Q-Art and Binaries

Yesterday saw the second Q-Art convenor of the season. For those unfamiliar with Q-Art or the convenor format you can check out Q-Art's website : http://www.q-artlondon.com

At art school there is the use of a teaching forum which they call a 'convenor', a derivation of the group crit. The basic format is to take a large group of students, say 30-40, and have 5-7 of them present their work to the rest of the group after which the group gets to 'critique' or respond critically to the works shown. Q-Art was created to allow this sharing of critical ideas to occur cross institutions, throwing the convenor open not just to the students of the particular college, but to all students, tutors, curators, critics, philosophers etc. In other words, anyone who wanted to come along.

It was my first time presenting at Q-Art yesterday and in my opinion the entire convenor was excellent, with plenty of engaging discussions. The piece I presented was a landscape that is nearly finished, currently untitled, and that explores further the themes that have been occupying me recently, namely the creation of a shamanic space on a canvas through the balancing of diametrically opposed elements (binaries). The people attending were sharp, informed and had plenty of engaging comments to make about the work.

There was some feedback that stood out as being areas I may need to resolve. It was debated whether or not you could see the character of the artist rather than just the hand in the work. It also became clear to me that I need a clearer definition of terms like mysticism and enchantment when I talk about my paintings. It is also evident that my approach to this line of questioning is western in nature and it would be interesting to see how responses to my work differ from culture to culture. To that end I will post weekly a piece that I would like to discuss on this blog, sometimes it will be my work and sometimes the work of other artists discussed in the light of the themes I am tackling.

My thanks go out to Sarah Rowles for organising the Q-Art event and to Central St. Martins for hosting. If you would like to offer your own comments please do so.

Poplar Avenue

My latest work can be seen in development on Flickr - check the links to the side of my blog.

I have had a lot of fun with this piece. I primarily combined my love of Van Gogh style swirls with the removal of paint from the canvas leaving parts of it blank. I was trying to achieve an effect that upsets the reality of the image allowing the viewer to engage more deeply with it becuase it defies solidity.

Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it.

Hey all,

After a facelift and a period of emotional instability (welcome to life as an artist Rick) I am back with renewed vigor to both my art and my blog. Updated in Flickr are some paintings done over the last couple of months and a new set showing a painting I am working on now as it goes through each stage of development. Kinda like an online sketch book.

I will be posting more on that project to talk about influences, exploration of ideas and the like shortly. For now please feel free to comment on my work so far.

RR

100 Artisits for World Aids Day - New Steine Brighton

Very much looking forward to taking part in this! We will be at the new Steine at 11am and afterwards we will be exhibiting at Komedia. The piece I am hoping to bring along (weather permitting) is above.

MARCIA FARQUHAR - Acts of Clothing

Last night I had the priviledge of seeing Marcia Farquhar at The Basement in Brighton.

The tip came from my ever helpful tutor at Goldsmiths, she had seen the same performance in its original incarnation 7 (or so) years ago and because I turst her advice implicitly I decided to go along.

Marcia - besides being an excellent wit and narator - is a working artist and this particular performance involved her delivering a clothing's rack of anecdotes.

The stage was a catwalk at the far end of which hung the garments in question. Each was a piece of history, lost in the timestream of fashion (thank god - the 70's red dress will haunt me forever) but made relevant again by the personal experience attached to it - personal experience related to us, the audience, in Marcia's wonderfully illustrative style.

At each story we found ourselves wearing the item with Marcia and then, the story done, it was discarded to the floor of the walkway leaving a wreckage of fashion for Marcia to continue her performance on.

The 'finale' was a paper doll dress made for 7 people (I think) which meant that members of the audience literally got to wear the dress with Marcia and dance over the catwalk.

Marcia was the gel that held all these elements together. As a piece of art it was thought provoking and entertaining - what more could you ask for?

Marcia Farquhar's Site
The Basement's Site

Welcome

Hi everyone and welcome to my new blog.

This will be my forum to tell you about my work. Check it out to see images of pieces I've done in the past or ones that I am currently working on.

I will also be posting to document my journey as I develop as an artist.

It's also a chance for you to give me some feedback on my work, I look forward to hearing your comments.

Thanks
Richard