August 2012

Optimism tempered by realism and an empty pocket leads to unoccupied plinths and half made moulds. Oh well... at least I got most of the bits that I was going to use for my entry to PPC. Next year...next year. As for the Thami Mnyeli Open? well entered something, its just not what I wanted to enter, thus the empty plinth.

So whats coming up? In no particular order...ME II opening on the 15th at Fried; Photographic Exhibition at the Trent Gallery  opening on the 8th September and then an Erotica show opening sometime in September, also at the Trent Gallery. Not sure when though.

Ho hum thus ends the entry for a rather glum month...mind you there is the opening for Sasol on the 29th so you never know...

May 2012

9th May: Sometimes you get involved in something and find yourself what am I doing here? Well in my case it was why have you submitted this? This is not the right place. This was the case for me yesterday. I had been asked by 'Art with a Heart' to donate some work for a charity event. I was happy to do so and without thinking about who the potential audience may be I dropped some prints off. It was only when I went to help out did I find out that what I had submitted might not have been appropriate for the event (later proved by the fact none of the images had sold). Yes yes I hear you saying but how is that possible? At R500 a pop they would have been a steal but but but.... I guess next time I will find out what works for them and see if I can dig out somethig that may sell. But then sometimes you really don't know.

April 2012

23rd: This is a pic I took of the Voortrekker Monument last year, I was going to say November but it turns out it was April last year. Wow. Anyway Adele an Interior designer has bought it from me. Which was nice. It got me thinking though. You make something that is viewed as magical. You then sell it which is a real bonus and in it's own way is just as magical, and then you end up using the money for something completely mundane such as paying the lights and water bill or the rent. Gordon Froud though has a great way of ensuring the magic continues. With the sales he makes he tries to buy another piece of work. How fantastic is that.

12th: These are the results of a process that only be described as genius. How did I achieve this: First I dropped all my test strips on the floor. I made sure that they fell into a liquid that I wasn't too certain about. I picked them up, shrugged my shoulders and thens stuffed them up my jumper and walked outside. I stood in the sun for a couple of minutes and then processed them. Developed, washed them, felt pleased with the results, put the strips back into the developer, switched on the light before walking out the door before returning after 20 minutes..........Amazing the resuls that can be achieved.

I am glad though I didn't make the same processing mistake with the pic that I took with Chantall. Have posted a pick of Chantall in front of her muse for the day, Cheugnette, a steam train which is run and looked after by FOTR (Friends of the Rail).

March 2012

23rd: Well I have been plodding along with the Ou Bass series of mine. I have reached half the number of lucky victims that I need. Only another sixteen to go and then I can lay it all out and get it printed. Should be ready in time for Sasol New Signatures.

Other news, Brendan Copestake from Artright has invited to show some of my work in his new space at AOM. This will happening towards the ned of the year. And then there is the Miniatures Group Show at Art Lovers, 1932 Long Street Pretoria. Opening is the end of May. Exaxt date to be confirmed.

How's this for a bit of irony. One of my photographs has been used in an article on people not paying their suppliers. I only found out about this when my client (who was the focus of the article) phoned me to ask me if I was aware that one of my images had been used in a newspaper. I had had no idea. The editor of the newspaper in question only phoned me a month or so after the article had been published and started waffling some excuse of deadlines and whadah whadah whadah more work blah blah blah. The fact is mate you threw mud at a client of mine for not paying their suppliers and had no intention of paying me for my work. Hypocrite.

So whats new? Still plodding on with my Ou bass series, and then I am also making another plan chest. This one is for Rene Gosselin

February 2012

20th: Well I am progressing steadily with my 'Die Ou Baas' series. I have changed some of the design elements; the flag at the top and the little logo which will be used on the back of the cards and which is on the title card. I am collecting volunteers slowly but surely. Unfortunately the little camera that I was using got stolen last week so I have lost some of my people. This new year has been a bit of a disaster in terms of equipment. Monitor gave up, parts for sander taking ages to arrive, mitre saw stopped working (hopefully its just the switch), both drills stopped working - (thankfully both still under warranty), camera stolen ( thankfully only little pocket digital). It's making me wonder if I should just try and flog off everything else I own before those things pack up to.

