The Tally Ho

Interiors (New Zealand)

2012-02-12T17:28:00.000+01:00

Seeing where people live, how they display their possessions and what to them makes a livable and harmonious environment are a never-ceasing area of interest. I think my extended family have always had impeccable interiors, successfully reflecting their personalities and aesthetics.

Granny's flat, complete with many amazing artworks installed Salon-style. There was nearly no free wall space, every available square inch utilized for displaying her collection. Staying here for one week while in NZ made me fully appreciate framing works/pictures, and I have been scouring second-hand shops in Malmö hunting down suitable frames with which to house my few prints and drawings, mainly done by myself.

Harriet and Chris' living room at their flat in Onehunga. A great mix of leather, lacquer and vinyl. Wooden floors, wooden walls, open brick fireplace. The best thing about houses in NZ is the abundance of wood, something sorely missing in our Swedish apartment. Swedish apartments have lots of things going for them - double glazed windows, central heating, ornately plastered ceilings - but linoleum floors and concrete walls are not the best sometimes.

Both these interiors made an impression on me, knowing as I did, that after my holiday in NZ we would be moving rooms to the largest on the in flat, complete with walk-in wardrobe and an opportunity to arrange and rearrange my still rather meagre but slowly growing collection of possessions presented itself.

A trick of the light

2012-01-31T22:38:00.000+01:00

It's not often an idea or an artwork will stop me in my internet/google reader trawling, but whenever it does it is always instantly rewarding and I (metaphorically) give myself a withering look and disappointedly shake my head, wondering why I don't make more of an effort.
Via Junkculture I stumbled upon these remarkable photographs of Antarctic icescapes, by Belgian architect Francois Delfosse, deftly created with simply a plastic bag and some clever lighting. The trick with the scale is beguiling - I originally saw these as a sort of large scale sculptural installation: as if the plastic had frozen and gallery goers were free to traverse it.
And as one commentator noted on Delfosse's flickr, it is reminiscent of the crevasse Tintin falls into in 'Tintin in Tibet' - the bowels of the icy abyss illustrated by Hergé in blues, greys, purples and blacks.

On his website a series of postcards are available, including the series of Antarctic 'scapes, and a particularly wonderful image of the Bermuda Islands, as a quavering mirage. I especially like the way the dark, faceted and enclosed plastic bag Antarctica series feel when juxtaposed against the flat, one-hued and sparse open water surrounding the scarcely visible islands. I also have no idea of its 'authenticity', and I think I prefer to keep it that way.

I am always interested in people who appear to share interests of my own, ongoing projects which have been on a bit of a back burner of late involve both icy landscapes and mirages, in however a non-photographic capacity. I also seem to have compiled a large amount of primarily blue postcards, in particular from New Zealand, which I am wanting to do something with, but may also have to add these three images to the growing pile.

Focus de luxe

2012-01-28T19:19:00.003+01:00

Swedish designer Folke Arström's stainless steel cutlery "Focus de luxe".

I scanned this image at work from a book about Swedish Industrial Design which was to be inter-loaned.
I was flicking through it hoping to find an image of the cutlery set my Granny had.

And all of a sudden, there they were.

Originally introduced at the H55 architecture and design exhibition in Helsingborg, the cutlery has been back in production since 2006, and would be a wonderful merging of beautiful design, Sweden, and happy memories of dining in style with my grandmother, should I purchase a set.

A blue island in a red desert

2012-01-23T21:13:00.000+01:00

"Once there was a girl on an island. She was bored with grown ups, who scared her. She didn't like boys, all pretending to be grown ups. So, she was always alone. Among the cormorants, the seagulls, and wild rabbits. She had found a little isolated beach where the sea was transparent and the sand pink. She loved that spot. Nature's colours were so lovely and there was no sound. She left when the sun went down.
One morning, a boat appeared. Not one of the usual boats, a real sailing ship, one of those that braved the seas and the storms of this world. And, who knows... of other worlds. From afar, it looked splendid. As it approached, it became mysterious. She saw no one aboard. It stopped a while, then veered and sailed away. She was used to peoples' strange ways and was not surprised. But no sooner back on shore ... there! (sound of singing). All right for one mystery, but not two!
- who was singing?
The beach was deserted. But the voice was there, now near, now far. Then it seemed to come from the sea, an inlet among the rocks, many rocks that she had never realised looked like flesh. And the voice at that point was so sweet."
- who was singing?
"Everybody. Everything."

Story from Michelangelo Antonioni's sumptuous 1964 colour film 'Il Deserto Rosso'.
I wrote this passage down in my journal after watching Il Deserto Rosso last year, the use of the vignette in the narrative, it's contents, imagery and tone all reflected similar thoughts I had about a series I am working on at present. I enjoy taking the time to take down something in my own hand, to go back and reread.
Also, I think the people's handwriting will be completely illegible in twenty years.

Malmö - grey city

2012-01-22T08:32:00.000+01:00

Photographs taken around Malmö by Kris and I at the beginning of December. Taken with our new Konica C35 EF camera - picked up at a 2nd hand store (that kind of new), making a pleasant change from the safety net that is documenting in digital.
Above are snapshots of various local landmarks and such - Margaretapaviljongen in Pildammsparken; the Rose Fountain in Folkets Park; our street - with a couple of those windows being our apartment; Kris taking a constitutional in Pildammsparken; Kronprinsen - covered in a mosaic of millions of tiny blue tiles; and a self portrait riding the elevator at work.

I am intrigued as to see how the roles of film we took whilst holidaying in New Zealand turned out. (And if my photography skills have improved to a commendable level).While the camera seems to cope admirably with the greyness of a wintery Malmö, I am not sure how it has done with the overbearing brightness of New Zealand in full summer swing (maybe it was fortuitous that it rained almost the entire time we were there.)

You can find the rest of the roll on Kris's flickr.

Foliage Flourish

2012-01-19T19:43:00.000+01:00

It is not uncommon these days to come across an installation of a young artist complete with the cursory gesture of the placement of an overly-considered potted plant - usually derided in my eyes as some sort of counter-balance to the generic minimalist neutral hued rectangular forms which staidly take up space.

These images though hark back to the days where the foliage was not necessarily part of the art but part of the atmosphere. Carefully cultivated plants used to litter the Walker Arts Center, sometimes appearing so out of place it makes you wonder if they were not 'planted' there by rogue Intervention Artists.

It does have an interesting effect however - some of the photos grouped together from the Walker Archives could be mistaken for foyers and waiting rooms of upper crust lawyers. It is also rather fascinating how the presence of the plants seem to fulfill the absence of an audience in most of the images - they take on a sort of personality, having heavy handed critiques in corners, or sidling up to a painting for a closer inspection of the brushstrokes.

Just like ash trays in libraries and Benson & Hedges sponsoring cricket, I can't see pot plants in galleries making a comeback in the near future. However, I will be moving into a new room this weekend, giving me the space and the opportunity to install a few artworks by friends I picked up last year, alongside a well placed potted plant to keep them company.

more images and a little background info about 'Plant as Decorative Element in a Gallery' on Off Center.

Enlarge

2011-12-04T17:44:00.000+01:00

click image to enlarge

On Thursday I am flying out of Copenhagen Airport to Dubai International Airport, en route to an idyllic holiday in New Zealand. Dubai International's Terminal 3 building is one of the largest buildings in the world by floor space - and here is how the airport looked in 1965.

Share and Share Alike

2011-11-29T20:17:00.000+01:00

Animals upon each other, an image from a wall of an old shoemakers in Santiago, Chile / James Franco wearing a Sal Mineo t-shirt, as part of his project Rebel at Art Basel Miami in collab with Ed Ruscha, Douglas Gordon, Paul McCarthy, Harmony Corine (who took this photo) and others / a 1972 postcard of 'Kvarteret Korpen', a street block made famous by Malmö's resident auteur (and my now favourite director) Bo Widerberg in his 1963 film of the same name. The original 1930's block was torn down and this seaweed green and dirty white monstrosity was erected in its place. Every block in Malmö is named, Kvarteret Korpen meaning 'The raven block/quarter'. My apartment is only two blocks up the road in Kvarteret Kråkan' (the crow block) / Pablo Picasso in a backwards bull head /

Karen Barbé . 01 Magazine . Famgus Vykort . Miss Moss .

