Hoy

Some paintings I have been working on recently...

Drawings

I recently had a number of drawings scanned. Here are two of them...




Natural History, 2009, coloured pencil & holes on paper, 32.5x25cm





SonBou - Night, 2007-09, coloured pencil on paper, 32.5x25cm

Things read...

"Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion."

Albert Einstein

Things seen - Robert Bordo

Puddles [2009], oil on canvas, 40.6 x 51 cm

See his current exhibition at Mummery&Schnelle in London.

Düsseldorf

The main railway station in Köln through the window of the train

Dusseldorf, Friday16^th. 9.30 am train to Dusseldorf. Cold again. Hard rain. Took a taxi at Dusseldorf station to the K21 museum to meet Josephine Kelliher my gallerist from Dublin. The taxi driver had no idea where the museum was. He finally left me at the Opera House (hard rain continues). From there I walked. Once I had met Josephine at K21 we saw the Wilhelm Sasnal exhibition. I couldn’t really take it seriously. The “bad” paintings were not bad enough to be convincing. What is “bad” painting anyway? At least, I could see none of the surprises that might arise from doing things in the “wrong” way….whatever that might be! Midday: We met Christoph Wedding, one of the artists who has curated Alpha at the main entrance. A drive out to the suburbs to Pilot Projekt für Kunst to see the second part of the show there. Very nice installation. Michael Müller runs the space. He told me that that there are an estimated 10.000 artists in the Dusseldorf area. Very pleasant afternoon. Lunch with Christoph, Hannes Norberg, Josephine, Jürgen Meyer, and Michael Müller and his partner. I had potato dumplings and beef stewed in what seemed to be vinegar, raisons and beer! Later back to Cologne on an "express train" (just 20 minutes) to see Alpha at Drei Raum für Gegenwartskunst where my painting is installed. Later, two or three openings at other galleries. Here are some installation views of Alpha in both venues, images courtesy of Drei Raum für Gegenwartskunst:

Patrick Michael Fitzgerald

Sebastian Freytag & Martina Klein

Christoph Wedding, Andreas Fischer, Petra Herzog

Petra Herzog & Sebastian Freytag

Christoph Wedding

Paul Drissen

Jane Harris

Isabelle Borges & Feliz Schramm (pilot projekt für kunst e.V., Düsseldorf)

Isabelle Borges, Felix Schramm & Jürgen Meyer (pilot projekt für kunst e.V., Düsseldorf)

Lorenzo Pompa, Hannes Norberg, Isabelle Borges & Felix Schramm (pilot projekt für kunst e.V., Düsseldorf)

Complete images of the show at Drei Raum für Gegenwartskunst & Pilot Projekt für Kunst.

Kolumba

Cologne, Thursday 15^th. Cold wind. I leave the Chelsea Hotel where apparently, Martin Kippenberger & co used to go drinking in its bar. Nearly run over by a man in a suit on a bicycle. He seemed to think it was my fault and maybe he was right. “Curried sausage with french fries covered in mayonnaise” standing at a bar table in a small cafe – could only eat a quarter of it. The day is bright -clear blue sky... but the shadows do not lose their impenetrable blackness throughout the day mirrowing the blackened towering forms of the Dom as it reaches into the heavens. Early afternoon in Kolumba. I was somewhat sceptical before my visit (the initial hype) but was quite moved, especially in the space where the wooden walkway zigzags over the archaeological remains of the gothic church. The perforations in the exterior walls (distorting and fragmenting the internal and external sound in a beautiful way). A lot to reflect on – the dialogue with the art of the past, exhibiting contemporary art alongside other artefacts, all the problems this might embody, the building itself…how does one define it? It is not a conventional museum and in ways I have not yet assimilated it seems to be imbued with Catholicism: the almost fetishistic treatment of objects and details adhering to a certain idea of beauty. The question is, whether new unexpected meanings can be generated in these contexts and whether the divergence from conventional critical/historical presentations can throw new light on the nature of artefacts and their meanings. I accept the historical aspect of everything we do - but maybe what is most valuable about art is its non-historical qualities (not necessarily universal qualities)...those aspects which allow the work to have a different resonance at different times and places.

Peter Zumthor’s building itself does not leave one indifferent. Here are a few images I took, the perforations in the exterior walls, the zigzag walkway, a display of relics, shadows on the floor made by a display case and some trees in an exterior area:

Köln

Off to Köln for a few days tomorrow. Hope to report from there and post some images of the ALPHA group show. In the meantime, two fragments...an image taken the other day: an older painting (slightly reworked) and a very new painting (reds and magenta)...

Archimedean point