tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69909934125273765352024-03-13T09:26:19.251-07:00the aldobranti experiment -- developing marketing for fine artists on the webAldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-46797745351126219062015-02-24T11:07:00.001-08:002015-02-24T11:07:14.140-08:00LIght's Festive TentsPhotography is underpinned by metaphysics of sight and shadow. I shall write another
time more about Shadows but it seems to me that Shadow is a disruptive element in the
conventional painterly dialectic of Figure and Ground. I could argue that Shadow is a
more natural counterpart to Ground, these being both of the 2D world and because in
painting or photography the Light that reveals Figure is practically limited by Shadow.
<br />
<a name='more'></a>As soon as depiction moves away from the Line of pencil and pen, marks made on paper
reference the whiteness of the paper as Light and the shading pigment as definition. I
have become a big fan of Poussin for his bistre wash studies and for Japanese brush
painting in the haboku or broken-ink style.<br />
<br />
A strand of research that I followed during my MA year was to study Novalis (1772-
1801), the German philosopher perhaps best known for his 'Hymns to the Night'. In this
prose poem written to help Novalis reconcile himself with the prospect of mortality,
following Fichte he explores the notion that Reality as Experienced through Vision is
driven by Light giving Appearance to Matter. In my disrupted Figure/Ground dialectic
the shade gives definition to figure. It is interesting too that the notion of dark matter is all the rage in cosmology these days.<br />
<br />
The Early Romantic, in Germany: include Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel (1772-1829) and
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) struggled within the paradox of maintaining
simultaneously a belief in future plenitude and the awareness of its impossibility. They
were more fully convinced of their mortality but quested for the immortality of the soul.
Their rationale became a hyphenation of poetry and philosophy, system and non-system,
reason and chaos, the real and the ideal. Schlegel wrote: "it is equally fatal for the mind to
have a system and have none. It will simply have to decide to combine the two".<br />
<br />
An [over] indulgence in the freedom of paradox is the fuel stuff of Surrealism, the desire
to follow “the trajectory of the dream” through daily life. The Surrealist art world 100
years ago, took to cinema as a duck to water, and more so: passionately, poetically and
indeed romantically. In his book on the Surrealist Cinema “The Shadow and its Shadow”
Paul Hammond quotes a line of poetry translated from Novalis by Roger Cardinal:
"Light sets up its festive tents in spaces unsuspected".
There was something in the poetry of this single line that fired my imagination and for
my final submission.<br />
<br />
I built a light installation. It is to be found in a darkened space as a
large cube, glowing from within with a blueish light. It is confidently set against the grain
of the room and it contradicts levels by hanging a few degrees off the vertical. Cast
shadows of people pass over the surface of the cube -- there is no sound. It is much larger
than the viewer's height or arm span, eight foot in each dimension. Inspection of the
under side is no more informative, the fabric continues under and the shadows pass over
this too. It sways very gently in response to the draught of people passing to emphasise
its engagement and detachment with its environment in equal measure.<br />
<br />
In the post-modern where paradox and aporia, courtesy of Derrida et al. is unremarked in
our existence, I personally have to live and operate within the irony expressed as "just
because I can, it does not mean that I should". There were so many strands in this project to run with but in a Minimalist fashion I tried to boil this down to just one conceit.<br />
<br />
Large
cubes are reasonably common as a construction device but in particular Don Judd’s
copper boxes are so full of light that there is no room for anything else: my cube is
flooded with UV light only becoming visible in contact with the outer fabric through the
material’s fluorescence. The inhabitants of the cube do not become illuminated in this
way and to reference Novalis have no appearance in the interior darkness. We only know
them by their shadow.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
"The uncanny movement of the shadowy figures is suggestive and evocative and,
with an economy of means, brings to mind all manner of social situations
involving people in space. The blue space of these shadows is equally suggestive.
It creates a sublime context for our imaginations to inhabit." </div>
<br />
Certainly, the work has attracted identification as being "about" the Cinema, "about" the
Gallery system &c. I cannot argue with any of this, to prefigure Barthes Novalis himself
wrote: "The careful reader becomes the true author". However Hymns to the Night is a
study of Mortality and thus my piece may be viewed in this context "about" Mortality
and the Otherness, the sheer, bloody, Heideggerian, Unheimlich of Life itself.<br />
<br />
I am rebuilding this installation as part of Creative Barking and Dagenham (CBD) 2015
Arts programme during March and April. Arts Council England (ACE) Creative People
and Places (CPP) is a national action research programme to get more people involved in
the arts in areas of least engagement. CBD have an aim to make a long lasting difference
to thousands of people in the borough, by involving them with new ideas, hobbies,
careers and fun things to do that leave a lasting passion for arts and culture.<br />
<br />
A major incentive to me in rebuilding this work is the opportunity to continue a whole
line of experimentation with the piece that naturally had to be subordinated to the exam
schedule at Winchester. The piece is far too big to set up at home and arranging that much dark space is a challenge. When built, I will get back to the question of what it’s
about: for instance, I might try adding a sound-track, maybe cocktail party chatter to play
with the notions of exclusiveness within the Gallery system. I am looking forward to
running workshops with schools and colleges in reflection on this artwork. If you would
like to know more follow https://www.facebook.com/LightsFestiveTentsBarking.Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-59029838550451920702015-01-19T01:53:00.006-08:002020-08-05T01:05:11.957-07:00MFA final major project - workbook re-presented as a published book<div data-bindattr-116="116" style="text-align: left; width: 450px;">I found it very useful when putting my MA Final Show to bed to collect a lot of the source material particularly the images and get them into this blurb book.<br />
It makes a useful bit of collateral to hawk around in connection with the video footage<br />
<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/106905761" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/106905761">Light's Festive Tents -- MA installation</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user24756482">aldobranti fosco-fornio</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>as I would like to recreate this installation some time soon<object class="myWidget" data-bindattr-117="117" data="http://www.blurb.co.uk/assets/embed.swf" height="300" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="450"> <param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><param name="movie" value="http://www.blurb.co.uk/assets/embed.swf" data-bindattr-118="118"></param><param name="FlashVars" value="book_id=5490967&locale=en_GB" data-bindattr-119="119"></param><a data-bindattr-120="120" target="_new"> <img src="http://www.blurb.co.uk/images/uploads2/catalog/005/935/968/5912144-4378b1a3060fa1e80efe29455037ec11.jpg" data-bindattr-121="121"/> </a> </object><br />
<script id="metamorph-237-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script><br />
<div><a data-bindattr-122="122" href="http://blur.by/1Axqx7k" style="margin: 12px 3px;" target="_blank"><script id="metamorph-238-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script>Light sets up its Festive Tents<script id="metamorph-238-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script> by <script id="metamorph-239-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script>Aldobranti<script id="metamorph-239-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script></a><br />
