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..

ALWAYS FIGURES FOR ME

 

yo!.. from a heart... innit!

become yourself..

graham Sutherland said that..

here in the souk..

the sun is heading home..

and still..

the figures come..

it's all a light show really..

reflect and wonder..

www.figuresinasouk.com