February 2011

6th: So finally we have progress. I was thinking back to my years at college and of how I got fed up with the whole thing. Looking back at it now I realise that part of the problem was finding myself in this system where you just had to produce. The feeling was more akin to working in a sausage factory. There was no ebb and flow. Of course it suited those who were able to produce all the time but then some of us don't. No judgement it's just a fact of life. So anyway I have cut a load of paper to use in Shirley. Decided to start taking portraits with her.

In the meantime we found an old barbie, some kites and some string and had some fun.

 14th: After, well it must be near on five years since I last took a photograph with Shirley. Somehow that doesn't seem right. Its also been almost two years since I last used Helga. Yesterday we took Shirley out on a safari through a local nature reserve and then today I tried to take a self portrait with Helga. What a mission. I forgot what a fight it was to get the paper in. In the end the image I took with Helga was a little over exposed but the Shirley one came out just fine. I am going to try and redo the Helga one again as the background which used was the same for the two cameras.

23rd: Wow - art really is like catching a bus - nothing comes along for ages and then within the space of two weeks you find that you have sold six pieces. Two helgas have been sold and then four shirlies, three of those were snapped up Standard Bank for their collection. The sad thing was, rather than being able to pop open the champagne to celebrate I had make do with a chocolate milk shake drink from woolworths. That champagne is just going to have to wait a bit longer.

In the mean time I have been busy taking more pics. Mainly self portraits, I have been experimenting with covering up different sections of holes. The pic to the below is my new shutter design for Helga. It features, of course, all the latest trends and innovations in design Using an old folded up sheet and a curtain I have been covering up one set of holes while opening the other. After exposing one set, moving the camera i have been swapping over the arrangement to open up the rest fo the holes to light. Thus one half of the paper is being exposed differently to the other.


28th: Thanks to Tristian Hall I have just been published in the March 2011 edition of photocomment, a local photographic mag. The printed version is only available in South Africa but it can also be viewed over the internet.

January 2010

18th: And yes it is a new year. Not much to report other than since my last entry things have been busy busy busy. Then there has been the Xmas holiday. So now we are back into the need to make money while finding the time perpetual quandry. At least the year has started off on a good note (ignoring the problem of increasing debt) Sold my piece at the Pretoria Artists Associations annual members show. Which was cool but as ever there is that greedy side which wonders would I have been able to sell it for more?

31st: Well the first month of the year has gone. In terms of making stuff, still to pull the preverbial finger out, but then that has never been my style, making stuff for the sake of making stuff. So I do go through these periods of inactivity. I assure you that as soon as I can get my lard arse into gear great things are afoot. In the mean time here are some pics of Shirley that I took this morning. She is looking a bit rough. No I haven't been abusing her its just she has been living in a garage infested with rats for the last couple of years.

November 2010

22nd: Well whats been happening? Not much to be honest. Still trying to organise with Jacques to get some stuff through to his new gallery as well as a time to take his portrait. The exhibition at Pandoras is going to run for a little longer. And well thats about it. Got some stuff planned but want to hold on with that until the new year.

6th: And so we have netered into the penultimate month of the year. As ever in gauteng the heat here is relentless. But at least the rains are starting to come.

So what has happened over the last couple of weeks? Jacques popped around to have a look at what he would like to take to put up in his new gallery. Unfortunately the pic (The Judgement) he chose was too big for his car so we are going to have to make another plan.

Put some work up for a show at Pandora (Back Home). The venue is a nice spot. A ramshackled house that offers up more questions than a traditional white walled gallery would.

On the work front things aren't so great. Plenty of quotes given out but no one is prepared to pay. It seems they want things at cost which is just not possible nor worth the effort. 

October 2010

30th: Lots of ideas for stuff but no cash at the moment. Meanwhile I have built a frame for a coffee table made from the finest quality scraps of shutter ply. Its for a client who has showed me three different designs. So I decided to make something from what I had available. Truth be told in the best traditions of well thought out design, I have just been mading it up as I went along. It is going to be stained a dark brown. It will get a glass top and then a shelf out of wood at the bottom thus hiding the cross struts.

