Fudbalski Heaven

(Re)presenting today a recent addition to the European football print library/archive in the form of the magnificent & essential Yugoslavian ‘Fudbaleri i Timovi’ 1974/75 season sticker album, an original artefact from the season I became properly interested in football & seduced by the glamour & romance of continental teams’ names, imbued with a hauntological aura & redolent with ‘Ostalgie’, acquired via ebay from a seller resident in Belgrade, for just that little bit extra authenticity: this, dear reader, is the very realest of deals.

As can be seen from the images, the album & its contents form an essential visual document(ation) of the protagonists of Yugoslavian domestic football in the mid-1970s: the player pictures are, of course, a period delight, there is also a brief illustrated (with black & white stickers, a nice detail) history of Yugoslavian league football since 1946, the complete roster of first & second division teams are featured in pictorial sticker form, enabling an aesthetic appreciation of their colours, but perhaps the real gold is the inclusion of the grid-format graphs plotting each of the featured teams’ top division progress from post-war to the previous '73-74 season (the vertical y-axis), & the unique line drawings that are thus created as a consequence of joining the small circles that fix the individual seasons’ finishing position from 1 to 18 (along the horizontal x-axis).
Grids & drawing is, of course, living the TOoT modernist dream, at least in terms of historical & enduring concerns, & especially so when applied to a football statistics context.

From the examples below, please feel free to appreciate the jagged elegance of the point-to-point line drawings, from our favourites Velež Mostar, through the particularly striking inconsistent ups & downs of lovely-sounding Vojvodina, to OFK Beograd, whose linear progress can be seen to be interrupted by a season’s absence.

On the subject of football statistics as drawing, art, the stuff & subject matter of creative practice, we return to the example of Marc Renshaw’s continuing ‘Sporting League’ project (who also happens to run another blog on the subject of ‘The Grid’, albeit the search for a particular one), & recent personal considerations of the possibility & viability of doing something along similar lines, having, since 1990, sporadically worked on what now stands at a total of almost 34 full seasons’-worth of an alternative football league (better & much more real, vivid, exciting than the real thing, of course), featuring a combination of English & Welsh league, non-league & invented teams, thus already having a significant store of raw material from which to work & expand – there might be mileage, watch this space…

World Cup '74 #19 (Ray Baartz)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Finally presenting the most recent drawing to be processed for the purposes of the World Cup ’74 Project, the original source image (subsequently digitally manipulated to create the immediate reference) being provided by the FKS collectors’ stamp album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ (as also illustrated).

On this particular occasion, the portrait subject pixellatedly embedded within the matrix of toned graphite squares happens to be (the) one (& only) Ray Baartz of the FKS-proposed Australia squad, who, despite being another of the many names associated with the 1974 World Cup previously unknown to me, achieved something of legendary status precisely because he was unable to participate in the tournament, unfortunately rendered hors de combat by the physical consequences of a karate-esque attack perpetrated upon him by a Uruguayan opponent during the course of a pre-World Cup so-called friendly match.

As has become related to this drawing, I quite recently invested in, for purposes of the nostalgia centred, like this drawing project, upon the beginnings of my interest in football, a copy of what I recall as being (something to do with the image reproduced on the cover) & therefore believe to be, the very first issue of Shoot! Football magazine that came into my possession, subsequently becoming, by default, the beginning of quite a collection built up over the number of years prior to Shoot! being usurped by the NME as the ‘passionate’ weekly-to-buy. By one of those curious but rather charming instances of serendipity, this particular edition happened/happens to contain within, amongst its readers’ letters page, a submission from Australia updating Ray’s circumstances, with good news of his recovery & future after the abrupt end(ing) of his playing career.

By another coincidence, it seems the decision has been made here by the management at TOoT to apply a brutal chop to the World Cup ’74 drawing project, at least in the form it’s taken thus far, given the farcically long time it has recently been taking to complete but a single drawing. Whilst being reluctant to abandon the concept & subject matter, being dear to the heart & mind as it all is, the old creative endeavour seems to require something of a reboot…

World Cup '74 #18 (Adrian Alston)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Whilst it would be disingenuous indeed to claim that the hauntologically-inclined World Cup ’74 drawing project was continuing apace, progress it does, albeit more slowly than desired but rather in keeping with what has become the norm at TOoT.