|<br />
<a data-bindattr-123="123" href="http://www.blurb.co.uk/landing_pages/bookshow" style="margin: 12px 3px;" target="_blank"><script id="metamorph-240-start" type="text/x-placeholder"></script>Make Your Own Book<script id="metamorph-240-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script></a></div><script id="metamorph-237-end" type="text/x-placeholder"></script><br />
</div>Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-54165340154186232592013-12-23T09:41:00.003-08:002013-12-23T09:43:08.139-08:00would you enter a competition with a fee payable in unscratched lotto cards, judge for such a fee<div class="p1">
This is a proposal for a conceptual art work that affects a critique of the Open</div>
<div class="p3">
Call Competition as it impacts on the class of emergent artists. The conceptual</div>
<div class="p3">
approach is emphasised by the use of unplayed National Lottery scratch cards as</div>
<div class="p3">
the sole medium of value transfer in the project</div>
<a name='more'></a>at all times, before being awarded<br />
<div class="p3">
to winners in the competition, these remain unscratched and unevaluated. The</div>
<div class="p3">
judges and curators in the competition will be required to accept reimbursement of</div>
<div class="p3">
expenses in the same terms.</div>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<h4>
Keywords: conceptual art, lottery, open competition, scratch cards</h4>
<div class="p3">
<br /></div>
<h2>
Background and Context</h2>
<div class="p5">
The economic events of 2008 have closed down many sources of funding for the Arts</div>
<div class="p5">
and (adding in the UK the added impact of university education fees debt ) sharpened</div>
<div class="p5">
a desire for recognition among artists coming through art colleges.</div>
<div class="p5">
The open art competition has long been perceived of as a route towards recognition and</div>
<div class="p5">
acceptance, the Royal Academy of Arts has run a summer competition since 1769: how-</div>
<div class="p5">
ever the Impressionists and Fauvists of the 19c saw themselves as being disadvantaged</div>
<div class="p5">
by an existing art establishment in control of the Paris Salon. We study the principal</div>
<div class="p5">
actors in this format.</div>
<div class="p5">
To start with, we have the entrants in a competition. These will typically be recently</div>
<div class="p5">
trained, artists coming out of art college, or possibly still students; they can be called</div>
<div class="p5">
emergent, and are definitely not in representation arrangements with galleries.</div>
<div class="p5">
Facing these entrants are judges. These are busy ambitious people and artists with their</div>
<div class="p5">
own practise: in the case of the Royal Academy, these are establishment figures in the</div>
<div class="p5">
British Art world. The 2014 Summer Show will be capped at 12,000 entries from which</div>
<div class="p5">
a long list of 4,000 are to be delivered to London and will be judged in their physical</div>
<div class="p5">
form.</div>
<div class="p5">
Where the work will be exhibited a curating team will take an overall lead in selecting</div>
<div class="p5">
work to t the advertised scope of the competition, the traditions of the gallery and the</div>
<div class="p5">
physical placement of the selected work in the gallery. These curators have their own</div>
<div class="p5">
practise and in addition have a knowledge of locations in which art may be shown.</div>
<div class="p5">
Working closely with curators we have professional gallery owners or managers of publicly</div>
<div class="p5">
run exhibition spaces. These people are looking for results, even commercial success</div>
<div class="p5">
and sales or non-commercial measures of success such as audience feedback and public</div>
<div class="p5">
footfall.</div>
<div class="p5">
Competitions without a long historical tradition may be brought into existence by professional curators wishing to extend their knowledge of the players in the market by</div>
<div class="p5">
advertising open calls for new work.</div>
<div class="p5">
A critical factor for the emergent artist is that the judging process be blind, that is</div>
<div class="p5">
to say that the identity of the artist is not known at the point of judging the value</div>
<div class="p5">
of the work. It must be accepted that to the judge the value of knowing the artists</div>
<div class="p5">
name and background will help situate the judge's view of the value of the work. To a</div>
<div class="p5">
curator or potential gallerist the value of the artist's identity and CV will help establish a</div>
<div class="p5">
commercial success of a show based on work. We therefore have a contradiction between</div>
<div class="p5">
the unknown emerging artist and a judging community which wishes to make judgements</div>
<div class="p5">
based on known values.</div>
<div class="p5">
There are clear expenses in the selection process for a competition and research shows</div>
<div class="p5">
that in 2012, 32% of open calls made a fee charge. There is a real debate about the ethics</div>
<div class="p5">
of a publicly funded gallery making charges for submission of works to a call. Jonathan</div>
<div class="p5">
Parsons (ASPEX, 2013) notes that the public funding can extend to the curation and</div>
<div class="p5">
display of works but if it were to be expected to cover the judging process the funds</div>
<div class="p5">
would quickly run out. It can be reasonably expected that the submission rate for a free</div>
<div class="p5">
call will be higher and thereby increase the load on the judges.</div>
<div class="p5">
As a counterexample we might reference a call by the Cartazini Gallery. In this example</div>
<div class="p5">
the judges of the competition reduced their work load by formulating the call, in its rst</div>
<div class="p5">
round to a lottery based on a random selection of email addresses submitted by potential</div>
<div class="p5">
entrants (Cartazini, 2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Even before the economic collapses of 2008 the gap between artist's earnings and earnings</div>
<div class="p5">
in the arts industry was widening to the detriment of artists. Research, quoted in (Jones,</div>
<div class="p5">
2013) \shows that full-time earnings in the arts have risen by 6.8% in the last ve years,</div>
<div class="p5">
while part-time earnings { one might surmise these to include freelancers and artists {</div>
<div class="p5">
have decreased by 5.3%." Some voices would express opinions that an element of sharp</div>
<div class="p5">
practice has entered this field (Bamberger, 2011).</div>
<div class="p5">
A natural application of caveat emptor will mean that an artist should examine the</div>
<div class="p5">
credentials of a calling gallery or calling organisation with some idea as to the likelihood</div>
<div class="p5">
that her work is first relevant to the call , secondly suited to the named judges and</div>
<div class="p5">
thirdly the gallery is known to show work similar to the artist. A blind judging process</div>
<div class="p5">
and the level of the submission fee are important secondary concerns.</div>
<div class="p5">
<br /></div>
<div class="p5">
The Internet has made it possible to reach out to artists In common with other lines</div>
<div class="p5">
of business and advertise open calls. The physical exhibition of selected work has been</div>
<div class="p5">
joined by websites that offer on-line exhibition or commercial opportunities to display</div>
<div class="p5">
work for sale on commission.</div>
<div class="p5">
A valid question attaches to the effectiveness of these channels, this will depend on the</div>
<div class="p5">
brand value of the website offerings.For instance Saatchi Online offers facilities for the</div>
<div class="p5">
display and marketing of individual artists' work. There are many imitators, overall</div>
<div class="p5">
there must be limits to the success of these. In any case the ability of the artist to</div>
<div class="p5">
'game' the search engine on these sites and to guide a buyer to their display is key to</div>
<div class="p5">
any individual success.</div>
<div class="p5">
The Szpilman Award (Szpilman Award, 2013) sought submissions of ephemeral artwork,</div>
