18.09.14

It is a big day for Scotland. Yes. No. There is no maybes about it, because that lies within both sides of the answer. However I have swayed and swayed about the decision and the most I feel hollow about is the absence of a good debate I could have had with Simon. For better or for worse, I will be voting the one way or the other. Geographical boundaries will not sway me either way. It is the most vulnerable I felt in the last few weeks and my human side will take over to give a voice to my loved one. It means a lot to me, because so much more it meant for him. Love you Simon. Always.

ZIEME

It is not unusual for me to refer to another artist's work on my blog. More often than not it is due to some influence or a link to my practice, or maybe to delineate some strings of engagement with other wavelengths.  I rarely write about other artist's works per se, as I tend to manifest most of my thoughts in the making of things. 

I will make an exception towards Camilleri's work, Zieme, which is a temporary exhibit as part of VIVA 2014: http://www.visitmalta.com/en/event-details/2014-09/viva-valletta-international-visual-arts-festival-7683

Many have vented their views and opinions of justification or otherwise on social media and media alike. Whether one likes or dislikes this work (or any work for that matter) without going any deeper, many a time it proves pointless. Parallel to its relevance as a work that has been placed in the public domain, it has proved to be a ground of conversation and debate, hence for me is seems extremely important to observe how the (maltese) public is affected in 2014.

To make my position clear -  I like this work. Especially every time I find myself considering how people are reacting to it, form like to spite, from proposing to have it permanently exhibited to petitioning for  its removal or even substitution to 4 knights... (plain sad when one can think that the city itself needs more underlining of the knights' heritage).

Zieme is a public art work, and considering its temporal timescale it really engages with the site (both formally [the laborious process typical monuments require] and conceptually [the proximate site, Valletta - the parliament in particular and the more distant one - Malta's lack of equestrian monuments])

It is not my job to justify this work, conjure proof or quoting Derrida, though it is my duty to engage and yes disengage while showing my reasoning as a viewer and yes as an artist.

Some of the emotions towards Zieme made me recall Richard Serra's Tilted Arc (1981). It is, sorry was, a  site specific work by a leading artist who had no/little public backing and eventually it was removed. Less drastic was the end to The Angel of the North, which initially was fuelled with controversy until it became an emblem of the region! 

But what place can Zieme claim in 2014? Hoovering through all that has been said weather trashy or substantial, one always turns back to the intention of the artist. I admit for some people it is very difficult to go beyond the first allegorical explanations and some will need an answer too quickly because the unknown and the unnamed can be very threatening or at the very least disconcerting. 

One way of actually killing the amputated horse, would be by asking the artist to 'explain his work'. A more illuminating approach would be simply to have a look previous works by the artist. One particular proposal that Camilleri has made for the Maltese Republic registration call should shed some light. The absence of the pedestal and the gaze towards it helps emphasise the presence of a space. A space and place to celebrate the engendering of life within the marginal seem to be the values and interests that fuel such proposal: http://www.heritagemalta.org/monuments/ It is not a eulogy for one particular person but in its process of unveiling it is something that will glorify the ground from a disregarded slum to something worth investing in. 

Many have argued that Zieme is a weak image, even petitioned that the disability of the horse is a sign of weakness in the grand city. Some got stuck in immediate petty political connections and try to prove a futile point.

It is sad that few are able to celebrate an artist who is validly making a comment, of questioning power and what power is. He is not giving an answer because there could be diverse arguments at play (and so it should be). Even some of those who petitioned for the permanence installation of this work, seem to marginally fail to get that the impermanence in the duration of exhibition in relation to the permanence of the material used, forms part of the ideologies the artist was playing with, when he conceived this particular work for that particular timeframe.

What is even sadder is that some feel the need of the triumphant image with the sole figure mounted in full glory, because they are unable to celebrate an idea of one of their own through his work, or maybe they/we do not have faith in ourselves collectively and intrinsically, anymore. Perhaps we need reminded what was it like for the unnamed who fought and resisted and got the GC on our flag. Or maybe the self deification through the pedestal of social media has warped our senses in general. 

One might not like it but Zieme has posed some valid questions to our perceptions and how we conceive and regurgitate reality in 2014.

77MGARRROAD|OGYGIAN

Amidst the potholes, and until that time when I shall learn to appreciate their own beauty and wonder if it was always there coexisting with the pain, one foot has to be set in front of the other and we move on. Yes we move on but not without carrying anything. I proved that I couldn't do such thing - total detachment. Still now I take fragments with me some bigger than others. Seminary Years are very dear to me, I made some of my best friends there... also some of the more painful acquaintances. This was followed with me taking the leap of faith to Scotland, where I am having this journey, yes of love, and hopefully humanity as well. Love snatched but persistent until timelessness arrives. Simon. But today as I post this I trace back 5 relationships that changed my life the most important taps of it and the one's which are leaving me something today. More than something, actually everything I have... Toni and Francesca | Anthony and Maria | Chris and John | Simon and Joseph | Liz and Robert.  The Ogygian is as such for me an idea of relationships and humanity and the pain and the retreat into oneself to reach that place of thought and reflection which hopefully can change ones act for the better. It is not about what you can consume not even what can you contribute it is about something that hovers somewhere between the both. Dedicated to Simon Paul MacFadyen. 