As will be the case for all of the represented members of the Australian squad, the rather fabulous FKS-published collectors’ stamp album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ provides the original source image-object from which the drawing is subsequently processed (& for a scan of the thing itself, in situ, please refer to the image below).
From what is the infinite scope of possible configurations of toned graphite squares within the basic matrix, the portrait subject in this instance, simultaneously emerging from & subsumed within is Adrian Alston, who cuts a somewhat ambiguous figure in that I do recall his name, but only from post-World Cup, when he signed to play for Luton Town during the 1974-75 season when the club enjoyed a brief moment in the Division One spotlight, as indeed he did himself (subsequently, & as Luton suffered relegation, Alston also transferred out of the top flight to the then, since & now even more so appalling Cardiff City).
As a result of this mode of recollection, Alston is represented ‘only’ in monochrome rather than the colour treatment that names specifically remembered from the televised coverage of the tournament are/will be.

World Cup '74 #17 (Attila Abonyi)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Following the completion of representations of members of the (or an) Argentina squad, the World Cup ’74 drawing Project proceeds alphabetically along the course of the qualifying nations & thus now begins to feature the Australian selection (at least as proposed by the FKS stamp album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974'), then Finals’ debutants, with the portrait subject that both emerges from & is contained within the familiar matrix of graphite-toned squares being one Attila Abonyi, a name previously unknown to me & certainly not recalled from mostly hazy memories of the televised coverage of the tournament that served, essentially, as my introduction to an interest in football (hence its ‘hauntological’ significance to & generative force behind the Project, with the pair of collectors’ stamp/sticker albums that provide the original source material for the drawings’ processing providing equal inspiration &, more importantly, tangible object matter).

The habitual light research reveals that Abonyi, born in Hungary but subsequently qualified to represent Australia, was indeed chosen as a member of his adopted country’s official squad &subsequently played twice during the Finals, appearing as a half-time substitute in their second match, a 0 – 3 defeat to the host nation West Germany, & then being selected for the final fixture against Chile, a goalless draw which served to eliminate both teams from the tournament at the first hurdle.

In a new feature, here’s a scanned image of the original source stamp as it appears in its album.

In cultural news, the Uncut magazine special collectors’ edition devoted to the history & glory of The Smiths (& subsequent developments), compiled from various music paper archive features & interviews, & including reappraising album reviews amongst its contents, presented itself as an essential purchase, as well it would, & has rather influenced the working playlist since. What a pleasure indeed to hear The Smiths’ back catalogue, fresh, vital & utterly contemporary, necessary, & Morrissey’s ‘Vauxhall & I’ too, a cracking album itself.

World Cup '74 #16 (Hector Yazalde)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

The continuation of the World Cup ’74 project finally achieves some form of closure with this drawing, which concludes the first squad of players, those chosen to represent Argentina, at least, prior to the fact, by the publishers FKS & Panini, upon whose resources, in the form of their commemorative stamp/sticker albums ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ & ‘München ‘74’ respectively, the project draws for its raw visual material. From the outset, & given that the project is based upon such ‘hauntological’ sources, the decision was taken to follow the format of the FKS album & compile regular 16-man squads of players to represent each of the 16 nations qualifying for the tournament, as explained in more depth here – back in the (relatively) real world, the official squads comprised a total of 22 members each.

As we’ve discovered along the course of the Project thus far, not all of the footballers chosen, predictively, by FKS & Panini to appear at the 1974 World Cup were subsequently selected by their countries, but the portrait subject that simultaneously emerges from & is subsumed within the formal arrangement of the grid of graphite-toned 5mm squares on this particular occasion, Hector Yazalde, did in fact make the cut & went on to feature in 3 matches at the tournament after being omitted from Argentina’s first, scoring twice in their 4 – 1 victory over group minnows Haiti.