At least there has been some good news. Elfriede from Fried Contemporary has invited me to take part in an exhibition later this year, which is cool and something to work towards.

6th: Here is the first peek at work on my follow up to my Swart Gevaar piece. I am calling it Die Ou Baas. The thoughts that I am having so far are that I may change the chequered flag at the top to the old (apartheid era) South African flag. This will mean that I will have to change the little circle logo; perhaps use an image of an ox wagon; the voortrekker monument; or a pic of a white bloke dressed in kaki's, sitting in their bakkie, reading their paper, checking his watch to see how long it has been since he last shouted out to his workers 'Oi k......' before getting up to show them how a white man can work before he suddenly realises that it actually is blarry hot in the sun, and he had better get back into his bakkie and turn the aircon on. A little difficult to synthesise into one little image but that should go down a treat.

5th: You Joking Me....And so the new year continues to thunder along. Right now my beloved monitor is giving up the ghost, oh joy. And no, (although the picture below suggests otherwise), it is not because I have a dead frog sitting on top of it. I have had him electromagnetically tested and I can assure you that he has not affect upon it at all.  Its not the cables. I tested those too. It is not the graphics card as I tested the monitor on a different PC. Mind you the problem did only start once I placed Geoff on top of the monitor.

So during the moments of the monitor being ok I am trying soldier on. I have finally started with my follow up to my Swart Gevaar piece. Will post pics of that as soon as I have something to show.

January 2012

16th: Here is a little something that I did on the weekend. It involved laying underneath Chantal while I roasted in the sun. It is titled 'If Pigs Could....' Nope, for all my efforts you cannot see me but check out the pigs.

12th: Phew - Is it hot again? Yes - if temperatures stay this hot I reckon that I am going to reverse millions of years of evolution and as I slowly turn in to primordial soup. Yip I know I should just stop the whining.

So what am I doing for this years Artists Associations annual members show? Well I have taken some of the duds from my shots from Chantal and hung them from a mini black board which has some musings of a mythical beasty.

4th: Well I have taken a few shots with......yes I have to give her a name...hmmmmm think I will name her Chantal. No reason other than it was the first name that popped into my head. So anyway took my first shot with Chantal and I have to admit that it didn't go well. I was able to use her slideable shutter to stagger the exposure. Half way through the sequence though it started to bucket it down. So I had to move her into the garage to continue. The first image suggested that the exposures were going to have to be in the region of 20 or so minutes. The results from the next few shots revealed that I would have to take out all the lenses and resanding them to make them that much bigger. So anyway here is the first test shot.

December 2011

24th: Wouldn't you just believe it. Yes after much research, many phone calls, loads of driving about I finally decided to be done with it and buy a safe light globe (light bulb). Yes, it was blooming expensive. Yes, I did nearly faint as the kind lady with the sweet smile banged the precious little box on the counter with enough force so that you could hear the glass of the globe clinking against the thin membrane of the cardboard box. Yes, I managed to keep the smile on my face whilst forcing back the urge to say 'What the !#*%?, are you bloody stupid, you could have broken the filament banging the globe down like that'. I kept smiling as I handed over the cash whilst all the while thinking to myself, 'please don't be broken, please don't be broken, please don't be broken'. Thankfully it is not but......two days later, rummaging around a hospice shop, what do I find?

Yes!!!!! It is cracked near the top. For some reason the power lead is less than a foot long but it works. Finally I am back in business. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA ..........

Christmas Tree Update: A couple of years ago I made a tree put of offcuts from another project, the geosic dome camera obscura.....well he tree received a facelift this year and is looking funkier than ever.

13th: Drum Roll please.....Ladies and Gentlemen I present to you my very own safe light. As you can see I have used a fetching piece of yellow plastic which gives a woderful urea glow to everything that it illuminates. The question I am sure that you are all dying to ask is does it work well.....