If I could still share things on Google Reader, maybe I would have shared these. Just a collection of images that have caught my eye, or reflect my surroundings and thoughts on things

Concrete Corbusier

2011-11-27T21:15:00.000+01:00

via Twowheels+

Paperback

2011-11-24T21:04:00.004+01:00

Kim Novak browsing paperbacks

via Life magazine

The Story of a Crime

2011-11-23T23:03:00.000+01:00

Two book covers from the Martin Beck series, collectively titled 'The Story of a Crime'. Both covers are almost opposites, one a watercolour, the other and photograph; Roseanna showing just the head, while The Man Who Went Up In Smoke shows a business suit in motion, sans body - it wafted away with the title.

The writing duo of Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö each wrote alternate chapters for every book, a sort of collaboration I find particularly amazing - the ability to create characters, from the brains of two people, and keeping a believable continuity to their personalities.

I wonder if you can tell which chapters are written by whom? Did Maj Sjöwall take the odd numbers, and Per Wahlöö the even? Did they switch that around every book, so as not to give the game away? There is something pleasingly rounded and symmetrical about the whole process, in the way I find happiness in every Tintin book being 62 pages long.

Gold, Silver, Bronze (in no particular order)

2011-11-13T01:23:00.000+01:00

photos from The Guardian

Out of the twelve official posters by some of Britain's leading artists for the 2012 London Olympics, these three would be gracing the podium, in no particular order. As someone who naturally seems to view things in relation to their surrounds, I automatically gravitated towards the posters I not only aesthetically preferred but also appreciated how they hung together, creating pleasing contrasts of straight lines, fluid paint, and varieties of movement.

Chris Ofili - For The Unknown Runner / Martin Creed - Work No. 1273 / Howard Hodgkin - Swimming

Orange

2011-11-12T20:34:00.000+01:00

Today I spent up large at the small record/comic book store by Lilla Torg, coming home with a selection of 9 LP's and 3 45's. The three I found for myself appear to have a sort of orange theme running through them.
Sometimes I forget how much I enjoy shopping for records - I think I had grown weary of it in recent months because I never seemed to find anything, and would always get so flustered at record shops because I could never decide what I was in fact looking for. There is nothing so disheartening as flicking through scores of records and finding nothing piquing your interest. Now I am excited about expanding my collection again, hunting for albums in Malmö and New Zealand, and exploring different music genres.

The Walker Brothers - Images (1967) / Stan Getz & João Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto (1964) / Bob Dylan - Lay Lady Lay b/w I Threw It All Away (1969)

Imperial Interiors

2011-10-30T18:29:00.000+01:00

From top to bottom:

Hōmei-Den / Kiri-no-Ma / Nishidamari-no-Ma / Chigusa-no-Ma / Higashidamari-no-Ma /

Five views of interiors of the Meiji-era Tokyo Imperial Palace, before it was destroyed in the fire-bombing raid by the Allied forces on 25th May, 1945.

a short cameo

2011-10-26T20:09:00.000+02:00

This time last week I was about to start playing a few choice morsels of music in a small, rather unnecessary effort to assist Kris with djing at the Ganglions gig at Debaser here in Malmö. Kris was playing until around 3am and so had a playlist reaching over 100 songs. I struggled to find 29 songs that I thought complimented each other well enough to be played, and always seem to end up making djing out to be more stressful than it actually is. In the end, I felt my 29 songs were just the right amount for my brief cameo behind the decks between the bands, and a little thereafter.

The songs I played, in no particular order:

The Band - He Don't Love You (And He'll Break Your Heart)

Love - Can't Explain

The Longboatmen - Take Her Anytime

Lee Hazlewood & Suzi Jane Hokom - Califia (Stone Rider)

David Bowie - And I Say To Myself

The Miracles - Way Over There

The Rooks - Bound to Lose

The Shags - Don't Press Your Luck

The Malibus - Leave Me Alone

Neil Diamond - Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon

Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun

Tommy James & The Shondells - Crystal Blue Persuasion

The Trolls - Are You the One

The Four Tops - Baby I Need Your Loving

Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling

Normie Rowe - Tell Him I'm Not Home

Neil Young - Cinnamon Girl

Look Blue Go Purple - Safety In Crosswords

The Rolling Stones - Under My Thumb

Paul Messis - What Am I Going to Do

Sonny & Cher - You Don't Love Me

The Rare Breed - Beg, Borrow, And Steal

Blondie - Pretty Baby

Duane Eddy & The Rebelettes - My Baby Plays The Same Old Song On His Guitar All Night Long

The Eighth Day - How Can I Stop Loving You

The Majestics - (I Love Her So Much) It Hurts Me

Randy & The Radiants - My Way Of Thinking

The Rokes - Piangi con me

Glen Campbell - Guess I'm Dumb

Facade

2011-10-12T21:19:00.000+02:00

WATCH HERE

Designer Tokujin Yashioka created this window display for Maison Hermès for the winter of 2009. A black and white video of a closely cropped woman's face as she gently exhales - while a hanging Hermès scarf billows in sync with the imaginary air, due to a stealthily concealed fan.
A wonderful illsion of life and movement which shifts the focus from the fabricated nature commonly associated with the silver screen, into a new semblance of reality; perhaps a literal, physical manifestation of the idea of 'breathing new life' into something.

in fact, according to the man himself:
"on designing a window-display of Maison Hermès, I intended to express people’s daily 'movements'
with a suspicion of humor. there are moments when I perceive a hidden presence of a person in
the movements born naturally in daily life. I created a design where one can perceive someone
behind the scarves as if life were being breathed into them.
the window is designed with an image of woman projected on to a monitor. the scarf softly sways
in the air in response to the woman’s blow."

I am always impressed by how as colloquialism, pun or play on words can, instead of just being a one-trick pony, manifest itself into a multi-faceted, layered work. This idea is something I aspire to achieve with my own work and my own incorporation of wordplay therein.

quote via

Great Scott

2011-10-09T23:24:00.000+02:00

Three photographs taken by Robert F. Scott on his ultimately fatal expedition to Antarctica, racing the Norwegian Roald Amundson to the South Pole across the desolate and uncompromising, yet epic and sublime landscape.

Scott was an amateur photographer taught the technical basics by the expeditions professional, Herbert Ponting, so Scott could document the final trudge to the Pole for scientific (and now, historic) purposes. A collection of Scott's photographs have recently been rediscovered and compiled into a book 'The Lose Photographs of Captain Scott' by David M. Wilson, incidentally the great-nephew of Dr Edward Wilson, member of the Terra Nova Expedition.

They make me feel an astonishing sense of loneliness and isolation that I have grown to associate with rocks, ice, islands and the colour white.

some brief descriptions of the above photographs, via The Guardian

1. Dr Edward Wilson sketching on the Beardmore Glacier, lunch camp, 13 December 1911

Wilson is seen here sitting quietly, sketching. He was one of the last artists in the great expedition tradition in which the pencil was the main method of making records. He produced many yards of accurate geographical drawings, as well as extensive notes and sketches of anything of scientific interest. Here he is drawing the mountain ranges along the Beardmore Glacier, from Mount Elizabeth (left) to the Socks Glacier and Mount Fox (right).
This panorama is the finest example of Scott's mastery of his camera, gained on the march in extreme conditions. The combination of action and repose – illustrative of Scott's unique pictorial understanding – encapsulates the contrast between the Antarctic's majesty and man's diminutive presence

2. Ponies on the march, 2 December 1911

As the pony column disappears into the distance, the "sledgeometer" on the final sledge clicking the mileage as it goes, the straggle of ponies becomes veiled in the icy wilderness. Many of the men in this image would return, but not all. None of the ponies would: within a few days they would be shot.

3. Camp under the Wild Mountains, 20 December 1911

Scott took this impressive image to capture the interesting geological features around Mount Wild. On the sledge in the camp, two figures can be seen sketching. On the left, Apsley Cherry Garrard is drawing the view towards Mount Buckley; on the right, Edward Wilson is making detailed sketches and notes of the geological features so clearly visible in Scott's photograph. The other figure that can be seen is probably Birdie Bowers, who died with Scott on their return from the polar expedition, just months later. Scott returned his camera to base with the First Supporting Party as they departed from the top of Beardmore Glacier towards Cape Evans. Critically, this lightened the sledge loads for the push across the Polar Plateau to the South Pole. Bowers, with his lighter camera, was chosen by Scott to become the photographer for the final pole party.