Prior to the World Cup, Yazalde had enjoyed a successful season at club level, scoring a quite phenomenal 46 goals in 29 matches for Sporting Lisbon as they won the Portuguese championship, a tally that proved the best in top-level European soccer, earning him the ‘Golden Boot’ awarded annually for such feats.
The following season, Yazalde continued in similar vein, scoring another 30 goals for Sporting, which saw him second in Europe: all in all, he achieved a remarkable goal-a-game ratio in his time at the club, for whom he appeared & scored 104 times.

Sadly to discover, Yazalde passed away in 1997 at the age of 51, one of two members of the 1974 Argentina squad to have died to this date &, in a most uncanny coincidence with the lyrics of a Morrissey song, ‘Hector was…the first of the gang to die’: it beggars belief, of course, that old Moz could be writing & singing coded messages about the 1974 Argentina World Cup squad & the members of, but still it’s a(nother) link between the drawing & music that so pervades TOoT.

Having reached this point in the Project, it seems appropriate, somehow, to provide evidence of the original source material from which the relevant stickers are selected &, following digitization of these image-objects, the drawings are processed, thus here are a pair of photographic images of the relevant pages from the collectors’ albums, the FKS first &, to follow, the Panini.

World Cup '74 #15 (Enrique Wolff)

graphite & puty eraser/30x20cm

Following the recent light ‘other cultural’ interludes in proceedings, today’s entry presents the return of the football World Cup 1974 ‘hauntological memories’ project & the latest slowly-processed drawing in the series (‘slow’ being the abiding philosophy here at TOoT, of course, although this can tip over into self-parody at times), the original photo-object source of which - then manipulated through digital procedures before being represented, ‘de-photographized’ & re-mediated, as handmade drawing (then re-digitized as a scan, of course, for (re)presentation on-screen) - was a sticker from the FKS-published collectors’ album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’.

Thus, via the usual process/format of the matrix of toned graphite 5mm squares, the portrait subject that simultaneously coalesces & is fragmentarily obscured is, on this particular occasion, Enrique Wolff, who was selected for inclusion in both the FKS & Panini ‘Munchen ‘74’ albums that serve as the raw material for the project, & also the actual Argentina squad for the tournament. ‘Quique’ Wolff, who, research reveals, post-playing pursued a media career & now presents his own soccer TV programme ‘Simplemente Fútbol’, subsequently started Argentina’s first four matches at the ’74 World Cup, being substituted after 60 minutes in the second game against Italy & then at half-time in the fourth, the opening Second Phase 0 – 4 defeat to Holland, before being omitted for the critical match with Brazil (resulting in another defeat) but then reinstated & awarded the team captaincy for the final ‘dead rubber’ fixture against also-eliminated East Germany. In keeping with the majority of players who appeared in the sticker albums & the televised coverage of the finals themselves, which itself was essentially my entry into taking an interest in football, Wolff was another of those details within the generality previously unknown to me, thus the rendering of his image in monochrome.

Soundtrack:

My Bloody Valentine ‘m b v’ (vinyl LP & CD)
Vic Godard & Subway Sect ‘We Come as Aliens’ & ‘What’s the Matter, Boy?’
Moon Wiring Club ‘Shoes Off and Chairs Away’ & ‘A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding’
Laura Marling ‘I Speak Because I Can’
digital downloads of singles once owned on vinyl, including Repetition & Those Intrinsic Intellectuals

World Cup '74 #14 (Roberto Telch)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Embodied within the matrix of toned graphite squares, simultaneously obscured by & emerging from such manual pixelation, the portrait subject of the latest drawing to be processed in the hauntological 1974 football World Cup project is Roberto Telch of the Argentina squad, as selected to appear in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ stamp album (which provides the original image/object from which the drawing is sourced) &, subsequently, the tournament itself, where he played in five of his country’s six matches, beginning as a 67th minute substitute for Angel Bargas in the opening fixture against Poland & then going on to miss only the Second Round group game against Brazil, the 1 -2 defeat to whom resulted in Argentina’s effective elimination from the competition.
Telch, in common with the majority of players who featured at the 1974 World Cup, was previously unknown to my hazy memories of the first televised football event in which I took an interest, hence his representation in monochrome.

