Oslo trip 2012

Takk to Headhunters / Momentum / Norwegian Embassy for providing this all-expenses paid trip to Oslo, which I timed especially to go and see Apparatjik perform live at the åpning of Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo.

mine Apparatjik sko 

Savoy hotel lobby, Oslo

Nikola Tesla style lamp stand in Carl Ungers Loft, Oslo

Carl Ungers Loft @ Savoy hotel, Oslo

whatever you do, don't order the whale

Jeg elsker Norge

mine Apparatjik sko @ Moods Of Norway

 I found these shiny Apparatjik Combat Disco boots before I left, they appeared around Oslo in various locations before becoming part of Apparatjik's gig.

AFM - we're practically related

      

Apparatjik Cube, dormant, within the architecture of the AFM

complete with audience

mine Apparatjik sko

images projected onto the Cube by the Eye On Committee

Guy A

Lowell

Lowell "Shake Him Off"

Lowell

Shake Him Off

previously unknown track 

Apparatjik live performance

Apparatjik live performance

Martin A, Jonas A, Magne A, Guy A

Martin A

Magne A plays the keyboard with boxing gloves on

L-R Jonas Bjerre, Magne Furuholmen, Guy Berryman, Lowell

Jonas Bjerre, Magne Furuholmen, Guy Berryman, bald headed security man!

snøkrystaller

01100001 01101110 01101001 01101101 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 01110011

Dissassembling the Cube

This roadie van, as it turns out, was the same one that followed us past Stolper & Friends on Fredag natt. 

har det bra, Apparatjik Cube :-(

During this visit, I went to see some exhibitions in Oslo, I went to see "I Wish This Was A Song" at the Nasjonalmuseet, and contributed to the Apparatjik + Audiokolor installation for the compositional piece that they later performed with Sølvguttene / Oslo Boy's Choir. 
I was rather bemused that my own work was not included in this exhibition, but perhaps the Norwegian art scene need to familiarise with my work more. 
I left a card at the gallery. They tried to sell me a catalogue from the previous exhibition. That wasn't really why I was there!
Do all galleries try to sell to artists wanting to exhibit work? 

Obviously I went to look around the AFM on the day of it's åpning, although a fire alarm went off, and the AFM might have to replace that cup of Earl Grey I abandoned in a blatant act of guerilla tea party activism. 

Abandoned At The Exit mini exhibition

Last week, I curated a one day Lincoln Artists' Network exhibition in an Empty Shop space that we've been given permission to exhibit in at no cost to us. 
During a showing of video art, my usual digital camera, known to me as "The Lady Of Shalott" died on me, as I'd been using it all week to document the event etc, so usually I use a phone camera as a backup. As I currently have a cheap mobile that I'm using temporarily until I can sort out something more permanent, and one that got run over at one point(!), of course, the quality wasn't as good. So I had to explain this when documenting the exhibition, in case anyone thought Tom's video work was poor quality when it isn't. As such, I made sure that I noted and included a link to the Rip Off Britain programme in this blog

I don't want anyone to think that I'm a rubbish photographer just because I've been denied the ability to run my business quite as it should due to Orange's failures. If I'm a rubbish photographer, fair enough, but usually I can document work pretty well with proper working equipment. The old arcade space was an ideal location to showcase the effects Orange have caused by their failures. I don't, however, consider Orange a work of art. Orange are just rubbish. If they were a work of art, they'd be that distorted skull at the bottom of Holbein's The Ambassadors. They'd be a restored painting of Jesus by Cecilia Gimenez. They'd be a piece of elephant poo stuck to a painting. They'd be The Potato Eaters by Van Gogh. But Orange aren't art. They're just greedy.

The Lettings agents had been trying to ring me to arrange a gas safety check. They'd been ringing me on the landline, but I've been too busy to get back to them until yesterday. When I did, they told me they'd tried to call me on my mobile, but  they still had my old number. On the letter they sent me, it states that gas checks (as anyone knows) are essential for the safety of me as a tenant. Granted, I should've remembered to give them my new number, but I shouldn't have to keep changing my number because Orange have failed to provide the service they initially offered, and their failures could potentially put us at risk. I've done this, because there was a Rip Off Britain episode to highlight the issue, however, nothing has yet come of it, and last week I received a letter from another debt collection agent wanting me to pay money I do not owe. So in response, I do wish to publicise precisely the effect they're having. 