<div class="p5">
\works that exist only for a moment or a short period of time" . This author responded</div>
<div class="p5">
by submitting an unplayed lottery ticket to cause the judges, in an instant to note the</div>
<div class="p5">
critique of the open competition and the </div>
<div class="p5">
fleeting anticipation before exercising the card.</div>
<div class="p5">
This was not a successful submission.</div>
<h2>
Proposal</h2>
<div class="p5">
To an emergent artist the Open Competition may seem akin to a lottery: there is</div>
<div class="p5">
the sense of paying money out to receive a rejection note which is paralleled in the hope</div>
<div class="p5">
expressed in purchase of a lottery ticket and the disappointment of the declaration of the</div>
<div class="p5">
draw. The proposal is to make a conceptual art work in the establishing and execution</div>
<div class="p5">
of a democratic and egalitarian Open Competition funded on the putative value of</div>
<div class="p5">
unplayed \virginal" UK National Lottery scratch cards. In detail, the submission fee</div>
<div class="p5">
for this competition will be made by the entrant purchasing a required number of these</div>
<div class="p5">
cards and sending them, untouched with the artwork for judging. At no stage while</div>
<div class="p5">
the cards are held, in escrow by the organisers, will the cards be played or in anyway</div>
<div class="p5">
defaced. The judges and curators will agree to accept recompense for their services in</div>
<div class="p5">
an agreed proportion of the submitted cards. There will be a blind judging process from</div>
<div class="p5">
which a list of winners will be drawn. The prizes for the competition will also be made</div>
<div class="p5">
as unplayed cards. The cards must be seen to retain the contingent value at which they</div>
<div class="p5">
were purchased until the prize winners, the judges and curators individually exercise</div>
<div class="p5">
their option to scratch them privately. Any winnings from these awarded tickets are not</div>
<div class="p5">
of interest to this project.</div>
<h2>
Objectives</h2>
<div class="p5">
We see three distinct objectives targeted at the different participants and applicable at</div>
<div class="p5">
differing times in the process. Initially, we are making a critique of the way in which</div>
<div class="p5">
emergent artists must submit to an arbitrary judgement on their work which may be</div>
<div class="p5">
based on factors beyond the objective quality of the submitted work. Second, we are</div>
<div class="p5">
inviting the professional and established artists, judges and curators to engage in the</div>
<div class="p5">
same lottery as the entrants. Third, the selected prize winners will be required to</div>
<div class="p5">
measure material success in the same contingent terms as all other participants, the</div>
<div class="p5">
recognition of the objective value of the work cannot be diminished. A fuller discussion</div>
<div class="p5">
of the intention and value of these outcomes follows.</div>
<h2>
Research Design and Methods</h2>
<div class="p5">
The design of this project will have a large number of serial dependencies and these are</div>
<div class="p5">
presented in the order that can be foreseen at this moment. We separate these into</div>
<div class="p5">
concerns of team building, logistics and delivery.</div>
<h3>
Team Building</h3>
<div class="p5">
In as much as this project sets out a critique of the Open Call it may be perceived as</div>
<div class="p5">
a criticism of the arts establishment. It will be essential in all the `selling' steps below</div>
<div class="p5">
to defuse these perceptions. Some early choice of a sympathetic ear, an establishment</div>
<div class="p5">
`insider', will help in the creation of an alternative network and may make or break this</div>
<div class="p5">
project.</div>
<div class="p5">
Within this tangle of interests, the relationship of established artists as judges with</div>
<div class="p5">
venues and curators will need to be balanced. A key point here is the perceived quality</div>
<div class="p5">
of the venue and of selection by respected judges: these have an authentic worth in terms</div>
<div class="p5">
of their contribution to a winner's curriculum vitae. As organisers, we must reach for</div>
<div class="p5">
the highest quality within the scope of our personal network to extend our network as</div>
<div class="p5">
far as possible: a possibility exists to make an early call for judges and curators who are</div>
<div class="p5">
receptive to this structure. The selection process here will be greatly driven by issues of</div>
<div class="p5">
curriculum vitae and is in no sense a blind decision.</div>
<div class="p5">
Although the judges and curators will have material living costs, they may be amenable</div>
<div class="p5">
to joining in this venture for more or less altruistic reasons to offset these. On the other</div>
<div class="p5">
hand the venue being a commercial organisation and with corporate accounts is least</div>
<div class="p5">
likely to view the contingent value of a lottery scratch as useful. It is possible that we</div>
<div class="p5">
will need the persuasive powers of an established artist to win around their representing</div>
<div class="p5">
gallery.</div>
<div class="p5">
The judges and curators and the venue will be ex officio members of the consortium.</div>
<div class="p5">
The proportions for the division of the lottery tickets between winners and ex officio</div>
<div class="p5">
members will need to be decided.</div>
<div class="p5">
<br /></div>
<h3>
Logistics</h3>
<div class="p5">
A legal study should be undertaken to check if there are any problems with the use</div>
<div class="p5">
of National Lottery Tickets and or whether the competition can be incorporated in</div>
<div class="p5">
such a way as to guard against litigation. We will develop the terms and conditions</div>
<div class="p5">
for the competition, the entrants will be required to sign o on these. The terms and</div>
<div class="p5">
conditions will likely be used to formulate any legal entity that may be required to handle</div>
<div class="p5">
disputes.</div>
<h3>
Delivery</h3>
<div class="p5">
A decision on the theme and any title of the competition and then as to media to be</div>
<div class="p5">
submitted will be driven by the expertise of the judges and curators, the organisers will</div>
<div class="p5">
defer to this level of knowledge.</div>
<div class="p5">
With these factors in place, the organisers can price the entrance fee in multiples of $2</div>
<div class="p5">
lottery tickets and the choice of lottery game to mandate; set a timescale for the call</div>
<div class="p5">
and judging process against a known exhibition opening date</div>
<div class="p5">
At this point we will make a call on well known sites, e.g. A-N and Wooloo. In addition to</div>
<div class="p5">
the entrants accepting terms and conditions, the entry form will contain a questionnaire</div>
<div class="p5">
which explores the entrant's motives in joining the competition: among other things</div>
<div class="p5">
to assess the perceived value in the judging panel and the venue. Other questions need</div>
<div class="p5">
preparation to understand entrants' response to submission fees.</div>
<div class="p5">
The competition will need to be run and a selectors panel convened after the closing</div>
<div class="p5">
date. The winners should be notified and their allocation of tickets mailed to them. We</div>
<div class="p5">
are from this point in the more familiar territory of setting up a physical show.</div>
<div class="p5">
We should analyse the questionnaires and report any significant findings in e.g. Artists'</div>
<div class="p5">
Newsletter.</div>
<div class="p4">
Outcomes</div>
<div class="p5">
Major milestones are first, the identification of the professional partners in this scheme.</div>
<div class="p5">
Within 4 weeks of inception.</div>
<div class="p5">
Next, the formulation of the `rule book' and the design of the `call to artists'. This</div>
<div class="p5">
may proceed in parallel with the above but with the intention of absorbing as much</div>
<div class="p5">
professional advice as possible. About 4 weeks elapsed and completed about 6 weeks</div>
<div class="p5">
after inception.</div>
<div class="p5">