Tomorrow I have to go and hang some stuff at Pandora. Not sure what I am going to do. The invite talks of new stuff by so and so artists but like I said all I have are ideas with no money or time left to do them. So maybe have to dig in the cupboard to find some stuff I haven't shown yet. 

9th: It has been a while since the last blog. the time has been well spent. Went over to England for just under five weeks. While I spent most of the time working, to be honest after the franetic couple of months that I had leading up to the time away, it felt like a holiday. So now I am back in South Africa. November looks like it is going to be a cool month with regards to exhibitions. For me at least. Jacques Michau is opening up a gallery and is keen on including some of my work in his opening show. The Pandora gallery have invited me to exhibit in one of their shows...and well thats about it for now. But it is nice to get invited.

September 2010

12th: Well Hardus came and took delivery of the camera obscura. I gave it a go just to see if my calculations were ok etc etc. It seems like it will work all right and he seems ok with it all.The grain in the pic is from the wood upon which the image was being projected onto.

6th: Took the dome down last week. Delivered Magnum to his new owners. And ummm have been carrying on with the Camera Obscura drawing aid. Almost finished just got to put the doors on and complete the housing for the lens. The cool thing is that it looks like it is going to work.

Off to England at the end of the week for a month where I will be doing ummm........well there is no plan as yet .

August 2010

26th: Managed to get a bit of press coverage for the dome in the Beeld, a local South African paper. Unfortunately my Afrikaans is not that great but I am working on a translation. In the meantime here is a link to the article: Klim binne-in Fuller se kuns en visie

Camera Obscura Progress: Decided to work on something else for the moment, but it should be ready next week.

23th: Welcome to the mess that is my garage. It was clean on the weekend but life being what it is.....

Camera Obscura Progress: As of today I am really starting to feel like I am eating this project. For some reason, with everything thing that I try and do there is some sort of cock up involved. Underestimating materials required, cutting pieces wrong, gettin smacked in the face by pieces of timber spat out by the saw. Every day there has been something that has inspired visions of stuffing the contraption into a corner and forgetting about it. I suppose I only have myself to blame. I should have just made him a box with a hole in it rather than giving him this pimped up version.

So next week the dome is coming down. it seems like only yesterday that I put it up.

19th: This is something that I have been commissioned to make. A camera obscura for an artist. I am still tomake the box that sits on top and houses the lens and mirror. Still have to make the doors and the drawer as well that sits below the drawing area. Oh and the legs too. the red table is not what it is going to be standing on.

19th: Here is a little something I have been doing for an exhibition at Cameo Framers. At first I just did the Barbie. But it just seem so wrong to have a Barbie without a Ken, so I made a Ken. Strictly speaking he shouldn't have a little todger but I thought that I would give him something to make hime the envy of all other Kens.

The exhibition opens on Saturday sometime in the morning I guess.

11th: These past few weeks have been a mixed bag. There was the installation of the Sphere at the UJ gallery. That week proved to be a logistical nightmare with trying to enter work into Sasol New Signatures and then having to pick it up all in the same week. Didn't get in, but I did manage to get some feed back re my entry which was good. Going to make a few changes and then enter it for something else.

Last week I heard that I had sold Magnum. This might be the way to go - creating cameras that have their own value beyond that as a functioning object. Hmmm might be time to investigate those ideas that I had a while back but have failed to do anything about.

July 2010

22nd: So ABSA is finally over. Well for me it is. By the laws of the competition I am too old. This years entries formed the usual rag bag of stuff; stuff that should have won; stuff that just seemed rubbish; stuff that was nice but that was about all you could say for it. For the second competition in a row I have had plenty of pats on the back with people telling me that I should have won something. This is becoming a habit for which I think that the only cure is to stop entering competitions. There are still a couple that I dont fall foul of due to age. I am grateful though that I am not a judge and that I dont have to suffer the evil eye of all the unhappy artists. I am sure that there were plenty of us in the audience wondering why so and so won and not me. Must go. Have Sasol to prepare for. Need to get proof of ID; plinths; frames; artwork done.