Soundtrack:

Vic Godard & Subway Sect ‘We Come as Aliens’
Moon Wiring Club ‘Somewhere a Fox is Getting Married’
Radiohead ‘Kid A’
Rickie Lee Jones ‘Traffic From Paradise’
Belle & Sebastian ‘The Life Pursuit’

World Cup '74 #13 (Francisco Sa)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Presenting the latest in the series of drawings being processed with the intention of having a ‘hauntological’ relationship to the football World Cup of 1974, of which personal recollections of the televised spectacle form a rather hazy memory.

The portrait subject of the original sticker, & via the process of the various stages of representation, the drawing, fragmented though this becomes through the medium of the matrix of toned graphite squares, is the succinctly-surnamed Francisco Sa, another of the World Cup ’74 cast previously unknown to me but who, a little light research reveals, was selected not just for inclusion in the Panini ‘Munchen 74’ collectors’ album (which provided the original source image for this particular drawing) but also the actual Argentina squad & subsequently appeared in four & a half matches of his country’s campaign, comprising all 3 First Round group games, & the Second Round group defeats to Holland & then Brazil, the latter of which saw him substituted at half time & thereafter take no further part in the tournament which, for Argentina, with the eliminating consequences of the Brazil result, amounted to no more than the dead rubber 1- 1 draw with East Germany.

Soundtrack:

My Bloody Valentine ‘m b v’ (mp3) & ‘Loveless’ (remastered)
Hanne Hukkelberg ‘Little Things’
Vic Godard & Subway Sect ‘What’s the Matter Boy?’
Miracle Legion ‘Surprise Surprise Surprise’
Black Box Recorder ‘England Made Me’
‘The Bridges of Madison County’ soundtrack

World Cup '74 #12 (Roberto Perfumo)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing with the ‘hauntological’ drawing project representing the 1974 football World Cup, working conceptually from personal hazy memories, mostly at least, of what was my first real experience of televised football, just developing an interest in the game, & physically from the visual source material of the sticker/stamp player portraits of the proposed participants as featured in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ & Panini ‘Munchen ‘74’ collectors’ albums, then processed digitally & printed in crudely-pixellated form on A4 scale which serves as the immediate reference from which the drawings are processed.

The minimalistic regularity of the project’s standard format grid matrix of graphite-toned 5mm2 cells belies the ‘wealth of division’ (to quote Lou Reed) of configurations that is discernible as more of the drawings are produced, each individual & obviously so however compromised might be the recognizability of the portrait subject(s) who, in this particular instance was/is Roberto Perfumo, of whom I have no recollection (hence his representation in monochrome), but who nevertheless was selected for the actual final Argentina squad for the tournament, in addition to being represented in both the FKS & Panini albums. Perfumo captained Argentina in his country’s first four matches in Germany, unfortunately scoring an owl goal, for Italy, in the second, a 1- 1 draw, before being replaced after the opening Second Phase game, a 0 - 4 defeat to Holland, for the remaining two fixtures.

Soundtrack:

Sparklehorse ‘Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot’ & ‘Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain’
Moon Wiring Club ‘A Field Full of Sunken Horses’
My Bloody Valentine ‘Loveless’
Hanne Hukkelberg ‘Little Things’

World Cup '74 #10 (Vicente Pernia)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing with the current World Cup ’74 ‘hauntological’ project, this drawing is another to take as its original source (then undergoing various digital procedures of scanning & size manipulation before emerging as an A4 print that serves as the immediate physical reference) a ‘stamp’ taken from the FKS-published collectors’ album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’.

Via the drawing process (that itself is the subject), the portrait subject that coalesces within the matrix of toned graphite squares, in a representation of the pixelated print, is on this occasion Vicente Pernia, another of those players selected for inclusion in the FKS album but, subsequently, not actually the final Argentina squad for the tournament, thus establishing a particularly ‘ghostly’ & peripheral relationship with the 1974 World Cup, hazier even than my own memories.

Soundtrack:

Moon Wiring Club ‘Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets’ & ‘A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding’ LPs

A first listen to the new Moon Wiring Club LP release of ‘Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets’, having already sampled the related CD issue, most atmospherically ‘soundtracky’ in its nature, jolly good accompaniment to both the contemplative drawing process & the snow scene outside, & a rare & long-overdue outing for the vinyl version of ‘A Spare Tabby at the Cat’s Wedding’, stonkingly good & a worthy companion to the CD of the album, both played on our rather lovely old 1960s’ vintage Ferguson record player which itself seems to be enjoying its relocation to our new Sixties-built bungalow.