Last, the call at 7 weeks after inception and declaration of result at 10 weeks.</div>
<h2>
Value</h2>
<div class="p5">
The beneficial outcomes that may be anticipated in this project may all be judged educational and formative: initial descriptions of this project were described as complex and,</div>
<div class="p5">
or the project itself was complex. The present formulation of the plan will make head-</div>
<div class="p5">
way against that criticism, while identifying the points of needless complexity or moving</div>
<div class="p5">
towards being able to better express the plan and to move its `sale' onwards.</div>
<div class="p5">
Selling a conceptual artwork to potential gallerists and judges is a novel experience for</div>
<div class="p5">
emergent artists who may have never actually sold a physical artwork.</div>
<div class="p5">
The characterisation of Open Calls as lotteries would be all too apt unless some participant in this project were to win a prize. It may be significant to note Osborne, 2010</div>
<div class="p5">
who has made a different use of Lottery Tickets Fig : 1: .</div>
<div class="p5">
Figure 1: Alice in Lotto Land, </div>
<div class="p5">
c Rosa Osborne 2010</div>
<h2>
References</h2>
<div class="p5">
ASPEX (June 2013). debate about Open competition and fees. url: http://www.aspex.</div>
<div class="p5">
org.uk/events/emergency6/ (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Bamberger, A (2011). Timewastes or Scams. url: http://www.artbusiness.com/</div>
<div class="p5">
osoqutscawas.html (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Barabbas, L (Nov. 2012). The pay's the thing. url: http://culturalvalueinitiative.</div>
<div class="p5">
org/2012/11/27/the-pays-the-thing-by-louis-barabba/ (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Cartazini (Aug. 2013). The Cartazini Biennial Award. url: http://www.cartazini.</div>
<div class="p5">
com/award.html (Retrieved 12/09/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
6</div>
<div class="p5">
CEBR (May 2013). The contribution of the arts and culture to the national economy.</div>
<div class="p5">
url: http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/browse-advice-</div>
<div class="p5">
and-guidance/contribution-arts-and-culture-national-economy (Retrieved</div>
<div class="p5">
12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Gleason, M (June 2011). The Career Benets of Boycotting Charity Art Auctions. url:</div>
<div class="p5">
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mat- gleason/charity- art- auctions- _b_</div>
<div class="p5">
872953.html?ref=fb&src=sp#sb=1792467b=facebook (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Jones, S (June 2013). Artists funding and frictions. url: http://new.a- n.co.uk/</div>
<div class="p5">
news/single/artists-funding-and-frictions/ (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Lozano, Y (June 2011). Have You Exploited an Artist Lately? url: http://yclart.com/</div>
<div class="p5">
2011/06/12/have-you-exploited-an-artist-lately/ (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Osborne, R (2010). Alice in Lotto land. url: http://rosaosborne.com/2010/index.</div>
<div class="p5">
php (Retrieved 12/08/2013).</div>
<div class="p5">
Szpilman Award (Aug. 2013). Szpilman Award. url: http://www.award.szpilman.</div>
<div class="p5">
de/informations.html (Retrieved 12/06/2013).</div>
<br />
<div class="p5">
7</div>
Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-42065853340339706242013-09-06T05:05:00.000-07:002013-09-06T05:05:56.055-07:00<h2>
Going back to school</h2>
<div>
I have decided that at this point in my life I need something that I cannot retire from and to commit more fully to the life of an Artist. I have decided to go back to art school, not so much to develop artistic skill as rather to learn how to 'do' being an artist and the professional parts of working as an artist.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Here is my [successful] submission to Winchester School of Art (WSA). <a name='more'></a>It may help others thinking about postgraduate study, the artistic life, how to cheat retirement -- let me know if it does anything for you.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Portfolio Submission</h3>
<h4>
Introduction -- In the beginning was the identity</h4>
<div>
<div class="p1">
I began my journey towards this application with an interest in marketing for emerging artists and the creation of brand and identity development.</div>
<div class="p1">
I created the identity of Aldobranti to start with nothing beyond an obscure literary reference.</div>
<div class="p1">
This image comes from a series inspired by the title of a 2010 show at the V&A “Shadow Catchers” where I played with the idea of sneaking up and catching my shadow by treading suddenly upon it.</div>
<div class="p1">
The image is established on the internet as the likeness of Aldobranti who identifies himself as a “performance in the digital social media and very big pieces of film”. Aldobranti is thus a running concern in the internet and is joined in networks with other artists who may or may not know that it is a pseudonym and who may or may not care.</div>
<div class="p1">
A slightly more informative description is exposed in Aldo’s position statement on the LinkedIn social media platform:</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I am a scientist from an artistic background.<br />I am an artist who cares deeply for the scientific method.<br />I am polymath.<br />I am a chemist who cares about the alchemy of light.<br />I am a physicist who looks into the metaphysics of of our vision.<br />I am a mathematician who considers the limit, the continuous, the non-linear and the singularity.<br />I am a writer who weighs words to the microgram.<br />I am a colourist who works chiefly in monochrome.</blockquote>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
In this statement I reveal my colours as a scientist and mathematician [BSc Hons 2:1 (Mathematics), Southampton and MSc (Operations Research), Southampton]. I hope in the next few pages to demonstrate the different threads in my artistic practice: as a performance artist; as a fine art photographer; as a fun person; as a political animal; my conceptual vision and a wealth of ideas. These threads feed one off another and require me to maintain the performance of Aldobranti as an integral part of my practice, an umbrella and a cornerstone.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<i>Footnote: Aldobranti is a character from legend. First in Henry Carey’s play Chrononhotonthologos (1734) Aldiborontiphoscophornio is a bombastic character given to fanciful speaking. In Norman Lindsay’s book The Magic Pudding (1918) a character, struck down by adversity declares that “[his fate] is worse than having an uncle called Aldobrantifoscofornio”. Selecting this name was thus a deliberate act to enable, given some effort, a reader to notice the absurdity and facilitate the detection of the pseudonym. That said, the name seems to be taken at face value.</i></div>
<div class="p1">
<i><br /></i></div>
<h4>
<i>photography as performance</i></h4>
<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzHvlKz2clv1-6PmzMVmB_PlrUpJbQ5XKuWw-D2DrpG7t1SfDLE8LPMe2T-Gddf5-41TrkYEHmUFIHoqCzBm754aWhZD2Gt2H4HmMtVACRbS0aJFd_3TtGzbzZmmtTwRUGk89JfVyWo5Q/s1600/free+shadow+022.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAzHvlKz2clv1-6PmzMVmB_PlrUpJbQ5XKuWw-D2DrpG7t1SfDLE8LPMe2T-Gddf5-41TrkYEHmUFIHoqCzBm754aWhZD2Gt2H4HmMtVACRbS0aJFd_3TtGzbzZmmtTwRUGk89JfVyWo5Q/s320/free+shadow+022.jpg" width="309" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
The nature of photography is changing very rapidly at the present time: the camera on a mobile phone and the trajectory of the image to a social media web page is now part of every moment and 240,000,000,000 images have been uploaded to Facebook to the beginning of 2013. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The phone camera held above the head spoils the view for people behind. The flash automatically triggered by low light is dissipated in the mass of the auditorium. The deluge of catalogued and tagged images available on Flickr means that the value of a commissioned and paid for image is vanishing. Now we are all photographers.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Seemingly, because people take these photographs as part of ‘being there’ at some newsworthy event some suspicion attaches to the taking of photographs in the absence of news. Jon Nicholson, official ‘behind the scenes’ photographer at the 2012 Olympics spoke of public photography wth an old Polaroid camera </div>