13th: July July July. Work Work Work. Got the dome back from the Coen Scholtz Centre. Tried to see who was resonsible for the crusty shit. No luck, but I am learning more and more about it. The fact that it won a prize just keeps getting more suspicious. The person responsible won the same prize last year. The piece is about owls, yet eagle feathers have been used. It was chosen for the peoples prize, but the show wasn't open to the public until the night of the prize giving. I think that this calls for one of Dan Brown's splendid cospiricy waffle books. I am sure that the Illuminate are behind the whole affair and that the feathers were arranged in a way so as to direct the local masons to an ancient relic which has remained hiden in the basement of the Coen Scholtz Centre for years. Now at the direction of the Owl/Eagle/crusty shit person the truth is going to be revealed. Ha ha but I am on their case. Losers

Just over a week to go till the ABSA. Ho hum

9th: Well its July now and things are really busy. Got to take the dome down tomorrow, bring it home on monday and then move it to its new place at the end of the month.

Umm nothing much else to say other than things are really busy.

June 2009

27th: But there was some good news this morning. Through the exhibition at the Trent Gallery a print of my self portrait 'Eraser' was sold. To whom I don't know, but that doesn't matter.

21st: Just sitting here waiting for the power to be switched off. Apparently there is a problem at the local substation whic is just great. Apparently we are expected to sit here for three days without any power. Fan bloody tastic. Right now I am on borrowed time as the switch off time was due to be 11. Maybe they meant 11pm? Who knows. They certainly didn't when I called them back.

8th: why do people insist on telling you that they are going to do something and not? So far I am wating for quotes from 3 sources. I am waiting for info on a project from another one, and then there is another job that I am waiting on. If you not going to be able to do as you say then just bloody call me, it gets really bloody tiring having to be chasing all the time.

So I am doind this just to kill a bit of time. ABSA news: well I have heard through the grape vine that the judges were not as impressed with the work that I had submitted as nearly everone else that I have shown it to (this includes judges from previous ABSA finals).

Thami Mnyeli: My work is getting mistaken for that of Gordon's. Hmmmm, I guess thats something that neither myself nor Gordon can do much about. Anyway its only two weeks away till opening night when I get to mash all the judges up by rolling the ball over them. 

1st: Had a bit of a what the...moment yesterday. The dates for the roof top exhibition opening have been changed. It was due to open on the 13th but now that has been re arranged for the 5th! Nice. Which means rather than getting Mr Pepys out of his dusty garage Magnum is going to have to go in his place. He is going to be pissed. Just no time to do any repairs on Mr Pepys which I am sure he would need after having been half forgotten for so long. Its been 6 years since his last outing.

Thami Mnyele update: Well haven't heard anything so I guess that they have....well who knows.

Oh I forgot to give a thank you to Tertius who had organised for some of the tubes for the Dome to be sanded down for me. Many thanks.
 

May 2009

27th: Here we are three days later. I would have liked another day to sort out the issues of light entering the dome at unwanted points but its not to be be. Just hoping the judges are cool with my submission because there is no way that I want to uninstall everything within a week after having put together - By the way thats not me, thats JP who helped me for all three days.Thanks JP. Thanks also to Adrian who helped with transport and installation to Priscilla who helped with the sticking of the tracing paper hanks also to Adrian who helped with transport and installation to Priscilla who helped with the sticking of the tracing paper and also blub blub my snif sniff family without whom sniff this wouldn't have been possible. Thank you all.

I have to admit that I still look at and think wow the thing is still standing, but how. I walked all over it and i felt totally confident with the integrity of the structure but now that I can't see it I am thinking hmmm, how safe is it? At what stage is it going to implode?

25th:The begining. Was going to do a time stop frame animation type thing of the installation but with only three days to install the dome I decided to not. Progress for the first day has been good with all baring the top centre piece in place. All that remains is to put that in, stick the tracing paper onto the tubes and then do something else which I just can't remember what it was, oh stuff all the gaps with bits to stop the light getting in.