World Cup '74 #9 (Ramon Heredia)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Sometimes a drawing as it appears, in itself &, as here, on screen, simply can’t even begin to hint at what’s been going on behind (the scenes), the circumstances that have played out during the course of its processing. And, rather than signifying a failure to communicate, to express, sometimes that’s not necessarily a bad thing, that art can serve as the anchor in a veritable sea of changeable events, as is & has been the case in this particular instance.

Whatever, & being the latest in the ongoing World Cup ’74 series, the grid structure of graphite-toned squares that this drawing presents, in the now-familiar manner as that has developed, manages, as otherwise blank façade, to conceal not least the physical relocation (eventually) of the operations of both TOoT & Faire-la-Bise, to a place where rather attractive studio space & light is available. This being the case, the drawing was actually processed in no fewer than three separate locations, also including a session at the site of TOoT’s original physical base in addition to the new & previous ones (where it began life).

What the drawing represents, re-mediated & de-photographized via the drawing process, is an A4 monochrome print of a scanned & digitally manipulated image of an original sticker from the FKS collectors’ album ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’, featuring, as its particular subject, Ramon Heredia of the Argentina squad as proposed by that publication &, it transpired, as actually selected for the tournament, during which he played in all six of his country’s matches & scored the first of their goals, in the 2 – 3 defeat to Poland. Prior to the World Cup, Heredia had very recently featured for his Spanish club, Atletico Madrid, in both of their matches against Bayern Munich in the European Cup Final & its replay which, alas, resulted in a 0 – 4 defeat.

Soundtrack:

The Triffids ‘In the Pines’
Broadcast ‘Haha Sound’
Vic Godard & Subway Sect 'We Come As Aliens'
Moon Wiring Club ‘Today Bread, Tomorrow Secrets’ (CD)

World Cup '74 #8 (Carlos Guerini)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Drawing up to the very cusp of the festive season with the latest in the series based upon original source material taken from the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ & Panini ‘Munchen 74’ albums of collectable stamps/stickers issued to mark the advent of & celebrate the 1974 football World Cup.

The subject of the original picture stamp now represented in the somewhat distanced ‘pixelated’ form of the toned squares of the grid structure is one Carlos Guerini, who, research reveals, did not actually make the cut of the final Argentina squad for the tournament & thus, in the context of the hauntological proceedings of the Project, has a suitably ghostly presence in relation to the 1974 World Cup.

World Cup '74 #6 (Daniel Carnevali)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing the hauntologically-inclined World Cup ’74 project, with the series of drawings based upon the contents of a pair of sticker & stamp collections issued in anticipation of &, subsequently, to commemorate the tournament.

Following the established & already oft-mentioned process of image capturing, manipulation & handmade representation, the portrait subject that emerges on this particular occasion - albeit in rudimentarily-pixelated & not necessarily recognizable form - from the toned square by toned square drawing method becomes the sixth member of the Argentina squad as featured in the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ album from which the majority of the original image-objects are being sourced, the goalkeeper Daniel Carnevali, another of those ‘unknowns’ to my memory, who was selected to make five appearances for his country during the course of the tournament, featuring in all their matches except the concluding ‘dead rubber’ fixture against East Germany.

World Cup '74 #5 (Miguel Brindisi)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Presenting the latest drawing in the World Cup ‘74 project, the original source being a picture ‘stamp’ forming part of the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ collectors’ album, subsequently scanned, reduced significantly in its digital dimensions & then printed on A4 scale, this object with its crudely pixelated image then serving as the immediate point of reference from which the drawing is processed, square by toned square within the overall, all-over grid matrix. In fact, two distinct variations on the original scanned image, in the form of two separate & different reductions, one half the size of the other & consequently individually pixelated to twice the dimensions, were utilized as the sources for this particular drawing, being thus a composite of both, & the formal development that might be observed, influenced by some of the variously-pixelated photo-sourced drawings of D-L Alvarez, an interesting & ‘influential’ artist (most certainly now) mentioned previously here at TOoT, back in the days of 2008’s drawing Project.

