Concealed, Discovered, Revealed

archive for june, 2008 - post titled Australia - weblog of Sue Lawty

In May I posted on this artist from the UK who had a residency at the Victoria and Albert Museum with an excellent blog which is ongoing. Recent posts refer to a trip to Australia. Below are a series of articles about the World Beach Project which has been a wonderful off-shoot from her former residency that engaged people around the world to join in and post back their images. In the last 10 minutes I have had trouble linking to her blog site...so if that is not corrected you can enter the web site as below or click on May above and hopefully that will facilitate the connection. Her writing is a delight to read - intelligent but very accessible, thoughtful and very rich in ideas to leave you pondering. Click on the images with text to enlarge for reading! her other work is exquisite so do take a look if you can spare a few minutes!

archive july 2007 - Sue Lawty

archive august 2007

God save Vivienne

'the only reason I'm in fashion is to destroy the word "conformity". Nothing's interesting to me unless its got that element' - 

Vivienne Westwood

'I like wearing a safari suit for shooting tigers in'

'its so important to look to the past. because people did have taste, and they did have ideals of excellence, and those things are not going to come unless people look to the past.'

excellent weblink to Westwood's 2004 Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition.

Read about Westwood's life here on Wikipedia.

This is an image from a video of Jonathan Ross interviewing Vivienne Westwood. To view go to Westwood's latest incarnation as political activist in response to global warming at the website Active Resistance where there are 6 videos to watch on the current preocupation for this extraordinary woman who says passionately on this video - "my duty is to understand the world I live in...because understanding it you have to help the world...what can I do...this gift of life... you have to ask what can I do!"

a variation on arm chair travel

I guess your'e wondering what on earth I have posted here. Well...we had a slide show at home tonight. This odd assortment of  shots was part of that slideshow. My mother and a friend of hers took a trip to Europe not so long ago. My mission was to sort through hundreds of photos and turn it into the slideshow... a most unusual task I must say. I ended up possibly remembering more of their tour through Berlin, Poland, Budapest, Prague Vienna etc etc than they may after photo-shopping 100's of photos to find the best angle, and where crop, enhance, add or subtract. As the hours (!) were passing I began to get more experimental with the artwork.... so much so that Lyn tonight hardly recognised the shots from her camera. Certainly I amused myself with the task...and it was a telling exercise ...to step into another's shoes so to speak... see what they had seen and then add something of one's own to the mix.

The good news is that Lyn was delighted with my serious editing efforts and colour enhancements gone mad... and the Mozart soundtrack to add to the atmosphere. Big sigh from me though...would have loved to have been holding the camera on the trip actually...but still ...I almost feel as though I have been there.

an invented lexicon of symbolic images

Ky Anderson is an artist I found awhile ago now and wrote to as I was interested to post some of her images which I found strangely haunting yet familiar. She wrote a lovely note back, then time passed. However I kept coming across the images I'd saved and thought I must share them. Its been a busy, busy week but as it's hot here I am having a quick spell in front of the fan whilst posting this before I head back out again! 35 degrees C is not that hot...but it's a change from perfect spring days and suddenly the temperature climbs and you remember that summer in the sub-tropics is here again...best to get used to it! These paintings however make me feel cooler and carry me into a different space altogether. The website contains many more images and here is also an interview from the Emerson blog I found under news on Ky's website. Viewing images one after the other on the website was like reading another language which you feel you can almost remember...its there in the back of your mind...you can sense it...but you are struck mute and just have to sit with the work. I like this!

