Half Way

#500 Half Way
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11″ x 8.5″ image on 13″ x 19″ archival matte paper.

It was not really half way on the walk, but it is a nice title for the sketch anyway. And it is half way through the 1000 – I may be a bit behind, but pleased to have made it thus far.

On a recent walking trip with friends from to Sumner to Taylors Mistake and back.

Duchamp

#487 Duchamp
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11″ x 8.5″ image on 13″ x 19″ archival matte paper.

I have a lot of time for Duchamp. I recall the controversy when an exhibition came to Sydney, must have been late 50s? I was a kid. I thought it was stupid. But now I can see it more clearly. Art looking at art. Art asking what is art, art art. And here is a sketch, hardly art, but a little portal into the question what is art.

It was Duchamp who came up with the idea of recapitulation art, he had a go at all the styles before him, I can see how that leads to thinking about what it is all about.

One thing that it *is* about is the process, the idea, the concept. Was he the first who really got that? Maybe the first to make that idea into art.

How does it tie in with Thousand Sketches? Simple, the idea in the form of the blog + digital images (all open source & on the web) plus prints for sale is the idea that comes tied into the wehole thing. The prints have the Thousand Sketches # on them – they are a physical portal to the site. Buy one now! (or just download one but it won’t have my signature on it.

That was another thing that Duchamp bought into focus. Found objects – signed. Signing something makes quite a statement.

Links:

An earlier post, with a podcast I made that quotes another podcast on Duchamp

Wikipedia

Animated images related to Duchamp’s Nude (images of that follow!)

Images follow, all by Duchamp.

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Andy Warhol on TV

#486 Andy Warhol on TV
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As the American art critic Dave Hickey explained in Ric Burns’s excellent Warhol documentary, “He wanted to be very famous. It was very important to him. To succeed. It was a mode of survival. He was really driven. I don’t think he spent an hour of his life without thinking about how to make it work.”

~

Available in a limited edition of 25 prints, pigment ink on archival paper.

This print is available exclusively through the Allen Gallery in Chelsea New York. If you would like to purchase a print please contact Michel Allen.

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See prints from the Thousand Sketches exclusive to the Allen Gallery

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Vonnegut – the prints

#485 Kurt Vonnegut
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11″ x 8.5″ image on 13″ x 19″ archival matte paper.

I am reading Bluebeard – a novel and also a profound commentary on art. I will add art quotes here as I go.

The interesting thing is that Kurt Vonnegut is also a print producer, I say is, because new work is coming out posthumously through his screen printer collaborator.

Links:

www.vonnegut.com

Kurt Vonnegut, Novelist Who Caught the Imagination of His Age, Is Dead at 84: New York Times

Wikipedia

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Everyone is an artist – Joseph Beuys

I am thinking about art a lot. My art & where it is going. Some key words that stick: iconic – see the Buildings category for example. I want more of the iconic stuff. I need the Christchurch Cathederal. And people, I like to do portraits of people I am reading about or watching on video. Hand is another word, and Line. I like to see my hand in the lines, & I like strong lines, I try to return to more painterly stuff but keep adding lines.

Iconis is one of a list of words I have all pointing in the same direction, Kahn might say Monumental, Jung, archetypal, Moreno psychodramatic. In fact Moreno described the Psychodrama method as: “Exploring truth by dramatic means.” Here I explore truth by the means of lines by my hand. I don’t care if that sounds grandiose! I make no claims though for how successful I am, or that I am there.

Here is another I have just done, I have done about six, not sure which one to post:

#469 Joseph Beuys
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This one best caught a look in his face that speaks to me.

I like the boldness & the social engagement. He had wacky ideas, everything is creative, everything is art. There is some truth in that, everything arises from a mysterious source. He seems to consciously make himself the work of art, by creating a persona. Now that is something I quite like, but it is not me. No pseudonyms, no new roles. I am tempted sometimes… I wonder if I could create an artist and do the art from that new role. But no, I just am who I am & that is OK. There are a couple of pictures here by Prince Charles though.

He was in the Fluxus movement as was Yoko Ono. I listened to her son Sean on a podcast the other day, and he spoke of how he was inspired by his mother – you don’t need to be an expert to do art, you can just go for it. He made a movie of his separation with his girlfriend, with her in it! I can see the links!

Wikipedia

Joseph Beuys Online Guide

Pat Hanly 1932 – 2004

#466 Pat Hanly
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I went to the “Art of the Nation” at Te Papa and I had a good time. Loved the Hoteres, the Woollastons, one or two of the McCahons and Rembrandt’s etchings. God knows why these, they were ones that gripped me. The item on the cover of the booklet is a painting by Pat Hanly.

I was already in the middle of this sketch, as Hanly was in the Hotere video, they were mates it seems. He is one of the big names in New Zealand.

Links, images follow.

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