D-L Alvarez
from 'Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing'; Phaidon; 2005 (2007)

Although the act of drawing is itself the essential subject, the portrait subject that comes to be represented, schematically at least, via this drawing process is, on this occasion, Miguel Brindisi of the Argentina squad as predicted/proposed by the FKS album &, as it transpired, in actuality, although his is another of those names of former footballers of which I have no prior knowledge (thus the research for the project is proving something of an education, in global football/World Cup history).

In the opening round of group matches, Brindisi alternated with Rene Houseman (one of the relatively few players I do actually recall from the tournament) in the Argentinian team, being substituted for the latter during the first game, replaced by him for the second & coming on as a substitute for in the third. In the second phase, Brindisi was omitted for the first match, reinstated & designated captain for the second - a 1-2 defeat to Brazil during which he scored what at the time was the equalizing goal for Argentina - & retained his place for the third, his already-eliminated country’s final appearance at the ’74 World Cup.

Soundtrack:

Vic Godard & Subway Sect ‘We Come As Aliens’
The Stranglers ‘The UA Singles 1977-1982’, ‘Black and White’ & ‘The Raven’

Indulging in the delights of Vic Godard & Subway Sect’s stonking, garagey ‘We Come As Aliens’, a fine & welcome companion to the live sound of the band as experienced recently, & revisiting the sounds of The Stranglers - once my very favourite band, for the first time in a very long while & digitally, previously only ever being heard on vinyl & tape - some of which have endured better than others, but ‘Black and White’ (which John Robb has interestingly proposed as being the first true post-punk album: discuss) & ‘The Raven’ are fine albums still & it’s further pleasure to be reminded of some of their excellent singles releases.

World Cup '74 #4 (Angel Bargas)

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Continuing with the World Cup 1974 drawing project, originally sourced from the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ & Panini ‘Munchen 74’ collector albums of stamps/stickers, the image-objects from whichever specifically relevant publication then being subjected to a scanning/reducing treatment to produce the pixelated photomechanical image in the form of an A4 print that serves as the immediate physical-visual reference from which the drawing is processed.

The portrait subject that not necessarily emerges, with any particular distinction, but perhaps rather is embedded within the modular drawing process of the grid of toned squares that resolves itself into some form of image, is, on this occasion, one Angel Bargas, the fifth member of the Argentina squad as featured in the FKS album, the fourth in the project here (out of sync as the third is still in production, its coloured media dependent to a large extent on being seen/assessed/drawn in natural light, of which there is seasonally so precious little), an arbitrary executive decision having been taken to replace an image/player from the FKS album with one from the Panini because it produces a better pixelated image.

Bargas, it transpires, did actually feature in the actual Argentinian squad & represented his country during the tournament, although as with most of the 1974 World Cup footballers, he was previously a name unknown to me, the hauntological resonance being attached to the event itself – my real introduction to football - rather than the majority of its participants.

Having a Re-think/Re-draw Again #2: World Cup '74 #2 v3

graphite & putty eraser/30x20cm

Here is the third version of the second drawing of the World Cup 1974 football stickers project, representing an enlarged print of a digital scan (subsequently reduced in its dimensions) of the original ‘stamp’ image-object as featured as a component part of the FKS ‘Wonderful World of Soccer Stars World Cup 1974’ album collection.
In heavily-pixellated, de-photographized, re-mediated form, the portrait subject buried within the drawing process is again Argentina’s Roque Avallay, no longer necessarily recognizable as such as his features are broken down into toned cells within the overall grid structure but nonetheless distinct from number one in the series, his compatriot Norberto Alonso.

Again, the usual modernist-minimalist & ‘hauntological’ conditions apply.

At the current rate of drawing progress, the estimate is that the project as proposed will take a good 10 years to complete, which, whilst daunting, is also quite a comforting prospect, somehow…

Things Looking Up...

