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 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 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?

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 26 : Fun

 all the fun of the fair

the artist is having fun..

he is painting them nine at once..

it's all speed. gesture. movement..

and colour of course..

lots of it,,

he's throwing it everywhere..

RIDERS ON A STORM

it's a storm alright..

impressionism meets futurism..

at the speed of light..

Terry Frost had said to Alan..

'paint whilst not looking'..

in other words..

don't think about it..

just do it..

and do it fast..

it's all too easy for him..

he fails to realise..

this is him..

this is who he is..

unplanned, thoughtless, hasty..

wild, abandoned, happy..

because the night..

once you edit out the noise..

it's a dance..

a ballet..

a nocturne..

a symphony of colour..

Whistler would have approved..

https://www.saatchiart.com/en-gb/all?query=Charles%20Stuart%20fairground

SEE THE VIDEO ART ON UTUBE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNa_ElSeOg4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw2tEeMnKqs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCiB9Huk3xg

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 24 : Dream Marine

 THE FIGHTING TEMERAIRE

he has crazes..

one of them was boats..

he had toy boats in the bath..

plastic ones with rusted up engines..

in 1995 he goes on holiday to Portugal..

they have lots of brightly coloured..

wooden boats..

everyone knows that..

he goes mad..

charging around the Algarve..

looking for more..

too many are in the water..

or he has to photograph them from the bows..

what he needs is the stern..

the power's in the ass end Mick..

always was..

the best ones are beached..

and bleaching out..

high and dry..

left to rot..

on a trip to Tavira, a sleepy, salty,  town..

on a very hot afternoon..

whist on a river cruise he spies..

a pair of old wooden fishing boats..

sunk into the mud..

in the river estuary..

these two above..

 are a small oil on canvas..

he usually paints the boats in gouache..

TURNER

 painted many boats and marine images..

but no-one calls Turner..

a marine artist..

the artist in residence is just having fun.with one of his many Muses..

he does not see the sadness..

of the passing on of the beautiful wooden boats..

he only loves them..

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/collections/boats+and+beach

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 23 : Icarus

SPLASH !!!

Gone from this place

Silence only

Earthly delight

Soundless in oblivion

Silent night

Mr Icarus Rising..

Glowering, stammering

Headache hammering

Tears fall shimmering

Hope comes a glimmering

Rising from ground zero

Remade Remodelled 

Undeconstructed

Our hero..

Returns

Found peeled

Appalled

Apart for apart's sake

Lost

Lonely

Destroyed

Icarus rising..

 

reach for the light

Icarus risen

 

All wrong but alright 

Born again bruised, broken and beaten

He stands and delivers..

Howls of frustration

Lust for life lost 

Fallen from favour

Lie about failure

Promise the future..

Perfection in flight

Flight of fancy

From salt water solution..

To new resolution

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/featured/icarus-in-red-charles-stuart.html 

 

Waxing and waning..

Spend time in training..

Sleep while the sun shines..

Fly while it's raining

THE ARTIST IN RESIDENCE 22 : Limited Edition

It's 1985..

and our artist is selling limited edition screen prints..

Madonna De Milo

he has sold one of these to Manchester City Art Gallery..

for their loan scheme..

Take Five..

He has sold several of these..

there are three layers..

yellow on the bottom..

the second layer is printed on both sides..

green on the front and pink on the back..

stars are cut out on all but one side..

then they are folded back to reveal the bottom layer..

on the top layer is a black halftone screen of..

the famous still from..

the seven year itch..

The Scream..

here you can see the cut outs working more clearly..

this shape inspired by ..

Ellsworth Kelly..

all but one of these went..

positive and negative palm..

a best selling print..

edition of 50..

still got a few but most sold..

the truth really..

is that his wife Virgina Stuart..

has made the appointments with the loan schemes..

and it is she who sold them there..

one of the artist's concepts..

was 'iconoclasm' ..

Janet Leigh gets the Warhol treatment..

straight from the shower..

then the cutting started..

then the folding back..

it was intended to be one of the layers..

for 'the scream'..

but this works better..

what do you think..

ICONOCLASM

the 'Pscho' prints were surplus to requirements..

once the decision not to use them for 'the scream'..

was made..

so the artist attacked them with paint stripper, white spirit and boot polish,,

you can imagine the frenzied attack..

a whole garage covered in paint stripper..

a destroyed icon..

smudged make up..

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/collections/the+scream

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/collections/flaps

https://charles-stuart.pixels.com/collections/east+100th+street