August 2018

27th August: Hmmmm so what has happened over the past couple of months? My show with Michael Meyersfeld came down. I entered Sasol again and received a real WTF moment. I shan't go into details other than to say that I was left completely perplexed by the decision, a state of mind that was shared by many people.

There is some good news though. After having to let my last website fall by the by, I have a new one. The address is www.stjohnfuller.com. I put it together on wordpress. And yes for someone who does not know how to code, it is a deep and terrifying hole. it is not as easy as all the advertising makes it out to be. It's ease of use to the uninitiated, I would liken it to trying to knit whilst wearing lead boxing gloves. But its up and that is what counts.

May 2018

7th May : It's been a couple of month's. Went over to the UK and then back to SA before focus fell fully on my show with Michael Meyersfeld at Rossouw Modern Space. All in all the lead up prep was fairly smooth. There were a couple moments when it felt like that the wheels on the bus were going to stop turning. Indeed I guess those are who more inclined to feel that universe was trying to send them a message would have decided that, well maybe the timing is not right. Cods wollop to that, there was loads of positive feed back on the night. Even though Lawrance couldn't be there, Cathy Brennon delivered a lovely speech. All in all things felt like that they went really well.

February 2018

21st February: Sheila Madikane was kind enough to give up a bit of her time for my current project, (the portrait show that is going up in Heramanus, at the Rossouw Modern Gallery). Although it only took me a couple of minutes to get the source images that I required, she happily chatted with me for an hour or so. While doing so she filled me in on some of the background to what she is fighting for. I think that this can be summed up simply with the following words, empathy, respect and as an equal.

For those of us who are lucky enough to live in comfort, there is a harsh truth that many of us would not like to admit. We have little understanding of how the other half live. Indeed while the laws of apartheid may have been abolished, a form of social segregation is taking its place. When once it was a question of colour, now it would seem to be a question of finance. Owing to the fact that the price of land is guiding social planning, those who can't afford the prices that are being demanded are being pushed further and further out of the city. The net result is a form of social cleansing. For those who are being forced out the result is a double blow. The greater the distance equals more time spent travelling. At the same time more money is needed to pay for the travel. And yet somehow we think that this perversion of logic is OK?

January 2018

Nazeer Sonday

3rd: Some time before the end of last year I asked Nazeer Sonday if I could include him in my portrait show that will be opening in May. Nazeer has been campaigning against the development of the Phillippi Horticulture Area. Nazeer took us on a tour that proved to be a real eye opener.

I know that for some South Africans, Cape Town and it's DA led local government is something to be envious of. Unfortunately the more one learns about what is going on and how they operate, you realise, with the bar been set so low by the ANC, the DA have hardly much to crow about. It doesn't require much to be better than the ANC. While it is true to say that they are probably doing a better job than the ANC could do, I would say that the margin of difference between the two is no where near as large as people imagine it to be.

Enough griping. The pic is a detail shot from the portrait that I have created of Nazeer. It has just been pulled from the wash bath so if you are wondering what those streak marks are, it is water running off of the paper.

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. 

December 2016

2nd: Just over a week to go! This has been an interesting little adventure. For some it may seem a simple thing, nevertheless when you are new to something.....So next Saturday (the 10th) bring along your best colouring skills and join in the fun.

November 2016

19th: Had a message pop on th phone yesterday. As I can only ever seem to be spammed I thought best just quickly delete it. Yurns out it was deposit from Art Lovers 1932! Apparently I had won a prize in their annual art competition. owing to a variety of reasons I was completely clueless. I had entered and then life just took over. It's the second time that this had happened. First time was in 2008 with the Sasol New Signatures.

15th: had a quick squiz of my entry for the 2nd. My evaluation? Rubbish, and so have edited.

2nd : Well whats been happening? Had a trip over to the UK. Mostly spent my time in a kitchen. Managed to escape for a weekend to London. Went and saw the Turner prize finalist's. What did I think? Ummmmmmm, what a load of Kak. I can only suggest that this reaction is because I am getting old, and plus I have spent too much time in the Sun , This of course means that my brain has been fried to the point of which I can no longer lie to myself by finding some deeper meaning in something that is patently not there.

Anyway being working on a portrait of Moira Forjaz. It has taken some months to organise but I have finally been able to get there. The above pic is just a little snap of the final images.

September 2016

2nd September: A pinch and a punch for a whole month missed. A whole month of intentions and plans but not much moving forward. At least with Spring in the air the itch to be pro active is starting to be intolerable. First things first, and a first for me. I have decided to self publish my colouring book. Unfortunately as it is not a real book, as in a novel or some such other, I don't qualify for an ISBN no. Bustards. I had high aspirations. But anyway, got myself the next best thing, a proper, registered, it is so legit that they give you a certificate to tell you that it is a legit, barcode. So yip I am now the proud owner of barcode.

July 2016

A page from the "Rainbow Nation"

20th July: Well there is just over a week to go till the final judging happens for this years Sasol New Signatures. I have to admit that while it is really cool to be selected for the final show, it would be nice to be given an award. But as a friend of mine said, 'your work is too subtle',

Great news from this years Turbine Art Fair. Heidi Erdmann from The Photographers Gallery ZA took some of my work along and got plenty of sales.