Off Vantage Point

2011-09-21T21:50:00.000+02:00

Felice Varini
Zigzag entre le cercle at la tour (Niigata, Japan), 2009
Castillon du Gard n.1, 1981
2006 Huit carres (Versailles, France), 2006

Felice Varini was one of the first artist models I chose for myself, (back in the days where artist models were the way ideas came about) in my sixth form sculpture class. I was drawn to his disregard for reality, treating the three dimensional landscape as a blank canvas, and the masterful illusions he created. The tangible illustration of this fictional plane place on top of the world as I knew it impressed me. I was always more interested in the ways the work changed once one abandons the 'vantage point'. The spot where Varini pulls the strings, and seemingly halts movement, slows time and flattens space. (for some reason, probably due to photographs, I always imagine viewing the works as being a solitary endeavour - only one person can be at the precise vantage point at one time, and the view is never hindered by the presence of living things.) And instantly, one is shown The 'ANSWER'. There, laid out bare and perfectly formed, waiting to be accepted, when you are in 'the right place at the right time'. In that respect, apart from their unfailing apparant solidity, the works are similar to mirages.

The works 'off vantage point' seem so much more dynamic, full of diagonal lines of motion and distortion. Perhaps this reflects my natural view of the world as a whole, a place full of clues, hints, red herrings and false trails, smaller pieces of information amassing to create something larger than the individual scraps themselves, continuously linked together. One cannot be directed to a static spot, providing the end and not the means, offering only the solution.

I like to reside within the fiction and the reality, so then it becomes up to me, and my existing within the space his works occupy, as to whether I join the illusion. Instead of standing still, I would walk around the works in a semi-circle, crossing the 'vantage point' somewhere in the middle.

I think of one of my favourite quotes when looking at Varini's work, from Dennis Potter's 1987 masterpiece The Singing Detective:

"All solutions and no clues, that's what the dumb heads want. That's what the bloody novel 'he said, she said, descriptions of the sky..., I'd rather it was the other way round, all clues no solutions, that's the way things really are. Plenty of clues, no solutions."

Taking the secret passageway to the Conservatory

2011-09-20T21:24:00.000+02:00

Pictures of a house up for sale in Jönköping. Feels rather reminiscent of the Bate's family home in Psycho, with the taxidermied birds, wooden paneling on the upper landing and a mysterious hidden door.

Edward Hopper's The House by The Railroad (1925) was inspiration for the appearance of the Bates' Mansion. The original set consisting of the house and the Bates Motel, still exists on the Universal Studio's back lot.

Apple Diptych

2011-09-13T19:31:00.000+02:00

Mick Jagger and Paul McCartney eating apples.

via

Shirts, poolside

2011-09-13T18:13:00.000+02:00

Photographs by Astrid Kircherr (and others) taken while holidaying on Tenerife with Klaus Voormann, George, Paul and Ringo. This was at the same time John absconded to Barcelona with Brian Epstein, starting all those rumours.

Points of interest:
- Curious to know what that small piece of cardboard Ringo and Paul are using as a nose protector.
- Can't fault a shirt and trucks outfit.
- Nice choice with the orange beach towel.
- Ringo has always looked like the one who would be most paranoid about sunburn.

via

Detail

2011-09-04T22:10:00.002+02:00

Detail of an ongoing embroidery work, based on a map of the mirage island 'Crocker Land'.
Done while listening to Neil Young, Paul Butterfield, Lee Hazlewood and James Carr.

Small things slowly accumulate to create larger things - stitches, letters. Built up to reveal an image, narrative, something in which all the tiny stitches are used to link together and form a new idea.
There is a sort of tension within the work: pulling one in to recognise the details which make up the work, and being pushed back to see how each stitch is linked together creating the bigger picture.

Architectural Examples

2011-09-01T18:57:00.004+02:00

Ringmuren, Visby / Café/Restaurant with Ringmuren through the roof, Visby / Thatched house, Fårö / Fårö fence / Seaside apartments, Visby / 3 doors, Fårö / Ingmar Bergman's property, Fårö / Facade with four different windows, Visby / Church with wooden roof, Stenkumla, Gotland.

Deckare

2011-08-30T18:43:00.000+02:00

Last week my friend Kah Bee posted a link to the post Cocktaildags: Vintage Swedish Books Covers - a collection of Swedish editions of popular crime stories.

My two personal favourites -

Raymond Chandler, Den stora sömnen (Original title: The Big Sleep), cover by Martin Gavler, printed 1963

John Bingham, Mord i månsken (Original title: Marion), cover by Per Åhlin, printed 1965

And from my own collection -

Raymond Chandler, Mord, Min Älskling (Murder my darling) (Original title: Farewell, My Lovely), cover by Olle Frankzén, printed 1985

As my Swedish vocabulary slowly but surely increases, I have succumbed to the temptation of purchasing a few of my favourite 'deckare' (crime novels) in Swedish, in the hope that one day I will have become bilingual enough to make it further than the first chapter before I throw my hands in the air in despair and frustration. I recently stumbled across the amazing 1980's Swedish edition of 'Farewell, My Lovely' (Mord, Min Älskling) by Raymond Chandler in a second hand shop around the corner from my house for 10kr.

Judging a book by it's cover is surely one of the best things one can do on such occasions.

Village

2011-08-23T20:25:00.000+02:00

Wandering around the Helgummanen fishing village on Fårö. Small wooden cabins filled with wooden bunks and wool blankets, miscellaneous tin objects, small rocks and pieces of glass, sea shells. I liked the use of driftwood as makeshift wall brackets, and the stones weighing down the lids on the dinghies, which tourists had used to spell out their initials, like I used to do with the rocks in the crater of Mt Eden.

I loved the juxtaposition of natural materials in the grain heavy timber, the different rich shades of varnish each cabin had, and the walls created by layering flat slate rocks on top of each other. The small cluster of sparely but sturdily built shacks reflected the village's sparse rocky surrounds and muted colour palette - greys, browns, greens and blues.

3 Grains of thought

2011-08-21T18:29:00.003+02:00

Two recent wood grains I have come across over summer, and a close up of LIMBS, a work I did for The Physics Room Kiosk in 2009. The first is the side of a small shack at Helgummanen fishing village on Fårö. The second is a wood grain blouse from Weekday.

If I was a pattern I would most definitely be wood grain. The search continues for more wood grain printed/patterned/covered apparel/furniture/odds and ends.

People these days are always seemingly talking about 'inspiration'. Who inspires them, what inspires them and so on, as though their inspiration divulgences somehow justifues one's idea. People bemoan the demise of originality, the constant complaint of 'everything being done', but if perchance someone unearthed an original idea, it would have to be inspired by something. It couldn't just exist, could it? I was thinking about something along these lines today while I was ironing my wood grain shirt and admitting to myself that wood grain "inspires me".I don't actually know if it is the wood grain that actually inspires me, but perhaps the associations I make with the wood grain which forms a mind map of interlinked and intertwined inspirations.

It is strange thought. One I obviously haven't thought too clearly about. But it is quite nice having half realised thoughts on your finger tips.

A lighthouse on a grey day

2011-07-29T16:28:00.000+02:00

It was the only day which was overcast that we cycled out to Fårö's lighthouse. The road winds through a rather dense forest of tall pines, creating a closeness with the tall trees and the low sky, I think I forgot at some points that I was on my way to see a building which beckons travellers from the vast expanses of the open sea.

We stopped off en route by Fårö's only supermarket, purchasing a carton of milk from Gotland, a couple of smoked flounder from the smokehouse nextdoor and a selection of freshly baked rolls from the nearby bakery for a small picnic on the beach.

Next to the smokehouse was a small flea market and book stall, in a rundown wooden shed with a dirt floor - piles of unsorted books piled on trestle tables, listing bookshelves and mildew afflicted cardboard banana boxes. I surprisingly found an english copy of Goldfinger amongst the mess, for 5kr.

The lighthouse was surrounded by a low wall and a small outcrop of buildings. One can't go up to the light house as the area inside the wall is private property. The greyness of the sky and sea was reflected in the lighthouse structure itself, as well as the grey rocks below it, but it wasn't that gloomy, depressive grey that low clouds usually bring. The entire scene and atmosphere suited the weather much more so, than the swimming pool blue coloured skies of the days prior.

After lunching we lay in the sand dunes, using our jerseys and cardigans as makeshift pillows, as adventurers are wont to do (or so I like to think), and dozed lightly. After a while I wandered down to the shoreline, and discovered a dead seal. Some sea creature had eaten it's eyes. I didn't take a photo of it.

At Kutens Bensin

2011-07-23T18:23:00.000+02:00

At Kutens Bensin, Fårö. Or as it's also known 'Creperi Tati'. It lay on the other side of what was possibly the largest sloping road on Fårö, and I inwardly cursed it's location as I peddled furiously up what became known as my nemesis hill; I filled with dread and defiance every time it loomed ahead of me, but the promise of relaxation, crepes, and a jukebox asking to be played was enough incentive. (let it be known I conquered this hill every time.)

