THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 13

our artist is 19 years old..

he is finally at art school..

just..

he is on the foundation course..

and will have to be accepted on a Dip AD course..

in order to progress to degree equivalent qualification..

that was what there was..

then in 1971..

BRUCE DAVIDSON

becomes a part of his plan..

but not before..

ELLSWORTH KELLY

who has shown him this figure..

he likes this figure or shape as he calls it then..

he plays around with it..

a lot..

he will play with this for some while..

and he will bring Bruce Davidson along too..

he has found screen printing..

and he likes it..

he starts with this Bruce photograph..

from East 100th St..

in Harlem NY..

photographs of our boy's first screen prints

he loves this picture..

it has all the fresh bright future in it..

OK some jerk has spilled filler over his silk screen..

and it could have been..

all she wrote..

but our boy just shrugs and soldiers on..

maybe he is just lazy..

and can't be bothered to make a new screen..

maybe he is short of time..

but really he just likes the white out shape..

with the bits missing..

he prints both on sides of the paper..

then cuts out the 'flap' shapes on all but one side..

then he folds them back..

with another print underneath..

and anyways..

when he is experimenting with printing colour over black halftone..

he discovers what a moire pattern is..

again he likes it..

in fact he loves all of this stuff..

this is why he has studied for years..

Art School..

Heaven..

AFTRE BATHING AT BAXTERS

he has made a choice..

and chose being with his girlfriend..

on a Graphic Design course..

is the way to go..

OH DEAR

he has no idea what Graphic Design is..

and will struggle to make his Fine Art ways..

fit in and take off..

it's like Joe's Garage..

he has to make imaginary paintings in his head..

so..

eventually he will revert to Ellsworth and Bruce..

and create a book..

on his own dime..

SYMPHONY A RIFF NUMBER

where each page is a variation on a theme..

using his two favourite items..

sometime later..

The Scream..

up next on..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

Iconoclasm..

a 'flaps' extravaganza..

A MAGIC CARPET

 yo!.. Persian Rug.. innit!

I was in art class..

one day in 1970..

and I had this really great black brush stroke..

on this otherwise poor..

painting that I was doing..

the lecturer commented upon how this mark was very strong..

and I was hooked..

over the years..

I developed a style that consisted of a mixture of..

soft focus and bold gesture..

and nowhere is this more evident than in the..

FIGURES IN A SOUK

now it should be realised that not all figures..

are people..

squares and circles etc..

are figures too..

so an abstract figuration can be realised..

These blue stripes above..

are what lead to the more human figures..

and for a while they were, together with the square..

all that was there..

some time later..

I started to develop the figures..

and they became more 'real'

it's interesting to me..

that I am no happier with the new figures than the old..

one is not 'better' than the other..

it just happens when I paint..

I see them emerge..

and try not to cramp their style..

ON MY PERSIAN RUG

is a song

hope you like it..

because this is all one souk..

knowledge is finite..

imagination is infinite..

and all of life is in the souk..

it's a magic carpet ride..

figuresinasouk.com

CAP

yo!.. jim steranko... innit!

GROWING UP IN NEW GUINEA COMING OF AGE IN SAMOA

when I was 13..

I was captain america..

although my favourite comic was x-men..

docile was iron man..

bruin was spidey..

dave was thor..

bugsy was..

let me think about it..

we went out of school comic-ing..

at lunch times..

we would tour the junk shops for 2nd hand marvels..

eat out from the 'old man and woman's' fish and chip shop..

spend a whole weeks school dinner money..

on monday alone..

I had x-men 1..

but when we played in the yard at school..

I was always cap.. 

BORNE BACK CEASELESSLY INTO THE PAST

I would like to say that 'it started on yancy street'..

but it was x-men 12 'beware the juggernaught my son'..

after that I was hooked..

every craze ends of course..

and I sold my collection in the school yard..

at a profit of course..

but we were collecting again by 1970

this time it was spidey..

all the steve ditko ones..

only the best..

I was 18..

I was still cap though..

 

I used this steranko cap..

in my 'A' level art exam..

steranko's stuff drove me mad..

I could not get enough of it..

I had all the shield stuff he did..

anyway..

 on foundation at trent poly..

I created this..

I was into these flaps..

which opened up to alter the image..

more interactive art..

more use of chance..

ellsworh kelly is in the mix..

stewart lees liked the flaps but not the pop art..

neville smith was my main mentor..

I got some of the flap influence from him..

COMING UP

more on flaps..

king elvis has surely come..

whatever happened to peter the painter?