STRATUM#2

digital print of Comino cliffs reflected in sea water
tempera on canvas (work in progress)

WHATWHENHOWWHY

limited edition embossed #36

DEPOSITUM#2

found box with pins and flaked paint
as part of depositum
http://josephcalleja.co.uk/depositum

73|75|77

There are some spaces that I am attracted to more than others. Most of the time these happen to be peripheral, marginal or borderline. It is at that moment where shadow meets light, where love meets hate when an act stops into a repercussion. I am always trying to make sense of my work and myself, How I see myself unfold in the continuous present, with a tendency of avoiding it as much as possible due to habitual inclinations. Allegorically, this garage  has become a space where I really love to spend time, as much as I hated that very notion as a child. I sense that my next few works that emerge from this space will be a bit introspective and autobiographical in nature. 

photo taken by http://www.gonzagagomezcortazar.com/

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|20

Thorunn Bara Bjornsdottir
mixed media on canvas

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|19

Katie Paterson
Future Library certificate
double-sided foil block print
310/1000

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|18

Robert Callender

A2B Limited Edition Publication

Edition 39/500

73|75|77

pencil and watercolour on paper

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|17

Elizabeth Ogilvie

from Out of Ice

archival Epson pigment prints on 

Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta Photopaper 

Edition 1/10

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|16

Katie Paterson

History of Darkness

Embossed archival silver gelatin photograph

unique, ongoing series

260 599 123 ly

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|15

Niall Stevenson

Study of a Drain Cover, Broken concrete and Sections of Paving Slabs 
Painted resin cast of a ground surface in Edinburgh
46 x 46 x 5 cm

www.niallstevenson.com

126

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|14

Iain Stewart

Land's End - Cape Wrath

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|13

A Book of Death and Fish signed by Ian Stephen at the Edinburgh Storytelling Festival 2014

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/book-review-a-book-of-death-and-fish-1-3562793

DEPOSITUM

PROPOSITION:VOID

STRATUM|RESIDUUM|DEPOSITUM

Stratum, Residuum and Depositum have become three different works that remove paint from its usual utilitarian aesthetic prospect to its plain material aspect. In Stratum paint is literally removed in a process that strips the visual meaning of the represented while simultaneously focusing the attention on itself. In Residuum paint is subjectified and reconsidered through its quantitative measures. In Depositum  paint becomes the object it usually hides and is reconsidered as an entity in itself. All three works are removed from the norm that has bound paint to aesthetic and yet how the work unfold, create a new aesthetic of their own, unintended, unplanned, yet allowed.

When considering the other works by the artist, these three works stand close together not just in their common subject of enquiry, i.e. paint. But more so because each work provides a side that is intentionally left untackled by the rest.

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|12

Reunification Palace Piano
Oil on paper

The Listener No.2

Oil on Paper

The Listener No.1
Oil on Paper


Stephen Kavanagh | Original Works on Paper
Works from the Vietnam series and the Florence Residency.

COLLECTIONSIMONPAUL|11

33 x 40 cm · Two drawers (with gouache upon one) + String 

7.2 x 7.5 cm · Gouache on miniature coffee grinder base

15 x 8.6 cm · Gouache on two wardrobe feet 

David Cass
Gouache on found wood

http://davidcass.co.uk/

ILPOST

TIME|ALLIHAVEGOTLEFT

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.