We went there twice, first for dessert, and the next day for dinner.
The exterior is all overgrown weeds, rusted cars (one was meant to be the car Bonnie and Clyde were shot to death in, I never found it), and miscellaneous signs, watched over by an american flag atop an impossibly tall flag pole. The interior was a hodge-podge of Americana and Swedish nostalgia, wooden beams, formica tables, mismatched chairs; the kind of place where every inch of wall space seems to be covered by a photo, catchy slogan or retro knick-knack, and everything felt worn and lived in, in that comfortable, nostalgic way.

Sitting inside on the first evening, I had a classic chocolate crepe, while Kris ordered a 'Summer evening smile', I believe it was called, with saffron ice cream and dewberry jam. We drank cold Coke out of glass bottles (coke does taste better in glass bottles, you know), read old Swedish magazines and spent two hours taking turns playing the jukebox.

On our return trip with had dinner outside amongst the blue painted garden furniture and rusted refrigerators. The dinner galettes were all named after actors and musicians of the 50's and 60's - the Marilyn's, the Jimmy Deans, the Presleys and so forth. My Galette was called the 'Hopper', after Denis, naturally, and was brimming with chorizo, parma ham, potato, cherry tomatoes and cheese, and accompanied by a crisp, dry apple cider. I read a Goldfinger paperback I discovered earlier in the day at a small book stall set up in a shed next door to the supermarket and the fish smokery.

Fowl Spectators

2011-07-19T14:40:00.001+02:00

A marabou stork struts casually onto the field in a World Cup qualifier match between Kenya and Morocco, Nairobi, Kenya, 2005.

An owl swoops into the stadium, halting the match between Finland and Belgium for 8 minutes during a Euro 2008 qualifying match at Helsinki Olympic Stadium. As everyone stands around bewilderedly, wondering what to do, the owl launches from one goal, nonchalantly flying down the pitch, only to take up place upon the crossbar of the goal at the other end.

Bicycle ideal

2011-07-18T20:18:00.006+02:00

I am scouting about for a new bicycle. At present the Pilen Lyx is the clear leader, preferably in forest green with a brown Brooks saddle, because one can choose things like that. This is most likely my equivalent of buying your first car.

Sea Legs

2011-07-17T20:11:00.003+02:00

The RMS Queen Elizabeth on fire and as a shipwreck in Hong Kong Harbour, 1972. While being converted into a University cruise ship (a rather amazing idea), the world's largest passenger ship mysteriously caught fire as her refurbishments neared completion. So much water was poured into her, in a vain attempt to combat the blaze the ship eventually capsized from the weight, and lay wrecked in Hong Kong Harbour for many months, until eventually being partially scrapped to be used as landfill for Hong Kong Airport. Parts such as the keel and boilers still lie on on the seabed, and are still marked on local maps as 'Foul', an unsafe area to anchor a boat.

The wreck of the RMS Queen Elizabeh made for one of the more interesting film locations and sets when used as a covert MI6 headquarters in the 1974 Bond film 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. To accommodate for the capsized liner's continuous lean, the Secret Service apparently constructed new floors, ramps, staircases and bookshelves, making for excellent clashing wallpaper patterns, bizarrely distorted corridors,and staircases upon staircases.

whet your palette

2011-06-29T22:54:00.001+02:00

For a few weeks over the summer, I am the unofficial head of the Serials Department, while everyone takes their summer holidays. While checking in the new periodicals a couple caught my eye: Paletten and Ordkonst. Two Swedish journals about art and literature, respectively.

Some Windows / Blinds

2011-06-13T22:11:00.000+02:00

Alex Philip Fitzgerald
Some Windows (2010)

Printed acetate and colored vellum layered on the windows of my studio in Malmö, Sweden.

RED OAK / FIRST DOG (2010-2011)
An imagined space where Walter de Maria's Broken Kilometer exists as a story of the separation of a boy and his two coon hounds.

alexphilipfitzgerald.com

friends making great art. more to peruse!

Spectacles spectacle

2011-06-13T16:38:00.009+02:00

My new pair of spectacles - to seemlessly maintain vision inside and out. I never realised how poor my eyesight was until putting my glasses on -
akin to Dorothy's transition to techni-colour in The Wizard of Oz - entering a whole new world.
Now I just walk around looking at things, marvelling at how sharp and bright everything looks.

Smörgåsbord

2011-06-13T05:24:00.002+02:00

Tapas & type: colourfully arranged morsels and letters. The former last night's dinner, the latter a wedding gift for two friends celebrating wedded bliss last weekend in Copenhagen. Corresponding colours and composition almost. I like it when circumstances in my daily life visually reflect each other in an sort of aesthetic coincidence.

Hopefully 'Tapas Saturday' will become a monthly/summer tradition. I feel like I am in the time of my life where I would like to start building up a collection of my own 'traditions', instead of following someone else's. Perhaps this is another goal for the year.

Wish you were here

2011-06-12T22:33:00.000+02:00

via

Queen Elizabeth II in a casual yet well coordinated 1970's outfit while holidaying around the Western Isles of Scotland,
the Royal Yacht Britannia is anchored in the background.

Inspiration for a name

2011-06-12T15:57:00.000+02:00

Three Tally Ho's: Newspaper from The Prisoner (1967) / Tally Ho! - The Clean (1981) / Two packets of Tally Ho papers from my friends Ash and Tim - Australia's Finest.

Roarin' Around

2011-05-29T21:29:00.001+02:00

It was back in the 60's that department stores really stocked everything, and one could wander into Harrods and casually purchase a pet lion cub from the 'exotic animals' department, on your way past haberdashery and manchester. Christian the lion spent his first year of life living it up with his Australian carers in their London flat, cruising around in the backseat of a Bentley, dining at restaurants, and reclining on the chaise longues at his digs in the furniture shop aptly named 'SophistoCat'.

The vicar of the Moravian Chapel nearby was approached to allow Christian the run of the graveyard, and every day he was taken there to roar around and play football.
Once, when he was brought along to a seaside picnic, he dipped his toes reluctantly in the water and intimated with a shudder that it was disagreeably cold. But he was eventually persuaded to swim in the English Channel.

"Sometimes, he'd see people staring at him through the back window of the car, keep very still on purpose - and then, just when they were convinced he was a stuffed toy, he would very slowly turn his head and freak them out."

excerpts from The Daily Mail

Ljus utan skuggor

2011-05-29T16:45:00.000+02:00

Kah Bee Chow
Ljus utan skuggor
2011

concrete, glass, cyanotype on silk, broken glass and mirror, globe pendant lamp, sanded floors, blanket, digital print, towel, sawn homeware catalogue, cup, steel chain, steel tube, found rocks.

A glittering array of carefully contructed mountains of polished glass, gently draped printed fabric, stoically robust grey columns and the reflections of plants/chains/crystals/aforementioned items caught in broken shards of mirror, while bright sunlight bears down and casts shadows that perhaps weren't meant to be there.

Kah Bee Chow's installation for the Malmö Konsthögskolan's annual exhibition open days was indeed a highlight. I love the feeling of seeing your friends make great work, which in turn inspires your own efforts.

Notes on a Scandal

2011-05-25T20:13:00.000+02:00

Crowd scenes from Malmö Stadion, where the game was held and eventually called off due to hooliganism.

Yesterday's 'derby' was the show-down between the two rival footballing cities of Skåne, Helsingborg and Malmö, whose teams (HIF and MFF) are also sitting first and second respectively, on the Allsvenskan points table. Every time these rivals rendezvous the police are out in force on horseback on the streets, cautiously eyeing up raucous revellers. Chartered buses roll in from out of town, and patrol cars cordon off roads around the train stations to direct the flow of human traffic alighting from them, mingling with the sky-blue clad Malmö supporters wandering around the streets drinking cheap beer, letting off flares and chanting incomprehensibly.

The match was aborted after thirty minutes of play; after HIF scored a goal, enraged Malmö supporters pelted the Helsingborg goalie with firecrackers and one crazed fan brazenly burst onto the pitch to attack the goal keeper head-on. The man was carried by police, pall-bearer style, off the pitch and play abandoned.

The match is being referred to in Swedish press as 'The Scandal Match' and the HIF goalie keeps stating he is 'very shocked'.

Photographs via Sydsvenskan

From a Holiday

2011-05-16T21:11:00.001+02:00

Diffust Deren - Sarah Jane Gorlitz / Ubåt U3 at Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus, Malmö / Chilled lobster on the street, Copenhagen / Window display at a Danish Auction House with polar bear and reflected surrounding architecture / Façade of Frederiksborggades Is ice cream parlour, Nørrebro, Copenhagen.

