Sponge, swimming pools and paperwork

The source material for my painting is, thankfully, finally expanding. The process feels refreshingly natural. I have also learnt that I am sourcing things without seeing them as ever directly infilltrating into my work. The detritus of modern life, the mass of imagery we are exposed to, the frsutration with governmental systems, social/political and philosophical beliefs, my own current phycological make up and our everyday experiences are all finding there way into the fabric of my works creation.

I see this as being the final break from my idealistic belief, previously, in abstraction, autonomy and a solopsistic closed door on association. We are a product of our time and attempting to deny this is pointless.

This is not to say my work explitically deals with, describes or addresses the various speciifc sources. It is more a case that they provide a framework from which it emereges. I will give a few examples to try and illustrate my point.


1) The other day at the swimming pool I did a few lengths under water. A few always capture my attention when I do this; the sight of other shadowy figures cutting through the water, the backwards raining of bubbles as our hands slice the water, the glow of the underwater lights as we get cloers to one end. As I became consciously aware of this fascination I decided to do a few underwater tests. I dropped under water and brethed out untill I sank. The feeling of weightlessness, the moment when just enough air as left me so i float then sink, felt both relaxing and strangely moving. For that second, however pretentious, it felt like a kind of epic moment in an empty narrative.

The end of this little playful process saw me breathing out whilst on my back, untill I fel to the bottom of the pool, lying on my back. From there I watched as the bubbles from my mouth made their journey slowly to the surface. There they broke, a flurry of meaningless Icarus like forms. I raised a foot to touch the skin of the water, ripples and lines spilt across what appeared to me as a ceiling. It felt like cloud watching in some kind of other universe.

It strikes me, in hindsight, how this relates to some of my work. The direct links to upcoming floating and sinking figures is actually the link of least significance. The visual connection to my delght for bits of paint floating amoungst viscous varnished patches is also not necessarily relevant. It is some more continuous connections which fascinate me at this moment. The desire for non functional experiences and sensations over logical and reasoned thought. (yes, very Keatsian kitsh I know) The ability to find, in the most banal and unimportant of situation, a little temporary and fleeting escape from tangible reality.


2) Paperwork at college. I have already discussed this issue in some, boring, depth, in a previous post. In this instance I want to consider how it is part of my wider dislike for an over centralised government. Without Daily Mail like scare mongering I see this as a march towards a contunally more Orwellian state. Its a fucking disgrace. With power mad men at the top controlling what happens below them (well the hierachy consider it below when logic says it is beyond, its a horizontal relationship, not the vertical one New Labour has made it) They seem intent on creating limiting and restrive systemmatic blueprints. It results in a situation where you may as well have machines filling these posts. The cloining of a process results in a dumbing down of the work done, a lack of variety in approaches. in regards to lecturing and tutoring a grose irony exists. The systems are put in place to supposedly put the 'learning' (what ai disgustingly poliitcally correct term) first but actually result in them receving a narrow education. The long term prognosis is a dumbing down of the pupils as well. (and the fucking noisey moron sat opposite me does nothing to deter me from this conclusion) This is unfair to allinvovled.

This kind of connection is perhaps the most distnace from my work itself. Yet in some way, which i can't artiuclate at this moment, I see my work as emerging from such frustrations. Not as a direct commnent upon but as something which is formed from and responds too this kind of situation. A denial of this is unhelpful.

Some more to say on this but I need to get on an write my museums lecture. I have yet to decide how much to tone down its overtly anti establishment tone. Currently I am using it as the framework to comment on the ludicours beurocracy previously mentioned. The link is not as tenuous as it might sound.