Thursday, 27 September 2007
Amendment
It has been pointed out that I got the last post address wrong ( many thanks to loyal readers - just testing....)
try
Http://www.marcuscampbell.co.uk/lab07press.html
try
Http://www.marcuscampbell.co.uk/lab07press.html
Tuesday, 25 September 2007
Falcon Bride at the London Artists Book Fair in November
Follow the link to get up to date information on the fair at
http://www.marcuscampbell.co.uk/labo7press.html
http://www.marcuscampbell.co.uk/labo7press.html
Thursday, 13 September 2007
The Falcon Bride
The Falcon Bride is an experimental ‘room-sized book’ – which I set up in a gallery in Lewes, Sussex during the local Arts Festival. I deliberately wrote no introductory explanations of the piece other than that it is based on a visit to the Polish city of Krakow, where we visited the small museum containing Leonardo’s painting ‘Lady with Ermine’ and a small Egyptian Department containing some mummified falcons; the Polish Ethnographic Museum; and the old Jewish Quarter.
It is a ‘book’ in that you are entering a world and a story which it takes time to absorb; there is a web of references and cross-references of images in different forms – 10 prints on the walls, hand-made objects and models, and a table full of hand-painted books.
The idea of making the room look like a Polish Café (a setting which re-appears within the images) is to make people feel comfortable, both psychologically and physically, as they sit to look into what can be a slightly disturbing journey - in that it asks questions without giving answers. The images and objects, hand-made reproductions of what I saw, but deliberately made to be somehow ‘on the point of becoming’, are proving quite powerful.
I am always there invigilating so it becomes almost a performance piece as I am asked questions and enter into a dialogue about our perceptions of what we are seeing; but the main idea is always to encourage people to allow the exhibits to speak for themselves and to trust and listen to their own reactions.
Each person opens up their own story.
All the exhibits are constructed from basic organic materials such as feather, bone, wax, wood, or recycled paper, card and scrim, and are fragile, but the books are designed to be handled and read.
There is nothing to buy or sell and part of the idea has been to try and restructure the way people look at art-works, how long they spend doing it, and what they expect from them.
It is trying to restore the delicate interaction between maker and viewer which became interesting at the beginning of the Open Studios movement but has now become over-commercialised again .Having been brought up (artistically speaking) by someone totally devoted to accessibility, but working myself with very personal but archetypal imagery, I am constantly aware of the interface between the two approaches.
It is a ‘book’ in that you are entering a world and a story which it takes time to absorb; there is a web of references and cross-references of images in different forms – 10 prints on the walls, hand-made objects and models, and a table full of hand-painted books.
The idea of making the room look like a Polish Café (a setting which re-appears within the images) is to make people feel comfortable, both psychologically and physically, as they sit to look into what can be a slightly disturbing journey - in that it asks questions without giving answers. The images and objects, hand-made reproductions of what I saw, but deliberately made to be somehow ‘on the point of becoming’, are proving quite powerful.
I am always there invigilating so it becomes almost a performance piece as I am asked questions and enter into a dialogue about our perceptions of what we are seeing; but the main idea is always to encourage people to allow the exhibits to speak for themselves and to trust and listen to their own reactions.
Each person opens up their own story.
All the exhibits are constructed from basic organic materials such as feather, bone, wax, wood, or recycled paper, card and scrim, and are fragile, but the books are designed to be handled and read.
There is nothing to buy or sell and part of the idea has been to try and restructure the way people look at art-works, how long they spend doing it, and what they expect from them.
It is trying to restore the delicate interaction between maker and viewer which became interesting at the beginning of the Open Studios movement but has now become over-commercialised again .Having been brought up (artistically speaking) by someone totally devoted to accessibility, but working myself with very personal but archetypal imagery, I am constantly aware of the interface between the two approaches.
I shall try and bring a reduced version of it to my space at LAB 07 at the ICA in November.
The Falcon Bride
I realise I have several personae on this blog and the gaps are widening; so those of you approaching it from different directions will have to search for the bits that fit.The Falcon Bride website will take some time to construct because I am still playing with what I might do to take the installation forward; but a few very general installation shots in the Star Gallery appear here. It really needs to be seen and experienced properly.
Likewise I am loathe to to write much about it but have been forced too for various publicity reasons, so one of the resulting attempts is reproduced above.
The show will continue until September 30th, then move to a different incarnation in the Sussex Barn Gallery at West Dean College, near Chichester ( the Edward James Foundation )
where it will open on 13th October
open weds - sundays 11-30 - 3-30
until 11th November.
Friday, 7 September 2007
The Falcon Bride opening tonight.....
I hope those of you checking out the falconbride website have been successfully diverted here to this blog.
Since setting up the show a couple of days ago I have been taking photographs, but it will be some time before they are in a fit state to publish on the site, so please be patient. I will post a few up here from time to time.
Since setting up the show a couple of days ago I have been taking photographs, but it will be some time before they are in a fit state to publish on the site, so please be patient. I will post a few up here from time to time.
Monday, 3 September 2007
The Falcon Bride
Apologies for lack of information updates re The Falcon Bride – last week my back finally gave way at a most inconsiderate time so am still trying to get mobile again; may get it taped up today which could be an interesting installation in itself…..Sitting at computers is certainly bad news
But the show will go on , the pieces are garnered in but the Piece is still in a creative state of flux, as it should be; nothing is fixed until Friday night, and even then……….
You will make of it what you will
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)