A TALE OF TWO INTERIORS

INTERIOR II
richard hamilton 1964


my friend alan..

had arranged with his art teacher..

for me to go along with them..

on their outing to london in 1969

we were off to see the magritte retrospective at the tate..

whilst there we came across..

the most exiting painting I have ever seen..

I was 17 so maybe not surprising..

when you get to see them in the flesh..

so to speak..





yes it's that room again..

we are back in harlem..

or somewhere the same..

this time the girl is a film star..

patricia knight..

and the room has had a make over..

but the tv is still there..


at 17..

it's the superb technical skill of richard hamilton..

that has blown the mind..

the chair seat is actually stainless steel and plastic..

the stem is a halftone screen print stuck on..

patricia is from a still that had been..

thrown into a waste bin..


EAST 100TH STREET




bruce davidson 1966

a single figure..

a window instead of an archway..

got the tv though..

compare and contrast these two interiors..

can you see why I was entranced?

love that clock and that fan..

fans really get to me as well..


SOMETIME LATER ALAN WROTE THIS


in charles stuart's paintings..

people are always drawn in boldly..

they are central to the pictures he shows us..

but always they are caught in the mists of paint..

trapped between patterns of brushmarks and scrubbed washes..


AND THIS


we can trace the memories of comic books..

half-remembered images from magazines..

the history of the painter's gesture..

the solitary immobile figure is captured frozen in a moment..

we pick up the clues and continue the story..

alan smith june 1979

IN CAMERA WITH THE MISFITS

yo!.. all in the mind... innit!

something other today..

our sourdough bakery is closed..

so no wholemeal sourdough bread..

for a week..

lock me down and beat me up....


IN MY MIND I STILL NEED A PLACE TO GO


in palookaville..

there is an 'art' gallery..

they do not show paintings much..

so what's new?

anyway..

I am standing just inside the door to one of the gallery spaces..

it is pitch black dark..

they have created this box room thing..

to prevent light entering into an exhibition of some sort..


    WHEN THE DOOR OPENS


so in effect I am inside a camera..

like a camera obscura..

sort of..


I have my compact camera on a very slow shutter speed..

when door (aperture) opens..

ok..

so you get the idea..

and I'm happy enough..

for a while..


BEYOND THE OUTSIDER


in the dark I am invisible..

and beyond the life around me..

I can observe but I am not involved..

I don't belong..

I am alone..


SOMEWHERE IN MY MIND THERE IS A PAINTING BOX

And somewhere in my mind there is a painting box
I have every color there, it's true
Just lately when I look inside my painting box
I seem to pick the colors of you

I wear my body like a caravan
Gipsy rover in a magic land..

we are in my head..

this is an interior view..

imagination and memory..

a love affair with fantasy..

an imitation of life..

happy birthday mr. president..