Comments for Signapse

Comment on Shared horizons : (Mostly) back from Orkney. by doug

doug — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:09:38 +0000

Dear C Jon Hill – Just a quick reply as I’m busy watching paint dry. I’m so pleased whenever I hear anybody who resonates with the northern edges of this island. I have no family connections with the place but it always felt like home. I wish I had been able to talk to a geologist when I was there – it’s clear that the rocks of Orkney and Quiraing in Skye where we went on to, have such a powerful, dynamic and violent story to tell. The thin layers of paint didn’t really get near, except perhaps in reminding me that human like itself is a thin layer on the top of a deep geology story which is ongoing. There is something about the slow pace of oil paint that sometimes feels a bit geological. Finally as of being a retired geologist, I’d imagine that the time scales you deal with mean that only fossils are truly retired. Thanks again for checking in, it brightened up a cold start in the studio.

Comment on Shared horizons : (Mostly) back from Orkney. by C. John Hill

C. John Hill — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:38:01 +0000

Your Orkney post stirred up whole strata of memories from over 20 years ago (you camped in the same place as I, at Stromness site) – and then, as now, I regard this archipelago of wonderful islands and their fiercely independent-minded inhabitants with remembered affection. Will be going back there soon with someone else – sketching, this time.

John – retired geologist and teacher

Comment on Painting without drawing – what was I thinking of ? by doug

doug — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:37:03 +0000

I really did hesitate before contradicting a professor of linguistics, but I think you are wrong when you say only capitalist pigs want direct, hands on contact with cultural stuff. I think we all do, but for most of us it's not about ownership, but access. We want to take our time with looking, we don't want to be hurried or curated in directions we didn't want to go. We want the work to be accessible in every sense. That's an argument for busy, well stocked and free public museums and libraries. It's also demands that artists try to climb above the foggy weather of fashion and art marketing and make their stuff directly for other people rather than market niches. I believe that Goya was a first modern artist because of the way he kept going after the spanish court stopped hiring him. He headed straight for the new technologies of lithography and aquatint. He used them to make cheaper and more easily distributed work. Along with the London engravers like Gillray he used text with image to challenge the viewer to be a reader as well. He made the Pinturas Negras on the walls of his own house. It's some of the most expressive and powerful painting I've ever seen. These weren't 'commissions' they were the direct expression from one person to anybody else who took the trouble to look at them. They were not offered for sale and they only survived because somebody chipped them off the wall before the house was knocked down. I love the internet ! It means I wake up to a conversation with somebody smarter than I am before going into the studio to work. What a great way to start the day.

Comment on Painting without drawing – what was I thinking of ? by Zakir

Zakir — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 17:02:07 +0000

Maybe you should think of it more like a book. The thing that makes a pniating valuable, usually, is the quantity produced. Or a Statue, usually there’s just one. Media on the other hand is often mass produced, like books. It doesn’t make it a lesser form of art, or cheaper’, but it is much more available to the masses. So, no, I wouldn’t pay the same price for something I watch on TV or the big screen but it doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it in the same way or as much. Or maybe I’m just a greedy capitalist pig and only want what others can’t have!

Comment on If all the prints are clones, where’s the fun in that ? by doug

doug — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 07:45:58 +0000

Hey Caroline – good to hear from you, Wiltshire & Bath sounds like a really good plan. That’s exactly where Gainsborough went as soon as he realised the clever money was there and not in Sudbury. Have a good summer.

Comment on If all the prints are clones, where’s the fun in that ? by ex student

ex student — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 06:04:10 +0000

such a rebel doug!! if only we did not have to produce such long and thought-out artist statements for the degree . Art starts with the artist but hopes to complete with its audience who should have the freedom to feel and evaluate the work for themselves.
I personally am soaking up the art world of Bath and Wiltshire….hardly a digital print in sight. Goodluck with the talk and i hope your audience enjoys.

Comment on Turing 2.0 by Brian

Brian — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 00:00:31 +0000

Not a definitive favourite of mine but ‘Dancing Queen’ – ABBA a true test, although if pushed for a fav would no doubt go anything Motown

Comment on Is painting still the best way to do this ? by Bill Brody

Bill Brody — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:08:09 +0000

The practice of art history sometimes does not even rise to the clarity and honesty of retailing; it is almost completely divorced from the meat of life and living.

Comment on Two new long-term projects by Bill Brody

Bill Brody — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 05:06:59 +0000

Doug, your experience with the dancers resonates strongly with my own. I had the good luck to be invited to draw during the modern dance classes taught by Francis Smith Cohen in Tucson, AZ in 1958-59 when I was 15 and 16 years old. The dancers were never still and Ms Cohen was a demanding and articulate teacher so I learned to see the body in motion. This experience has informed all my art.

Comment on New changeling paintings : Is painting the best way to do this ? by Alex Eve

Alex Eve — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:11:41 +0000

it all makes me feel very “yes” for what my feel is worth. Good to see the artesian well of creativity so bubblesome and fecundating at your nexus. Inspiring output, thank you. xxx

Comment on Silence and the sticky stick. by Bill Brody

Bill Brody — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 03:13:00 +0000

My father once said to me that art is organized space and music is organized time, or perhaps it was art is to organized space as music is to organized time. So here’s to making some space, playing the degrees of (dis)order against each other in time…

Comment on Everything must go ! by doug

doug — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:09:41 +0000

Yes – we are really lucky to have Frinsley at this event, he has such a busy schedule. I can set up for you to make a phone bid and will send you more info soon. I’m so glad you came to see the show and that you liked the work. Which particular big drawing do you fancy ? There are three of the typewriter and three of the cine camera. Talk soon, and I’m really looking forward to Shared Horizons 2012 !!

Comment on Everything must go ! by Becky Smith

Becky Smith — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:04:26 +0000

would love to be there for the live auction but will have to do with a phone bid and my imagination (hmmmmm Frinsley Baggage……..)
Good luck and have fun!

Comment on Everything must go ! by doug

doug — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:36:15 +0000

Hey Jilly – this is the plan with a bit of art thrown in for nowt. Seeee you monday ! Allbest Doug

Comment on Everything must go ! by Jill

Jill — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 19:29:26 +0000

I wouldn’t mind paying £4.99 to see Frinsley Baggage.