it’s just round the corner so you can easily go to both!

Programme

Labels: Art, Bristol, graffiti, Politics

:: Dan 1.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

iGoogle Artist Themes

Shepard Fairey
Iconic OBEY artist Shepard Fairey and Amanda Fairey founded Studio Number One in 2003, bringing together a gifted and diverse group of designers and managers, seamlessly merging art and commerce in a truly authentic way.
www.studionumber-one.com

Labels: Art, Google, graffiti, Search

:: Dan 30.4.08 [Arc] [1 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Red lines: Robert '3D' Del Naja's massive attack on the art world

Labels: Art, Politics

:: Dan 26.4.08 [Arc] [1 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

The Penguin Blog on book blurbs and the new issues of Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm with cover art by Shepard Fairey
[via natali]

Labels: Art, graffiti, Literature

:: Dan 24.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

From: Ad Noiseam
"Hello,
Coming as a perfect reading companion to Raoul Sinier's new full length
album ("Brain Kitchen", Ad Noiseam adn92), a free 24 pages pdf magazine
is now available for download at brainkitchen.raoulsinier.com/."

Direct link [3MB PDF]

"Featuring illustrations by Raoul Sinier as well as other artists
inspired by his music, an interview, some drafts and three short stories
(including one by yours truely), it should help everybody grasp better
the intricate and plaful universe of Raoul Sinier. And you know what to
play while reading this."

"Brain Kitchen" info & mp3
"Brain Kitchen" free pdf magazine and video
"Brain Kitchen" in the mailorder
"Best regards,
Nicolas"

Labels: Art, Electronic Music, graphics, Ra

:: Dan 24.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Rhapsody's Verdict
Originally uploaded by gusset.

Parasite and Ana Kissed's 6(?) year old daughter, Rhapsody, is helped a little by Anarchist606 to write this little summary of Friday's Goatlab gig for me. The phonetic spelling is beautiful, but I've provided some explanatory notes in case you have any trouble. (Click to zoom in and see notes.)

Labels: Art, Flickr, Review

:: Dan 20.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Japanese Creative Barcodes
Beautiful.
[via grom]

I love this barcode related rant:
"Are you not familiar with the Revelations of Saint John, the final book of the bible, prophesizing the apocalypse? He forced everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead so that no one shall be able to sell unless he has out that mark which is the name of the beast and the number of his name and the number is six, six, six.
What can such a specific prophecy mean? What is the mark?
Well the mark is the bar-code. The ubiquitous bar-code that you'll find on every (something) and every (packet of jonnies) and every (poxy-pork-pie). And every bar-code is divided into two sections by three markers and those markers are always represented by the number six. Six, six, six!"
(I've been meaning for ages to play this out when DJing. I'll do it at the next Goatlab.)
From the Mike Leigh film Naked, sampled by The Orb in S.A.L.T.

Labels: Art

:: Dan 4.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

During their 1974 Darkside of the Moon Tour, the program for the gigs was a comic [14MB CBR file on sendspace]

The comic was in black and white except the cover and last page. Here's an extract:




[via pandemonium plus on hijack]

Labels: Art, Comics, Floyd, Music

:: Dan 31.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

[thanks ana]

Labels: Art, Engineering, Robots

:: Dan 31.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

As spotted by Bristle in the comments of the last post:

[amazon]

I'm also intrigued by this:


[amazon]

"Thanks for your reviews of our book,"A Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits." This introduction to some of the world's most enchanting, weird and powerful spirits is intended to observe them in action in their natural habitats. Rather than separate the species by religious tradition, ethnicity, national boundaries or time, we opted to place them side-by-side and see how similar their fangs, talons, lore, and bad habits might be when in Forest, Mountain or Domicile anywhere in the history of humankind. We are a mother and daughter team, both writers, who share a love of mythology and who hold graduate degrees in Religious Studies and in Cultural Anthropology respectively. We hope that the readers of this work find these creatures as fabulous and informative as we did. For each entry, there is a "Dispelling and Disarming" section just in case! The universal cure is this: Hold them up to the light and see them for what they are, then show them Love and Compassion and the'll be blown away."