....the light looks nice, in a rough made for a job and not to make anything look nice kind if a way. The reality is that as a safe light go it is pretty useless (see below). Piece of paper on he left was the control and was thrown straight into the developer after been taken from the packet. Piece of paper on the right was left in the dark room with the safe light for ten minutes before being thrown into the developer. It just didn't work.

November 2011

24th: Wow its almost been a month since I started work n my latest camera. I am still just about finished. All thats left to do is the final coat of varnish and then fitting the lenses. The pic below shows camera with the back open. At the moment the biggest problem I am facing is trying to get hold of a safe light. If I was in London - no problem - just phone the supplier and I would have one within a week. I can get hold of a light bulb but they are just way too expensive for what they are. So the search goes on.

Good news from the feline show. I sold two prints of the Voortrekker Monument piece. Yip thats great but as usual after all the deductions and what not, what ends up in the pocket is just enough to cover materials for the next project.

10th: I'm not sure how long it is before I am going to melt and turn into a puddle so I thought that I had better write this message before I do. Catpals exhibition, Saturday 5:30pm at Trent Gallery @ Cameo Framers, Waterkloof, South Africa. Proceeds of the exhibition will be used for the feeding, sterilisation and veterinary costs of a feral sanctuary in Pretoria.

October 2011

29th: So what are they? Nope they are not portals to another cooler dimension. Although with the temperature on the ambient furnace set to 'Roast Yee Bastards' it would be nice if they were. But as my skills only extend to carpentry and photography and not to the manufacturing of inter dimensional portals, they are just going to have to remain the beginings of a new camera. Yes after months after not doing much I have finally made some time to do something. As I write the camera is actually almost finished. Almost but not quite.

17th: Well the halfway point has long gone - what have I been up to? Well work, but I have already ranted and raved about that quite a bit. Looks like I might get a bit of time to do my own stuff next week, which is hopeful. Tomorrow I will be delivering the plan chest that I made for Stuart from Cameo Framers. These are available to order and as long as it doesn't involve anything kinky they can be made to spec. I have posted more pics on facebook if you would like to have a look. Just click on the pic below.

September 2011

28th: So anyway got a comment the other day from the mysterious BlackArks - they have a blogger profile but with no info other than they have been online since September 2011 - hmmmm - it made me think - well not much actually - that has been the problem over the last while it has just been work work work work work I am an automaton and I just work work work work work I get up out of bed and I go straight to work work work work work and I only stop work work work work work when it is time for bed work work work work work it is just work work work work monday to sunday work work work work work the life of an artist work work work work work. Yip I know life is not supposed to be easy but this is just taking the piss.

Below is the flyer from the Assembledge fringe show (my name is in the far right corner). All in all I would say it was a pretty cool event. Anyway I am just going to go back to work work work work work.......

15th: Some times I seriously wonder about the validity of calling myself an artist. With the amount of time I get to spend on my practice it hardly seems like a hobby. Sure I have ideas that I want to execute but looking at my work commitments for the next month or two I am going barely going to be having the time to sit on arse to take a quick five minute breather let alone do something productive. The worst thing about this all is that the money that I am bringing in doesn't even cover the bills. Yip I guess things feel pretty hopeless.

On the bright side I have been selected to take part in a show that is being run by Assembledge. The title of the show is titled 'The Art of Assembledge'. It is part of the Johannesburg fringe which is running concurrently with the Johannesburg Art Fair. The show runs from the 21st till the 25th September.

The image below is the piece that I am exhibiting. It is titled 'The Boxer' and is a self portrait which I took with Helga. I stood her up one way to expose half the photograph and then turned her over to take the other half.

4th:  So after getting the call on thursday to come and collect my rejected piece for this years Tahmi Mnyeli Open I went out to get it today. After wandering around the space to see what had been selected I went to go and take my piece of it's easel...'what are you doing?'...'I'm collecting my entry'...'you got your receipt?'...'No'...'You can't take that one it has been selected'...'Ok its just that I got a phone call telling me to come and pick it up'...'someone has been making phone calls to the wrong people, all the ones with a green sticker have been selected'..'oh ok'.. and so after the initial WTF? to laughing about the fact that I hadn't got in to the final I finally ended up having to leave my work as it had actually been selected...oh well.