A change of viewpoint today, directing the camera’s gaze upwards rather than the habitual downcast air to proceedings here at TOoT (which applies to the physical act of the hunched-over drawing & painting process in addition to the photographic focus upon road surfaces & the significant details thereupon), inspired by the glorious clear blue sky overhead early this morning, appearing particularly vibrant at that point where, across the plane of vision, its edge met that of the complementarily-coloured earth-reds & -oranges of the brickwork of the immediate neighbour’s chimney stack...


Which colour & texture combinations then inspired the ‘playful’ creation of a digital ‘painting’, intended to walk something of a line between abstraction & representation, with the saturated flat colour field of the sky blue occupying the greater area of the picture plane before abutting against the contrasting division provided by the more visually ‘incidental’ irregularly-gridded, lightly textured, rusty orange ‘stripe’ to the right, a little computer-generated homage to Modernism. One might also acknowledge the influence of Jazz Green in seeing the ‘painterly’ potential inherent in, particularly, incidents of colour & texture as encountered out in both the natural & built environment, & as occur in the brickwork in this particular scene.


(digital 'painting')

The process of the realization of the ‘painting’ as imagined from source involved more work than initially assumed, with the ‘corrective’ distortion of the chimney stack - so that it would read frontally & as flat as possible, with the ‘grid’ properly right-angled, in the interests of asserting its best Greenbergian modernist credentials – having to be done so incrementally, in 2 – 3 row blocks, rather than en bloc, given the angle of perspective of the original image: an instructive if time-consuming learning curve, which oft seems to be the rule when employing digital technology.

The subliminal inspiration behind the desire to photographically record the scene (before the motivation to ‘paint’ from/with it) might well have been the brilliant Indian skies as featured in the film ‘The Darjeeling Limited’, transmitted on television yesterday evening (but watched a little later).
Such a celestial blue was but one of the vivid colours gracing, saturating, the picture, with particular emphasis also on saffron, earthy reds & turquoise, all of which nicely complemented the oft (it seemed) grey-suited protagonists. As with the earlier ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ (suitably enthused about here for much the same reason), although in a considerably higher key than the muted autumnal tones of pinks, browns & greys of such, ‘The Darjeeling Limited’ proved to be another aesthetically ravishing production by Wes Anderson, to immerse oneself in visually & thus be borne along by the unfolding narrative flow: gorgeous stuff, & there always seem to moments of great poignancy too. Most enjoyable. And of course it should be remembered that this blog was originally entitled ‘The Life Aesthetic...’ in acknowledgement of ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ (which itself features some delightful colour coding & co-ordinating) & Mr Anderson’s work in general.

But, in a not unusual development, we digress...

Further to structures protruding upwards, ‘disruptively’, into the expansive, immersive colour field of the clear blue sky, or seen, perhaps, as still life objects placed upon a slim horizontal plane against such a ‘ground’, another couple of images captured during this morning’s photo-shoot: firstly, the oppositely-neighbouring television aerial & the crest of a chimney cowl as they emerge above the ridge of the roof...


Then a more diagonally dynamic approach taken to the pictorial rendering of the first chimney stack with attached TV aerial against the sky...


No claims for anything artistically special here, but perhaps there’s a nod towards the influence of William Eggleston in the featuring of apparently banal subject matter & the saturated colour.

You're the One for Me, 'Flatty'...

graphite & putty eraser, with watercolour/30x20cm

The latest 'Pop Art roadkill' diptych drawing to be processed featuring an example of found 'Readymade Cubism', this particular subject/object having been compressed, reformed, into a state of low relief, the nature of such evoking, once again, the ghost of Clement Greenberg & his once-influential interpretation of the progress of the practice of Modernist painting, via a compelling, persuasive (but rather exclusive) linear narrative from Cezanne to Cubist painting & collage to Mondrian - the godfather of grids! - to Abstract Expressionism & ultimately the 'colour field' stains of 'post-painterly' abstraction. Greenberg proposed the theory of painting defining itself through its medium-specific quality of 'flatness', referring to the limiting conditions of the physical support upon which the activity is performed (i.e. the area of canvas defined by its horizontal & vertical edges, which of course the formal device of the grid in particular reiterates), a self-critical condition (adapted from Kant's philosophy) through which painting could assert its autonomy, 'competence' & purpose as a visual, aesthetic experience, whilst acknowledging that the first mark upon the canvas subverts its absolute flatness, that, even if no attempt is made at pictorial tonal 'modelling' with light & shade, some form of optical illusion occurs at this point.