I don't believe in any of these fairy stories of demons or angles or gods or leprechauns or unicorns - yes, your God is in that list too - and a field guide to studying them seems ridiculous. I'm tempted to buy it for the Ecologists in the office so they can look out for them on site. File it along with all of their bat identification books as so on. Yet this sentence suddenly made it more interesting: "Rather than separate the species by religious tradition, ethnicity, national boundaries or time, we opted to place them side-by-side and see how similar their fangs, talons, lore, and bad habits might be." That's a very telling exercise that may help people see to the root of the psychology that created these theories in the first place.

Labels: Art, Literature, psychology

:: Dan 11.3.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Garfield Minus Garfield
"Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolor disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness and methamphetamine addiction in a quiet American suburb."

Labels: Art, Humour, psychology

:: Dan 28.2.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

"Wonder even sang a little dittie, with a harmonica, that was sung as if he were reciting the musical scales in ascending and descending order to the name of “Ba-rack O-ba-ma.”"
Stevie Wonder sings for Barack... and it sounds awful. What was he doing?

In my mind it works best sung to the tune of Long Distance Clara from Pigeon Street. He should have tried that.



[That wonderful example of Alan Rogers artwork is available as a print from easyart.com. Thanks for the bandwidth!]

Labels: Animation, Art, Humour, Music, News, Politics

:: Dan 6.2.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Morning. I am offline at the moment. My PC died last Friday (power surge wrote off the power supply and mother-board and due to age rendered processor and RAM useless) so only have internet access in work, which I obviously try to minimise. Webmail is blocked. Should anyone really want to contact me for some reason, I can still pick up Flickr and Murdockspace messages, but not Facebook. I bought a new PC from yoyotech last night. Thanks to Spoksey for specing that up for me. Normal service will resume soon.

News

From Sunday's Independent:
"At present, Britain does not routinely fingerprint airline passengers (see page 3 for the US attitude). But starting two months from tomorrow, several million travellers each year will have their fingerprints, and photograph, taken twice before being allowed aboard a domestic flight."
The referenced article about the US attitude is here.
I mailed this to a security consultant friend to find out how it came about. Apparently it's down to commercial reasons, so every one gets to access one set of shops. Wooo.

Rambert Dance Company's ‘Britney Breakdown’
(I did some acoustic work for Rambert a couple of years ago. Lovely people.)
"Rambert Dance Company's ever-popular Season of New Choreography is an exciting opportunity to see brand new work created by some of Rambert's versatile dancers. The company has a track record of nurturing young choreographers. One of these is Hubert Essakow, who has commissioned a new work from Richard Thomas for Adey to sing live with the dancers. You won't be surprised to know that she gets to sing the word "arse" quite a bit."
(You may remember Richard Thomas from sitting behind the piano on TMWRNJ and as the person who provided the music for and co-wrote Jerry Springer the Opera with Stewart Lee.)

Spotted

Filthy, muck-strewn white van on the M5 on whose back door a mischievous passing finger had scrolled, "Cleaned by the NHS."

Busses

Chatting to "That'll be the Day: The Musical: The Fleece woman" on the bus stop yesterday morning. Tells me about her job then asks what I do. I say I work for an engineering practice in the centre. "Is that an admin role?" she asks. What!? Look at me. Glasses. Beard. Carrying laptop bag. I'm an engineer you cheeky cow.

I sat on the bus today, reading The God Delusion, next to someone reading the Bible. Book II of Psalms to be precise. What a wonderfully secular society we live in.

Labels: Art, Literature, News, Personal, Secuirty, Spotted, Travel

:: Dan 31.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

banksy
Originally uploaded by gusset.


This Banksy, his largest work in the UK, in Liverpool's China Town, is in the news again today as it is planned to cover (the lower half of) it up for the European Capital of Culture celebrations, due to the state the building is in.

The thing that really bugged me about this was The Metro reporting, "The image of a rat toting a machine gun, painted before the artist was famous, had faded and the Liverpool Culture Company plans to conceal it with a hoarding before the culture capital year opens tomorrow."

At what stretch of the imagination does that look like a machine gun? It’s a marker pen. At least they’ve had the sense not to repeat the error online.

Labels: Art, Flickr, graffiti

:: Dan 10.1.08 [Arc] [1 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Sorry to geek out way beyond my normal bounds by posting about stamps. The quote below shows why I found this interesting.

Bond stamps: From Ruislip with love

"Each stamp offers a potted history of spy-novel iconography. The Pan jackets, with their understated secret codes and visual metaphors (Dr No's spider web, From Russia With Love's Fabergé egg, the Spirit of Ecstasy from Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce) were replaced by crass pictures of the spy hero centre-stage, in action, in the sea, and on a bar stool – themselves to be replaced by the Penguin Viking covers, beautiful retro images of the books' real selling propositions: chicks and baddies."