15th: Hmmmm just eight or is it nine days to go. Been assembling the dome. Looks like it is going to work. My plan for the door didn't work out. It was a pain as with the new design it means that there is going to be one panel that has no tubes. Its a bit sad but to be honest I am happy. Less tubes means less holes to drill and sand. Of all the things that I have had to do for this project this surely has been the most tedious, dreary, wearisome, makes you want to get straight back into bed and forget that the world exists task. Still got twenty (hopefully less) to go. I know that I have to get them done and that it will only take me a couple of hours but, but please there must be something else that I can do. Anything ......

11th: Well thats another fine mess that you have go us into. I am thinking of doing a revival tour of Laurel and Hardy with Magnum. For the exhibition at the Trent Gallery over the weekend I took Magnum along to take portraits. First his cover came off as he was waiting. He stood like this for a couple of hours, exposing the paper inside. I reloaded and then pointed him facing the underside of a table and not the sitter. Easy mistake. I then managed to double expose two of the photographs. I sort of have an answer for that one, my safe light is temperamental and so I was working in complete darkness - easy to mix up the exposed and not exposed. But that doesn't cut the mustard as two bags should have been used for the paper.

Dome Update: Going well. Doing a test build and the shapes are fitting together well. Downside is that there are more holes to drill out of the pipes than I remembered.

2nd: Stuart popped around today to have his portrait taken. Used Magnum to take the shot. I think two shots a day and thats the limit for me. Anymore and then I think I should consider taking up slave labour. Either that or get some old Eastern block coach to come and help me build up muscle. Its bloody exhausting moving him around even when he has been put on wheels.

Dome Update: We are getting there but are we going to be on time for the 25th?. There are still a few holes to be drilled. Tracing paper to be stuck down and 60 odd plates to be attached. Not much but then I only have a couple of days of which I can focus on the project this week. Its going to be tighter than a whale strapped up in a corset.

April 2010

30th: Drum roll please........Thank you. Fianlly Magnum has seen some action. Got him on his wheels and parked him in the garden to do a couple of test shots. Looks like it is going to be 10 or so minutes per an exposure (thats in bright sunshine).

Dome Update: Well the brackets are going on. About half way there. that just leaves the, and the, and then there is the.

Yes thats a pair of converse there in the front.



24th: Nothing spectacular, just a trolley to move Magnum about on. Decided its about time to get him going. Got an exhibition coming up in two weeks time and I really need to get my arse into gear. In normal circumstances it would be enough time but with every spare moment been focused on the dome, its not. Then there are all the other things in life that need taking care of.

Dome Update: Well I am almost finished with putting together the wooden frames for the tubes. Then it is the finishing touches for the tubes, cutting and fitting the tracing paper and then fitting of the joining plates. At times it feels like its not that much at all to do but then there are other moments when its more like what the fook am I doing?

14th: Had a frustrating and fractured couple of weeks with progress being almost non existant with the dome. Got sucked into a world of chaos as I helped out at a friends guest house. But after a few days back in the studio and focused, attention things are looking like they are getting back on track.

Here is my first attempt at trying to connect the pieces of the dome together. Just for conveniences sake I didn't put the tubes in. As a temporary measure I have used hinges to join the shapes. In the long term I am thinking of using steel plates which should be stronger. I did get a quote for hinges but soon binned that idea when I received found how much it was going to cost.

March 2010

25th: Progress on the dome is going well. Still not putting in the hours that I want to. Too many distractions. had to rebuild the jig I built to cut the pipes for the Pentagons. Got my angles completely wrong. At least I didn't cut all the pipes before finding that out.

ABSA up date - had an oh oh moment. Got a call today of the we have a problem with your work. unfortunately I couldn't hear what they were saying, so I was left thinking they can't accpet my work after as someone has made an objection. All was alright in the end. All they wanted to know was whether they could cut the wires that were used to hang the piece up. Phew, man I thought I was a gonner there.