A small collection of photographs taken over Easter, 2011, when friends visited. Travels and adventures in Malmö and Copenhagen, when the weather stayed warm just for them it seemed, and as soon as the last one left, reverted to windy, chilling, and grey.

I prefer looking at holiday snaps in groups of five or so. Too many, and I lose interest, not enough, and I am unable to build up some sort of narrative or aesthetic connection between each image. I like to think of photographs 'fitting' with other photographs, I suppose that is why I have always held an interest in diptychs, jump cuts, film stills and so on and so forth, and the implicit/explicit nature of the pairings or collections - whether it be by colour, light, composition or subject matter, or the background and storytelling behind the images themselves.

One criticism about the referential nature of my art practice is that the audience is not necessarily privy to all the links, hints, references, plays-on-word and in-jokes behind them. Perhaps not, but maybe there is enough to build on by the aesthetic of the image/artwork itself.

Matching palette

2011-05-16T20:09:00.001+02:00

The Central Bank building in Azeri Square, Baku, Azerbaijan / Julie Christie with telescope.

Song Choice

2011-05-09T22:34:00.000+02:00

On Saturday my friends in New Zealand banded together to celebrate one of my best friend's birthdays in true karaoke style. It pained me not to be there to join in the hours of drunken fun, but at least gave me a moment to ruminate of what I would have sung had I wished to assault them with my strained vocal chords.
It is quite hard choosing a truly worthy karaoke song: you want a song everyone knows, so that they can join in on the chorus or take over if you are truly mutilating the said song. You would not want a song to be too long, with a drawn out guitar solo, as no one goes to karaoke to hear someone sing an instrumental. Preferably the song should have a poignant or meaningful memory associated with it and others present, possibly you have drunkenly listened to at a previous time. I have discovered that the most enjoyed karaoke songs are ones people don't take seriously - its is most likely they have been played on solid gold - perhaps even over the christmas period.

And, if you are someone such as myself, the song should be relatively easy to sing. Therefore, as my now preferred karaoke song of choice, taking all of the aforementioned points into consideration, I can only conclude that next time I am in a karaoke room I shall break into a slaughtered rendition of

Rod Stewart's Maggie May

Items of Interest

2011-05-09T22:02:00.002+02:00

Isamu Noguchi / My Name Florence Tee / Buoy Rope Bag / Ngaio Marsh / Lady Michael Balcon as Minerva by Madame Yevonde / Danger Man

Some recent items of interest and things that have caught my eye: portrait of Isamu Noguchi in one of his elegant chairs - one thing I would like to do with my life is make chairs; recently I bought this tee shirt from the Swedish shop weekday - ironically (or fatally) it was named the 'My Name Florence Tee', and after that there was no looking back; have started another art project knitting fishing line whilst probably diminishing my already failing eye sight, the main inspiration for this stems from various rope covers for buoys; I also recently completed reading Ngaio Marsh's autobiography, she will always stand as one of my favourite authors alongside Raymond Chandler, Haruki Murakami, Joseph Heller and Herge; Lady Michael Balcon as Minerva looking rather similar to a cover of a Chandler/James Bond novel, with shades of Twin Peaks thrown in for good measure; Danger Man, perhaps the precursor to 'The Prisoner' - I swoon every time John Drake says his token catchphrase 'I'm obliged' and wish I could incorporate this into my everyday parlance except no one else would understand what I meant by it. I also appreciate Danger Man's relatively realistic fight scenes, at least compared to other spy programmes of the time.

Såsom i en spegel

2011-05-01T22:02:00.000+02:00

Photographs of Malmö as taken through a periscope at Teknikens och Sjöfartens hus (The joint Maritime Museum and Museum of Technology).
On the lookout for enemy war ships, unsavoury characters, and unknown flying objects.

Theatrics

2011-05-01T17:11:00.001+02:00

The Royal Wedding screened live at Sendlinger Tor cinema in Munich, Germany. 29th April 2011, and, judging from the screen, around 11am.

(Lukas Barth/dapd) via the Atlantic

Studio Visit

2011-05-01T16:52:00.001+02:00

April contained a bevvy of exciting experiences, including the start of a new, full time, Swedish speaking job, an amazing Easter sojourn from aforementioned job with visits from three wonderful friends, the commencement of time spent in my new basement studio, and the beginning of a new project mentioned here previously. Hurrah for April, I say, as I still come to terms that today is in fact, the first of May.

The white striped shower curtain I am at present embroidering on in my new studio / close ups of the North Pole, which Robert Peary reached on the day of my birth in 1909, and the mystical 'Crocker Land', of which the map claims to have plotted / Ryan documenting the work in progress /studio portrait of the artist with invisible artwork.

Plans for May include afternoons after work sewing white on white, and perhaps fitting a couple of afternoons playing basketball in between.

Wayward Land

2011-04-17T20:54:00.001+02:00

Chart of Segment of the Western Arctic North and Northwest of Grant Land by Edwin Swift Balch, 1912, showing the unexplored 'Crocker Land', sighted by Robert Peary in 1906. This fabled land lead to an ill-fated expedition to explore the nature and possible inhabitants of Crocker Land, however they discovered the land in fact, did not exist, and was actually a type of mirage known as a Fata Morgana.

The day was exceptionally clear, not a cloud or trace of mist; if land could be seen, now was our time . Yes, there it was! It could even be seen without a glass, extending from southwest true to northeast. Our powerful glasses, however.. brought out more clearly the dark background in contrast with the white) the whole resembling hills, valleys and snow-capped peaks to such a degree that, had we not been out on the frozen sea for 150 miles, we would have staked our lives upon its reality. Our judgment then as now, is that this was a mirage or loom of the sea ice.

This imaginary land mass, created by a trick of the light, and the subsequent effort of the Crocker Land Expedition, is the basis for a new work I have begun in my new studio space. A hand embroidered rendering of this map on a white shower curtain, stitched in white thread and fishing line, blurring outlines with surroundings, incorporating materials which will shimmer in the light, reflecting upon ideas of mirages and mistaken realities, and the feeling of being small and inconsequential in a vast, cold landscape.

This is the first work of a series I am working on involving ideas about loneliness, solitude, islands, ships and the sea.

"...the Crocker Land mirage could symbolise the loneliness of the sea in another way. It is almost like a delusion instead of an illusion, something Donald Crowhurst may have imagined seeing, to convince himself of his sanity (or lack thereof). The sense of false hope a mirage can cause, just like how a weary traveller in the desert believes the mirage he is seeing is an oasis, it is uncanny how it appears to take the form of the thing one most desires, and the opposite of what is actually there - in the desert one believes he is seeing water, whereas at sea, one thinks he has sighted land."
- notes from my art journal about Crocker Land and mirages.

Diet

2011-04-09T20:19:00.000+02:00

As 'The Thin White Duke', Bowie's persona throughout 1976, his diet consisted of 'Red pepper, cocaine, and milk".

Duet

2011-04-09T20:15:00.000+02:00

David Bowie and Mick Ronson kick off the American leg of The Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars Tour, Cleveland, Ohio, 1972.

Office supplies

2011-04-07T18:13:00.000+02:00

In an effort to add a little colour and personalise my at present rather drab new work abode, I pinned up these four postcards - featuring artwork by Clinton Watkins, Claire Cooper and Simon Esling; and a postcard sent from my grandmother while she was holidaying in Florence in 1990.

Soon my office (the fact I have an office to myself is still a foreign concept) will be the 'library triage': full of forlorn books needing immediate medical attention - broken spines, torn pages or loose leaves, as one of my duties is to mend and tend to damaged books, surely one of the funnest responsibilities of a library assistant.

Robert Peary in the Arctic

2011-03-28T19:40:00.004+02:00

Robert Peary in Arctic furs.

"In June 1906, Commander Peary, from the summit of Cape Thomas Hubbard, at about latitude 83 degrees N, longitude 100 degrees W, reported seeing land glimmering in the northwest, approximately 130 miles (210 km) away across the Polar Sea. He did not go there, but he gave it a name in honor of the late George Crocker of the Peary Arctic Club. That is Crocker Land. Its boundaries and extent can only be guessed at, but I am certain that strange animals will be found there, and I hope to discover a new race of men."

- Donald Baxter MacMillan

FATA MORGANA [part I]

2011-03-28T19:34:00.001+02:00

[click image to enlarge]

An example of a Fata Morgana mirage, a rare and complex type of superior mirage. Here, an illusion of a large 'wall' of land is created, upon what is actually just open water.
The name of the mirage stems from the Italian for Morgan le Fay, the sorceress of Arthurian legend. In Italy, she was believed to be associated with the sirens, who lured unwary sailors to their death in the waters around Sicily.