OGYGIAN|NEWDEFINITION

Ogygian The act of taking Simon with me to that place far beyond the clutches of Space and Time and everything else.

DEPOSITUM

depositum

flaked paint on drawing pins

'Paint is rarely seen as an object iself. It adheres to what it hides and essentially becomes the hidden object'.

For this work the artist removed the ceiling paint that was flaked by a combination of sunlight and gravity on limestone. It is presented merely hovering above the ground where eventually it would have ended.

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|10

Roger Ackling 
sunlight on wood

'My Roger Ackling' is the current show at the Cairn Gallery. Taken from Scottish collections this exhibition shows a good oeuvre of Ackling's work with some great personal touches as included by Tom Clark. This particular work in the exhibition forms part of Collection SImon Paul and was acquired in remembrance of Simon's passing in 2014.

http://cairneditions.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/roger-ackling.html

SIMON

Loosing a soul mate is indescribable. The numbness takes over especially when it feel like you have lost your soulmate three times in fifteen months with every diagnosis and finally death. How to grieve again? how to keep him alive? How to still maintain a communicative line with him? Every thing seems to shut up, as I said from my point of view, even art... Only faith whispers...

I am proud that I have known Simon for the last 8 years. I am so lucky to have shared snippets of his life in times where both of us had to pretend otherwise, but in a way it did not matter because we knew in our hearts what did matter.

Simon will be the driving force behind my future actions, I am not sure why i am sharing this on my blog. In a way I sometimes feel when people share stuff on facebook or twitter it seems that the actual experience is not enough for them, they need confirmation or likes from others. 

As most of the other stuff in this blog I write and post mostly to myself to keep my mind remembering and noting dates and events that form my next choice my next project my next art impulse.

What I share here today is a pledge to Simon directly of how much I know that he loved me and I love you for all the rest of the days.

SIMONMACFADYEN|1975-2014|CHARITYFUNDRAISERS

http://www.justgiving.com/remember/103855/Simon-MacFadyen

SIMONMACFADYENANDJOSEPHCALLEJA|1CORINTHIANS13|ASFROMTODAYTILFOREVER

1 Though I command languages both human and angelic -- if I speak without love, I am no more than a gong booming or a cymbal clashing.

² And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains -- if I am without love, I am nothing.

³ Though I should give away to the poor all that I possess, and even give up my body to be burned -- if I am without love, it will do me no good whatever.

⁴ Love is always patient and kind; love is never jealous; love is not boastful or conceited,

⁵ it is never rude and never seeks its own advantage, it does not take offence or store up grievances.

⁶ Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but finds its joy in the truth.

⁷ It is always ready to make allowances, to trust, to hope and to endure whatever comes.

⁸ Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophecies, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will fall silent; and if knowledge, it will be done away with.

⁹ For we know only imperfectly, and we prophesy imperfectly;

¹⁰ but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will be done away with.

¹¹ When I was a child, I used to talk like a child, and see things as a child does, and think like a child; but now that I have become an adult, I have finished with all childish ways.

¹² Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known.

¹³ As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love.

VERYDARKVERYPOWERFUL

Di solito non tento di esprimermi cosi, e sono passati gli anni che io scrivessi una miscela di lingue. Ma la persona veccia emerge nei tempi duri. Ora come ora come mi sento non ha tanta importanza, perche passera. Ma oggi e stato un giorno duro. Simon no l'ha avuto facile per niente e Io mi sento senza speranza. Questo invoco non e indirizzato ad alcuno in particolare, ma piuttosto e semplicemente un espressione umana di una persona che si sente sola, con la conoscenza che il domani non sara per niente piu facile, non per essa e meno per Simon. Dio non ci abbandoni.

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|9

Jamie Kinroy | Megatropolis
Screen Print A/P
signed by the artist

EQUILIBRIUM

http://equilibrium-atthispoint.co.uk/

SHARDSOFZEN

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|8

Gerhard Richter | November
Limited edition 567/800
signed by the artist

SHARDSOFZEN

OPENDAY

ASIFBYMAGIC

I love this character for 2 many reasons ! :-)

COUNTUP

Simon did not get the good news we were hoping for - Art for once  seems to shut up. Like everything else... Only faith whispers...

1stVS3rd

Im finding writing an artist statement a dread. Not just because my work has been fluctuating in the media it manifests in but even on a concept level. This might be perhaps that on a personal level there is similar fluctuations and turmoils.

I realised that my statement was written in the first person and the obvious change the reader experiences if whatever content that may be was written about the artist by someone else. It becomes more professional and somehow more trustworthy. 

