T.V Debut

A quick heads up, I am 99% sure that the Grand Designs featured house i recently worked on will be aired on the Channel 4 show, on 20th October. I may come across as a bit of a muppet as i found the filming quite nerve racking, so i am hoping they have edited me out and concentrated on the work, which is much more assured.

Reclaimed Rustic

Very unusual for me to be working in a farmhouse, reclaimed style, but i really enjoyed making this table. I liked the honesty of the construction, no mechanical fixings at all, just wood, joints and glue.

Fouth plinth

Have you say regarding the next Fourth Plinth sculpture here. Not the strongest line up to date but i like this Organ with integrated ATM, which plays when you enter your PIN number and withdraw money.

Matt Siber

Matt Siber is featuring in The Independent on Sunday for the next few weeks, with his altered landscapes, and should be looked at in detail. His 'floating logos' series are photographs of American signs and adverts but with their support structures photoshopped out to leave these other worldly images. Siber is an investigative artist, he is very considered and intellectual. His 'The Untitled Project' consists of street scenes with all text, advertising and signage removed, leaving arresting but serene images. And the ongoing 'Structures' series examines what is behind the sign, rather than just erasing the surface. I admire the way Siber thinks and talks about his work, and i highly recommend you read the full project statements on his site for more insights like this....
....."While the objects in this project reference the structures of public advertising, the experience of these pieces is not intended to be referential the way pictorial art is. Most advertising, which usually includes photography, serves to transport the viewer’s mind to another place and time. Advertising’s aim is to present the viewer with a better time and place to consider, implying that the current time is not as good as it should be. These pieces aim to keep the viewer’s minds in the present time and space by creating an experience rather than a referent. The pieces are meant to be phenomenological in that they are supposed to be experienced in person. They are about the object and the space in the present time, in contrast to photography which references another place in the past."

Framed

I did not get a chance to see Stuart Haygarth's 'Framed' installation at the V&A in the flesh, but i have been looking closely at it the images. Haygarth is famous for his brilliant found object lamp shades involving party poppers, spectacles and old plastic bottles. But 'framed' is very different, using new, highly painted sections of picture frame to clad a section of staircase. I think it is impressive in scale and the way the light affects the surface is interesting but i just don't quite get it. Haygarth says he has tried "tried to create a work akin in 3D graffiti on a traditional staircase reminiscent of the yellow brick road in 'the wizard of Oz'" but it does not evoke or present this. The key to Haygarth's work for me has always been that the materials have an inbuilt narrative, tell a story, have a history. Party poppers collected from the Millennium celebrations were obviously fired in a frenetic atomosphere, but when calmly and orderly suspended they become something very different. I think the V&A just lacks some of the usual emotion, but that may not come through in the photos alone.
Did anyone see the show?

The Wheel House

The Wheel House in Falmouth is a fine example of less is more, in every respect. A friend of mine went to review it, was given plates of free food and was then politely told by the owner if they could write about somewhere else because the place was full of locals every night, and that suited them just fine, (so i am going to spin this as an interior review). The place is simply a collection of stuff, almost like the owners had started gathering/finding for the place and opened when they had enough furniture. The menu is limited, scallops or oysters (depending on the season),  crab (3 kinds last night), mussels (2 ways), and prawns (2 ways), skinny fries, side salad and White or Red wine. That's it. So, how can such an amazing atmosphere and environment be created with so little. It is amazing how hugely food can inform a space, the ambience and character. Its because of the nature of shellfish, (astonishingly well cooked with lashings of butter and garlic) coupled with the small interior, there is just no where to hide. You have to get invovled, get messy. It's quite grotesque (even carnal) in a way, but everyone is breaking crabs, beheading prawns, mopping up mussel stock and generally making a lot of noise getting covered (and covering people) in food. It is hugely successful for that reason, its SO basic, but so emotionally enriching for that.

Richard Neutra

I have been doing some research on modernist Architecture for an upcoming project and was looking at Neutra, when i came across this. Architecture of this era does get pigeonholed somewhat because of it's difficulty to fully understand, (much in the same way someone who does not know or like classical music might think it all sounds all the same.) Neutra is famous for his more unforgiving, formal work, but this house has a lightness of touch, emotional understanding with its surroundings, and knowledge of the vernacular which display a very free, natural approach from the designer.