More images: Ian Fleming photos - Daylife

Labels: Art, Literature

:: Dan 30.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

12 Days of Xmas - Coppers
Originally uploaded by gusset.


My photos from the 12 Days of Christmas group show at The Old Bridewell Police Station in Bristol are online (at last) now.

Labels: Art, Bristol, Flickr, graffiti

:: Dan 24.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

I was reading a Times article about Boris Mikhailov's photography and was inspired to look further into his work. Have a read through the linked articles and see the highly selective retrospective I've included below.

"His photographs of naked women in the Soviet Union were banned by the KGB, and he was persecuted for his ideals. ... In 2001 he won the prestigious Citibank prize. But for years he was only able to take pictures as a dangerous hobby, under the watchful eye of the Russian secret police. Twice they nearly imprisoned him for taking forbidden photographs.

"More than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the restrictions that regime placed on everyday life seem almost inconceivable. Any images perceived as portraying life in the USSR as anything but ideal were forbidden. This included images of people smoking, drinking, poor, ill or nude. One photographer who took pictures of people holding cigarettes “in western poses”, for instance, was jailed for three years."

A brief retrospective:

From the Sandwich series of overlaid shots (1960s and '70s):




"I made these compositions at a time when people were more used to interpreting coded messages and signs, when people were on the lookout for any new information and studied images closely in search of their truth and meaning."

From the "Red USSR" series (1968 - 75):


Case History, 1999:


"portraits of homeless people he describes as “living out their last moments”, part of a series of more than 400 searing portraits he shot in the late 1990s called Case History"

Ukrainian pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2007:


No prizes for guessing why I like that one.

Works for sale here and books on Amazon:

Labels: Art, Photography

:: Dan 17.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

"Electric December is an online advent calendar. Explore 24 days of short film treats created by young people from across the UK. This year Electric December is curated by eShed.net - a Bristol-based film website for 14-21yr-olds. Visit the archive to view eight years of presents. Pick it up, pass it on… Subscribe to the podcast, embed films in your own site, send your friends an ecard, or bluetooth to your mobile."


Gotta love the electro-sprouts!

Labels: Art, Film, Watershed

:: Dan 9.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Japanese Louis Vuitton commercial by Takashi Murakami

[music by Fantastic Plastic Machine]

Takashi Murakami is probably best known for his Manga related work. "[His] style, called Superflat, is characterized by flat planes of color and graphic images involving a character style derived from anime and manga. Superflat is an artistic style that comments on otaku lifestyle and subculture, as well as consumerism and sexual fetishism. Social commentary is nothing new, nor is appropriation of mass media or popular culture." [source wikipedia]

Murakami - Army of Mushrooms


Which reminds me. I bought the recent Pop magazine because I was intrigued by the article about creating mushrooms out of designer clothes with similar sounding names. eg Shitake Versace:

Labels: Animation, Art, Fashion, Food, graphics

:: Dan 8.12.07 [Arc] [2 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

glasgow00291
Originally uploaded by gusset.

On Nov 29, 2007 7:27 AM, Ville Takanen wrote:

"Hi

I just wanted to thank you for sharing your images with a CC/SA lisence.

I'm using a picture from your flickr collection for my art roleplaying
project here (in Finnish)
and I tought I should let you know about it.
--
Ville Takanen"

Hi Ville.
Thanks for letting me know.
Glad you appreciate it.
Cheers,
Dan

[via that link...]

Underground ‘terrorists’ with a mission to save city’s neglected heritage

Last year the Untergunther spent months hidden in the Panthéon, the Parisian mausoleum that holds France’s greatest citizens, where they repaired a clock that had been left to rust. … When the clock began working again, officials were horrified. The Centre for National Monuments confirmed that the clock had been repaired but said that the authority had begun legal action against the Untergunther. Under official investigation for breaking and entry, its members face a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a €15,000 (£10,500) fine. “We could go down in legal history as the first people ever to be prosecuted for repairing a clock,” said Mr Kunstmann.