<div class="p3">
‘If you go out now with a digital camera, people fear you, whereas with this 1970s camera everyone smiles at you.’</div>
<div class="p4">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
As soon as I began to work in large format and first disappeared from view under a black cloth I began to be part of a larger social process. Passers-by wanted to talk to me or my assistant. While I was working on the project which includes the image to the left, the man on the beach asked my assistant if I was “all right”. He smiled and left, satisfied with the answer “he’s a photographer”.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
It may seem that your shadow is a constant feature of your existence in that your shadow needs to form itself in the space delineated by a light source and your periphery. Yet, in Jungian theory the shadow has a part to play as an archetype representing the nature of your unconscious versus whatever presentation you may make of yourself. </div>
<div class="p1">
Given some level therefore of honesty about the nature of your shadow it seems responsible to record its behaviour of itself. My work therefore centres around the differences between the performative character of the self and the appearance of the shadow. </div>
<div class="p1">
In these images I note with a handheld camera the nature of my shadow as I, photographer, attempt to move suddenly upon the shadow or to leap free of it. I used a timed shot to isolate the definition of shadow from the movement of the performance. As the position of the shadow remains fairly constant relative to the lens I am fascinated to see the emergence of textural themes in the ground on which the shadow plays. Almost a Petzval swirl.</div>
<h4>
fine art photographer</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmfMFJRbuJFJCGDaGHsy-V2FX0IBQdMQRiOkDMnSUPycUOXR5SVhlyA8jFzlod_3drMMcvU_iH9OkDq7dLck63Yn2BZlRmdbREcxXBDk-aSpjoEWwgCggimgb1KlzB6g4r_dm5rGqpTCY_/s1600/overstrand+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmfMFJRbuJFJCGDaGHsy-V2FX0IBQdMQRiOkDMnSUPycUOXR5SVhlyA8jFzlod_3drMMcvU_iH9OkDq7dLck63Yn2BZlRmdbREcxXBDk-aSpjoEWwgCggimgb1KlzB6g4r_dm5rGqpTCY_/s320/overstrand+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
When I began the Aldobranti project it seemed easiest to present myself as a Fine Art Photographer to rapidly accumulate a back catalogue and to keep up a busy turn over of content on the website. Working in extended series, making edits and re-shooting accorded well with other parts of my life and I can be pleased with a great deal of the imagery I have built up.</div>
<div class="p1">
Consequently my base of contacts in digital social media are primarily photographers also but I confess myself dismayed by an all too prevalent unwillingness/inability to verbalise about their photography. I need to understand why I am making an image and where I intend to go with it.</div>
<h4>
a multi-disciplinary approach</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTXL1lbB2Xbgks7DPf3Nna2Ctaze2mE2Php-Rk3j1FuX8FEHSlV7zr0YAfAV8UoloanPqy5fmJJoXcNJMuHUHUDXsIIf1vUQoEFPFRNahTNToKPe8Qocy5c70IK6gPHeuuE0QIm1O_8z3/s1600/incandescent+_6201154.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRTXL1lbB2Xbgks7DPf3Nna2Ctaze2mE2Php-Rk3j1FuX8FEHSlV7zr0YAfAV8UoloanPqy5fmJJoXcNJMuHUHUDXsIIf1vUQoEFPFRNahTNToKPe8Qocy5c70IK6gPHeuuE0QIm1O_8z3/s320/incandescent+_6201154.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
Mathematics has been a driving inspiration to me as I have grown up -- I see line and space, continuity and non-linearity, boundaries and turning points, poles and zeroes. I relate these to the physical world through an early love of practical physics and chemistry.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
If I open the shutter of my camera as I jump off a small rock I calculate that I shall fall 12 inches in the first quarter of a second.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The tungsten element of this incandescent light bulb was coated in metallic zirconium during manufacture. This removed the last traces of oxygen from the bulb which is otherwise full of argon gas at low pressure. The incandescent light bulb was a great service to 19c artists but has not beeen much recorded in its own right. </div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I could point out two significants uses of the bulb. First Picasso’s Guernica (1936) where the light continues to blaze and illuminate the atrocity. And second, in Bacon’s Triptych May June 1973 where the ever present light bulb is overpowered by the black tide of gloom flooding out from the wc and the slumped figure. </div>
<h4>
having fun</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSKr5HfhUKXb-S_VZd_86FyEQk1BOdQ0pTQ1DVAiOmhJV4FiZgwxIv9iUsOcGhzpqWNSQUPMi4fOHqCKpNSJM3l5a6qtaCNOSJBKhbl8CjzxUvNK8YJysXwgSEsnt9e-Emtf_0Q1DbmZi/s1600/a272+b2070+ii031.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="260" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSKr5HfhUKXb-S_VZd_86FyEQk1BOdQ0pTQ1DVAiOmhJV4FiZgwxIv9iUsOcGhzpqWNSQUPMi4fOHqCKpNSJM3l5a6qtaCNOSJBKhbl8CjzxUvNK8YJysXwgSEsnt9e-Emtf_0Q1DbmZi/s320/a272+b2070+ii031.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
This junction of the A272 with the B2040, the former A3 in Petersfield is so overloaded with bollards that my first thought was of a penguin colony. I wanted to bring my eye line down closer to theirs.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
This junction draws me back again and again as my skill with a large format camera grows. There is something mystical in handling a 10x8 negative: a total expression of the scene, in a world where ‘shopping an image is expected I demand the materiality of a negative.</div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<h4>
what is conceptual photography anyway?</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFEBcOejTtdWsLr4Hj4MzGUkh7JX9eLYncM2IUpbxNJ6VTO016qxzTx23AqNBCAjZEtp9pDkF_NLj8PnSu7FMGBUxrTCydRX8BlxTjTGKuc5wIqXQN2sJGJxOOChjuL9EeJM2984SPkIta/s1600/what+is+conceptual+photography_8211401.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFEBcOejTtdWsLr4Hj4MzGUkh7JX9eLYncM2IUpbxNJ6VTO016qxzTx23AqNBCAjZEtp9pDkF_NLj8PnSu7FMGBUxrTCydRX8BlxTjTGKuc5wIqXQN2sJGJxOOChjuL9EeJM2984SPkIta/s320/what+is+conceptual+photography_8211401.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
To my way of thinking, the conceptual art strand in photography has been overall the saving grace to develop photography from the worthy and the maudlin of the documentary tradition, or the finite craft skill of the black and white art photograph. Since Stieglitz’ 1917 record of the Duchamps urinal, photography has offered its evidential solidity to record and perpetuate the act depicted as being the central artistic offering. Photography makes possible this recovery of the event, the traces are archived; now, while it captures the ephemeral form.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I could not leave this journal cover alone and found the chintzy drinks mat to exactly fill a hemispherical space in the image. I then applied the contrast of the persian rug to sandwich the journal cover. I visited the show of John Hedgecoe’s portrait work at the Sainsbury Centre last winter. </div>
<h4>
political animal</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhts_Uphpk7_B-TvFyMMSTJIW3OhlTnEFMATU876YdAWaTvTlgB36ijaJJY7BVs8dqXb-N403E24uKpLhSeNLRObbzCtDSQmVJhXdgWunWcZplHxzgyGQABMd8G26YHwaZYOawKsbi-u7K-/s1600/peel+peel+because+093.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhts_Uphpk7_B-TvFyMMSTJIW3OhlTnEFMATU876YdAWaTvTlgB36ijaJJY7BVs8dqXb-N403E24uKpLhSeNLRObbzCtDSQmVJhXdgWunWcZplHxzgyGQABMd8G26YHwaZYOawKsbi-u7K-/s320/peel+peel+because+093.jpg" width="252" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br />This line of enquiry started with the peeling of a fruit in a single slough and to think about the gaps between points that were close together on the spherical surface but are now far apart.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
I am no longer certain that this work can be developed through the medium of photography; I want to explore other curatorial paths </div>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
