Food for Thought...

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing with the sequence of drawings processed from pre-existing visual sources, the original image in this instance being found in a book, encountered at the site of the day job, entitled ‘New Angles’, upon the subject of Ronald Traeger’s photography from the 1960s, & featuring specifically the actress Geraldine Chaplin ‘during the filming of La Grenouille, London, 1967’. Again, the pensive character of the subject suggests something of a narrative element, perhaps, involving the viewer in the possible psychological aspect of the content.

In more familiar formal terms, the original image itself displays that very particular photographic depth of field & focus (& sharp tonal contrast of blacks & whites), the figure sharp against the blurred background of buildings, thus presenting a challenge to its re-mediated representation, resolved in this instance by a combination of broader, looser marks & more refined ones, across the spatial continuum of the surface, relating to the focus of the source. Perhaps a technique to develop more generally...?

Soundtrack:


Pavement 'Brighten the Corners'
Laura Marling 'I Speak Because I Can'
She & Him 'Volume Two'
Scritti Politti 'White Bread Black Beer'

[untitled]

Another example of aluminium can 'roadkill' encountered upon a stretch of the local 'double black lines' & consequently pictorially framed, the ground of tarmac & markings especially dark under the rain-soaked circumstances...

[untitled]

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Incorporating a couple of loose-ish threads taken up recently, this drawing was processed, re-mediated, from an original advertisement for what we might term high-end designer merchandise, found in a recent edition of ‘Art Review’.
Again, a certain narrative element might be read, or at least suggested, via something of the 'suspenseful' atmosphere of the image & the action taking place (or inferred to be about to take place, post- the moment of surprised pause)...

Soundtrack:


My Bloody Valentine 'Loveless'
Miracle Legion 'Surprise Surprise Surprise'
Moon Wiring Club 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding'
Eels 'Meet the Eels'

Something of a Coincidence

Being rather partial to serendipity here at TOoT, browsing the current, Jan/Feb 2011 issue of ‘Art Review’, brought an intriguing encounter with a review of Amanda Ross-Ho’s recent Los Angeles exhibition ‘A Stack of Black Pants’, illustrated by this image, of said objects arranged on a box-like plinth.


Such provided a visual reminder of a curious personal find, dating from over four years ago, encountered whilst pottering along the Greenfield Valley trail, of a pair of blue jeans folded & left laid upon a stone, photographed for posterity & blogged here, amongst others, back in the day.

Another Found Object

But a matter of moments after encountering the 'incongruous fruit' as documented immediately previously, another example of the familiar aluminium can 'roadkill' was found thus upon a curving stretch of the famed local phenomenon of the 'double black lines' road markings, & photographically framed accordingly...


A slight shift in position then allows the 'roadkill' to be depicted within a pictorial space that incorporates another compositional element in the slightly darker-toned area of patched road surface to the right: such a feature also performs an historical & 'narrative' function, of course, providing visual evidence of alterations made to the original (at least as visible) surface, in addition to the temporal layering of the 'black' over 'black' over yellow paint of the markings...


whilst the rust-patinated surface of the compressed can (a natural element amidst the manufactured whole of the 'picture' as framed, & also a concentrated focus of colour within the overall subtly-modulated monochrome) also suggests the action of time, in conjunction with the elements, upon the object...

Incongruous Fruit...

Not necessarily strange fruit, & still topical enough of course, but, encountered as walking across a local field this morning, somewhat incongruously located as found, perhaps: additionally, it might be noted, in a similar incident there also recently occurred the curious incident of a tomato at rest amidst the snowfall, as photographically documented in a post towards the end of last year.

First one object was chanced-upon, then, widening the field of vision, its pair became apparent, in relation to, with this second fruit also being captured in close-up, nestling in the grass, which inspired memories of arrangements of fruit upon swathes of vivid green artificial turf in the windows of or immediately outside greengrocers’ shops, & also has a certain analogy with similarly strongly coloured spherical objects as might be observed against grounds of green baize cloth during the television coverage of the current Masters’ snooker tournament.

[untitled]

graphite & putty eraser/20x30cm

Continuing with the general sequence of drawings processed, re-mediated, from photographic sources, although with this particular example departing from the series of 1960s print media advertisements. There remains, however, a certain vintage quality to the original image, in this instance sourced immediately (as itself already re-mediated, at some stage of proceedings, from physical print into digitized form) from the ‘modern nostalgic’ blog, a resource chanced-upon, as is so often the serendipitous way, whilst engaging in an image search, & featuring a wealth of such material, re-contextualized & de-contextualized, presented mostly without explanation or indeed any textual information, purely, one might assume, for aesthetic reasons, forming in itself a considerable & visually fascinating archive with its own intriguing formal narrative.

The appearance of the figures in the image also invites a speculative narrative, of course: who might they be (with their facial features shrouded & particularly their eyes obscured, a significant aspect of their visual, visible human being, recognizable physical form aside, is denied to us, for all that they pose as if for a portrait photograph), against what (or at least the threat of) are they protected, from what/where have they emerged or are otherwise prepared to enter? - such questions naturally occur...

Soundtrack:


Jesca Hoop 'Kismet' & 'Hunting My Dress'
Belle & Sebastian 'Push Barman to Open Old Wounds'
Lambchop 'Nixon' & 'OH (ohio)

It's an Ad World #5

graphite & erasers/30x20cm

Back to the Sixties again to mine the source of this drawing, re-mediated from another print media advertisement of the period - again, stylistically, an irresistible image, so 'fashionably' redolent of its time, & not least socio-culturally too.
As with the previous example, the process of (re)making in graphite involves the draining of the original image of its 'Mad Men'esque colour - where a particularly vivid burst offsets otherwise mostly a harmony of cool greys - into a distanced tonal study.

Soundtrack:


Cocteau Twins 'Heaven or Las Vegas'
Bjork 'Homogenic'
Laura Marling 'I Speak Because I Can'

& also the 3 volumes of Pontone's compelling selection of tracks comprising their 'Tones of the Year 2010', their opinion of the best 50 albums of the year. Any place where the Moon Wiring Club's 'A Spare Tabby at the Cat's Wedding' - a favourite listen & much admired work of art here at TOoT, of course - ranks second can't be a bad one at all.

Flat Pop

Another day brings another encounter with aluminium can 'roadkill', branded in a familiar iconic style (inevitably referencing the history of Pop Art), as found alongside another occurrence of the local 'double black lines' road markings, here at an intersection & including the presence of supplementary painted marks adding another compositional element to the pictorial whole as photographically framed...

In With the New...& the Return of the Old

A new year of course, but, as things may change & fragile hopes mingle with uncertainties, one that already brings reassuring finds of a familiar nature, in the form of the enduring subject/object matter of discarded aluminium can 'roadkill' encountered alongside a stretch of the local 'double black lines' road markings, here represented pictorially as held in photographic captivity.


By way of ushering in, gently, 'the new', the rather fetchingly delicate lilac of the branded livery makes an introductory appearance as the compressed object is observed in detailed close-up...


Whilst panning back out, it becomes possible to frame the 'roadkill' object as found adjacent to another compositional element in the form of a cast iron drainage grid: note, in deliciously serendipitous relation to the immediately previously-posted watercolour drawing of the 'après-tea' still life arrangement, the presence here also, draped across the bars of the grating, of the peeled skin of a clementine or similar orange citrus fruit - a curious coincidence indeed, if not necessarily a seasonally unusual occurrence.