Labels: Art, Flickr, Underground, Urban Exploring

:: Dan 29.11.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Totterdown Art Trail 2007
17th & 18th November, various venues and people's houses.
I'll be there, and I'll also be sampling the Trail Ale.
Last year

Labels: Art, Bristol

:: Dan 6.11.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Free legal advice for the creative industries

The Rambler reports, "...copyright is becoming an increasingly important issue for anyone working in the creative industries. I’m frequently baffled (and increasingly concerned) that so many of the writers, performers and composers that I come across don’t have even the most rudimentary understanding of how intellectual property works, and how it is crucial to their professional lives ... So, it’s particularly timely for the Legal Advice Centre of the Queen Mary, University of London School of Law to expand its free pro bono advice to the creative industries, starting from 7th November."

It's an appointment only centre but it is free. Handy to know should you ever need it. Read the post linked above and keep in bookmarked in case you ever need it.

Labels: Art, Copyright, Law

:: Dan 29.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Iannis Xenakis: Phillips Pavilion, Poème Electronique, Edgard Varèse [Brussels 1958]
I've read a lot about, and listened to a lot of, Xenakis’s music, so it's interesting to see something pop up about his architecture now and again. Especially when it was designed as a specific audio/visual display space.

Labels: Acoustics, architecture, Art, Visuals

:: Dan 24.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

The art work of Glenn Barr [pos NSFW]

Labels: Art

:: Dan 1.10.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

BLDG BLOG is a brilliant blog of "architectural conjecture, urban speculation & landscape futures," that I have just discovered thanks to Natali linking to this post about Hot-Mapping. Apparently Haringey Council have been busy flying planes over their district taking thermal images of the area. The council explains it here and full maps of the region are available here. It's interesting to look over. I would genuinely be interested to see how my own house compared to others around it. I'm sure it would be exactly the same as all the others on the estate (it is new build) but I'd really like to know how it compares to houses of different ages and see how age and build vary. The comment on the blog bring up privacy issues, although I'm not sure how much heat loss your house suffers from is a private issue? As long as vigilantes don't start searching out energy loss offenders I think it's pretty harmless from that point of view and I think I'd like to see more councils doing it.



The blog also has two noise related posts from the last week or so. This one following up an interview with neurologist Oliver Sacks about the affects of noise on people. It's interesting although, as with psychology generally, it relies heavily on the exceptional cases rather than the norm. I guess that makes things a lot easier to test and interpret.

This lowest common denominator approach is similar to the way the World Health Organisation Guidelines for Community Noise are based on preventing adverse health affects in the most sensitive population. From conversations with the papers co-editor Birgitta Berglund I know that children in particular are her largest concern. Perhaps by designing to ensure the protection of the most sensitive we can bring down average noise levels over a period of time?

(The Erik Satie anecdote sounds like he failed to do Eno was doing with Music for Airports etc. I imagine these days you could get away with it without anybody flinching. Sometime a space without background music seems odd.)

There is also a post about intentional additions to urban noise to make cities sound more "musical" and to help mask more unpleasant sounds. Soudscaping cities is a bit of a buzz word with architects these days and I've been involved in the soundscaping of some major district developments in the middle-east (without ever actually going there annoying!) I'm interested to see how this study pans out.

Labels: Academic, Acoustics, architecture, Art, Maps, Noise

:: Dan 30.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Dotcom
Originally uploaded by _saturnine.

In sharp contrast to the M.E.N.s impartial journalist approach to the Krek and Mers case, Bristol Evening Post has jumped hard to the right today and is outraged as "£200,000 VANDAL SPARED JAIL"
*Sigh*
Although, he was already on a suspended sentence and broke the terms, so to an extent he probably should be expecting a sentence. What this highlights though, and my reasons for bring it up, are the huge differences in sentencing between magistrates and the partisan reporting in local press.

Labels: Art, News

:: Dan 22.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

free krek.
Originally uploaded by night_photographer.


The campaign to overturn, or at least reduce, the jail sentences handed out to Krek and Mers has been making national headline news today.

Natali summarised the problems with the sentence last Friday (see quote below) and Night Photographer (a friend of Krek and one of the best young photographers I have come across) is leading the online campaign on Flickr.

"They didn't drink and drive, didn't sexually abuse someone, they didn't deal drugs, commit any kind of violence, didn't steal anything, break anything - just painted something, an act that can be easily reversed. But the courts have jailed two young adults, stuck them into jails full of rapists, thieves and drug addicts, instead of making them clean up the "mess" they made and contribute their talents to society in a more productive manner."