18th: This week is really starting to feel unproductive. Although I have moved forward with sourcing some materials and solving the joining the shapes issue, it feels like production is grinding to a halt. Although I have completed the cutting of the shapes for the hexagons and have built a jig to cut the pentagon tubes, things feel like they have are going slower and slower. I suppose it is the knowing that this weekend I am not going to be able to focus as much time on the geodome as I would like to. Plus there is the heat. It is starting to sap the life out of me. I'm starting to feel like the thug in the original Robo Cop that fell in the vat of Acid and started to melt. The body is waisting away and the brain is starting to melt down.

ABSA up date - no rudi nudi mud men from Pretoria. Yes I hear you all screaming 'out boo, hiss hiss, its a fix'. I am sure though that we will get our annual gratuitous display of bits and bobs. Rumour has it that another entry from somewhere in the in the country has snuck in.

12th: So here is a taster of what is brewing in the workshop. A lot has been done but there is a lot more to do. The big issues right now are the time and finance constraints. I want to have the dome completed for the Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards. So timewise I think that I have two months to meet this dealine. Money wise, well I think that I am about R5000 short of where I want to be. I have someone working for me to get sponsorship but any donations will be most welcome. kritikalmassuk@hotmail.com

Some technicalities are been worked out, like how to get in and out but I think that by turning one of the hexagons into a walkway and then another into a door I will be fine. The pentagon in the middle will be the standing platform.

Tommorrow is the Pretoria regional selection show for this years ABSA L'Atilier. I have been selected but it will be interesting to see what else they did and if this years rudi nudi mudman got in.

7th: 106 entries in Pretoria for this years ABSA L'Atelier. With about 10 regional centres around the country forwarding on average ten works each that means that I have a 1 in ten chance of getting in. Of course we all know that selection is not based on chance but something altogether far more subtle and mysterious. Thats why its best to be pragmatic about anything you enter. Yes your work may be worthy of a grand master and everybody elses looks like its been yawned up on a pavement outside a pub on a Saturday evening, but that don't mean you are going to win let alone get in.

You will be happy to know that this years submissions included the perenial period piece as well as the obligitory rudey nudey photographs of people taking on some dumb ass contorted my soul is in so much pain pose smeared in stuff, possibly mud this time, I think. Even with the 2m x 2m x 2m size limitation I am sure you could just submit a pair of grimacing mud wrestlers.

February 2010

We are legion and we are coming to get you! Paranoia is very much part of the SA psyche. A lady looking for a place to rent asked me if crime was a problem for the area? and then if blacks were a problem? Well we all know that black people are much more likely than white people to be noisy, dirty, thieves, who will take bribes as they have no morals. That they have no interest in leading the kind of lives that us good upstanding white folks do. The theory of skin colour been merely a result of centuries of adaption to ones environment is just that. A theory. People are black so that you can spot the trouble makers a mile off. Simple.

South Africa sees itself as the Rainbow Nation. At times though we all too politely choose to ignore the chance to affirm that vision by pretending to be deaf. Yes I should have told her to get lost, that we didn't want her 'type' round here, but what did I do? In an early morning stupor I meekly showed her around the house.

January 2010

27th: Its the end of January and only February sits between us and the deadline for the 2010 ABSA L'Atelier. The photo is a peak at what I am working on for that.

The problem with these yearly things I have noticed is that once you start entering them you start collecting these dates that you can look back on and think, 'What the Fuck?'. My suggestion to you is that while the lure of a bit of dosh and even a nice trip up to Paris are wonderfully enticing, don't enter. With each year that you enter you will gain another marker to remind you that another year has gone by. You will notice that you are getting old. Suddenly you will come to that awful realisation that you are not watching the que, you are in the bloody thing!

The solution I propose is simple: abondon all yearly things, aniversaries, birthdays, new years, everything as these markers are the cause of old age. Ignore them and you won't get any older.

17th: For the last while I have been wondering what material should use for the projection screens in my dome. For my other camera obscura installations I had used tracing paper, but this time round I wanted something that was stronger.

In the mean, time neatly poacked away in a drawer below my bed a shower curtain has been waiting for that Uereka ka ka ka ka moment. It has the look of thick tracing paper, slightly frosted, which is the ideal medium for projecting low resolution images upon. Now I must just find out if it is going to work and who stocks it.