Vivid

2011-03-26T19:12:00.000+01:00

Ian Botham, Viv Richards and apparently Ian Botham's agent: resplendent in whites and stripes.

via the fascinating tumblr of 1980's cricketers. check it out for more candid shots.

Pitch Invasion

2011-03-26T17:46:00.000+01:00

A pitch invasion of the sort you just don't see anymore, after The West Indies beat England in the final of the 1979 Cricket World Cup.

more great images of the 1979 WC

The Teams

2011-03-24T23:41:00.000+01:00

The Teams, 1983 Cricket World Cup, England.

via

Flying Fish

2011-03-24T23:25:00.000+01:00

A collection of images of Jonty Rhodes mid-air, with the ability to jump both vertically and horizontally.

Jonty Rhodes was cricket's first real fielder, before him, it was just something to do while waiting for your turn to bowl. Rhodes literally flew into legendary stratospheres with his full-body diving run out of Inzamam-ul-Haq in the 1992 World Cup match between South Africa and Pakistan. Instead of attempting to throw down the stumps as was common practice for a run out, he sprinted towards them, ball in hand, and hurtled towards the wickets - a full-stretched flying dive - like a human cannonball, his entire body parallel to the grass beneath him, and resoundly clattered into the stumps and Inzamam was on his way back to the pavilion.

"Out of the corner of the eye I saw Jonty diving in. I'd never seen a bloke dive at the wickets ever before."

He leapt like a salmon, or a dog catching a frisbee, flying through the air as if a Hollywood action film explosion was propelling him.

When I represented Auckland in cricket as a teenager I was once compared to Jonty Rhodes in the field. It was the best cricket compliment I had ever received.

Essential

2011-03-22T01:23:00.000+01:00

Miles Davis

Light Thickens

2011-03-21T22:32:00.000+01:00

Yasujiro Ozu
The Only Son
1936

Tacita Dean
Disappearance at Sea
1996

- For many, Donald Crowhurst is just a cheat who abused the sacred unwrittens of good sportsmanship. But for some, it is more complicated than this and he is seen as much a victim of the Golden Globe as the pursuer of it. His story is about human failing, about pitching his sanity against the sea, where there is no human presence or support system on which to hang a tortured psychological state. His was a world of acute solitude, filled with the ramblings of a troubled mind.
Tacita Dean, 1997

The film Disappearance at Sea is part of a series of Tacita Dean's works under the same name focusing on Donald Crowhurst and the Teignmouth Electron, and the effect the sea had upon his mind.

The Only Son was Ozu's first talkie - exploring the mother/son relationship, and perhaps also the idea of 'big fish in a small pond' and vice versa. Ryosuke moves from a small town to Tokyo with his tutor, to continue his education, but both are small pebbles cast into the swelling sea of people in Tokyo, and their efforts result in little success, Ryosuke teaching in a unremarkable night school, and renting cheap shabby rooms for his wife and child, and his tutor now running a tonkatsu restaurant in the lonely outskirts of the city.

At Sea

2011-03-21T19:02:00.000+01:00

Clinton Watkins
Cont Ship #1
2005

Joseph Cornell
Jack's Dream
c. late 1930's

The abandoned Teignmouth Electron is discovered: Donald Crowhurst's trimaran in which he attempted the Golden Globe Race, that would result in his eventual insanity and suicide.

via, via, via

The image from Jack's Dream by Joseph Cornell comes from a fascinating blog by the name of the art of memory, in particular a collection of atmospheric imagery of the ocean, film stills featuring the sea, illustrations of ships, fog lights and horns, misty rigging and alongside paintings and photographic works of waves. I stumbled across it looking for film stills from L'avventura (Antonioni, 1960).

My interest in islands and the sea grows continuously. Ships are, in a way, similar to moving islands. So much mystery surrounds both, and both can maintain an almost continuous isolation as long as one is deprived of the other.

Of a Likeness

2011-03-21T18:00:00.000+01:00

Of a likeness: Orson Welles and bull in 'Touch of Evil' (1958). The first film I have seen at Malmö's Cinemateket, other films I am looking forward to are 'Morte a Venezia' by Luchino Visconti (1971) and 'The Housemaid' by Kim Ki-Young, (1960).

Fantasy Island (part I)

2011-03-20T22:59:00.001+01:00

Multiple views of Isola Bella, a fantasy island full of intricate Italianate gardens, laconic leucistic peacocks and housing the Palazzo Borromeo. Grandiose isolation, as all isolation should be.

The 1986 travel photo of well-dressed pensive-looking man in front of Isola Bella could easily be mistaken for being 25 years later, I'm sure. Sometimes attire is not indicative of a time period at all.

In Chinatown

2011-03-20T00:10:00.000+01:00

via

Faye Dunaway on the set of Chinatown, 1974 directed by Roman Polanski.

Overcast

2011-03-16T23:13:00.001+01:00

girl with moon, stairs by Toshio Shibata

Waiting for these grey days to wind up and spring weather to burst out of the frozen, dead ground, preferably in one of those sped up versions of the life of flora David Attenborough is such a fan of. Malmö has a shadow of Narnia about it at the moment, where it's always winter and never christmas, and I would really appreciate it if Aslan got 'on the move' before my birthday rolls around in the beginning of April.

I suppose this winter has felt a little like climbing a never ending case of stairs. At the start, it is all rather exciting, and you can't comprehend how long these stairs stretch on for, and you pause every now and again to take in the scenery and you notice how it changes the further you progress. Then you get to the stage where admiring the view is the last thing on your mind and the main priority is putting on foot in front of the other, while walking headfirst into a stiff breeze, and instead of wishing for this toil to be over, regretting that you foolishly took it on in the first place.

In the meantime I will try and follow through with a few recent plans: photograph my immediate environs regularly, practice my knot-tying technique, spend an entire day speaking swedish, and see more films at the Malmö Cinemateket.

Xanadu

2011-03-15T23:55:00.000+01:00

Aerial view of the Hearst Castle Estate, with indoor roman bath and diving board.

William Randolph Hearst's mansion "La Cuesta Encantada", affectionately known as 'the ranch', and the inspiration behind 'Xanadu', the residence of Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, 1941.

Cinema Replica

2011-03-13T23:32:00.000+01:00

Hand painted Russian movie posters
KILL BILL / MEN IN BLACK 2 / MATRIX 3 / 50 FIRST DATES / TROY

foreign films that were brought to Russia's rural areas and shown makeshift cinemas were promoted with these captivating naive posters, made to measure and on demand by hired 'professional artists'. many were employed in house to keep up with the steady stream of incoming films, seemingly mostly sequels.

via designboom

Cotton Anniversary

2011-03-13T22:47:00.001+01:00

Portrait after having lived for one year in Malmö, Sweden. A small milestone!

Efter tolv månader i Sverige, har jag nu:

- mastered enough of the Swedish language to articulate my thoughts to Swedish friends and acquaintances in both sober and less sober states of mind, attempted to read my first Agatha Christie in Swedish, written short pieces of text about ABBA, Twin Peaks, and my old flat in Auckland, followed American TV shows by reading Swedish subtitles, watched an Ingmar Bergman film without subtitles, however the extent of my comprehension of that film is highly debatable.

- become a fully fledged cyclist about town, no other mode of transport can compare to the bicycle, especially after one has learnt the necessary cycle etiquette and rules, thus avoiding any awkward cycle faux pas or potentially hazardous accidents.

- been offered full time employment as a library assistant at Malmö Högskolas Bibliotek, the huge success after months of job coaching, awkward phone calls, applications I didn't understand and seemingly pointless business networking. Good things, do apparently, take time. Was told I had 'made a great impression and had really good references', so those must be the secrets to employment.

- not cut my hair for 12 months. It is at present the longest it has been in my life. The goal is to leave it that way at least until I can successfully explain to a Swedish hairdresser what I actually want in a hair style.

- travelled to more cities than I ever have before. Copenhagen, London, Glasgow, Berlin so far and counting. With the incoming funds from the above mentioned employment, hopefully this year the list will continue to expand.

- read an impressive number of classic books, taking advantage of Malmö public library's excellent English fiction section. Titles include Rebecca, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Steppenwolf, The Remains of the Day, Pan, Nineteen Eighty-Four, the short stories of Truman Capote, all of Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe novels. I hope this reading trend will continue, with high literature in English and low brow pocket detective fiction in Swedish.

