Mark-Making on a Found 'Drawing' #3

Continuing to photographically record the progress of the grease stains made by a found Hula Hoop upon a found photocopy 'drawing', with evidence of the latest mark uncovered/discovered as the object is repositioned from its most recent resting place within the composition...



As might be observed, particularly in close-up, this latest addition actually takes the form of a group of three closely-related but separate marks, covering a smaller area than previously, bringing a new dimension to the composition - the 'drawing', 'painting', whatever - & suggesting that perhaps the process of seepage of moisture from the potato-based object is now beginning to slow.

Note too the complex arrangement of shadows cast by a combination of natural & artifical sources of light as they appear fixed in the photograph (encountered in real physical space & time, such shadows are fugitive, of course, changing in response to the viewer's position relative to the object of photocopy & Hula Hoop), in this particular somewhat echoing the forms of the grease marks, albeit slightly lighter in tone for the most part...

More Signs of the Times...

Today presents another encounter, an update if you will, photographically recorded, with what was a fallen road/street sign, separated from its wooden support, lying face down upon the ground (as might be observed here), now rescued from such an uncommunicative (albeit rather more aesthetic, it was argued) fate & redisplayed, although in a manner more idiosyncratic than can have been officially intended &, one assumes, originally arranged (funny how one never really notices unless/until on a need-to-know basis)...


Again, the object, recreated, represented, takes on a different, aesthetic nature, it invites another reading, at a slight remove at least from pure functionality, it becomes more complex & demands a deeper engagement with: but is it art...?

Another 'artistic' (but as yet constant) feature of the walk to the site of the day job is the 'painterly' nature of a couple of the road/street signs passed along the way. Rather incongruous as they might be, in the general location they are (one always wonders generally quite 'why?' of such a choice of names, what exactly might be the connection between artists & a place not necessarily noted for its cultural significance, & then ponders the 'why?s' within: what, for instance, is Titian doing sandwiched between Monet & Degas? OK, Courbet leading to Monet/Degas chronologically follows what has historically come to be regarded as the beginnings of a modernist course, but where does Titian fit in to such company..?), still they feed the soul a little before one is forced by the demands of duty to have to, for the most part, rein in one's inclinations & passions & desires (& how one wishes to keep artists, painters, close, as allies) ...



Interesting to note, too, that, consulting a map in order to ascertain the artists' geographical location in relation to each other (see the colour-coded highlights), two further names - those of Goya & Millais, not advertised from the main road as are the others illustrated - occur to intensify the artistic integrity of the housing estate as it sprawls downhill...



What could it all be about, other than sheer randomness? And how many, one wonders, of the residents are aware of the auspicious names in the midst of which they have made their homes?

Once at work, one's thoughts & desires are inevitably diverted towards those precious moments of one's own when cultural matter might be consumed. Collected together in readiness for an essential break, with hopes of enjoying some fresh air too, it became apparent that this particular still life composition as arranged had created a coincidental dialogue within itself, between the pair of sunglasses placed upon the book & those depicted, represented, on the cover of the latter object...


The keen-eyed viewer might notice too the visual coincidence between the upside-down placed sunglasses & the roadsign in the photograph at the beginning of this post: it's not just thrown together this thing, you know...

Another coincidence occurred with the book - but in this instance its contents, its subject matter - in the form of the business card being used as the bookmark to locate my place within the course of its reading (the process of which is being done slowly, with much interest), which, as one might see, advertises the existence of a certain 'Reborn Records', dealers in previously-owned vinyl whose stall was encountered & browsed - with many a sharp pang of recognition & recollection, & not a little regret at objects once personally-owned but no longer so, having been relinquished due to nothing other than issues of storage space - at a recent vintage fair in Chester.


Having grown up collecting vinyl - that & tape cassette being the available forms in which recorded music was issued back in the day, of course - I still seem to regard it as being the medium through which to experience music most effectively, the very objecthood of record & artwork being a part of the immersive whole, as previously written of here on TOoT.
At this point, thanks must be offered to A for kindly feeding my nostalgic inclinations & purchasing (for the fabulous price of £2 each) a couple of the LPs from the selection of 'Reborn' records through which I leafed, which once formed part of the personal collection of such (& collections, of particular artistes, within the collection, of course) before it was dispersed & disposed-of. Here they are, pictured below, Everything But The Girl's debut album 'Eden' & Elvis Costello & the Attractions' mighty 'Blood & Chocolate' (& one might notice that each of the albums' cover artwork consist of paintings, respectively a watercolour & an oil)...