While I have been remunating the deadline for my tax return and ABSA 2010 have been hurtling towards me. At the moment I am pretending that these deadlines do not exist in the supremely confident knowledge that by doing so, the tax return will fill itself in and my winning entry for ABSA will magically appear the night before the deadline. A plan that never fails.

7th: Well the little diversion of Christmas and New Years is over. Can't say that I particularyly enjoy the lemming mentality that consumes all during this time of the year. Dickens has a lot to answer for with his Scrooge character. So what if the guys was a miser, at least his careful ways ensured that Bob was never likely to lose his job. Perhaps Mr Dickens would have come up with a different story if he saw what misery was born of a complete lack of financial restraint. Yes the story is about a lot more than financial restraint but there are other ways of showing generocity other than screwing yourself financially which seems to be the norm for this time of year.

 Well anyway the dome is coming along ok. My little diversion with my DIY Xmas tree (see december 2009) has meant that I am a little bit behind in terms of where I want to be, but the basic shapes are starting to accumulate. For the building process I am still following the tried and tested thumb suck model which has thus far served me extremely well.

December 2009

24th: So what is Chrsitmas in South Africa like. Well if you are thinking of going down to the bookies to put a fiver on a white one forget it. You have got more chance of getting Yuri Geller to admit that he is fraud than seeing a single flake falling around these parts. If you like the feeling of stiffling heat that leaves you feeling like a sweaty old zombie, well this is the place to be.

Well here is our tree. It stand about 1.2m and is made from recycled cardboard tubes. The decorations are old magazines and the wrapping paper is old newspapers. I assure you that this is not a classical South African Tree. That would be the well known and trusted conical fir tree that is so common to these parts (plastic or real take your pick). Ornamentations also follow the trusted four cornerstones of christmass decorations; sparkly, dangly, flashing and glitzy.

15th: It would be much appreciated if you could just avert your eyes from the gorgeous bench grinder for a moment and focus your attention on the lovely pair of hexagons. As you can see they carry themselves quite well. Standing tall and uprite, the cut and snug fit of the pipes ensures that no extra support is required to maintain their perfect shape.

Progress is slow but then everything is a learning process at the moment. The jig keeps going through revisions and still I am finding that I am unhappy with it. The same with the pipe arrangements. I have been through countless ideas trying to find a system that works while minamising the number of 60 degree cuts that I have to make. The problem being that to cut this angle through a cylinder is not exactly easy.

11th: What is it? A jig I built to cut 60 and 90 degree angles in 155mm diametre cardboard pipes. Yes I was thinking of saying regaling you with some lame witisms that related to rediculus modern architectural proposals. But the facts is that it is a jig built to cut 60 and 90 degree angles in 155mm diametre cardboard pipes. And well thats about that.

November 2009

20th: I am not sure whether my work has been sold to those mysterious buyers. I am assuming that as they still have my photographs they can't live without them?

This has been the over riding trend for the last few months. Iinterest has been expressed and quotes have been given but after the initial enthusiasm the reality of having to part with cash seems to cause buyerspeople seem to just melt away. I have studiously followed up on a couple of leads but after a while the feeling is that of being a stalker.

There is some postive news. After about four years of dreaming, planning and threats of arrest I have started my geo disic dome. Yes its going to look like a football, no I am not trying to associate myself with the 2010 bandwagon, but it is a thought. 

10th: Well the PPC opening went alright. My preditions of prize winning proved to be wrong. Not a single thing came my way. As per usual the entries were beguiling as ever. Some could have been found in a garden centre. Others were.... well yes....hmmm. I am not going to sling too much mud about as I am sure Magnum raised a lot of questions of the what the fook kind.

There is talk of possible sales to a mysterious buyer who is interested in photographs. Work has been delivered to the fence and so now we are just sitting tight waiting to see to see what comes of this. Hopefully Loads and of Money.


4th: So tonight is the night of the PPC opening. Tto ensure that we avoid all the speeches etc etc,I am hoping that we arrive late. Just in case I am missed I have asked Freddy (seen here on the left somewhere near the Rockies, basking in the sun) to be there for me. He bears a close likeness to me so I shouldn't be missed.