The exhibition itself went really well. It made a huge difference having the support of Revival, a business co-operative that runs the space, and being able to exhibit without worrying about costs as much. 
The space in an old arcade was ideally suited to Space Invader comics, digital work, video, animation and digital prints, as well as Alice Bradshaw's Museum Of Contemporary Rubbish, which was very well received.
Lots of positive feedback for my curation, and for the work as well. The title of the exhibition "Abandoned At The Exit" was taken from Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation, although of course, it suits the space, and the experience of being a recent graduate. 
I didn't include any of my own work this time, although I probably have lots of work I could've included, I would've liked to have had time to have something blown up and printed on the plotter, but have decided to wait and do that if I'm accepted onto the AA2A scheme.

I will know after I get back from Oslo at the beginning of next month. I am finally going to Oslo on Friday, courtesy Jo Nesbo's Headhunters film / Momentum pictures, and am all set, apart from going to the Post Office to get some kroner.

upcoming Oslo trip

I haven't posted in here for a while, as I've been working on some self-directed illustration projects, including a graphic novel concept that occurred to me in a dream.

A while ago, I was lucky enough to win a free trip to Norway, courtesy Jo Nesbo's Headhunters film!!
This is 2 return flights, 3 nights at a hotel, and £200 spending money.
I was thinking of going over the summer, but when Apparatjik announced that they were performing a free gig at the brand new opening of the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, I decided to wait for that.

As you can imagine, this has required a considerable amount of organising.

As it's now term time again, I can't take the kids with me. I was thinking that I need a break from them anyway. It's been extremely stressful getting Kurt through his G.C.S.E. exams, never mind the phone bill incident, but this won't really be a holiday. It counts as work. And requires Mum to babysit for the weekend, so I can go with my brother.

There's an additional exhibition at the Nasjonalmuseet entitled "I Wish This Was A Song" with Apparatjik alongside Oslo Complaints Choir, and other work.

I plan to meet up with friends and illustrators whilst over there, and also take time to do the tourist trail to visit the museums over on Bygdoy.

The Astrup Fearnley Museet is designed by Renzo Piano, and displays a large collection of postmodern art, mainly American, but there's Damien Hirst and a variety of work. The museum was founded by the Astrup Fearnley shipping empire, and intrigued by the similarity, and non-Norskness of the name, I found that the Fearnleys originate from Yorkshire. Which is also where the Dearnley family come from. I also discovered that there was an Ann Fearnley that went by the name of Dearnley, so it wasn't even a joke that I'm probably related to the museum in some spurious way. 

A while ago, I mentioned an issue with an Orange mobile phone scam. Fortunately, things have been quiet on that score, as I successfully prevented them from escalating the problem with "debt collectors". 
On Friday, the problem will be covered on Rip Off Britain, so we're of course hoping it'll be resolved finally, and those of us affected will receive some form of compensation for 2 years of stress and costs. Fingers crossed!

Cornerhouse gallery exhibition

Subversion at Cornerhouse, Manchester, May 2012. 

 Went to Cornerhouse in Manchester and saw this Palestinian version of 2001: A Space Odyssey. At first I found this exhibition somewhat jarring, I guess I still do, but getting the Jean Baudrillard references now. And the artist has ripped off A-ha's Minor Earth, Major Sky video: 

 "In A Space Exodus (2009), Palestinian artist Larissa Sansour adapts a segment of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, providing it with a new, Middle Eastern context by positing the idea of the first Palestinian in space. Originally developed as part of the A Space Exodus installation, Subversion will also feature Sansour’s Palestinauts (2010) and three preliminary sketches for the Nation Estate project, a sci-fi photo series conceived in the wake of the Palestinian bid for nationhood at the UN." Basically, she ripped off A-ha's Minor Earth Major Sky video ;-) !!!!

