Posts by DCBCauchi
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to BenWilson,
Ben, could you please ask your sister if she knows Dan Belton (or some variant thereof – I’m bad with names), who has (I think) started his own dance company. He’s a really nice guy, and surely the dance community is small enough. This is NZ.
I went to school with him at Nelson College in the 80s and bored him witless trying to persuade him to become a painter instead of a dancer, a suggestion he rejected out of hand. He’s one of those particularly annoying multi-talented people who can do all the things you would like to be able to do, and I thought it a crime for him not to paint full time. I don’t understand dance at all either, and his effortless ease compared to the effort I had to put into painting?
Bastard.
-
One thing that fascinates me is the relationship between the written word and other symbolic visual images.
I have on my shelf copies of several Aztec and Mayan books. We don’t have that many, cos of the Spanish. (‘Aztec’ is shorthand here.) I could go on for a long time about the implications of the similarities and differences between Aztec and Mayan pictures, and their differing socioeconomic contexts.
Fascinating. Suggestive. Enough to keep us going for a very long time indeed.
And kind of related to the combination of words and visual images this blog thing started off with! Speaking of socioeconomic contexts.
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
and you mention artists books have you made any of these
Yes I have, and I want to make more. Will discuss, but probably over summer or next year.
Cigar box lid paintings are very fascinating. Long tradition. Cheap, portable, good support surface for painting. Smoking and painting also go together very well.
Once upon a time, linen tea-towels were also really good, but sadly no more.
Top ten songs for painting to? Have to think about that.
Short answer from last few months: The Fall, Hawkwind, Brain Donor. The bass lines are important I find.
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to BenWilson,
It seems like all the listening is one way now, and I don't really know too many people who like doing that without getting paid for it.
And you sound as if you have much in common with my long-suffering wife!
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to Rich Lock,
I’ll see you and raise.
(Oh for fuck's sake. This is why I prefer pencil and paper!)
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to JacksonP,
DCB, no one here starts out being against anyone, or negative about someone’s profession, or passion, as far as I have seen. It would be good if you could give us the benefit of the doubt with regards to our experience and opinions instead of jumping to conclusions.
Heh, yep, I’m trying (ho ho). (Damn it, ‘very trying’ doesn’t work, nor does ‘try[ing] hard’.)
What really annoyed me about last night was me, defo not snarky comments other people made. I love snarky comments that’re funny, especially ones that deflate my pomposity, and want to answer in kind – but get a bit out of control. Ian is the master. I am in awe. Avaricious awe.
Cheers all. Appreciate it.
And Ben, yes, being told that what you liked about something you’re unfamiliar with is trivial is very grating indeed. I do it to people all the time, despite the gritted teeth responses. It doesn’t matter that I hate it when someone does it to me.
If your sister’s experience is anything like mine, she’ll have very firm ideas about what she wants to do. Family and friends don’t want to see you in abject poverty, so suggest ways to alleviate it. But you have a burning obsession in your head that you have to get out somehow, and those suggestions tend not to address that need very satisfactorily. Better abject poverty than a comfortable life and compromised work.
It is really frustrating when things seem very clear and obvious to you, but when you try to explain them to people you care about they stare at you as if you were gibberingly insane. You start shouting. You don’t want to but you do. Then it all turns to custard. You wanted mutual understanding and you end up with hard stares and recriminations.
I can only talk about painting with people for whom it is their life too.
-
Yeah, I'd just like to apologise for getting all wound up and ranting last night. I'm not very well at the moment. I'm spending far too much time by myself. So, yeah, sorry.
And I do realise how lucky I am to get to make my work and show it, which is a hell of a lot more than a lot of people get. Supportive partner, supportive friends, supportive good dealers. Catherine Russ of Thermostat in Palmy, Ivan Anthony, Robert Heald, Hamish McKay, the McLeaveys. The country would be a hell of a lot poorer without people like them.
And A4isms is a brilliant name for a show. I reckon someone should do one. I want to see it. I can see it in my head already. It'd be hilarious.
Take that, people who maintain you can only think in words!
Sanctimony time: If you're making art at all, keep plugging away. It's worth it for its own sake. If you've ever wanted to go into a gallery for a look but been hesitant, pop in and say hello. They'll talk you through what's on the walls, won't sneer at you, and point out how surprisingly affordable the work can be. The good dealers anyway.
Long live the independents!
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to Sacha,
Of course you will. Don’t expect you not to.
Yes, I'm bitter. And as pointed out privately not too long ago paranoid and suspicious.
I wonder why that could be. Must be cos I'm such a wanker eh?
-
I have friends who sell work for tens of thousands of dollars. I get shit for showing in galleries, but that's nothing to what they get. People assume they're rich, but they struggle to earn the minimum wage in any given year.
We've got to get through the next few years, and whatever comes after, just like anyone else. Fuck knows how we're going to do it. It's not as if anyone has any savings. No-one expects to retire. Just die.
Appearance is not reality.
Parse that motherfuckers.
-
Cracker: Spotted, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
I did a drawing of flensing knives once. Flense is such a good word. Hmm, anything suitable I haven't yet titled...?