Ah, the memories attached to such artefacts: one recalls that both of these albums were bought in such vinyl form in 1986 (although the EBTG album was released in 1984), during the autumn of which year I was fortunate to experience both acts live in concert at Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre (Elvis & the Attractions on two consecutive nights of different set lists, indeed).

Now, all that is required is a record player, of course, in order to hear once again these albums as nature (or at least their contemporaneous technologies) intended, &, for that matter, those other few examples of vinyl that survived the extensive cull, those that simply could not be parted with for whatever reason of significance (mostly to do with original artwork, but other reasons too) & thus remain in one's possession.
In the interests of home-making, some form of turntable is actually on the 'desired necessities' list (&, if the vinyl collection continues to (re)grow, become yet more essential) either something of a contemporary nature or, most desirously, a period piece record player such as this delightful object (admire if you will its perfect form, & that colour), an original Ferguson dating from the 1960s, for which, recently, we were tragically outbid (with but three seconds to spare) on the now-fallen-right-out-of-favour ebay, a cruel place indeed...

More Mark-Making...

Four days on &, relating to the previous entry here at TOoT, presenting further developments in the course of the found Hula Hoop's grease-staining of/mark making upon the found photocopy 'drawing' where it has been placed to rest (although obviously in the process of work).

Purposely repositioned/recomposed to another position within the 'picture plane', evidence might be observed of the new marks made by the potato-based object at both its immediately previous (to the furthest right) & now current location (where cast shadows also feature as additional formal elements & tonal subtleties withinthe composition), as the sequence of photographic recordings of such phenomena illustrates as it homes in to a detailed close-up from the initial wider approach:




It might also be noticed that the initially-made three closely-grouped marks to the top left of the 'drawing', those bisected by the faintly printed horizontal line across the picture plane, have themselves also developed, increasing slightly in size to 'bleed' into each another to form one amorphous shape whereas previously they had been separate forms, providing further visual evidence of the organic nature of proceedings.

The object then repositioned once again, a three-dimensional object within & upon the picture plane, adding an element of vivid colour & its cast shadows forming more tonal 'drawing' on the horizontal surface, the most recent grease mark can be properly appreciated taking its place within the increasingly complex composition as it develops & forms itself with but a minimum of direction...

Mark Making

Following on from the previously posted photographs of the found Hula Hoop, today brings evidence of interesting developments in the field of mark making, by said object itself.

Rescued from its resting place on the floor in the room where it was found, the Hoop was then placed, for safe-keeping & some vague, unformed possibility for further use/study, upon a piece of A4 paper, not blank but, rather, a 'blank' photocopy that has recorded no image other than the pattern of marks upon the inside of the lid of the machine during the copying process, a 'found drawing' (within the environment of the daily workplace) of the like that was presented here at TOoT, coincidentally around this time last year.

Subsequently, over a period of days, & subject to slight inadvertent shifts in its position within its 'safe place' (on the horizontal), this potato-based manufactured object was discovered to have left a series of greasy marks upon &, indeed, through the sheet of paper, creating a collection of darker-toned shapes thus, photographed with the Hula Hoop now purposely positioned upon, composed within, the 'picture plane', as might be observed from a couple of angles, the first from a horizontal approach...


& then from more directly overhead...


Observed in close up, the grease marks can be seen in the context of the overall composition of the network of subtle, regularly-spaced dots upon the surface of the sheet of paper & the bolder horizontal line bisecting them that form the photocopied & printed elements of the 'drawing', with the Hula Hoop object itself adding a sculptural dimension to the whole & casting shadows that add darker-toned forms which relate to the marks of the grease stains, although the former of course are fugitive, their existence & precise position at any point dependent upon the prevailing light source(s) & the viewer's physical relation to the 'work'/'drawing'/object...


As is habitual, a context for such a '(sculptural) drawing' suggested itself, in the form of a particular(ly intriguing & unusual) painting of Euan Uglow's, with its self-explanatory title, which (re)presents as its subject matter similar oily marks/sweat stains as have occurred as the result of a body resting in a particular position upon a horizontal plane...