<h4>
<br /></h4>
<h4>
enquiring mind</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgnHj1F2fUoxarQdYZUhHEp1XEXcRj7ZFNQlUZ0hyLOh8l7vzm2kj5gKKppoCbeCrGv2GVc4rZXQqkJtJWiV36Ltzz3Qdx2kQ5E3w2hjS1znTkQJXJ1dTaAoTphBNF5pSVX0_i1_I-nHS/s1600/strip+clock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCgnHj1F2fUoxarQdYZUhHEp1XEXcRj7ZFNQlUZ0hyLOh8l7vzm2kj5gKKppoCbeCrGv2GVc4rZXQqkJtJWiV36Ltzz3Qdx2kQ5E3w2hjS1znTkQJXJ1dTaAoTphBNF5pSVX0_i1_I-nHS/s320/strip+clock.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="p1">
I was talking with an artist who was drawing on her training as a ballet dancer to guide a project on how we interpret the visual scene around us as we move. Her work entails recording with an open shutter the scene during the time of a single dance step. </div>
<div class="p1">
A response on my part was to build a slit camera and to focus on a single stripe of the scene as the film winds though the camera. Here a clock is passing in front of the slit on a pendulum platform.</div>
<div class="p2">
Below is a work in progress where I hand hold the strip camera as I move through the scene. That is my shadow on the right.</div>
<h4>
multiple platforms</h4>
</div>
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxYjlddMrD5wZ4kaMy7ByWpsV_v-nsowk8xCNVb0m-iL-pq3H57BT9DwmlI136lRbS0_Ml_9uXvWwLM8WKh4A' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div class="p1">
This image is a still from a short film I made where I was seeking to answer a question I put my self: “Can I make strip photographs in real time and what would they look like”</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
The video is constructed by digital processing of a film of a radio controlled clock resetting itself after fresh batteries have been inserted. I created the code in a programming environment called Processing.</div>
<div class="p2">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://draft.blogger.com/%C2%A0http://aldobranti.eu/#!writing/slot%20scan.html" target="_blank">slot scan</a></div>
</div>
<h3>
Why WSA?</h3>
</div>
<div>
There are a number of reasons, I wrote some down for my application to the University. Others are more mundane: the £2000 award to me as a graduate of the University of Southampton where I gained an Upper Second in Mathematics; and, that the integration of WSA as part of a Russell Group university will foster my inter-disciplinary interests.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<h4>
Artist's statement</h4>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I make my work through the persona of
Aldobranti Fosco Fornio, a character drawn from comic literature: now
Aldobranti is a performance in the digital social media about a
photographer working in large formats. This work began as an
investigation of the difficulties of brand and identity formation for
emerging artists, specifically members of my family: I brought
Aldobranti into life as a vehicle for this research. As I have in the
past worked in marketing I began to investigate the effectiveness of
the Internet. A website was created, populated with my work under
Aldo's name to engage with practicing artists and identities were
built in the digital social media.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Reflecting myself as a working
mathematician, Aldo's images reveal qualities of line, space,
continuity, chaos, boundaries and turning points. Aldo supplies the
comedy inherent in working in the public space with a large format
camera.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
I have taken photographs since school
days and though I bought one of the first digital cameras more than
15 years ago I now concentrate on working in film, most often in
large formats. This work formed the basis for the work shown on the
aldobranti website where I began to explore some strands of
photography-as-performance-art. Consider the nature of the photograph
of my shadow as I jump to trap it under foot. Again, the
understanding smile of the passer-by who in asking my assistant if I
was “all right” received the answer “he's a photographer”.
Here I am trying to illustrate the performance implicit in all
photography. The act of being Aldo, perhaps with head under a black
cloth, for the purpose of making a photograph, points up, the one to
the other, the simultaneous making of the performance artwork and
the photograph.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
More recent work however has developed
within the identity of Aldobranti, taking wholly new directions in a
political space and this motivates me to study at postgraduate level.
The new work is concerned with issues of the social [in]justice of
boundaries and divisions and while based in photography has less
obvious readings [to me]. I am interested in the “otherness” of
this work emerging from a performed identity and wish to develop
these new ideas in a wider critical environment; to understand this
work better as it evolves.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Referenced Website <span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://aldobranti.eu/">http://aldobranti.eu</a></u></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Portfolio Document
<span style="color: navy;"><span lang="zxx"><u><a href="http://aldobrantifoscofornio.eu/portfolio.pdf">http://AldobrantiFoscoFornio.eu/portfolio.pdf</a></u></span></span>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Publications: Life is a Beach – a
Kindle e-book
<span style="color: #660000;"><span style="font-family: Geneva, Arial;"><span style="font-size: 8pt;"><b>http://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-is-a-Beach-ebook/dp/B006DCVAD0</b></span></span></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Current Practice – peel projects</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
This project begins with taking a
tangerine, clementine or similar with an easily removed peel and
marking it with text or images. I then remove the peel in a single
piece and share the segments of the fruit with others. The enduring
aspect of the process is the disruption to the text and images caused
by the peeling. In particular I have marked the outside with a world
map which provides the opportunity to meditate on the nature of maps
in projection and the uses to which maps are put.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Once the map of a neighbourhood has
been laid out it is often the basis for political divisions and the
consequences of the division bear down on ordinary peoples' lives,
their supply chains and communications patterns.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
In the spirit of working in disrupted
supply chains, in low-tech, I may photograph this work in film,
developing black and white emulsions in improvised chemistry and
printing images in very early processes, perhaps salt-print or
cyanotype. I use a large format camera to hang on to the evidential
quality of the object; as I shall be contact printing I wish to
record a 1:1 image – in this I am inspired by Man Ray's photograms
as a definite record of <i>what is</i>.</div>
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I am able to print a map of the earth's
surface on the fruit before peeling: as of this writing I am
undecided as to whether the visibly disrupted geography is a useful
comment. I am currently therefore evaluating the effectiveness of
inscribing texts e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The
fragmented legibility of the text after peeling might stand for the
underlying resistance to the violence of the division of the surface.</div>
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I believe that WSA and the wider
resources of the University of Southampton can best support me in the
use of the facilities as I explore renderings of this work as it
moves from a photographic origin into a mixed media form. I look to a
critical mass resulting from student numbers and backgrounds and the
the quality of the research staff and faculty to help further
understand and develop my work. The parallel streams of research
interests at WSA in marketing will further strengthen the theoretical
basis of my practice. I believe too that the University Library
extending as it does into all areas of learning will be a fantastic
resource e.g. I would wish to explore the work on maps with
geographers and political scientists.
