THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 33 : Paradise Loss

the fruit machine stops..

it's 1984..

the artist is in his studio..

he has been using illustrations from children's books..

as the figures in his paintings..

the quatrefoil window..

has come into his work in a big way..

he has, he thinks..

created a logo for God..

well..

it is a pictogram anyway..

he has combined the quatrefoil with a landscape..

like a view out the window..

it's a simplified view of a promised land..

or are they blue remembers hills?.

anyway..

he sees it as a vision of paradise..

a promised landscape..

and what is religion if not a promise?

life after life..

the canvas is stained..

much thinned oil paint has seeped through..

from the other side..

yes this is a second chance work..

the failed reverse is hidden away..

and a new version has been produced..

the colours have bled through the canvas..

and survived..

to tell of a fresh start..

rather then a virgin birth..

LIFE IS A GAMBLE

this canvas is only the first panel of a triptych..

the idea is of the wheels of a gambling machine..

a 'one armed bandit'..

where gamblers try to pull hard enough on the 'arm'..

to win..

 or at least get their money back..

the idea of the three canvases..

is that each one has a version of the pictogram..

and that as they have settled down as a complete line..

all three in a row..

there should be a pay out..

a reward..

or a debt to pay..

https://www.saatchiart.com/en-gb/art/Painting-The-Fruit-Machine-Stops/31203/14105797/view

the staining of the canvas..

reminds us of Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Louis..

anyway lots of fun with paint..

almost no-one in the world has ever seen this painting..

it has never been exhibited..

maybe it's because it's no good..

or maybe it's just..

 bad luck..

maybe it's the wrong colours..

or maybe it's because..

there are too many notes..

but maybe it's just because..

nobody likes the odds..

the house rules..

consequences..

loss..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 32 : Long Island Sight

 yo! in among The Hamptons with Jackson Pollock.. innit!

here is a self-portrait of the.. 

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

he looks pretty spaced out..

but really he is just 'in the zone'..

he has been at the easel..

trying to cram some drama into his work..

he is drawing with the oil paint tube..

he is slathering it on as well..

and then he is throwing great gobs of the stuff at the canvas..

from distance..

DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME

we are on Long Island..

with Jackson Pollack..

it's f*ckin freezing..

he has no money for heating..

he is still dirt poor..

but Jackson is dancing..

he has the music playing loud..

and he is dancing to all that jazz..

dancing above a huge unrolled canvas on the floor..

and he is carrying a can of paint and a brush or stick,,

he swirls as he goes..

dribbling and dripping..

a rhythmic record of his dance..

soon they will come for him..

photographing and filming him..

making him famous but stealing his soul..

he will drink himself into oblivion and kill himself..

in a .. 

WRECK ON THE HIGHWAY

when he is in the zone..

our artist in residence that is..

he is acting out his fantasy of the artist as hero..

they ain't no outlines..

no perspective..

no restraint..

the artist is mad..

he throws the paint about..

and then he picks up the pieces..

interprets the mess..

and brings it home..

back from the edge..

back from Long Island..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 31 : School

 bring back my glen-bott to me..

it's 1980..

and the artist has had his job made redundant..

instead of looking for a new one..

he paints this..

his latest idea..

of himself..

BRING BACK THE BOSTON RAG

another gentleman loser..

he longs to be back in school..

it's a girl thing..

maybe..

they say you can take the boy out of school..

but not the school out of the boy..

he is trapped in his past and all those moments..

LOST IN WONDER

that he'll never find again..

in the above painting..

it's 1965/66/67/68..

he is obsessed with American comic books..

and girls..

he is growing up with an alter ego..

a secret identity..

and there is no-one he can tell..

on the outside he is this milk toast..

panty waist..

on the inside there is..

    THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

in the picture above..

you can see the spidey sense half face half spidey mask..

this is the way he communicates..

with marvel comics character images..

the London art establishment won't ever geddit..

but why let facts get in the way of a good story..

he tells himself. they will all come around..

he hopes to at least get a job in the bull pen..

drawing comics..

he hasn't looked up yet and seen the..

sistine chapel ceiling..

but he will..

BORN BACK CEASELESSLY INTO THE PAST

he paints himself in his school uniform..

in the old school classroom..

with the old school radiators and glass panel doors..

a girl walks past without looking in..

she cannot see him..

the other boys look on..

and laugh..

but they are just boys..

they cannot see the developing artist..

they don't get that kind of education..

they are not one of us..

the believers..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 30 : Shoot

 John's Cafe..

our hero is on a break..

he's sitting in john's cafe..

in dunkirk..

he has his 35mm SLR with him..

he always has it..

just in case..

today it's lunchtime  in 1976..

he is working in the medical art department at nearby QMC..