I agree that this is true. However it troubles me a bit, not  in the sense that i oppose it or want to fight the personal point of view corner, but for me it creates another detachment from what i think i know about my work and what it actually is. Perhaps this is needed and what makes ones work more mature.

I am first week in the Robert Callender Residency for Young Artists 2nd part. Working at Sea Loft. Niall Stevenson is currently in Japan doing his 1st part of the residency. The Japanese Artist working here as well is Kaori Matsumura and she is great to work with. 

Last night i tested my piece, where for this residency I am taking my work 8. a step forward and am aiming to make the work steal any source of light that illuminates it from outside to be illuminated solely from within. The element of pressure is still going to be present as it is important that the element of latching is maintained. However it is taking a step back this time as the whole work will have another tangent that is illuminated in a similar manner, however its latching on the building is aided only by gravity. 

This work will be adapted and takes its inspiration form a staircase in Summerhall. I like the fact that it will not be presented in a conventional gallery space. It reacts well with the history of the building and its return to Art. - An analogy to the fact that the founder of the college, William Dick have given his first lectures about this subject in the Art School because there was no proper place established.

______________________________________________

Today is real life again. Where does art begin and where does it interact/stop/merge/infuse/transform/stayconstant? with the real life. Getting the first CT Scan results to see if treatment for Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the gums has worked. Simon MacFadyen is a great person and very dear to me. I pray and hope the results are good.  

INWRITING

Looking at artist’s work of the last 3 – 4 years, anyone may feel bemused at the idea that some of these pieces are one person’s work. As from 2009 there is an evident and deliberate distancing from painting as the work starts posing different kinds of experiential requirements on the viewer. Installation and sculpture, especially a particular interest in curved surfaces leads the artist to consider ‘the site’. The definition of this term, or ‘ the site specific’ is not a static one – yes the work Tixref considers the physical space where it exists, unfolds and being posed upon. Although such relation is perceived in subsequent pieces, each work seems less dependable on the direct physical site it is shown in, but starts to comment on satellite sites such as the works http://, cyclical and 77. Having participated in diverse calls, projects, and collaborations the medium of the artist tends to change depending on what suits best a concept to be communicated. Despite such changes, a metaphysical enquiry on the repercussions of the human act seems to ripple in most of his work. In the latest works Stratum and Residuum, the artist explores the direct relationships between what something is and what it looks like – an element present in Robert Callender’s  works. Being Artist in Residence at Sea Loft and so close to Callender’s work Calleja chooses to tackle his series 1.2.4.8.16. This is a series of temporary interventions that involve glass and wood. Each intervention heightens a different aspect of the work through: its applied pressure, its visibility, its temporal existence, its latching relation to the site. How this series will evolve, in its perception or affectation by the viewer will unfold in future explorations.

RESIDUUM|31.4934cm2

Residuum 31.4934cm2

2013

pencil and eraser on paper

This is a stain that informed the Intervention at CASO, already described in a previous post. The intervention was concluded by erasing all the applied paint marks to hide the paint stained ground in the allocated site. It was an idea to tease out, in dirtying of the ground, (by the application of paint) in order to make it look clean (hiding the existing stains by new painted stains morphing to the approximate ground area)

I felt the need to translate this process into another one - that of drawing. I wanted to see how to comment in the language of drawing on the stain itself. This is a desaturated image of the original stain, and all removal of subtle colour just emphasises that the sole subject of interest here is this particular, accidental stain.

For the drawing:

•  I did not want to express any of my marks on this image so i traced the main subject to be as accurate as possible to the original. 
• The original being - a printed full scale 1:1 print to the actual size of the stain in CASO
• And the drawing started

I was interested in the concept of where this piece was going more than the actual drawing itself. I tried to make a realistic drawing of the stain as possible not to show off any skill of drawing but to drain the drawing of any personal impression or interpretation. For this matter anyone else who can copy in pencil could have done this bit for me. 

At a few stages earlier than the above image, the subject of this work got more clear to me and how could I re interpret the stain using the process of drawing itself (i.e. the application of marks with pencil and the erasing of the same marks with a rubber). I decided to take back the stain to its basic existence i.e. paint. Usually paint is quantified by its coverage area. On any tin it would tell you what is the surface area covered by its content volume. The most accurate way I could calculate this was using the digital image of the stain and get a count of the white pixels that form the stain and work out a sum using direct proportion.

Sum 

(area of stain) =

Area of drawing = l x b (29cm x 21.5) = 623.5cm2

the total amount of pixels in original image of this same area amounts to 8696075 pixels

Selected pixels of stain (last image above) = 439244 pixels

623.5cm2 x 439244 / 8696075 = 31.49336154529486 cm2

31.4934cm2 = actual surface area of stain.

square root of 31.49336154529486 cm2 = 5.61189464845 cm

An area of 5.6 cm by 5.6 cm is erased from the drawing.