Comments on: CATOS 08 : this year’s open studio http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/ Everything starts with drawing Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:24:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3 By: doug http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1382 doug Wed, 03 Dec 2008 14:30:29 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1382 Yes - another of my portraits is of Len Sage, who was captured in Singapore and put on the Burma Railway. http://www.signapse.co.uk/pfs/ourselves/002.jpg He still has nightmares, but said yesterday he couldn't understand why we kill our "own kind" in wars. If anybody has the right to think not all humans are our own kind it's him after the treatment he had, but he remains inspiringly free of bitterness. A true role model. Yes - another of my portraits is of Len Sage, who was captured in Singapore and put on the Burma Railway.

http://www.signapse.co.uk/pfs/ourselves/002.jpg

He still has nightmares, but said yesterday he couldn’t understand why we kill our “own kind” in wars. If anybody has the right to think not all humans are our own kind it’s him after the treatment he had, but he remains inspiringly free of bitterness. A true role model.

]]> By: Jenny http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1381 Jenny Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:45:35 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1381 Brilliant yes. My Dad had a kind of similar experience but with a captured German sub. He was an 18 yr old ASDIC operator. He said that as the sub crew climbed aboad, (they were just kids themselves), the Brits were passing them cigarettes and blankets. It's a kind of subtle passive resistance to the state of mind of war. This links nicely with your work, which is an artistic historical document along the same lines I think. Brilliant yes.
My Dad had a kind of similar experience but with a captured German sub. He was an 18 yr old ASDIC operator. He said that as the sub crew climbed aboad, (they were just kids themselves), the Brits were passing them cigarettes and blankets.
It’s a kind of subtle passive resistance to the state of mind of war. This links nicely with your work, which is an artistic historical document along the same lines I think.

]]> By: doug http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1379 doug Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:02:17 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1379 Thanks Jenny - This thing about obeying, whichever side you are on is a remarkable human trait probably to do with packs/tribes. However, squaddies seem to rarely dislike their enemy equivalent as much as their own officers. My dad had a story about surrounding a distillery in Italy, Germans on one side, 8th. Army on the other. Within days squaddies from both sides had organised access rights between themselves where everybody got a drink and nobody got shot at. Always more sanity at the base of the pyramid. Did you ever see the Lewis Milestone film called All Quiet on the Western Front ? Thanks Jenny - This thing about obeying, whichever side you are on is a remarkable human trait probably to do with packs/tribes. However, squaddies seem to rarely dislike their enemy equivalent as much as their own officers. My dad had a story about surrounding a distillery in Italy, Germans on one side, 8th. Army on the other. Within days squaddies from both sides had organised access rights between themselves where everybody got a drink and nobody got shot at. Always more sanity at the base of the pyramid.

Did you ever see the Lewis Milestone film called All Quiet on the Western Front ?

]]> By: Jenny Drake http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1150 Jenny Drake Sun, 16 Nov 2008 10:43:00 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-1150 Hi Doug, Richard told me at college this week, that David and I were mentioned in Dispatches about the Open Event. What I find comes out also from your landscapes is the pyramid effect of human trials and tribulations. Inotherwords, the greatest toil and sacrifice is more heavily weighted, like the base of the pyramid, in the endeavours of the common man. He obeys, whichever side he is on. Whatever language he speaks. It's conditioning, or programming I suppose. Thoroughly enjoyed the Life class on Tuesday. Thought Marilyn was an excellent model if sickeningly slim and toned, dammit. Lol. Jenny Hi Doug, Richard told me at college this week, that David and I were mentioned in Dispatches about the Open Event.

What I find comes out also from your landscapes is the pyramid effect of human trials and tribulations.

Inotherwords, the greatest toil and sacrifice is more heavily weighted, like the base of the pyramid, in the endeavours of the common man. He obeys, whichever side he is on.
Whatever language he speaks. It’s conditioning, or programming I suppose.

Thoroughly enjoyed the Life class on Tuesday. Thought Marilyn was an excellent model if sickeningly slim and toned, dammit. Lol.

Jenny

]]> By: doug http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-620 doug Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:37:18 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-620 Landscape as collective portraiture. I think it was George Orwell who said that at 50, every man has the face he deserves. Your face stops being about what you look like and starts being about what you have chosen to do and feel. I feel landscape is exactly the same. The coastal defences in Normandy and the Thames estuary each speak about what we collectively could have done and did do. Good to be talking about this again. Lets start planning a human landscape show for 09! Landscape as collective portraiture. I think it was George Orwell who said that at 50, every man has the face he deserves. Your face stops being about what you look like and starts being about what you have chosen to do and feel. I feel landscape is exactly the same. The coastal defences in Normandy and the Thames estuary each speak about what we collectively could have done and did do. Good to be talking about this again. Lets start planning a human landscape show for 09!

]]> By: Steve http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-614 Steve Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:43:06 +0000 http://www.signapse.co.uk/2008/09/28/catos-08-this-years-open-studio/#comment-614 Landscapes speak because they carry the evidence of history. What interests me about these wartime relics is that they are part of living memory, but they are already being absorbed into the continuous narrative of the landscapes. And they are changing from being a scar on the landscape to just being part of it. If we know how to look, we find that (at least in Europe) most landscapes carry signs like this - not necessarily of violence or abuse but use and the passage of humans over time. I'm interested in the way the landscape (and our view of it) accommodates all these changes. Landscapes speak because they carry the evidence of history. What interests me about these wartime relics is that they are part of living memory, but they are already being absorbed into the continuous narrative of the landscapes. And they are changing from being a scar on the landscape to just being part of it. If we know how to look, we find that (at least in Europe) most landscapes carry signs like this - not necessarily of violence or abuse but use and the passage of humans over time. I’m interested in the way the landscape (and our view of it) accommodates all these changes.

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