Euan Uglow 'Still Life With Model Marks' 1971-72
oil on canvas on panel/16" x 40"

The context & reason for such marks having been made/left might then be observed in Uglow's contemporaneously companion 'Summer Picture', where the position of the human model & the points at which her body comes into contact with the horizontal surface upon which she rests clearly relate to the painting featuring the marks:


Euan Uglow 'Summer Picture' 1971-72
oil on canvas/43" x 43 1/2"

It's very interesting & inspiring to be able to read, within 'The Complete Paintings' (an essential reference resource & treasured volume of the research-&-development library), Uglow's comments as reported, of his appreciation of the beauty of the empty table & the marks upon its surface, contemplated, studied closely ('stared at for hours') after the model had departed sessions, & of such being "one of the reasons for wanting to paint something".

Another, later painting of Uglow's similarly features the evidence of departed bodies/objects (although in this particular instance, the marks made are more lightly toned than the horizontal surface upon which they were once at rest), in this small-scale still life, its title again self-explanatory:


Euan Uglow 'Two Others Have Been There' 1992
oil on board/7 1/4" x 7"

[untitled]

In the absence of any recent drawing activity, a certain find of a somewhat incongruous nature within the environment of the day job today presented the opportunity to indulge in a little photographic recording.
As is habitual, the subject is object-centred, being specifically a single Hula Hoop of the potato-based snack variety, found out of familiar context in a state of splendid isolation - discarded, lost, a poignant survivor given the ephemeral nature of such things - upon the carpeted floor of a room divided by wood-effect surfaced panels...

A Sign of the Ties...

In light of the slowness of properly creative proceedings hereabouts, as alluded to in a recent entry, today we take the opportunity to introduce a digression that is somewhat in keeping with the original intention of the blog, to include a broad spectrum of 'the life aesthetic' as lived & experienced, that has largely fallen by the wayside as a more focussed concentration upon the practice of drawing & the contextualization of the examples of such came to define its purpose over the course of the past four years. With this focus having blurred somewhat over the last few weeks, as the result of the demands of a physical relocation & the whole coming-to-terms with a new living & artworking environment, it seems important to maintain some form of regularity to the blogging process at least, thus presenting one such aesthetic interlude within the creative practice.

Photographically illustrated, then, is a representative selection of what the smartly dressed man about TOoT is currently, occasionally, sporting in the nature of accessorizing neckwear, having become attracted to - both conceptually, for their period stylings, & aesthetically, as objects-in-themselves - & invested in, specifically, ties of a knitted nature. Groovy.



As one might appreciate, the textures of the various weaves are rather fabulous, & wonderfully tactile, visually & palpably, as is the range of materials, including wool (that's an original 1960s Italian number to the left), silk, Terylene (for full period & retro effect) & more: this is most definitely the look & feel to pursue in the interests of style, idiosyncratic as it might be.

However, & unbeknownst, it would appear that such leanings of mine chime, coincidentally, with the times (or, perhaps, more traditionally, slightly behind them), as this online article might support.

Also, a recent encounter with a copy of George Best's autobiography 'Blessed' revealed a particular pictorial treasure, thus, with yer man himself stylishly attired in the fashions of the day (circa 1964), including what appears very much to be a knitted tie, with its telltale uneven edges & surface texture...


Needless to say, a purchase of said volume ensued.

New/Old

The first fruits of drawing process as practised in the new home location, the subject/object matter being of a most familiar nature of course, as is the tonal graphite study of, on this pioneering occasion still feeling our way around an environment unfamiliar in terms of its light & how it acts within the various spaces, with the objects illuminated from the side rather than the formerly habitual practice of being observed contre jour.

As ever, concentration is upon exploring the tonal subtleties of the objects within their immediate spatial environment, as described by the action of natural light, shade, cast shadows & reflections as appropriate.


graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Telling It Like It Is...

A morning stroll along a lane in farming country today resulted in a written find of a nature most appropriate, specifically, to a description of recent progress here at TOoT &, generally, to the preferred, prevailing approach to life & the contemplative engagement with, more conducive to the meditative concentration upon the creative process, not least of course that of looking & drawing as exhibited hereabouts...


The viewer might appreciate that, unlike officially-painted advice notices of such nature that might be found upon tarmac road surfaces (notice also how such such a find, then, is maintaining a certain integrity with the whole 'roadkill', 'double black lines' project, the photographic recording of such found incidents upon tarmac roads, that had continued, until the recent physical relocation of operations, on frequent occasions almost since the blog's inception), the script here has, in perhaps a counterpoint to its message, a more hastily drawn, rough-hewn quality, spray-painted as it has been, a personal touch & take upon a generic theme.