John does a good bacon sammo..

you can see in the photo..

the plate is empty along with his mug of tea..

he gets out his camera..

a Zenit 'B' f3.5..

he points, he shoots..

THE MONEY SHOT

bots will be thinking..

wtf..

they ain't no celebrity in the frame..

it's a poxy greasy spoon..

who will want these pictures..?

BUT

our boy don't blink..

he is working for..

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

his ever present creative force..

his ideas man..

the artist knows what is truth..

when he sees it..

and this scene has truth and beauty in spades..

he don't care for human faces..

glittering images..

grinning yo face..

here what he sees..

 is a moment in time..

a story for the future..

a world disappearing by the second..

COST OF DOING BUSINESS

he has to pay for each negative he exposes..

no endless digital files here..

he has to buy the negative film..

bugger about in a dark room..

make a contact print..

and pay someone better at photography than himself..

to make the enlargements..

every print costs him money..

only 36 shots on a roll of film..

FREEDOM OF CHOICE

he begrudges the cost..

but must pay it..

if he wants to capture what he sees..

and if you look close enough..

what he feels..

these moments are on..

THE ARIST IN RESIDENCE

it's his shout..

it was his world..

MORE PHOTOGRAPHS

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 29 : Venice

 

first posted in 2020..

----------

this is a 'figures in a souk' painting.. 

 

but it relates to venice italy..

 

there is a movie also

  don't expect a plot..it's more a painting than a regular movie..

nobody expects..

 

 

click pic to enlarge..

 

 

www.figuresinasouk.com 

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 28 : Harlequin

the student artist in 1972..

lots of Bauhaus influence from the Art history dept..

our boy has come up with a new idea..

a harlequin dice..

shake but don't stir..

it's a lotta work..

painting 12 of these dudes in gouache..

cutting out the plan of the cube..

ANOTHER UNFINISHED SYMPHONY

he will soon tire of the drudgery..

but not before hitting pay dirt..

Long fascinated by Harlequin, Pablo Picasso returned to the character with renewed intensity in late 1915. 

A chameleon-like trickster.. 

Harlequin must have seemed a fitting subject as the artist began to explore more realistic modes of representation alongside his Cubist experiments..

 

The present work combines the geometric abstraction of Cubism with a classical linearity..

he has made enough dice for a photo shoot..

he is using black and white Ilford 35 mm stock..

he realises too late that colour would have been much better..

but then much more expensive..

monochrome is the student way to go..

Symbolism: 

The Harlequin represented a mix of trickster.. 

and tragic clown.. 

reflecting Picasso's own personal struggles and complex emotions..

it's 1975 and our boy genius..

is about to graduate..

in graphic design..

you may well ask..

anyway.. 

he has distinguished himself..

he paints in oil on canvas in the graphics studio..

he does enjoy working with type though..

he's a typo ace..

but no-one would hire the Artist as a typographer..

he's too much of a seat of the pants creator..

a jester not a swot..

a prince at the dance..

and a dancing fool..

Harlequin.. 

one of the principal stock characters of the Italian commedia dell’arte; often a facile and witty gentleman’s valet and a capricious swain of the serving maid.

In the early years of the commedia (mid-16th century), the Harlequin was a zanni (a wily and covetous comic servant), and he was cowardly, superstitious, and plagued by a continual lack of money and food.. 

By the early 17th century..

 Harlequin had become a faithful valet.. 

patient, credulous, and amorous. 

This last quality often led him into difficulties from which he managed to extricate himself by cleverness and irrepressible high spirits.. 

He was amoral without being vicious.. 

and, unlike his fellow commedia servants..

he did not hold a grudge..

or seek revenge against those..

 who tricked or cheated him.

OUR BOY BEST OF ALL

our boy has created a rolling dice..

a chance of something..

will he make it in the real world..

will they pay the money?

shoot craps..

or throw a seven?

find out more about..

THE HARLEQUIN IN RESIDENCE

Pete the Charlie..

the boy with many names..

the boy friend..

he's a Dice Man..

an artist with too many styles..

there's more sides to this dude..

than you can.. 

shake a stick at..

but is he feeling lucky??

 

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 27 : The Opposite of Hammershoi

 Vermeer, Hammershoi, Morandi

they are popular with all ages..

the artist likes their stuff..

cool and minimal..

but the..

ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

he has run away with the circus..

and the fun fair..

flashy American automobiles..

and brightly coloured boats..

oh yeah..  

and Cap..

it's all theatre really..

make up. make believe..,

out of the ordinary everyday life..

these are surreal things..

images from dreams..

fantasy and desire..

it's a holiday world..

a colour feast world..

still..

he's young yet..

who knows?