The Guardian news blog tries to pull the various opinions together and Manchester Evening News reports on the campaign. Some of the comments following that M.E.N. article are quiet astonishing. People who take the side of the financial hit corporation over the talented young artists brightening up and protesting against a bland, conformist, branded landscape, amaze me.

It's clear that both guys have changed their ways and are making further efforts to use their skills to better society by offering to teach other prisoners while they are in prison.

Lots of people are coming down on the "well, the law is the law" side on this. Bollocks to that. There is an injustice here and the law is wrong. Do something about it.

Labels: Art, Flickr, graffiti, Law

:: Dan 18.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Beat Blocks, by Jeff Hoefs and Boutique Vizique.

"Most fascinating about the interface is its simplicity. A wooden grid and a series of blocks form an uncomplicated interface that is completely self-explanatory. As a user you can create and manipulate a small sound loop by physically re-arranging the wooden blocks within the grid. Doing so will turn the matrix into a rhythm sequencer that operates at a 1/16 note resolution. Each block has a pattern of colored stripes representing 1/4 measures, directly indicating what kind of sequence the underlying system will play. The sequence runs in a continuous loop and a LED indicates the speed of the loop that can be changed by means of a simple slider. The direct relation between these minimal visual aspects and the instantaneously generated sound makes 'Beat Blocks' very accessible to anyone, even with little or no musical background. Since the whole system generates a MIDI output, it can be hooked up to a lot of other hardware devices."



I want one!

Labels: Art, Electronic Music

:: Dan 15.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

flikr2175
Originally uploaded by flikr.

"made with Agony - a program that I wrote."
>>>>>>DOWNLOAD AGONY HERE<<<<<<

Labels: Art, Flickr, graphics

:: Dan 11.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

"When is a paddy not a paddy? When it's a canvas, of course. But as staff writer YOKO HANI discovered in northern Aomori Prefecture, what's nice to look at is rice to eat as well." [from Japan Times]

Labels: Art, Food

:: Dan 30.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Basic Instructions [via Dilbert Blog]

Labels: Art, Humour

:: Dan 9.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

By email:
"Hello,
I'm a French visual artist living in England, and I've been doing VJing and live visuals around Europe for about 2 years, in clubs, festivals and art galleries..
I'd like to introduce you my latest technique, called "Visual Mapping". The idea is to get out of the usual 2D format, and project on volumes actual 3D objects, to play with a new dimension, and explore depth, perspective, optical illusions, and discover new links between shapes, light and visual perception..

"Here's an example of a recent installation I did in Berlin recently with visomat inc, based on this technique (transmediale festival).


High res video
More pictures and details on www.antivj.com

"We can also use this projection technique with any object, shape, sculpture or building. Example of visual mapping on a building:



"By the way, AntiVJ is a new "visual label", which aim is to explore and discover techniques around the visual art, news artists, installations and project will be revealed regularly on the website.

"We will be touring in Europe ths summer, and would be happy to meet you if you are around:
July - UK / London / Glade Festival
July - France / Paris / Batofar
August - UK / Bristol / Cuisine
Sept - Ireland / Dublin / Electric Picnic
Sept - France / Nantes / Scopitone Festival."

Labels: Art, Visuals, VJ

:: Dan 19.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

I'm working from the Birmingham office for part of the day today. I planned my day to make sure I'd have time to nip round How to Improve the World: 60 Years of British Art From the Arts Council Collection in the Gas Hall at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Unfortunately, it was quite disappointing, with very few pieces that said anything to me.

The one exception, which really caught me, was Mark Titchner's Invisible Republic [image below, bandwidth stolen from Art Daily, sorry]



'Seeing a piece by him for the first time is a slightly creepy experience. The Invisible Republic is a fibreglass banner, the height of a house, on which is painted: "We want mutual loyalty and we want to realise potential and we want to improve the human condition and we want unyielding integrity and we want to shape the world's future and we want inspiration energy and excitement and we want to make dreams a reality and we want your contribution and we want continuous improvement and we want to be open and transparent."

