Kinetica and Colour Wisdom

I've found a newish gallery/museum at Spitalfields, called Kinetica www.kinetica-museum.org It's outside the old Spitalfield market, with all the new buildings that have been developed there. I think loosing a substantial part of the market, for expensive shops and eating places it is a great loss to the community, so Kinetica is a bonus.
The exhibition was Luminaries & Visionaries, coloured discs rotated and spun, an innovative and beautiful clock marked off time by illuminating symbols and plant forms. Images moved across boards of electronic lights, pendulums traced patterns of light, slowly fading away, and strange sculptural heads mouthed words like peace.



I have been increasingly drawn to artists working with colour and light and start thinking about how I can work more in this way.
Our Colour Wisdom day went very well,ideas were explored, people explored their response to colour and some lovely coloured work was produced. The practise of colour breathing went well to, giving us another way to experience colour and it's effects on the chakra system.

More pictures and comments will be on my main site soon.

Talks and artist's diaries

I went to a very good talk by the artist Thomas Hirschhorn, at the South Bank as part of their 100 ideas event. Hirschhorn was talking about his project,The Musee Precaire Albinet, which was a temporary museum in a social housing project on the outskirts of Paris.

The project, Hirschhorn called it an Intervention, was over 18 months in preparation, mostly because the artist wanted to borrow works of art from the Pompidou Centre. This amazingly happened in the end and work by artists such as Mondrian, Dali and Warhol went on show, in a programme lasting 8 weeks. The original works were very important to this project because they posses a power, and for Hirschhorn, just a moment of real engagement in front of such a work can be enough.

The community were part of the whole event and there was a range of activities every day including a shared meal on Sundays. Hirschhorn uses everyday materials in his work, plastic, felt pens, cardboard etc and he spoke about the importance of temporary art works, the precarious nature of work, that gave it it's edge. It was something about anything is possible in the moment if I am awake and aware.

I really responded to his insistence that art was a potential force for change, but that it should not be in service to governments, social services, or regeneration projects. He said in 2004 about this work that " I am an artist, not a social worker. Le Musee Precaire Albinet is a work of art, it is not a sociocultural project. This affirmation is that art only as art can obtain true importance and have political meaning."

The other event I have been to is one about artist's diaries at Tate Modern, I am working on a diary of my own to take in on Saturday the second part of the event. It was good to see examples of artist's work, mostly photographic in this instance, I came away with lots of ideas.

Some more photographs came back this week, and I have a new collection for my art cards. Marketing them is slow, I need a plan I think. One of the films was in black and white, I don't usually work in black and white so it was interesting seeing the results.
A couple of images, a little pen and ink of the Ivy and one of the black and white photos.

I seem to have had a busy month, mostly planning things, the first Urban Arts Retreat on Colour wisdom. This is happening on Saturday 10th March, more info on my main site, and planning for the next at the end of March.
Sorting out ideas for a body of work called ' 1000 petalled lotus ' which I hope to launch soon. This is an open event for all artists working in all mediums to respond to the theme. Initially work produced would be photographed, or videoed and sent to my website where there will be a section for the work to be seen. The idea is to eventually have 1000 pieces of work representing the 1000 petals of the lotus, and look for a suitable venue for an exhibition.

Continuing with my printmaking, I have been working on copper, trying out drypoint, and working on some designs for silkscreen. It keeps me on my toes, working in different mediums, but quite a lot of work awaiting completion.

I've also started a couple of self portraits, I haven't done any of these for a long time, so this is an interesting process, what do I see? who do I see? and what do I look like? I'll put them on here and my site when they are finished.

David Hockney Portraits

I just caught the David Hockney exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery before it closed a week ago. It was a much larger exhibition than I was expecting, and a treat to see. I have admired a lot of Hockney's work for many years, especially the drawings and fine pen portraits.

It was good to see the double portraits in water colour, in the flesh, as reproduced they seemed to bright in colour, especially the faces which in reproduction were bright red. The colours are strong in these portraits, but not that strong fortunately.

The exhibition included Hockney's photographic portraits, made up of dozens of images, which I've always fancied doing myself, but haven't yet.

Hockney's portraits of his mother,( there were examples from all periods in her life,) were beautiful, drawn and painted with such obvious care. The latest large portrait canvases were also great. the characters of the sitters coming through strongly.

What I was also stuck by the sheer amount of work that he had produced, it puts me to shame and makes me determined to use what time I have as creatively as possible.

I have just enjoyed 4 weeks teaching meditation at the London Buddhist Centre, and am working on the next series of art and meditation days the first of which will be on colour called Colour Wisdom, on March 10th. More info will be on my main site.