3rd: Well went to the opening of Sasol New Signatures. As an event it was pretty cool. Good food accomponied with the usual scramble etc etc. The work was ok, saw a couple of pieces that I liked, but to be honest on the whole I found the show to be a little underwhelming. And the catalogue? While it is great to have a record, it would have been nice to see a truer representation of ones work.

I don't know whether I should be admiting to this but my work for the Thami Mnyeli Open got rejected. My Voortrekker piece. Yip....WTF!?!?! In the words of the great Mutley 'Shagafraghashaga' or something to that effect. Yes it is the ultimate humiliation. So yes now I am going to have to go through the humbling experience of picking my work up whilst trying not to think 'how the hell did that get in?' as I walk past some piece of rubbish. Anyway,this brings to mind my experience of walking round the Tate Modern and then the National Gallery in London. With the work in the National Gallery you do not need to be told how good it is. To be considered great it needs no justification, nor do they require you to like them. With the work in the Tate it is different. With some of the works you need the confirmation, to be told that they are great pieces of art, and of course with personal taste coming in to it, it is easy to dismiss one piecs of work as being a joke. The same can be said of some of the works that are selected for ABSA, Sasol, Thami Mnyeli etc etc. Sometimes the justification required seems to vastly outweigh the quality of the work. At times it is all to easy to pick holes in some of the selections. If you are not selected this is no reason to get upset as it is just the way the it is. Best to just shrug your shoulders and say - oh well.

So what else, there is the group on at Fried which I am a part of and then the Altered Pieces group show has moved to Pandora.

July 2011

19th: Three is the Magic Number. At least it seems that way. I think that the selectors at Sasol have decided that I may only succesfully submit a piece of art every three years. Since 2005 the sequence is as follows; yes no no yes no no yes. So for the next couple of years I shan't bother. In 2014 I will try again and of course get in. The pattern is so obvious.

The great thing though is that I didn't have to face the ire of the Nandi who seems to be able to make anyone who steps out of line quake in their boots.

More good news website is back online www.kritikalmass.com So yes today three is really the magic no.

18th: Well things are finally starting to settle on the home front, although is still a shed load to do, plus got a trip to the UK coming up. So what of my Sasol entry, well I don't actually know. Yes I got my entry there on time, I have to add with all the right paper work, but I just haven't got round to finding out if my entry got in or not. My excuse, well non really. I did try to phone them today but no one answered. I just hope my entry got in otherwise I am sure that I will find my self dealing with a mighterly peeved Nandi when I do finally get to talk to her.

Noticed the other day that my website was no longer online. Bloody bastard service providers took it offline for non payment of bill. So anyway, after reminding myself to remain completely and utterly calm during the whole process, I decided to pay the bills online. Despite all the old tricks of refusing to recognise my name/email address/password or giving me the option of paying over the intenet were thrown at me I managed to get there in the end. The most amazing fact is thatI got there without getting to the psycho smashing the keyboard and shouting out wankers stage. Fantastic - only problem is the link is not working - wankers.

11th: Things have been really topsy turvy the last few weeks. Had to move house, which ordinaryly is a mission but this time round the problems just seemed to multiply exponentially. A move that should have only taken a couple of weeks has evlved into a two week affair. At least the worst of it is over but it has mean that I had completely lost touch with the real world. The result of this has meant that I have got my dates mixed up. I though the deadline for Sasol was the 14th but no it is actually tomorrow. Yes so on Sunday there was an 'Oh fuck' moment - a call to the framers which garnered the sort of response which was polite but had echos of a weary school master, with his cane gently swaying behind his back, looking down at one of his many miscreants whilst they babbled some poor excuse for their failure to have done their homework. Thank you Staurt I look forward to seeing the work framed tomorrow. So to cap off a thourougly unprepared week here is one that I succesfully submitted in 2005.