Dada Centennial Exhibition - International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction, Santa Fe, USA

After reading online about the upcoming 100 year anniversary of Dada I discovered that the International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction in Santa Fe - USA, was hosting an exhibition and inviting artists to create work along this theme. As I have always loved the work of Kurt Schwitters I decided to create an homage to the master and thereby participate in this Dada Centennial Exhibition.

I chose one work (not easy, he made so many wonderful pieces) and attempted to create my own interpretation of it. I used his piece 'Merzbild 5A Spielkartenharmonika' 1919 and using this as a guide I proceeded to make a collage in response to it.

I first made a rough under-drawing to work out the structure and then blocked in tones and colours. On top of this I pulled the colours together, intensified them and then began adding layers of other materials. I didn't try to employ exactly the same materials of course, and once underway I needed to pay attention to what was happening within my work even if that meant straying a little from Schwitters' original work. Consequently my final work is not a copy of his work but is close enough to be a response, a tribute. The colour palette I employed is different, wider and more vibrant, saturated, while Schwitters chose a more restrained, sombre feel. Often, the natural effects of aging act to pull colours closer together.
Recently I have been working on collaborative drawings, part of a drawing dialogue project and this short exercise I set myself also felt a little like a dialogue with Schwitters and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Kurt Schwitters: Merzbild 5A Spielkartenharmonika, 1919

Initial under-drawing

Tones and initial colour blocking completed

Colour sharpening and first layers added

Final condition, 2016 (photograph courtesy of the 

International Museum of Collage, Assemblage and Construction)

My homage to Kurt Schwitters side-by-side with the master's work!

Photographic Project in Progress - Nam Tam Wan

In an earlier post I introduced a short 2 minute video I made that was screened online and in the exhibition gallery as part of the 3rd Istanbul Biennial. The theme of the biennial was 'Are We Human? ' and I composed the video using images I had collected while working on another photographic project. I would now like to talk about that project.

In the Autumn of 2015 I went for a stroll along the east coast of Cheung Chau, a small island in the territory of Hong Kong where I had already been living for 3 years. I discovered a pleasant trail that lead down to the water's edge in a small bay that featured a Tin Hau Temple and this had become my regular Saturday and Sunday afternoon walk.

Around 50 meters past the temple there is a concrete walkway raised above the beach, which extended the trail up a short ramp and onto the adjacent headland. One day, as I stopped on this concrete walkway to take a photograph of the bay, I noticed a silver arrow that had been spray painted onto the seaward side of the walkway, pointing down toward the beach. The sand had almost covered the arrow head but there was just enough left to recognise that is was an arrow, rather than a silver line.
One or two weeks later I returned to the same spot and realised that the arrow indicated a drain that had been cut through the walkway almost at beach level. This drain allowed the water that seeped down from higher ground to pass through the walkway and drain back into the sea. The arrow had obviously been painted so that the location of the drain could be found whenever the sand built up and covered the drain.

On subsequent walks I began to notice that the terrain around the drain changed dramatically depending on the amount of water draining from higher ground, the intensity of the rainfall, the amount of debris washed ashore by tide and winds etc. I took a photograph with my camera phone so that I could compare it with how the drain may appear when I returned on my next walk. Without really planning it, I started to take a photograph at that same spot each time I visited the bay. As the images accumulated I realised that something had been triggered and a project had begun by itself without me being aware of it. I value these kinds of phenomena and decided to let it run to see where it may lead.
I purposefully did not pre-plan my visits to the bay to take photographs, I went there only when I had time for a walk and so the frequency of the visits varied. This added a touch of serendipity in that I couldn't predict the condition of the beach around the drain and each visit was a surprise.

I currently have around 50 images and as I had been reviewing them as a series my first action was to create a book of the images so that they could be reviewed sequentially and therefore the changes to the beach could be seen easily as the pages are turned. I  created two hand-made versions and then had a third version made at a local commercial photo lab.
A fourth version is currently underway and will hopefully be published soon as a commercially available book.

2015-11-29

17.17.03

2015-12-21

16.49.09

2016-01-31

16.11.47

International Drawing Dialogue 2016

Drawing Dialogue - Exhibition and Conference

DalgaArt, Craiova, Romania 24th - 27th July 2016

18 artists contributed to this interesting project initiated and organised by Gabriela Boiangiu, creating 9 pairs of artists who responded to each others work. The participating artists included Garry Barker and Martyn Hill.

I was paired with Martyn Hill from the UK and while he worked on a series of images, I worked on my own set. We then exchanged the drawings and attempted to respond visually to what the other artists had done.

The unexpected nature of the project and the challenge presented by the project deadlines combined to make this a truly enjoyable project.

​

Some of the participating artists managed to make the trip to Craiova in Romania for the related conference but unfortunately I was not able to travel due to my teaching commitments. However, I did managed to join in some of the conference discussions via Skype. I really hope that the planned second stage of the project will become a reality.

The resulting images are displayed below with our names displayed according to the working order. For the first group of drawings I initiated the images and Martyn responded to what I had done:

For the second group of drawings, Martyn initiated a set of images and I responded to what he had done:

'Are We Human?' - 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial

Are We Human?: The Design of the Species: 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years is the official title of the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial, which will run from October 22 - November 20, 2016 at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV).
I created a 2-minute video that will be screened along with others in the Foundation at Sishane, Istanbul, Turkey and also online here!