Many Colours - 2008 Oil on Canvas  -click to show full image

timeless longing

 just opened a journal from 1989,  the year I settled in Melbourne, having returned from a couple of years in London and time spent travelling. I found this quote taken from "Sculpting in Time", a book on film theory by Russian film maker Andre Tarkovsky*. Whilst in London I'd seen the affecting film 'The Sacrifice' - the last he made, filmed in Sweden in 1986. Ingmar Bergman was quoted as saying "Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to the nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream".
I have kept notes of all kinds in journals over many years, some continue to resonate with meaning and this one this morning caught my attention. In the background is a section of a painting 'big river dreaming' from work I was doing in 2005-2006.The  early life of Tarkovsky, and the circumstances he was surrounded by make fascinating reading -click on his name* above to read. The following is from the same text.
    "...in artistic creation the personality does not assert itself. It serves another higher and communal idea. The artist is always a servant, and is perpetually trying to pay for the gift that has been given to him as if by some miracle. Modern man however does not want to make any sacrifice, even though true affirmation of self can only be made in sacrifice. We are gradually forgetting about this, and at the same time, inevitably, losing all sense of our human calling..."
Current art theory generally appears to sit in a different place to the atmosphere and thinking of a person like Tarkovsky. Certainly arguements could be made contrary to Tarkovsky's position, however, I always find going back to read what has been said by those who shaped ideas, and succeeded in bringing forward a new vision, to be entirely though provoking and useful to reflect on. Some ideas are worthy of transcending fashionable ideas of the day - at least for the opportunity they offer to engage with different thinking.

Keeping out of trouble in Durban , South Africa

This is the occupation the very busy and talented Neville Trickett listed on his blogger profile - 'keeping out of trouble'. If only we all kept out of trouble with this much style, wit and industriousness. I followed his eclectic saint verde digest and now have visited the new  Saint Verde Chronicles where you can watch a video about his engaging enterprise. The images here are from his Flickr photo sets - the first from his studio and the following ones are of various collections found in different sets listed here.

set: dead botanicals

set: Pollen

set: Ernest Haekel

set: Philip Taaffe

The particular sets I chose here are somewhat related in terms of the thread of botanical themes ... however there are another 48(?) sets to look at.. plus the images on the digest contain compelling material as well!

I must mention I have posted on Philip Taaffe in May here and you will find his website and studio viewings if you scroll down to the website listings on the bottom right hand side.

today is a day for surprises

Today was one of those quiet blissful days where the rain we needed was softly drizzling down, a cool breeze was blowing and things were getting attended to slowly but surely. I suddenly found myself thinking of two different friends from when I lived in London 21 years ago! I'd never managed to get back to London and lost touch ages ago! Why had I never googled them I wondered? No time like the present. 

Sabrina I found had studied Textiles at Goldsmiths in London in the mid 90's. That was exciting...but then I could not find more! Much disappointment! maybe she moved back to Italy?

My friend Joy however has been a busy, busy person (which does not surprise me!) - she was a very talented and wonderful person when we met in a queue in Venice in 87 looking for somewhere to stay. I seem to remember we ended up taking the offer of accomodation at a Nunnery(as you do in Venice over summer!) and of we course got talking in the process.

Joy lived in London and I ended up there for another winter working till I returned to OZ in 88, so we used to meet up and I got to know a few people in her life and she in mine. I even spent some time doing photography at a place where Joy worked at the time. She was a brilliant photographer and I decided best to stick to my coloured pencils! I think Joy met half my family who drifted over to London over the next few years. So...really it is sad to have lost touch. 

BUT just awhile ago tonight... she answered my email...and was so happy as she HAD thought to google at different times and could never find any one of us! It was her birthday Saturday...so Joy, even though we have not been in touch for 21 years  

H A P P Y   B I R T H D A Y   F O R  S A T U R D A Y !

Now for an important aside. if you're wondering where I found this amazing layer cake that i took the liberty of adding the greeting to for this post it was made by architect Debi Van Zyl who lives in Los Angeles, is multi-talented. and happens to have a wonderful blog. Below is an image of the cake in the stage prior to its ultimate architectural realisation. Frankly I'm in awe...I had a terrible difficult time with a 3 layer chocolate cake a few years ago that was saved from a severe crash to the floor by a clever guest with quick reflexes - much to the delight of grateful onlookers keen to try a piece. NB the sophisticated palette!

Another reason to mention Debi is that she found the wonderful string gardens below that i posted on a couple of weeks ago.

Anyway, back to the story of Joy. She has a website I would like to share and I love this photo below too. This is a lovely way for this mellow, rainy old day to come to a close! It was so wonderful to have that email message returned. When Joy said it was her birthday 2 days ago so that made it seem extra special...I had to post something here...now...to mark this occasion! 21 years... amazing!