Since I handed in my Spier proposal I have been trawling the web looking for interior designers. Thought it might be good to get these people interested in my work. But I have noticed a very worrying trend, a large majority of the sites I have seen are really poor, some diabolically so. My favourite ones are those that show pictures of toilets. The best of them being the toilet that had an excedingly long length of velvety soft curtain hanging just down beside it. A perfect substitute for when you run out of loo paper.

1st: Wednesday delivered Magnum. He has been renamed Rocky Balbarfridge. Everything at the PPC show looked so pretty and nice. Magnum, well he just looked like a gruff old donkey in a paddock of cute little horses with manes that lovely little girls like to tie fancy little pink bows in. Guess that means I've won then.

Thursday almost lost PC as well as my Spier proposal in the bargain to a Virus - nice one mate you really made my day.

Friday went and helped WESSA to set up a Veggie tunnel for a school in Daveyton, just east of Johannesburg. Rushed back to Pretoria to hand in proposal.

Saturday helped with a charity art thingy and I sold something. FAN TAS TIC. One less thing to have to find a home for.

WESSA - click to find out more.

October 2009

27th: So here we are all packed up and ready to go. Yes I know the box does not look it would be able to protect itself let alone whats inside but the gallery is just down the road. So there should be no problems.

Next week is the PPC opening and this Friday is the Spier deadline. Still ruminating on that one. Got one idea which is really deviding opinion. Its making some people feel really uneasy but others feel that with a bit of tweeking, it is a strong piece. Got another couple of proposals but i don't know if I am going to be able to flesh them out fully enough to be worthy of submitting. But there is ABSA and Sasol to try for next year.

20th: Isn't it uncanny that when you know that there is something you urgently need to do, you can always find something more important to do. Like lugging 200 or so metres of cardboard tubing from one spot to another. Priority level none existent but still it was absolutely imperitive that they were moved. Who knows what they would have done if I had left them where they were.

On the other hand there is a Spier proposal to finish;
Priority level: WHAT ARE YOU WAITNG FOR!?!?
And of course the final preperation of Magnum for transportation.
Priority level: GET YOUR ARSE INTO GEAR AND STOP WASTING TIME!!!!

But Sir the tubes Sir, the tubes.

Ah but there is always tomorrow, the day after that, better still the weekend, or even next.......

16th: Tubes glorious tubes
Dahhh da da da dahhh

As you can see in our picture on the left the Fuller household have masterfully blended a load of old cardboard tubes into a free spirited mix of old and new designs in their lounge.

Whilst being a key focal feature that no living space should be without, the muted light browns of the tubes contrast wonderfully with the deep Victorian red of the back wall . Gourgeous I am sure you would agree.

Thanks Gordon.

12th: Hmmm - curiosity is not always a good thing. In South Africa bribery it seems to be getting to the stage where its filtering into all sectors of life. You wouldn't imagine it possible of some of the people who own up to having paid at least one in their lives. So just out of curiosity, because of their position, I asked if they had ever been approuched. Cue immediate change of conversation and embarrassing moment of silence.

Of course in my mind now there exists a papradox of guilt: Do you choose to say nothing about it again in the hope that the matter is forgotten, or do you go back and make it clear that you had no intention of offering one? Which of these courses of actions least confirms your guilt?

6th: Mouth is back to a functional state - no more Salfethter impressions for me.

Magnum got in to the PPC Young Sculptor Awards. Turns out the gallery has been trying to call me for the last couple of days. Because of my phone being out of commision and our second phone not taking their call, (reasons unknown probably because it wanted to show me up as being completely incompitant), I was unhappily under the impression that I would just have to try again next year. HA HA not so.

So know we are back to the conundrum of do I go? And if not who should go as my stunt double? Richard what do you think?

1st: Admittedly it is not the 1st of July, its actually the 12th of October but after learning something about pop up menus, templates and the editing there of I have decided to take this chance to try and edit out all spelling mistakes etc while I am changing the navigation of the relevant files.