However flat the subject/object of the drawings might have been accidentally compressed, though, still they retain a certain three-dimensional object quality, even in such 'reduced circumstances', & one of the (perverse?!) endeavours of the mark-making process (which includes erasure as an equally positive activity to the stroking of graphite) is to represent the variety of surface incident as experienced empirically, those ridges & depressions of highlights & shadows into which the (unflat) object forms itself (& continually reforms, with the play of natural light & one's subtly ever-changing position in relation to that of the object).
As most recently previously mentioned & photographically illustrated, the mark-making process itself destroys the purity of the flatness of the surface of the paper upon which the drawing is performed, creating a graphite-covered 'object' that seeks to establish some form of dialogue with the object represented within the picture plane.

Soundtrack:


Gomez 'Bring It On'
Talking Heads 'Best of'
Morrissey 'Vauxhall & I'
Lambchop 'Is a Woman'

A first-time-in-x-years listen to Gomez, 'Bring It On' proving to be something of a Proustian vehicle, transporting one back to pleasant recollections of the graduation summer (during which the sun still seemed to shine), relaxing with a sense of having achieved something worthwhile (at last, for once).
Good to have a reminder too of just how wonderful Talking Heads were capable of being, most particularly during the period of their creative zenith, in collaboration with Brian Eno, the man & whose work provided the subject matter of a pair of excellent BBC4 TV programmes over last weekend, the first a fascinating documentary portrait, the second a compilation of musical 'greatest hits', encompassing the timeline from Roxy Music to the present, which would have been worth watching just for (but by no meeans only) the inclusion of Devo's still astonishing sonic & visual aesthetic as condensed into a video performance of their 'introductory' classic 'Jocko Homo', fabulously lo-fi & minimalist, nothing quite of the like seen or heard before or since, amusing, entertaining & unsettling in equal measure, true art-rock in the very best challenging sense. And familiarity does nothing to blunt the charge of Bowie's exhilarating 'Heroes'.

Return of the Grid(s)

Delighted today to notice, upon passing the frozen pond as pictured previously on New Year's Day, the presence in the grid-format fence of a section patched by means of not just one but a veritable visual, formal feast of a further two grids, one of silvery wire in diagonally-halved form behind a bolder, stronger rusted iron one, creating a compelling, complex arrangement: modernism is alive & well into the post-noughties...





Further to the subject of diamond-format grid patterns, this wonderful image of Braniff Airlines hostesses modelling rather fabulous 1960s Emilio Pucci-designed uniforms is to be found within Stephen Bayley's sumptuous volume & intriguing thesis 'Woman as Design',


which pattern structure in turn brings to mind a visual analogy in the form of an example of Chuck Close's latter style of painting, in this case a self-portrait.


Chuck Close (from 'Close Reading' by Martin Friedman, Abrams, 2005)

A Grand Day Out

So to Birmingham for a day out & friends-meeting purposes, before which a while-u-wait potter around the Ikon gallery, featuring exhibitions of Carmen Herrera's somehow timeless modernist formal abstractions - geometric in nature, excepting a few early lyrical examples, mostly either colourful-&-black rhythmic patterns of interlocking (tri)angular shapes, some within circular canvases, or otherwise more severely minimalist monochrome designs that sometimes suggested (referring to something outside the purely formal harmony of the self-sufficent & -reflexive picture) architectural details (such as the descending steps of a staircase) or spaces (such as the corner of a large room) - & also 'Bad Faith', a selection of videos of David Sherry's absurdist performances. Was particularly taken & inspired by the image adorning the poster advertising the latter show...


...which seems to illustrate rather succinctly a mental state familiar to numerous parts of any given day.

Also the sculpture garden in Oozells Square, in front of the Ikon:





minimalist & coolly harmonious, in terms of objects, space & textures (including the trees also), in something of a Japanese style (although perhaps a bit too symmetrically ordered to be wholly in keeping with such a particular aesthetic), what with the channel of water too - a pleasing, quiet combination of the overtly designed, man-made & natural elements.