Tag Archives: leaves

“If You Throw It Out The leaves Will Grow”, last week at Hackney WickEd…

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An installation at the Inside Out show, Here East, Hackney Wicked 2017

One week on from the opening of that Here East show and everything that went with it over the weekend at Hackney Wicked last week. There’s plenty of conflicted thought, words, turmoil, fractured photos and long pieces in terms of the show and the whole weekend to be explored over on the Organ pages, the plight of Hackney Wick and the community there is something very emotive, The Organ is the place for more of what happened during the WickEd weekend, including a word or two from the opening night of Inside Out. This page is about the actual art – although the  art and the emotion of what is happening in Hackney Wick right now can’t really be divorced –  – the actual art and the notion of leaves and fresh layers growing on the things we throw out, the old unwanted frames, the pieces of wood, the beer bottles and pieces of astroturf, the books, the pieces of wood picked up from outside the building, and the canvas found in skips as studios are emptied and closed by the arrogant developers.

The installation at the Inside Out show (curated by Gavin Turk and Anna Maloney) was called “If You Throw It Out The leaves Will Grow”, it consisted of several recent paintings and leaves (tags if you wish) on found objects including a piece of red fabric from the Neo Naturists show at the ICA last year very diliberately places within the pice alongside several beer bottles drawn on as the opening night evolved and people threw them away – if you throw them away then leaves will grow     And there may have been a bit of leaf growth elsewhere around the Wick….

Clcik on an image to enlarge or to run the slide show (lots more photos of the night on the Organ page)

 

 

43s, car parks, 199 daily paintings and…

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The ongoing notions of daily paintings throughout the year, fresh leaf growth and things that revolve around the number 43 (that one down there happened in a car park in Liverpool a couple of years back).  There’s been 199 daily paintings now, this being the 199th day of the year, some of them have been seen hanging on gallery walls, some left on the street for people to take, some sold on-line (all 199 can be seen on this page) , some saved for a show later this year. It isn;t about starting and finishing a piece every day, it is about bringing one to a conclusion and every day on the year…

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Car parks and 43s were not something deliberate, well not when it started, they might be now, that and #43ArtDrops like the one that happened at Hackney Wicked last year, the recent #43ArtDrop that happened recently on the Leytonstone Arts Trail and the 43 Miniature canvas pieces at the Art Car Boot Fair a couple of weeks back.  I imagine the number 43 might figure again at Hackney WickEd this year as well as September’s Folkestone leg of the 2017 Art Car Boot Fair….

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Today’s daily painting:  199/365 – Fresh Leaf Growth, July 18th – Fresh growth, new layers, leaves and the ongoing notion of a smaller painting brought to a completed conclusion on every single day of 2017. On day 199, a 199th piece, acrylic, brushwork, spray paint, on found recycled cardboard 20cm x 15cm. And now on line and on-sale via the Cultivate web shop.

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199/365 – Fresh Leaf Growth, July 18th Fresh growth, new layers, leaves and the ongoing notion of a smaller painting brought to a completed conclusion on every single day of 2017. On day 199, a 199th piece, acrylic, brushwork, spray paint, on found recycled cardboard 20cm x 15cm

A 43 piece trail of art, another #43ArtDrop and the events of the coming weekend in Leytonstone…

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This coming weekend, 43 of the daily paintings with be hung, not dropped, never dropped, care is always taken to hang the pieces properly in the right places. this coming weekend 43 paintings will be hung on the streets, walls and green areas of Leytonstone (London E11). The piece of work in 43 parts will he next #43ArtDrop and part of the 2017 Leytonstone Arts Trail.  There an interview with me up on the Arts Trail website ahead of the event, the Arts Trail itself takes place between July 1st and July 9th, the #43ArtDrop itself will happen on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June.

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The 43 paintings will be marked with #43ArtDrop hashtag, the hope is that people will take photos/selfies with the pieces they take and post them on their/our social media as part of the piece of work. Social media, interaction and people getting involved is very much a part of it all. The 43 paintings will be hung on the streets and walls of Leytonstone, hung outside the galleries that are hosting the trail,  maybe outside on the 50’s glory of the tube station, maybe out in the green areas, maybe outside a cafe or two, I expect some will be found and taken straight away, some might stay hidden in plain sight for months and month, some we’ll never know about.

The 43 pieces will all have been painted on materials picked up off the street, pieces of wood cleaned up and sanded down, unwanted canvas found outside galleries, – old canvas, found frames, this is about the way we throw things away with little thought or consideration and the way those things are then taken back, the leaves and fresh layers that grow on our waste. The latest #43ArtDrop can be followed via Facebook, Twitter, Ello, and on the day while it is happening via Instagram

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I imagine some of the daily paintings seen on the shelves at the Cultivate Interact show last week will make up the body of 43 pieces to be “dropped” at the weekend (others from that shel, as well as new pieces being painted now, will be on sale at the Art Car Boot Fair the weekend afterwards) I do ask that you please don’t take more than two pieces each, feel free to swap pieces around if you take one and then see one you prefer further along the trail, but please please don’t be greedy and take them all, it did happen at one of the #43ArtDrop events last year and that really wasn’t in the spirit of these pieces of work that are hung to take for free

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INTERACT, Cultivate at Coate Studio, June 2017

Fine out more about the 2017 Arts Trail and all the other shows and artists to be found as part in this year’s event here

 

The notion of a small painting brought to a conclusion on every day of 2017 seemed like a good one on January 1st…

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105/365 – Fresh Leaf Growth in a Frame..