Subversion at Cornerhouse, Manchester, May 2012.  Circle Of Confusion - Joana Hadjiithomas & Khalil Joreige - very Baudrillard - "If once we were able to view the Borges fable in which the cartographers of the Empire drew up a map so detailed that it ends up covering the territory exactly... - as the most beautiful allegory of simulation, this fable has now come full circle for us, and possesses nothing but the discrete charm of second-order simulacra." This must be third-order simulacra at least.

Outside Cornerhouse gallery

Space Invader in Manchester

I just thought I might edit Supermarket Jesus so he doesn't get on CEOP's radar! I realised that merely illustrating a dream as it occurred could be controversial with regard to child protection. 


I mean, come to think of it, why on earth was I even helping out a naked guy that looks like Jesus in the dream? Why did no one notice or call the police? That's what would happen in reality, even if Jesus was doing something genuinely useful and otherwise harmless. I read in the news that a paedophile has moved to the village next door to the one I grew up in and is causing great consternation amongst the people of Surfleet in south Lincolnshire. 


My naked Jesus was perfectly innocent in his nudity. He had no intention of doing anything wrong, and couldn't even be considered a paedophile. But I woke up before I probably bought him a good pair of pants!! 


It never occurred to me at the time, following my visit to visit Burghley House, and the nudes in the Heaven and Hell rooms alike that seemed to cause my elderly and infirm Grandma to zoom through them faster than Jenson Button. Her comments of disgust at mere nudity alone painted by Italian artists. But there were plenty of families with kids of all ages visiting for Mother's Day, and most people are familiar with Italian frescos and statues in galleries everywhere with anatomical detail.

Mail Art

Mail Art piece for http://marielouiseplum.com/ 

An envelope that was sent to Oslo and returned at the time of the July 22nd events. There are 77 Nordic hearts altogether, to represent the victims, along with various snippets from Norwegian newspapers bought during my last trip to Oslo in 2010 - a story about love letters, and other found paraphernalia. I had this sitting in my studio waiting for an exhibition such as this. Postage is probably gonna cost a fortune though :-s

Jesus is coming, look busy!

Just wanted to share this Good Friday creation. It's been sitting on my desktop for a while. It's based on a dream I had not so long ago, a somewhat profound dream, or so I thought.
In this dream I was in a supermarket with Jesus. At first, I couldn't tell if it was really Jesus or just a 22 year old student that happened to look a lot like Jesus, but my mind resolved itself that he was actually Jesus. 

By the way, he was naked. In a supermarket. I guess that if Jesus really did come back to earth, he may well appear naked. Ref: The Second Coming with Christopher Eccleston.

So anyway, we were doing all this shopping and no one seemed to really notice naked Jesus much, even though in reality there would be a huge tutathon from Daily Mail readers at least! I guessed it was for some kind of party, for some kids at a church or something - the food / party, not the nudity!! 

I wondered how we were going to pay for all this shopping, and Jesus, being naked, didn't appear to have any cash on him or a wallet, but the answer came as swiftly as the question - he's Jesus, he doesn't have to pay for anything!

I wanted to illustrate this dream in A Scanner Darkly type way. Have been sneakily photographing supermarkets clandestinely, googled blokes that look like Jesus, that sort of thing, and spent some time rendering it just as it appeared in my dream. Here's the result.

Over Easter, I also saw Gunther Von Hagens' "Crucifixion". I've only ever seen Gunther's Bodyworlds work on the internet, and amused me in a James Bond film, but I've never had the opportunity to go and see it. And I found Gunther quite a scary bloke. But when I saw him talking about how he nearly died when he was 6, I could identify with that a bit, as I once communed with God after the birth of my first son. I was told by a face in some 1970s wallpaper that I wasn't going to die. It was all a bit Philip K Dick, but anyway, I digress.

The crucifixion never fails to make me cry. And it gave me a respect for Gunther Von Hagens to address this sympathetically, even though I suspected it was somewhat contrived, the result was a somewhat effeminate looking red vascular Christ. Having watched Constantine again, and having been to Hell not so long ago (!) the most recent crucifixion I'd seen was this one by Eric Drooker