November 2017

Instructions for getting into the Dome - AVA July 2017

July in Novemeber: I left my last post on a bit of a cliff hanger. I was supposed to have revealed what happened re Sasol. Well I had my first failure in a long time. I know why and yes I could have kicked myself I'm not too down about it. Just irritated.

So why July  in November. Well to be honest I think I have been posting blogs in my dreams and have been waking up thinking that I have actually done something. Well I am awake now and decided to post something and well, I have discovered the truth, it seems that I have been in a state of delusion for a few months now.

So what have I missed out?July, post Sasol hand in I put up the Dome at AVA. First time that it has been up in a while. The lower panels got a bit trashed, mostly because people didn't read the instructions. Also some of those connected to the gallery who were not aware of the Dome's imminent arrival had problems with their jaws hanging on the ground. In terms of audience participation things turned out well.

I also ran some workshops at AVA which was having a photofocus month. The workshops were mostly attended by kids. The worry being the attention span needed and that the fact that taking a pinhole photograph takes much longer than taking a photo with a phone camera. Everything turned out alright. The one kid decided to do a series of photographs of cigarette butts!

Pinhole Camera taking a photograph

While I was at AVA Andrew Fernstein popped into the gallery so that I could start work on his portrait.

Was it August or was it September? Anyway Intoto had a show and my work was sold before the opening night. That was cool and made the finances happy for the moment.

October October October hmmmm. Anything to speak of ? I'm not sure. No. Does installing water tanks count?

November? Yip something has happened. I gave a talk of my work at the Creative Camera Club, Cape Town. It's been over a year since I had given a presentation so I have to admit that I was a little bit worried. But going on the reaction of the audience, I think that it went ok. (sorry to Club members for the low res quality of their logo)

So that is that for now. I am still chasing after candidates for my next series of portraits. It seems though that people in politics are not so keen as people or available as artists are.

June 2017

23rd: Who is that? Nope not me. Just a subject from my latest series. I have been working on collecting a series of before and after portraits. The hope is to the work ready framed for this years Sasol New Signatures. I think that this year will be the last time I enter, so hopefully I will go out with a bang. Lets see.

April 2017

13th: Pinch and a Punch for the 13th of the Month. So how is my plan for getting more exposure for my work going? Well I suppose it is going alright. Have a show lined up for next year. It will be at the Rossouw Modern gallery in Hermanus. The theme behind the show is political dissenters. I have been trying to find willing sitters but the going has been slow. I did manage to get Zapiro to take part. When I visited him in his studio he was being guarded by an army of miniature Desmond Tutu's. I managed to take a quick pic of one of the legion before been run out of the studio.

Other developments. At the moment I am talking with the AVA gallery in Cape Town. Over July they are planning a photography exhibition. As part of the show they would like me to run some pinhole photography workshops.

Candice Berman is updating my info on her website. As I write this they are still busy, but I am sure that it will ready in due course.

February 2017

27th: There comes a time in artists life when one wonders, what am I doing wrong? Why aren't a filthy stinking rich? Well there many answers, and I guess if your sole purpose of creating art is to be filthy stinking rich, I think that unless you are a superb sales person, or extremely fortunate you aint gonna to get what you want. My hope is that I will be able to earn enough to support my habit while being able to put a little away for a rainy day/year. So the aim for this year is to try and get myself more widely exhibited/known so that more sales will come my way. Lets see.

January 2017

17th: The madness of the Christmas holidays meant that I completely forgot to post update re book launch. It went ok. Sold a few books, loads of colouring took place, and now the big flag is already down! 

The pic above is a portrait of John Matisson, a political broadcaster and author based here in Cape Town. Amongst many other notable positions he was one of the founding councilors of South Africa's Independent Broadcasting Authority.