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..