- experienced my first northern hemisphere winter, and in turn seen my first snow. A truly magical experience, and now, after many snowfalls, the wonder of it still gets me in a bit of a tither and I feel the need to uselessly announce the fact that snow is falling. These thoughts and feelings are documented in a short text about my first impressions of snow.

After the Quake (part 2)

2011-03-12T14:24:00.000+01:00

Immediately before the collapse of the Kashiwai Building, after The Great Hanshin earthquake (Kobe earthquake) on January 17, 1995.

After the Quake (part 1)

2011-03-12T14:11:00.001+01:00

Swirling waves on the coast at Oarai, Ibaraki prefecture
Cargo containers in Sendai

photographs: AP and Itsuo Inouye/AP via Guardian

Two overwhelming images from the 8.9 magnitude Sendai earthquake and subsequent tsunami which struck Japan on Friday, March 11th, 2011. Another chilling reminder, so soon after the earthquake in Christchurch, of the power of nature.

(This Bird Has Flown)

2011-03-11T13:56:00.004+01:00

Toru and Naoko and Toru and Midori

Images from Norwegian Wood, an adaptation of Haruki Murakami's much cherished novel from 1987, released late last year. I am uncertain as to whether or not I would like to foray into the cinematic version, as I hold the novel so close to my heart. Along with Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, it is one of a select few books I can open randomly on any page and pick up where I left off. I am apprehensive because I fear that Norwegian Wood will leave me with the same bitter after taste of disappointment as Mike Nichol's 1970 adaptation of Catch-22. The images I have built in my head, the sound of the characters voices and intonations and the environments they live in, will always seems more complete and real than any film. Perhaps, as a novel in one part about memories, it is best to keep your version of it inside your head.

However I am sure my curiosity will trump my well intentioned Murakami purist mindset, and if the opportunity arose I would watch it.

Line and Length

2011-03-07T21:43:00.000+01:00

Shusaku Arakawa
morning box, portrait of a civilization (1969)
via Ro/Lu

Macrame on wood
via an ambitious project collapsing

Langley House by Warren & Mahoney
(1965)
17 Michael Ave, Christchurch, New Zealand
via Christchurch Modern

continuing exploring my interests in lines, and lengths of materials used to make other lines, mainly in craft and architecture. sometimes it is hard to gather up all these different threads of interest in my head and to try and arrange or make sense of them in a more linear, less scatterbrained manner. perhaps once i recommence employment in a library, beginning on the first of next month, my catalogued and ordered surrounds will transfer into the rest of my life.

High Tension

2011-03-02T22:36:00.001+01:00

Sitting in style with this chair by Theodore Waddell. Perfect for unrolling and setting up for a five day test match.

Most likely the chair of my dreams. I would like to make something so well thought out and as aesthetically pleasing as this.

via MondoBlogo

Before Rain

2011-03-01T16:10:00.000+01:00

On RAIN: some images I associate with Ash Kilmartin's one day sculpture garden.

Dragon - Scented Gardens for the Blind (1975) / Frank Stella Zambezi (1959) / Zambesi AW 2009 / Ash Kilmartin The Travelling Mime (2011, leather and silk) / Zambesi storefront circa 1980? (31 Lorne St, Auckland) / Dragon - Rain (1983)

A Hazy Shade of Winter

2011-02-28T19:43:00.099+01:00

[click images to enlarge]

ASH KILMARTIN
'RAIN'
12.02.2011

A special parcel received in the post today travelled halfway across the world wrapped in paper adorned with colourful donuts. Inside was the eagerly anticipated publication made on the occasion of my great friend Ash Kilmartin's single-handed one day sculptural exhibit 'RAIN', situated in an abandoned lot in Melbourne.

Ash asked if I would contribute a piece of writing to accompany her exhibition as part of a small one-off publication, and I readily obliged. I penned a short piece about my first impressions of snow, (which is hopefully legible in the photo above) and thought about my feelings towards snow in relation to Ash's installation, delicate hand stitched fabrics draped over minimalist wooden frames.

The publication design is by another good friend, Claire Cooper. I am particularly partial to the horizontally bisected green hued centre-fold, opening out to reveal the text and various youtube stills.

A great project to be apart of and one which has already given me ideas of like-minded scenarios.

Rapunzel

2011-02-27T22:34:00.000+01:00

Photograph documenting the first influx of undergraduate female students to Princeton University in the Autumn of 1969. Photographs for LIFE Magazine by Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Personally I have no idea how one could study anything with that amount of hair.

Found via Miss Moss

A Cowboy in Sweden

2011-02-27T17:21:00.000+01:00

Momus in Sweden: giving a lecture in Lund which I sadly could not attend, and performing at Brogatan last night in a cramped and sweat inducing cellar, which was rumoured to have posed as a strip joint in a previous incarnation. The small confines and slightly disreputable hearsay of the venue only complemented Momus' intoxicating and beguiling presence, such an entertaining time at a gig I have not experienced in quite a while.

A friend asked me if I had spoken to Momus, and I had to reply that sadly no, I had not. I suppose, having only heard a few of his songs, and followed his tumblr, I preferred to keep him at an arms length, uphold the enigma and all that jazz. Besides, I would have had no idea what to say. Sometimes I would rather just be an innocent bystander enjoying watching everyone else.

17 Lies About A Shed In Lund lecture photo via Mrs Tsk*.
See more of Momus in action here.

Dream weaver

2011-02-26T16:11:00.000+01:00

images via

Gareth Spor

'Nothing tells memories from ordinary moments (La Jetée)'
2008
and
'Mirror Universe'
2009

Elements of science fiction and the universe are becoming more and more alluring to me.

A Cross Country Fantasy

2011-02-20T16:39:00.000+01:00

photographs from the site of Henry S. Gurr

Amazing photographs from Robert M. Pirsig's original 1968 motorcycle excursion across America with his son Chris and John and Sylvia Sutherland, which in turn inspired the 1974 bestseller 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', which I am presently reading. Both these images and the book are fuelling a sense of wanderlust and desire to escape the dreariness of winter, of the grey monotony of the city, and I have a yearning for spring to arrive and bring with it long bicycle rides, berry picking, ginger ale, and walks through forests.

Peg Leg

2011-02-16T18:03:00.000+01:00

A study of different ways to create a faux bois/wood grain effect on a nylon stocking.

Seal of Approval

2011-02-16T17:44:00.001+01:00

This set of James Bond stamps based on the book covers of Ian Fleming's original novels is almost enough to reinstate myself as a fully fledged philatelist.

If I Were A Carpenter

2011-02-15T17:54:00.001+01:00

Last Thursday night I had the rare and always appreciated pleasure of being on the receiving end of a song dedication. The band (La Sera) dedicated their rendition of "Dedicated to the one I love" to us (the DJ's - well I was more of a musical advisor less of a dj I suppose), and the whole scenario felt a little more special as we had played The Shirelles' version earlier on in the night when no one was there bar us, the bands, the guy setting up the merch table and a staff member writing up the evening's specials on a black board and making a bit of a hash of it. If I was ever in the position where I could do a really swell cover of a heartfelt song and dedicate it to someone, I would choose this:

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;to&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

To take a squizz at the mammoth list of pretty excellent songs played by the tally ho's partner in crime 'RECORD TURNOVER', please stop by.

All the trimmings

2011-02-12T18:30:00.000+01:00

umbrella storage unit

a necessary componant of any car to ensure no wet uphostery.

A spanner in the works

2011-02-09T21:18:00.000+01:00

The door to my mind / forlorn fishing nets / dual 'Persona' /Naval Star gazing

It feels like lately I have been swamped by a deluge of swedish vocabulary, verb tenses and other such thrilling components which make up the untamable beast known as svenska. It is not as bad as it sounds, in fact, I thoroughly enjoy learning languages; nothing is so satisfying as drunkenly rambling in another language and people being able to understand you, as my friends and I discovered on saturday night. While my previous party trick may have been exclaiming 'How did I get so drunk?' in swedish, I am now able to give a detailed description of this inevitable demise.
Last night I prepared for my final swedish test by watching Ingmar Bergman's Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries) without subtitles. Judging by todays effort in my listening comprehension, it was perhaps not the most suitable method of practice, but in any respects the most engrossing. I am satisfied by the fact that I understood enough to figure out the plot lines.

The above film still is not from Smultronstället but another Bergman film, Persona, featuring the same actresses, Bibi Andersson and Ingrid Thulin. I have always liked the director who has a stable of trusted actors whose names become synonymous with the directors own.

I am also now completely intrigued by star charts, islands and fishing nets, to add to the ever growing list of 'things that inspire me that I really should do something about'. These include birds, faux bois, whittling, and such like. A collection of "things" laid out like in the positions of stars / faux bois embroidered stockings / balancing bird Alexander Calder-esque mobiles / whittled bath feet / tunnels of fishing net / on an island?