A couple of weeks ago I popped over to Hermanus to meet up with Lawrence Brennon. He is a photographer that has been developing the photopolymere technique. This all fits into my wider scheme of looking to use plates to print my photographs and not inkjet printers.

June 2016

Sasol New Signatures 2016 Entry

29th June: Another year another Sasol! That makes it six on the bounce. Almost had a complete and utter disaster on my hands but luckily things turned out alright in the end. Ok so the pic up above does not look like much, but most of the work is in the little books that are sat on the plinths. These are mindfulness colouring books with a twist.

Copper Plate being prepared.

2nd: Last week I finished off my internship at Warren Editions. With all that I had hoped to do it was over with a bit too soon. But hopefully I am going to be able to use the studio on an ongoing basis. I am really keen to master the photo gravure printing process. But seeing how difficult it is to prepare a plate, I guess for the moment I will just have to be happy with getting it right. The polishing of the plates is in itself a tricky process. If you get tiny, unwanted scratches at any stage of the process, you are looking at starting all over again. A task that I think that if the Greek Gods were really looking to punish Sisyphus, they would have chosen this one. Pushing a rock up a mountain only to see it roll back down, and repeat for eternity? Easy. Prepare a plate for photogravura, it's going to drive up the wall.

April 2016

So, I open up the blogger page today and I get some warning about some or other EU directive about warning EU residents about cookies and third parties and what not's. So in true Bernard Black style I am going to not enlighten myself, plead ignorance and say, there, that's my warning to you if you are a EU visitor. Got it? Splendid!

News? started an internship at Warren Editions. Not much to say other than I have just started this week. I am hoping that over the coming weeks I will be edging closer to being able to produce my own photogravures. First though I have to master the art of preparing a plate.

February 2016

Jack Ass

11th: So here we are in a new year and a new town. Over the Xmas holidays we packed up everything, baby bath and all and made the great trek down to Cape Town. And so now here we are busy rebuilding. Things are slowly getting there, for me though there is the question of a studio space. So while we have sorted out the space to live now comes the time to sort out a studio. Part of that journey may mean that I just make do with short term solutions.

Meanwhile the above pic is of one of the fab penguins to be found on Bolders Beach. I am busyputting together a piece of work for Intoto Gallery for their Fin Feather Fur exhibition.

November 2015

Invite depicting Roger Ballen

2nd: Well October has been and gone. being working my arse off to put together a show together that is going to happen at the David Krut Bookstore. I have been running around taking pictures of artists and their work. I then printed the pictures, stuck them up on a board, and then rephotographed them using one of my cameras. The invite above is a blend of the process and the result. The top right is a pic of the source material stuck on a board. The bottom left is a pic of the resultant photograph. 

September 2015

Inside the Guard Hut
Photograph thanks to Rupert de Beer

Well all the dust has settled. The prize giving evening of this years Sasol New Signatures has been and gone. What did I think? It was ok. Have to admit that I don't want to grumble too much as it would just feel like sour grapes. I thought my concept was strong and that I stood a good chance of being nominated for one of the prizes. Having said that I did wonder why so many video pieces won prizes, but then again I am just prejudiced. Oh well, best leave it there before I get my rage on.

August 2015

Hole With lens

 21st: Admin admin admin bloody admin. What a pain. Anyway. Pretoria Zoo asked me to bring back the shack. They were having a science week and wanted my camera obscura to be there as part of their displays. Previously I had used 9mm holes drilled into the walls as my apertures. This time I cut out a much bigger hole. I then installed a regular, un-ground lens, which I purchased from my optometrist. This was mounted in front of the hole. Results were amazing. The resultant picture was just about crisp enough to be able to read the writing on the sign outside.

Inside the camera obscura.

July 2015

An orange Post It means?

Guard Hut Camera with photo inside.

21st: Well it is good news. "The man from Delmonte says Yes!" Have been selected again to be a part of the annual Sasol New Signatures competition. That's 5 years on the bounce. I have to admit that the day before I had entered I had decided that I wasn't going to. I was just too unprepared for what I had wanted to do. I had needed to get together all sorts of things. Unfortunately events of the past week had meant that I had totally lost focus. But I woke the next morning with a slightly different mind set, a new plan and just got on with it. It was tight but I managed to get everything together. Although what I had ended up doing was not what I had set out to do, I still reckon it turned out ok.

Inside the Guard Hut Camera

20th: And so it is Sasol New Signatures time again. My entry is a guard hut which I turned into  a camera.I used the hut/camera to take photographs. The resultant photographs were then mounted within the hut. Simples really. I find out tomorrow 10 AM. If I am selected it will be five years on the trot which would be rather fabulous.

I think I worked out one of the reasons why one of my works did not get selected for last years comp. Weight! I forgot to read the little section regarding weight. Entries must be 100kg's or less. So I reckon that the judges took one look at my installation and went no effing way is this thing below 100kg's.