LOS ANGELES TWO

yo!.. closer than that walter.. innit! 

So..

angelinos..

here is the missing image..

the painting with the angels..

EVERYBODY KNOWS THEY AIN'T NO SANITY CLAUSE

nobody believes in angels..

yet here they are..

not observed from life..

obviously..

but here in art..

they appear..

and reappear..

sometimes in the great paintings..

of the old masters..

(how long before that name is cancelled)

THE OLD MISTRESSES

are always the best..

and there were often angels..

with messages..

or immaculate..

concepts..

LATER THAT SAME DAY

get to the f*cking point..

I am dawdling here..

because I am awaiting..

divine inspiration..

ah that's better..

here at last..

better late than never..

evidence..

yes there are angels..

but only in art..

and only before modernism..

when you are painting..

things happen..

figures reveal themselves..

sometimes immediately..

sometimes they emerge gradually..

sometimes they appear darker..

sometimes they appear so cool..

no two angels appear the same..

sometimes they look just like ordinary joes..

like waiting for the walk sign..

walk..

 don't walk..

believe don't believe..

free will an all..

your choice..

figuresinasouk.com

city of angels

LOS ANGELES

 yo!.. funny ole life.. innit?

this space is  for the painting..

that is missing from this post..

because the pic of it is in another town..

on another mac..

you would be forgiven for expecting it..

to be in the cloud..

it being an angel an all..

but then..

this is palookaville..

come back again..

in a while..

evva boddy nose..

I am the author of the great series of paintings called..

figures in a souk..

usually it's folks..

standin around talking or shoppin..

or just chillin out..

together or apart..

in a souk..

 BUT THEN

every now and again..

a funny figure appears..

it looks like a dude with a back pack..

but what if it is really..

a dude with wings..

NOBODY EXPECTS

to see angels..

in a modern painting..

any artist would want..

not to be seen..

anywhere near anything angelic..

it's just not modern..

ISN'T MODERNISM DEAD

I thought it was all over..

so last century..

but everywhere you go..

you get people using the word modern..

to describe stuff..

especially houses..

as modern..

even though they are not..

they can be 'new' or 'contemporary'..

but unless they are built in the modern style...

you know..

cantilevers an stuff..

concrete an glass etc.

they ain't modern..

lavatory or not..

ANYWAY

I have this painting..

standing in my studio..

with a bunch of cistine chapel types..

hanging out in the souk..

maybe..

watching folk..

keeping a beady..

out for whatevva..

I expect that..

sooner or later..

the arts council will show up..

in a taxi..

with a large eraser..

to rub out the offending angel..

and return the painting to..

an acceptable..

 secular state..

NOBODY EXPECTS THE SPANISH ACQUISITION

it would be nice..

if the painting..

be allowed..

to hang out in spain..

with valasqueth..

in the prado..

but more likely it will go into a skip..

CARY GRANT AND JEAN ARTHUR

it may be that this dude is no angel..

but a terrorist with a backpack..

there seems to be a lot of that about..

terrorism and backpacks..

dudes from hell..

expecting heaven..

how likely is that..

anyway..

there maybe a lot of dudes with backpacks these days..

but..

ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS

it occurs to me now..

as I write this..

that looking at the colours here..

and the way the figures are realised..

that maybe all..

or at least most of the figures here..

are angels..

standing around like actors..

in  

CITY OF ANGELS

it's a movie I like..

nicolas cage and meg Ryan..

what's not to like..

anyway..

SQUARE BUT MODERN

the yellow square..

is obviously the sun..

what else could it be..

figuresinasouk.com

city of angels

onlyangelshavewings

AN ANGEL IN THE MEDINA

yo!.. Christmas present... innit!

out here in the cold.. 

 in the artist's winter studio.. 

I'm wondering why there is an angel.. 

 hiding in plain sight.. 

 on a canvas.. 

 in the rain.. 

 NOBODY MUST KNOW 

these days you cannot have an angel in a painting.. 

 it's bad enough you paint at all.. 

 but angels are not modern.. 

 not post-modern.. 

 not even contemporary.. 

 it's OK for balloon dogs.. 

 tins of artist's shit.. 

 plaster casts of house interiors.. 

interventions.. 

 installations.. 

 but angels? no way.. 

 maybe that's why it's so cold out here..

 

can you see the angel?

click on the pic for a larger image..

 NOBODY SETS OUT TO PAINT ANGELS 

 that there is an angel in my painting.. 

 is not my fault.. 

 I blame the past.. 

 and claim immunity.. 

 and plead the fifth..

IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Up here in the garret we have tv and often especially at yuletide they show this really great old movie with James Stewart and Donna Reed.

Course everyone's seen it dozens of times - old time savings and loan threatened with a run, saved by Stewart and the bell. Bad guy Lionel Barrymore wants to buy it out and close it so ordinary people can't afford to buy their own home but have to rent from him.

Then a 'credit crunch' - 'solvency crisis' or is it fraud - the money has disappeared (lost) (taken away by the bad guy). Stewart is bereft and jumps in the river - he nearly sells out!!

In the end though an angel steps (jumps) in and... well you know the rest - everybody digs deep in their pockets to find the money to bail out the bank!

It's set 60 years ago and nothing like it could happen today. But as we sit here, dreaming up art stuff like paintings and video wheezes, me and Opkins (the mouse) and Spider (the spider) don't feel as secure as we used to . No sirree not quite as secure as we used to.