April 2014

2nd April: Ok, I have resisted long enough. The masses of supporters thronging outside have finally convinced me that I have to post another blog. Over three months since my last post so I guess that it is time to put up another one. So what's the excuse? None. It was always tomorrow, and then of course later, next month and that become much much later.

So what's been happening? Shows and things amongst others. Also did my first screen print. Hadn't been near a print studio after being brutally told that I wouldn't make it as a printer. So all in all, after having being put off completely by the thought of going anywhere near a print studio, I think my first attempt turned out ok. Unfortunately I can't share at the moment as it's at a gallery right now and I am feeling too lazy to go and document it. So what I will do is post a pic of something else that I did. Nope it is not a screen print. It is a print of a edited scan of one of my pinhole portraits. Please see above pic

December 2013

19th December: The above pic is of Chantall and Diane. Iwas taking portraits of Diane as part a series that I am doing with Chantall

A little over a month ago I talked about PPC and the possibilities of winning a prize. Well I did win the Functional Prize, which was nice. Well actually getting my work selected for the competition was nice. Being shortlisted for a prize was very nice. Winning? well that was extremely nice. The funny thing was that despite having a healthy cheque in my hand, I had no cash to go and celebrate with. Nada. The bank account was empty empty empty. And with life being what it is, well the winnings have soon been swallowed up by needing to pay for it's necessities.

November 2013

Wow this is worse than having to wait for Christmas day when you were a kid! Last week a got a couple from the organizers of the PPC Young Sculptors show asking me to come along to the pre opening media dance as I have made it into the top seven. As ever when one gets a phone call from Nandi you are not sure what she is going to say. She has perfected the art the dead pan phone call. Only problem is that your immediate thought on hearing hear voice is 'Oh shit, is there a problem'.

OK, from what I can see the prizes are split up as follows:

Fine Art Catergory: A first prize, a runner up prize and the two runners up = 4
Functional Art Catergory: A first prize =1
Peoples favorite, for which the voting closed yesterday =1

So that's six which makes the seventh a mystery. So my amazing powers of deduction make me think well...... I have either won the Functional prize or maybe the mystery seventh prize. Hopefully the mystery prize is not going to follow the story line of Martin's Marvellous Mini when after entering a hill climb race and driving up the hill in reverse, Martin and his co driver won a first prize of a hundred pounds of ....... spuds. Ba boom

Going back to my process of deduction ....I can't have won anything else as a: I didn't enter the Fine Art catergory and b: the voting for the people's prize had not been finished before I was notified. 

October 2013

25th October: Wow I see that it has been well over six weeks since my last blog. What has happened since the 7th of September? Well I got into the finals of this years PPC (2013) competition. My solo show at Parts and Labour opened. This is going to close this Sunday (27th Oct). Doesn't seem a lot but when you are working around the everyday things that have to get done, earning money etc, well then life is frantic.

September 2013

7th: You put you left leg in,your left out, in out in out shake it all about, that's what the Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award Exhibition is all about. I think that the team at Thami Mnyeli have been watching what's been happening at Sasol and have come up with a plan to counteract all the 'Who Ha'.

Step one: phone up all you entries and tell them they haven't got in: Step two; gauge their response,if they sound like they may be a trouble maker then consign them to the dustbin: Step three; if they sound like they are not fussed then accept them into your exhibition.  I tell you this is no conspiracy theory it has actually happened to me...

Two years ago - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. I didn't question the decision. Went to pick up work and was told no actually it was in.

Last year - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. Because of the previous year I asked "are you sure?". What ever the reasons this was a bad mistake as it obviously earmarked me as a trouble maker.

This year - got a phone call to tell me I was not in. Again I asked no questions and low and behold two days later I got another call to say that I was actually in.

I rest my case

Just made the cut off time for my PPC entry. What should have been a slow and easy process of assembling the piece as the process turned into the worst nightmare of it's kind possible. Pieces that were the right size suddenly were too short. Pieces that were re-cut to the size needed suddenly became much too long. Screw heads started to mess the operation of the device. Needless to say the odd fuse or two was blown. It's amazing how objects that are completely inert can reduce you almost to the point of tears. So the down side is that my entry was entered with a few issues still unresolved - the up side is that all the other entries into the functional category of the competition were pieces of jewelry. 

August 2013

30th: This may sound like sour grapes coming from an extremely disenchanted loser but anyway - The entry that was selected to be this years winner of Sasol New Signatures was ..... I can't find anything online at the moment to show you but anyway it was a combination of a kak painting with a kak video of said kak painting. I guess that the judges must have thought that they had the Midas touch and that by selecting the work it's kakness would be turned into something of pure wonder. Sorry, no, this is the the real world, what is kak remains....KAK.

Before I get taken down for attacking the winning artist I would to make it clear that my issue is not with Dot. She I imagine, like all the other artist's that entered, entered firstly with the hope that what she was entering would get selected for the final show and then maybe get a prize of some sort. She did not select herself as the winner.

So what we have above here is a pic of my entry to this years PPC copetition. It is a camera. Well it is actually two. I have just got to decide which parts I am going to use

For a definition of kak please follow this link  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kak

July 2013

So Sasol - There was a time when it seemed that I was only ever going to be selected for Sasol New Signatures every three years. 2005 - 2008 - 2011 - as regular as you like.No need to be bothering with the in between years, well frankly because I had EF all chance . But then something really bizarre happened last year. Got both of my entries on. Yes it was 2011 so if you added 2 to 1 and then times that by 1 you could end up with three. I guess that's one reason for the anomaly, but now it has happened again. I have been selected for the final show. 2014 was supposed tobe my next successful year of entry but now we have three years on the bounce in which I have been selected. So yes we have a three again, plus its 2013.....that's another three. Then of course 2 and 1 make three as well. So I am just checking over the charts here and apparently Mercury is in retrograde which of course means plans can go awry. But then if you couple that with the characteristics of 3, (imaginative, creative, expressive) you of course get a load of twaddle. So anyway both works have been selected for the final show which is taking place end of August. 

Pic is of the piece I did for the 'Don't let that horse show'.

3rd: It actually happened last week at the opening of 'Don't let that horse' at Art Lovers. Sammy who runs the gallery asked, 'so are you going to be ready for next Saturday?'. 'you what?' I was completely clueless. Ready for what? I knew that I was supposed to be putting some work together work for a group show taking place in August, but next Saturday? What was I supposed to be doing? Well the curator who was/is down in Grahamstown had completely failed to tell men that the dates we had discussed had been completely changed. Marvelous, Fantastic, Awesome, yes that's just great. So with the submission date for this years Sasol New Signatures looming on the horizon like a freight train with no breaks laden with lead  heading down a 1 in 1 hill, I had to suddenly find the time and money to produce work for another show. Yes I managed to get something together but really, I wish people would stop thinking that because I am a carpenter I have the innate ability to perform miracles. Yes despite having no conjuring skills what so ever I do pull out the odd rabbit from a hat but there is only so much I can do.

So this Friday we find out if we have got in to Sasol and then Saturday is the opening of the show.