The notion of a small painting brought to a conclusion on every day of 2017 seemed like a good one on January 1st, one hundred and ten days in, the 110th piece is over there awaiting a little more attention before today comes to an end. The notion still feels like a good one,, i do see it as one piece of work in 365 parts, some of the parts are for sale, some of them are being hung on the streets for people to take, some have gone to galleries some are still here. Someone asked if the plan was to hang all 365 together at the end of the year, that can’t happen, some of the pieces have already gone off to Sweden, Spain, California, Wales, Italy, Yorkshire, Kent, Shropshire, some will be on sale at the Art Car Boot Fair, some at the next Cultivate shows or… This isn’t the only thing I’m working on right now, there are a number of larger pieces in production and..
Click on an image to enlarge or run the slide show….

Fresh leaf growth, the 100th painting of the year concluded…

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100/365 – The 100th painting of 2017, April 10th – Fresh leaf growth and the notion of a smaller painting brought to a finished state every day of the year during 2017. Fresh leaf growth and new layers growing on on an evolving canvas now concluded – Acrylic, brush work, marker pen, spray paint, varnish, 19cm x 52cm x 4cm

100/365 – The 100th painting of 2017, April 10th – Fresh leaf growth and the notion of a smaller painting brought to a finished state every day of the year during 2017. Fresh leaf growth and new layers growing on on an evolving canvas now concluded – Acrylic, brush work, marker pen, spray paint, varnish, 19cm x 52cm x 4cm

The emotion of selling a painting…

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The 88th painting of 2017 was completed in the early hours of this morning, the 88th day of the year, March 29th, unless that is I’ve lost count again, it is the 88th day isn’t it?. The 88th painting concluded and more fresh leaf growth and the notion of a smaller painting brought to a finished state on every day of the year during 2017. Fresh leaf growth and new layers growing on on an evolving piece of 12″ vinyl, now concluded – Acrylic, brush work, marker pen, spray paint, glitter paint and gloss varnish if you must know – an old piece of recycled unwanted 12″ vinyl recycled (or maybe even upcycled)

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88/365 – The 88th painting of 2017, March 29th – “Fresh Leaf Growth”

These smaller daily paintings aren’t started on the same day as they are concluded, some start days before, some weeks, some are pieces that have been evolving for a couple of years, that piece of vinyl there was originally painted on in the summer of 2014 and has been painted on several times since. A painting ever evolving, it is now completely concluded and won’t ever be touched again. I know I keeping saying a painting is never ever finished and if it sticks around here layers will constantly grow, with this series of 365 painting concluded during 2017, they will most certainly not be touched again.  And like the #365ArtDrops of 2015, this is being viewed as one piece of work, a piece of work in 365 parts, a piece of work evolving and flowing throughout the year, a piece started on January 1st and running until December 31st (if that isn’t tempting fate), 365 smaller paintings concluded on a daily basis with parts of the piece heading of to all kinds of places, art off to California, Spain, Yorkshire, Manchester, Hastings, South London….

Some of them are being dropped, the 61st piece in this series of daily paintings was “dropped” last week. The “ArtDrops” are never dropped of course, they are always carefully places in considered locations, left hanging there for someone to take should they wish to. This particular piece was left hanging in a tunnel near Shoreditch Railway station, East London, last week. I expect that now the weather is getting better there will be a lot more #artdrop pieces being left in colourful places…

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An Art Drop, an #ArtDrop, Shoreditch, March 2017

MEANWHILE THE WHAT PRICE ART? QUESTION GOES ON   – What Price Art week 10 – A return to the What Price Art question and a piece of art posted up on E.bay every week with an opening bid price of 1p. This piece went live as a 1p E.bay auction piece, last week. and ends this evening,  Wednesday March 29th. Piece number ten is now live, go find it on ebay, that link there or my name in the ebay search engine should take you to it (as well as other smaller pieces that are for sale on ebay).  What Price Art? A new piece will be posted tonight as the auction on this piece comes to an end.

This week’s 1p ebay auction piece is this painted piece of 7″ vinyl

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The 78th painting of 2017, March 19th 78/365 – “Fresh Leaf Growth” – Fresh leaf growth and the notion of a smaller painting brought to a finished state every day of the year during 2017. Fresh leaf growth and new layers growing on a 7″ vinyl record

Sold one of my bigger paintings this morning, it is always good to sell a painting of course, paint does cost money and so does studio rent and brushes and food and well you know, starving artists and all that, always good to sell a painting, of course it is. Did feel a little sadness as I saw the message to say this one had sold though, grown rather attached to this particular one, it has been on the wall of the studio here for about three years now, I shall be taking it down and packaging it up in a moment, you do feel emotional attachments to these things sometimes – there’s all kind of feelings that flow around a piece of work, frustration, anger and sometimes very personal feelings revolving around the reasons you painted it and where you painted it and what’s in there along with the paint. A lot is committed to the bigger paintings, the ones that are worked on for weeks, months, years, the ones that are battled with, agonised over, fought with, that fight you….

Here some photos of the latest completed daily pieces and that recent art drop, as always click on an image to enlarge or run the fractured slide show