Scroll down the page to find the link associated with my name.

Biennial Website

 

Turkish Language Flyer

The video developed out of a long-term project I had been undertaking as it seemed a good fit with the Biennial theme. I had been observing the changing state of a small beach on the island of Cheung Chau and I noticed how the weather and the tides added and subtracted elements within a small area I had been observing. nature sometimes carved out channels in the sand while at other times it obliterated all details and left a smooth almost featureless plain of sand. 

Quite often there appeared detritus, flotsam and jetsam, refuse, evidence of human garbage polluting the lovely little beach. Nature eventually cleared it away, even when it had been particularly bad and piled high on the beach. This to me was quite telling, the only evidence of human existence was the refuse we had discarded but even this was carried away by nature leaving no trace. As the months passed I saw this cycle played out: the beach filled up and was then cleared, the sand was carved away and then replenished...
The photographic project is still ongoing and in progress.

If you have trouble finding the link via the Biennial website, you can find a direct link here!

'Releasing Sisyphus' Performance Art piece

Luckily the day chosen for the performance (2nd July 2016) was overcast (taking some of the sting out of the sun) although it was still incredibly humid.  

On the artificially created beach at Repulse Bay (on the south side of Hong Kong Island) I stood with my back to the hills and faced the sea. In my hands I carried two different materials: water and sand. Slowly I allowed the sand to filter through my fingers down onto the beach after which I slowly poured the water into the sea. Both the sand and water I had dispensed immediately merged with the rest and became imperceptible. Dropping sand back to the beach, pouring water back to the sea, both of these ritualistic actions attempted to restore order and sought some kind of equilibrium.

​After a few moments I turned and began my walk towards the hills behind me. South Bay Road runs up towards the hills and then at a junction it curls away to the left, I turned right and made my way up South Bay Close, past the International School on the right until the road ended in a cul-de-sac. Steps on the left led to the trail that winds up through the trees. This trail has not been manicured and destroyed (or 'improved' as the local authorities term it) making the journey a very pleasant one, winding between boulders and roots under a thick canopy of leaves and branches.

​Once I reached the catch-water at Tsz Kong Au I crossed Tsz Kong Bridge and began the climb up the first of the twins, the two peaks that rise above Repulse Bay. My goal was to reach the top of the first twin. The initial part of the climb alternates between trail and concrete steps but after a short while the path becomes pure concrete steps leading up as far as one can see. Every so often I stopped to take a sip of water and adjust my back-pack, which contained the stones that I would use to build a cairn on the summit. 

​As I climbed the steps I thought of Sisyphus and his endless toil, pushing the boulder to the top of the hill only to have it immediately roll back to the bottom. Sisyphus would calmly make his way back down the steps to begin his labour once more. He seemingly had no escape from this god-given punishment and yet he managed to find solace in the regularity of his work. Everything was laid out for him, he had no need to plan, to calculate anything or to wonder at the outcome. Everything was pre-planned and predictable. As he descended the hill he knew what was expected and how he would re-accomplish the feat. In some ways he had found his own way to escape the torture, but I wished to free him from this torment. 

​At the summit I built a small cairn by the side of the trail, modest so as not to attract attention and I also planted two small shrubs that would hopefully thrive and help to keep the stones firmly fixed in their position. This would keep them in place and prevent them rolling down the hill. The shrubs had grown from seeds left by wild birds in a disused plant pot on my balcony and they therefore seemed to already possess a certain poetry and were regarded as extremely appropriate for this performance. Sisyphus would be free at last. He would be able to apply his physical strength and his strength of character in other pursuits of his own choosing. After thousands of years I may finally have released Sisyphus.

 

BA (Hons) Fine Art 2016

At the end of June 2016 my 10 Fine Art students graduated with BA (Hons) Fine Art from the Hong Kong Design Institute. It was the culmination of an exciting year for the students, most of whom I had previously taught at Higher Diploma level. The Fine Art programme was run as a collaboration between SHAPE/VTC in Hong Kong, and Birmingham City University in the UK. The structure comprised 2 years working at Higher Diploma level followed by a third year on the collaborative programme.
I had spent two years on the preparation of the programme including validation with Birmingham City University and accreditation with the Hong Kong Education Department and a third year working with the students in the studio attempting to guide the 10 students towards a successful graduation.
It is my sincere hope that at least some of them will go on to make some waves in the art field.

As a group, their work was quite diverse and I would like to illustrate it here with a few images, created in their studios at Morrison Hill in Wanchai, Hong Kong. I would like to wish them every success in the future!

Ada, Leung Nga Ting

 

Sharon, Choi Shu Long

 

 

Karen, Ng Hei Tung

 

Marlena, Yik Ka Yan

 

 

Alan, Lau Cheuk Lun

 

 

Leo, Choi Lai Yin

 

 

Ruby, Pang Hiu Man

 

Maggie, Cheung Lok Yi

Wesley, Kwan Tsz Him

 

Roni, Cheng Weng I