</div>
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Influences</div>
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Harold Cohen & Aaron and Sol LeWitt</div>
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Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Francesca
Woodman</div>
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Giorgio Morando</div>
</div>
Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-84436420534393073682012-06-28T08:50:00.000-07:002012-06-28T08:52:45.572-07:00the incandescent filament, electric light bulb<br />
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3200<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">°</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">K</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The incandescent filament electric light bulb has been around for at least 130 years and has been described as the most successful creation of technology. It is certainly a wonder of production engineering, a production line will turn out 50,000 lights each hour: glass bulbs are blown from a continuous sheet meanwhile an inner stem with conductors and filament supports is fabricated and coiled coils of Tungsten wire, dipped in Zirconium are crimped on. The inner stem and the bulb are welded together, the air inside replaced by Argon at low pressure and then sealed before addition of a base for electrical supply.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlCVBMgPcNxyQ6W3MdbZcOJliejz3nfyc0EsJpyfyXiEHaT1FMR5M7jhpDSmBfBVKArNenf6KpZ4h5QsKCtsZSFiS-5jAM7a1LKCowGQYY-VbqoMB2cpaOwgHXLzP4eD-IKxgjpWdPHHK/s1600/imgres-1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOlCVBMgPcNxyQ6W3MdbZcOJliejz3nfyc0EsJpyfyXiEHaT1FMR5M7jhpDSmBfBVKArNenf6KpZ4h5QsKCtsZSFiS-5jAM7a1LKCowGQYY-VbqoMB2cpaOwgHXLzP4eD-IKxgjpWdPHHK/s200/imgres-1.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The incandescent bulb while cleverly made is an inefficient generator of visible light and must by government order be replaced by more efficient means. Yet it has a central role as the signifier of a Eureka moment and as such will shortly join the class of symbols that no longer have a real counterpart in the daily world. Another such is the <a href="http://goo.gl/hdPEh">symbol</a> used in the UK for a road traffic speed camera, referencing perhaps a Rollei SLR with bellows extension? Certainly no longer in production.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBu2jbPnnas_ajoIs8bnp_J16zLkj4rL3Ti9u4TyD0DsXd7_qXsHrZY7Fc2BtpXwgoXp8Zkx3KBahd3bsom4mwBhWFdaYDwG8BOz0zCZVFzII6c1e1bL8YPhKgweWe1A7WG8ScTArtpUPo/s1600/imgres.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="165" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBu2jbPnnas_ajoIs8bnp_J16zLkj4rL3Ti9u4TyD0DsXd7_qXsHrZY7Fc2BtpXwgoXp8Zkx3KBahd3bsom4mwBhWFdaYDwG8BOz0zCZVFzII6c1e1bL8YPhKgweWe1A7WG8ScTArtpUPo/s200/imgres.jpeg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Arriving when it did on the wave of the Modern electric light was enthusiastically greeted by artists to light their studios and to save them from the rigours of the </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>plein air</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> but rarely makes an appearance in its own right. In 2011, the PACE Gallery in New York found enough material to note its passing (</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Burning Bright, a short history of the light bulb, 2011</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">) but perhaps the title says it all, history is short for the light bulb.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Today, artists join campaigns for the right to light their work as they choose but little artistic record will remain of the bulb itself. Other technologies have established their own niches of visual identity: the motorcar, guns and planes among others but the lightbulb has been pressed into the role of the servant rather than the subject.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hLWBkW6c42cPEQU07ZnOOwdOdx5L28BVHlniWk2S-sgMT1BckEPezeDV_4p0JQqP9rP6Yg_G1EQiByNc0Ax64rSPbFzNo1LALfu-ttadeJ8sDSQAYrZ7n3J8kTEpaeOazaSKF0S7rY7y/s1600/350px-PicassoGuernica.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hLWBkW6c42cPEQU07ZnOOwdOdx5L28BVHlniWk2S-sgMT1BckEPezeDV_4p0JQqP9rP6Yg_G1EQiByNc0Ax64rSPbFzNo1LALfu-ttadeJ8sDSQAYrZ7n3J8kTEpaeOazaSKF0S7rY7y/s320/350px-PicassoGuernica.jpeg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">The bulb has always just been there, entering a darkened room one instinctively feels about for the switch and it has too much of the commonplace for me to accept the reading of Picasso's </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Guernica</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>1936</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">) which identifies the bulb with the totalitarian inquisitor's lamp and the sleep deprivation cell. For me, that it is still whole, unbroken and shining in the midst of so much trauma spells out its mission to illuminate the enormity of the Axis' crime.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBeSGzJtVo6kiT0WenkjoEuHSXAOXTZOZ-vFLl36wNJQXqITpyxJEGb01mH-yfOautnepJnUjQ5Km_SKrnGgMOrNnbfcuAV-z3GQaGfEn679lhkV6JPzckB82pFSFncAFTzDKzgBSB-OL/s1600/imgres-2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkBeSGzJtVo6kiT0WenkjoEuHSXAOXTZOZ-vFLl36wNJQXqITpyxJEGb01mH-yfOautnepJnUjQ5Km_SKrnGgMOrNnbfcuAV-z3GQaGfEn679lhkV6JPzckB82pFSFncAFTzDKzgBSB-OL/s200/imgres-2.jpeg" width="160" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Again, Man Ray's </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Rayographs</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Rayograph 5 light bulbs, 1930) </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">sometimes include the bulb itself as a subject of the light in addition to its role as the source of light. These images seize on the evidential quality of the rayograph, these object were patently </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>here</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> and </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>here</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> without possibility of lens trickery. As a record of the Modern the subjects of the Man Ray pictures are found objects which lead on into the Post Modern.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jasper Johns' lightbulbs (</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Lightbulb 1, 1958</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">) are the beginnings of a sampling of the Modern but at the same time celebrate the elegance of form found in the everyday.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpYjG3dLyNyJk_Ar60MIHaw_fS9Ge_ucmRh1VDOsQo3InpD0jrnKuTm9Zy5C8R1U0kfYLcHVVkgXz0jt04sMIrGnmALueSZ8RJORfU7tqSygHLibclhQB90QxUW00Y_DlKXOpqanEzpKG/s1600/francis-bacon-triptych-may-june-1973-b1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUpYjG3dLyNyJk_Ar60MIHaw_fS9Ge_ucmRh1VDOsQo3InpD0jrnKuTm9Zy5C8R1U0kfYLcHVVkgXz0jt04sMIrGnmALueSZ8RJORfU7tqSygHLibclhQB90QxUW00Y_DlKXOpqanEzpKG/s200/francis-bacon-triptych-may-june-1973-b1.jpeg" width="146" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">We need Francis Bacon to follow on from </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Guernica,</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"> to include a naked bulb in painting </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Triptych, May–June 1973</i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">. The image re-uses the familiar presence to corroborate the pain of the moment – the lone figure, crouched on the WC is immersed in blackness; unlike the clarity dispensed in </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>Guernica </i></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">the light from the underpowered bulb barely pierces the gloom and despair.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0SbqZOj4_jQCJrG1dSE_-0VpB3s0-1ywgs32tI66sYzrEMcY-DV4-HGYjCd7Abi4JuwPs0Z8kAaDlA-hBcBW3dlgKa8RkZT6W-0I2BzzWFuK_oM70pAwiZyPo3p6ztmXtaUIPW3SrYZS/s1600/incandescent+bulb+P8210343.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix0SbqZOj4_jQCJrG1dSE_-0VpB3s0-1ywgs32tI66sYzrEMcY-DV4-HGYjCd7Abi4JuwPs0Z8kAaDlA-hBcBW3dlgKa8RkZT6W-0I2BzzWFuK_oM70pAwiZyPo3p6ztmXtaUIPW3SrYZS/s320/incandescent+bulb+P8210343.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFxLdxkGpJOOdeKIgbAQOShDFENlcee7c8wzhJmLzR5lNt9evv9hkR5z7FfoByKiOatXKIuhmmvjyZgK_t6iMh1JzVIm0UknLYKx1GVvyONsZb-PiB4gN-1SC83A2OHBJvphNaVMYOO7kz/s1600/incandescent+bulb+P9300370.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFxLdxkGpJOOdeKIgbAQOShDFENlcee7c8wzhJmLzR5lNt9evv9hkR5z7FfoByKiOatXKIuhmmvjyZgK_t6iMh1JzVIm0UknLYKx1GVvyONsZb-PiB4gN-1SC83A2OHBJvphNaVMYOO7kz/s320/incandescent+bulb+P9300370.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;">For what it is worth, here is my record of the passing of the incandescent filament electric lightbulb. I photographed these bulbs to celebrate the beauty of the manufactured form. I note the spaces which they illuminate and the shadows they themselves cast. Even when failed, I note their deaths with blackened glass or broken filament.</span></div>
Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6990993412527376535.post-32764829898207908062012-01-05T03:37:00.000-08:002012-01-05T09:06:58.764-08:00BeachesI know we're into longer days and just past the point of latest sunrise ( read all about the <a href="http://goo.gl/M8qyM" target="_blank">Equation of Time</a>) but as the summer still seems a long way away I should share some of my images and thoughts of beaches with you.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OdiiXY8QQc/TwW86JvSZBI/AAAAAAAAAFk/I70JeqvhGmw/s1600/beaches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6OdiiXY8QQc/TwW86JvSZBI/AAAAAAAAAFk/I70JeqvhGmw/s200/beaches.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: -webkit-auto;">I am never so happy as when on a beach.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RSmPsylvd78/TwW_gEDEyjI/AAAAAAAAAGU/xMj9kfLNlVQ/s1600/cold+light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RSmPsylvd78/TwW_gEDEyjI/AAAAAAAAAGU/xMj9kfLNlVQ/s200/cold+light.jpg" width="150" /></a>Time can just fly away, begone dull care!<br />
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I build sandcastles;<br />
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dig tunnels to Australia;<br />
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dam the drainage of the outgoing tide;<br />
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build sea-walls against the incoming;<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RT5s-UVdPyc/TwXAQJ7bn6I/AAAAAAAAAGo/mmP1hEUVA4I/s1600/cloud+bank.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RT5s-UVdPyc/TwXAQJ7bn6I/AAAAAAAAAGo/mmP1hEUVA4I/s200/cloud+bank.jpg" width="150" /></a>watch the sky fall as the day ends;<br />
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see sea birds strut and preen;<br />
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fly kites;<br />
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feel underfoot the hard corrugated sand made by wind and wavelet;<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YnjDiynocpE/TwXARZl-ESI/AAAAAAAAAG0/JzIsYxJBFQk/s1600/corrugation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YnjDiynocpE/TwXARZl-ESI/AAAAAAAAAG0/JzIsYxJBFQk/s200/corrugation.jpg" width="150" /></a><br />
walk shakily down steep shingle banks and fight pebble slides to regain position.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tNIGt0cIdR8/TwXAaTKJT_I/AAAAAAAAAII/aD73UQlubCM/s1600/long+shadows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tNIGt0cIdR8/TwXAaTKJT_I/AAAAAAAAAII/aD73UQlubCM/s200/long+shadows.jpg" width="150" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rTyz-te9DVo/TwXAYVm_RzI/AAAAAAAAAH4/m2RnYKSSBsE/s1600/lone+cloud.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rTyz-te9DVo/TwXAYVm_RzI/AAAAAAAAAH4/m2RnYKSSBsE/s200/lone+cloud.jpg" width="150" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TnXULAldZGY/TwXAZj9unPI/AAAAAAAAAIA/fRo5Asiy5OE/s1600/lonely+sea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TnXULAldZGY/TwXAZj9unPI/AAAAAAAAAIA/fRo5Asiy5OE/s200/lonely+sea.jpg" width="200" /></a>A beach brings 2π steradians of sky, 180 degrees of solid angle, the sea air strips out the dust to make the light frightfully direct.<br />
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The senses are heightened to pick out calls above the continuous sound of waves and the distances available to spread out and leave all others behind, only to find another child ready to join in hydrology and civil engineering of dam and sea wall.<br />
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The visual memories now are reinforced by the family movies, 25ASA Kodachrome in 50’s yellows to counter a 5600K colour temperature with Standard-8 on a Bell&Howell rig. Inevitably these seem two stops over-exposed with a searing flash of light as the trailer runs through, punctuated by the hole punches in the emulsion.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R41ChlGglCQ/TwXAgxbtfoI/AAAAAAAAAI8/FqOMCofcRcs/s1600/shingle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-R41ChlGglCQ/TwXAgxbtfoI/AAAAAAAAAI8/FqOMCofcRcs/s200/shingle.jpg" width="150" /></a>The images I bring here recapitulate my visual memory yet there are more; every yellow stone, potentially an amber treasure; and, rivulets of sandy water, run through fingers forming worm cast statues below.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fz30Ve8JRGI/TwXAdboXaII/AAAAAAAAAIc/3elFEscoX0k/s1600/overstrand+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fz30Ve8JRGI/TwXAdboXaII/AAAAAAAAAIc/3elFEscoX0k/s200/overstrand+2.jpg" width="200" /></a>The non-visual memories are those of stinging, windblown sand and chilly North Sea water; squishy tides of sea weed; wet cozzies to be peeled off and friction towels ready; the tug of kite strings and the squeal of sea-birds; the rattle of dinghy halyards and a jump from high side to low side of a groyne.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gGy5vQ3XOpE/TwXASl5yQdI/AAAAAAAAAHI/LKXjjdBZCoY/s1600/flash.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gGy5vQ3XOpE/TwXASl5yQdI/AAAAAAAAAHI/LKXjjdBZCoY/s200/flash.jpg" width="200" /></a>At the end of the day the sun crashes into a low bed of cloud -- the fabled, green flash seen but once in the Pacific -- and the air temperature plummets though colour temperatures rocket.<br />
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The sea turns black and it is time for home.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1MfdC5LCm0/TwXAiiiUBNI/AAAAAAAAAJM/h2ULzdXvvjU/s1600/weather+front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-T1MfdC5LCm0/TwXAiiiUBNI/AAAAAAAAAJM/h2ULzdXvvjU/s200/weather+front.jpg" width="150" /></a>My belief is that the beach, beyond my sentimental history, is a unique place for reaching out to the universe and for discovery of beauty. It is a minimal space, a robust process of wind and tide strip out inessentials. </div>
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It is a place of interface, elemental, where earth,air,water and fire come in contact and we behold their incidence. Water and air combine as wave, the sun as fire warms water for the clouds.<br />
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The sea and the land play out another conflict warming the air above them differentially, the winds swing between off and onshore; the cloud fronts often mirror the coast below.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--F8vCp8QOPw/TwXAhVyHWoI/AAAAAAAAAJI/d44FGidmn2Y/s1600/tide.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--F8vCp8QOPw/TwXAhVyHWoI/AAAAAAAAAJI/d44FGidmn2Y/s200/tide.jpg" width="150" /></a>The water’s edge is an ever varying uncertainty.<br />
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We thus are offered a unique light mediated by clouds and scattered by waves; we find a record of the past 12 or so hours tide laid out at the margin, further from the water we see the impact of air and the carved nature of sand dunes.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o8c8JXsfIGA/TwXAeD20eUI/AAAAAAAAAIo/guM-frIktyo/s1600/overstrand+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-o8c8JXsfIGA/TwXAeD20eUI/AAAAAAAAAIo/guM-frIktyo/s200/overstrand+3.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-auDch5RfioM/TwXAUNOdZKI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/DSsh1_k0DKE/s1600/footsteps.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-auDch5RfioM/TwXAUNOdZKI/AAAAAAAAAHQ/DSsh1_k0DKE/s200/footsteps.jpg" width="150" /></a>In a crowded island, the beach marks the perimeter of our vision and captivates those who find themselves centrifugally removed from the busy interior life of the centre. Our footsteps behind us in the sand show where we have come from. Our next step is ours alone to make.<br />
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<br />Aldobrantihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13563731705212011125noreply@blogger.com0