It all makes me feel rather intrepid. I definitely have more exploring to do in the coming warmer climes.
Spend my winter thinking, and my summer doing.

The mind boggles.

Maria Schneider

2011-02-04T12:32:00.002+01:00

died on Thursday 3rd February 2011.

The Passenger is better than Last Tango in Paris.

via

Love Story

2011-02-01T13:01:00.000+01:00

Love Affair, or the Case of the Missing Switchboard Operator

(Serbo.Croatian: Ljubavni slučaj ili tragedija službenice P.T.T. )

Yugoslavia, 1967

Directed by Dušan Makavejev

Quite a strange feeling watching a film from a country which no longer exists. Perhaps it is due to living in a foreign country and learning a new language, but I am now continuously drawn to films in other languages. Just so I can hear how different languages are spoken.

The second film still feature amazing film cartoons! Early tetra-pak perhaps?

Matinee Idol

2011-01-27T15:11:00.002+01:00

[clck photos to enlage]

IL GATTOPARDO 1963
Luchino Visconti

Known for its lush colours and and decadent costumes and scenery, Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) is a true epic of Italian cinema, a production of a grand scale with exacting attention to detail. I first saw this film in a small cinema on Auckland's North Shore called the Bridgeway, on a quiet saturday afternoon in 2004 in a near empty theatre with the attendees comprising of my friend and I and a smattering of elderly who probably saw it when it was first released in '63, or just used to harbour unrequited feelings for Burt Lancaster.

The first film which started my fascination and love of Italian cinema.

"Where so many widescreen epics merely use the image to bludgeon the audience with production value, Visconti maintains a constant dialogue between the grandeur of the prince's surroundings and the minute gestures that define him in the midst of historical upheaval."

-Sam Adams, Los Angeles Times

The Leopard

2011-01-26T22:16:00.001+01:00

Sublime Polish poster for Luchino Visconti's 1963 sumptuous visual feast, IL GATTOPARDO (The Leopard).

Black Swan

2011-01-22T22:03:00.002+01:00

Vogue UK September 1965

By Henry Clarke

Dens of Inequity

2011-01-20T18:31:00.001+01:00

images via

Spreads from Benjamin Critton's project, EVIL PEOPLE in MODERNIST HOMES in POPULAR FILMS. A publication printed in a pleasing red/yellow colour combinations, and includes quotes, diagrams, film stills, essays and more, delving into the relationship between architecture and cinema, and the association between ill-morals, vices and evil masterminds with modernist homes, traced through films along the lines of Diamonds Are Forever, The Big Lebowski, Blade Runner, L.A Confidential and Twilight amongst others.

Ideas like these interest me - I think about my embroidery floor plans of fictional settings from film, television and literiture connected by also their dual locations - existing in some manner in the 'real world' while only wholly residing in the imagination. The cliches 'picking up the common thread', and 'that nothing is ever a coincidence' are phrases oft repeat in the many murder mystery stories and screen adaptations I digest and that act as a sort of back bone to my practice.

I recently posted some photos of rock stars in their parents' houses and I was struck by how Frank Zappa and David Crosby were attired to seem in sync with their surroundings, while their 'modern dress', long tresses and full facial hair were at odds with the more conventional clothes of their parents. The photo essay was intended to highlight the different lifestyles and ideas between the different generations I believe, and this sort of contradictory outcome of matching someone to a surrounding meant to represent 'old' is intriguing.

I think about characters and their personalities reflected in their environs, and I can understand the cold, shiny surfaces, the hard right angles and the looming rooftop overhangs that cast ominous shadows mirroring the mentalities of the people who live in them. The character must embody their abodes and vice-versa. The brutalist nature of the buildings is apparent in the architecture, scale and materials. Grand concrete cubes with misleading panels of glass maybe not so that one can see in the house, but that whoever is inside can see them coming.

The 'evil people' of these popular films could perhaps be described as cold, clinical, calculating, corrupt, conniving, controlling and cruel, while also being charming, charismatic, clever and compelling. (I have run out of apt adjectives beginning with 'C' now), and possibly the same could be said about their dwellings.

I suppose this is why Ernst Blofeld only wears grey.

on a side-note, check out Critton's CV. As someone who is trying to wrangle a job out of Sweden (who is not being particularly forthcoming about it) I have taken a particular interest in other people's curriculum vitaes at present.

Cataclysm Room

2011-01-20T17:37:00.003+01:00

Spreads from US Vogue, December 1971, the 'Once a year Christmas Special'.

Photographed in Spain's 'Caves of Nerja'.

via youthquakers, collation of images from issues of both UK &US Vogues between the years 1965-1975. I have only just scraped the surface of this veritable mine of images and information.

five men in pink shirts

2011-01-20T13:59:00.003+01:00

via mrs tsk *

The Castle of Urania

2011-01-19T20:41:00.003+01:00

Uraniborg, Tycho Brahe's first astronomical observatory on Ven, built 1576-80 and dedicated to Urania 'The Muse of Astronomy'.

The main building of Uraniborg was square, about 15 meters on a side, and built mostly of red brick. Two semi-circular towers, one each on the north and south sides of the main building, giving the building a somewhat rectangular shape overall. The main floor consisted of four rooms, one of which was occupied by Tycho and his family, the other three for visiting astronomers. The northern tower housed the kitchens, and the southern a library. The second floor was divided into three rooms, two of equal size and one larger. The larger room was reserved for visiting royalty. On this level the towers housed the primary astronomical instruments, accessed from outside the building or from doors on this floor. Outrider towers, supported on pillars, housed additional instruments slightly further from the building, giving them a wider angle of view. On the third floor was a "loft", subdivided into eight smaller rooms for students. Only the roofs of the towers reached this level, although a single additional tower extended above the loft in the middle of the building, similar to a widow's walk, accessed via a spiral staircase from the 3rd floor. Uraniborg also featured a large basement; it housed an alchemical laboratory in one end, and storage for food, salt and fuel at the other.

A large wall, 75 meters on a side and 5.5 meters high was planned to surround Uraniborg, but never built, instead a high earth mound was constructed and lasted until today being the only remain of the observatory still in place. Uraniborg was located in the very middle, with an extensive set of intricate gardens between the mound walls and the building. In addition to being decorative, the gardens also supplied herbs for the Tycho's medicinal chemistry experiments. The gardens are currently being re-created, using seeds found on-site or identified in Tycho's writings.

Star Castle

2011-01-19T20:24:00.004+01:00

Tycho Brahe's underground observatory Stjerneborg, located on the island of Ven, and the destination of me next trip around Skåne. A place which will augment my new found interest in the night sky.

Opposite

2011-01-18T18:05:00.003+01:00

Alexander Rodchenko's chess table, 1925.

I enjoy furniture built for specific purposes.
And images which inspire me to draw more.

via Ro/Lu

Murder on the Orient Express

2011-01-18T13:45:00.002+01:00

Possibly the best christmas present I received last year.

Murder on the Orient Express
1974
Dir. Sidney Lumet

The Passenger

2011-01-17T21:05:00.002+01:00

CinemaScope

2011-01-16T18:44:00.003+01:00

ERICA VAN ZON

Blow Up
2007
Acrylic on newsprint

Vertigo
2007
Acrylic on newsprint

Posters of two of my favourite films by New Zealand artist Erica van Zon. Explore her new website for more amazing works appropriating cinematic references and scenarios.

The Future

2011-01-15T17:53:00.006+01:00

I commented on facebook at the time that I would have posted this photo on my imaginary blog.

All artwork CLARA CHON, 2008

Model: the face behind OLIO ATAXIA.

I have talented friends.

November 10, 1990

2011-01-15T17:44:00.003+01:00

via

Imagine watching this on TV on the 10th Novermber 1990 at 10pm.

Eyes Only

2011-01-15T17:04:00.002+01:00

Keeping my eyes peeled for a new pair of spectacles. I should really be wearing a pair when I am cycling, which at the moment I tend to avoid due to dislike of my existing pair, I would preferto cycle in a pair that I'd enjoy adorning my face. In 2005 I acquired a pair of black rectangular glasses, believing them to be quite in vogue at the time, after failing the eye examination required to sit my driver's test (I have never attemptedthat test again). Now those rectangular frames do nothing but irritate me, as I loathe seeing things out of focus outside of the narrow lenses. I thought a more rounded look could be the way to go to avoid this periferal blurring. Any thoughts on glasses would be appreciated, I am quite an eyewear novice.