'The words have a chilling, almost familiar, relevance. This makes sense when you realise Titchner pilfered them from the corporate manifestos of 10 leading global consumer brands. The slogan style, the "we want", comes from the Black Panther's 10-point programme, a document that called for staples like bread, housing, education and justice. The language of a US black civil rights movement, that once stood for things that mattered, now has the hollow beat of advertising speak. It's this continuous movement of ideas and values, our beliefs and faith - how formerly powerful language becomes anodyne - that fascinates the 33-year-old artist.'
[source]

Labels: Art

:: Dan 10.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

My nephew, who is three years old, is for some reason bed wettingly terrified owls. Yet, he loves Cybermen. I posed this little conundrum on the back of a menu recently; What if there were Cyber-Owls? The look of terrified-amused-confusion was priceless. So I drew more of them. That's what uncles are for.


cyber owl 1
Originally uploaded by gusset.


cyber owls 2
Originally uploaded by gusset.


cyber owl army
Originally uploaded by gusset.

Labels: Art, Cyber-Owls, Cybermen, Dr Who, Flickr

:: Dan 3.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

_MG_6588
Originally uploaded by lichtfaktor.

Light writing on Flickr from lichtfaktor
[via Hezza on Hijack]

Labels: Art, Flickr, graffiti

:: Dan 2.7.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

One of my shots of The Royal Academy of Arts (complete with Invader tile tag) has been included in the latest edition of the Schmapp!! travel guide to London. See it here and check the fancy widget:

Labels: Art, Flickr, Maps

:: Dan 29.6.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

In album news I had a chat with Death$ucker head honcho Parasite over the weekend and we've finally slated a release date for the Gusset remix album that was now been THREE YEARS in the making. This September you will see a bargain priced CD of remixes from Gusset's Skidmark CD-R release (last few left on dSWAT). Ask Dr Kim – clever anagram, see? – will feature remixes from The Teknoist, Shitmat, Jason Forrest, Parasite, Binary, Atki2, hard.off, m||m, Hoonboy, Twocsinak and more!

We gave up on the slutty nurse photoshoot idea due to budget restrictions (ie, £0). So instead we will be making a collage of gusset photos. Please send photos of your gusset to: gusset[at]gmail.com. You don’t have to be wearing the item, just pose your pants and snap away. Photos will be used under a CC licence and you will get a credit in the artwork. You won't get paid mind, but you get the satisfaction of being able to point and say;

"Check this; that's my gusset on that album cover."
"Get away!" your friends will say.
"No really, look, my name’s on the 'thanks' inside, here," points.
"You magnificent bastard!" they will declare.

Submission deadline is 1st September 2007!!!

Labels: Art, Death$ucker, Gusset, Music, Photography

:: Dan 19.6.07 [Arc] [1 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

New Sickboy website

Labels: Art, Bristol, graffiti

:: Dan 12.6.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

Leafcutter John says:
"It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the opening of my first ever solo art show. For Soundtrap II, I have transformed Beaconsfield's acoustically live Upper space – a voluminous 19th c. schoolroom with a raked, wooden floor – into an interactive instrument.

"The Preview is on the 12th June from 6pm until 9pm and is open to all.

"There will be a special live performance of several pieces I have written specially for the installation. this will be very limited in terms of audience numbers (due to the size of the space). There will be two performances on the night of 7th July. For this event you must purchase tickets by clicking HERE. Advance tickets: £12 standard and £8 concessions Tickets on the door: £15/£10

"The show runs from 13th June until 22nd July the gallery will be open Wed - Sun 12-6pm.

"Location: Beaconsfield, 22 Newport Street, Vauxhall, London, SE11 6AY MAP
For more information please email: info@beaconsfield.ltd.uk
Or phone Rachel Fleming-Mulford on: +44 (0) 20 7582 6465

"Best,
Leafcutter John"

[some background]

Labels: Art, Music

:: Dan 10.6.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
...

125 magazine - Japan issue
Originally uploaded by gusset.


125 magazine issue 9, Japan special, international cover, reprint.
Cover image by Felix Larher.

If you browse the online shop it's best to search by Photographer rather than Keyword btw, as the images don't seem to be tagged very well. Love the way you can order prints of pretty much every image.

"...the only magazine in the world, which acts as a completely unbiased photography gallery, open to both emerging and established artists, and making affordable art available to all."

"JAPAN ISSUE RE-PRINT
Our Japan issue went on-sale worldwide on March 1st and sold out in record time, as a biannual we make every effort to maintain at least a 5 month presence in stores, so we have decided to capitalize on the popularity of this issue by re-printing and re-distributing in the UK later this month across all key and major outlets. The re-print will feature the international cover version which was previously only