memory. language, art. wittgenstein. books. ceramics.

all sorts of thinkings on memory, language, art, wittgenstein, books, etc, while I am getting on with my MA

Friday 30 April 2010

London Original Print Fair

We went to London Original Print Fair yesterday. Oh, I do have a very low tolerance threshold for that sort of activities. Like going shopping. As usual, in these fairs, after having seen three or four galleries I get an information overload and I need to get out. As a result, I stick the grin on my face and concentrate as hard as I can to view the rest of the fair. Kas ieško, tas randa. Seek and you shall find.

This time I am most pleased having come across Dorothy Cross folio "Tears" at Stoney Road Press. Dorothy Cross must be the greatest living Irish artist. She mainly works in 3D, large scale, producing arresting and often disturbing pieces on identity, her identity, woman's identity, sexual identity Like that shark skin, she found and gilded on the inside.
Well, at the print fair she had ...er... prints. And how beautiful they are!

The artist isolated small sections of an old engraving – a page from a bible found in her family home – and combined the detailed engraved lines with colour photographs of the sea taken near her home in Galway. The result is a remarkable series of poetic images from which parts of the body emerge through a skeletal topography of engraved lines and photographic stills of a restless ocean.
There was also a stand for Imprints, from France. Unfortunately, their website is not functioning at the moment: I forgot to bring my camera to the fair, therefore I only have a few pathetic snaps from my mobile phone to illustrate the stunning Stephen Chambers & Moro folio book "The Long Feast". It is very graphic. I like that is it is not bound, but folded and assembled: it feels less restrictive. Moreover, I liked that they had the whole folio/book displayed page by page on the wall as a series. It was a bit like reading a comic: complete sequence on one spread.

Then there was Charlotte Cory at Rebecca Hossack Gallery with the selection of her Victorian animal people. Oh well, whatever you say - they are incredibly cute. Totally unassuming in their cuteness, the way small children are. I would love one of her brooches! However, every time I see those Charlotte's portraits I can't stop myself from thinking, that if she dug deeper and darker her work might become so much more substantial.
Unfortunately, I could say that very same thing about myself...






Wednesday 28 April 2010

Pteronarcophobia - fear of flies.

Musca domestica.

Flies are gross.
Every year they flock into the very highest corner of our white bedroom ceiling (on the farm) and form a black lump and hibernate there. Others hide in the walls, under the roof, in the window frames.
Then, in spring, as the weather warms up, they come out. Hundreds! Thousands of them! Millions and gazillions! They are sleepy. They drop on the floor and buzz there annoyingly. All surfaces get covered with them. I kept the hoover next to my bed for three nights. Aghhh!!




When the flies are awake and gone, these other ones start waking up. They are far less repulsive and less noisy. However, they do come out in hundreds, thousands, millions and gazillion
s as well. They flutter flutter at night: around your face, get trapped in your hair, drop on your pillow! Aghhh!!!
Unfortunately, I do not know what those insects are. I like knowing the names of the things, that share my space: birds, trees, reptiles, etc. This friend of mine said, they call them "fėjos" (fairies). What a beautiful name, I thought. Faea domestica?

As a result of this beautiful name, I went through a stage of fascination with them. The insects look
wonderfully translucent and ephemeral. When alive, their colours range from diaphanous pink and lilac, to lime greens and yellows.

Last year I made a few plates (as testers) with the "fairies" (I was working with "cosy musty grandma's home" imagery). This year, I will be trying to do something more interesting. Possibly involving the play of words.





Work in progress.




P.S.: 2001.05.04

I have finally found their name: Chrysopa. Lacewing. Like a flemish curtain or a crochet tablecloth. Or a veil covering the face of a bride or a widow. Auksaakė in Lithuanian. "Golden eyes". Something fairy tale. King's daughter under a spell. To fight a dragon.

Lacewings usually have bright green bodies, prominent, golden, metallic eyes and green veins on delicate, transparent wings. However some species are browner in colour.

There are 14 species of lacewing in the UK, although they are less common in Scotland. Both the adults and larvae are carnivorous and often feast on aphids. The larvae suck the aphids’ juices and may even use the drained bodies to hide under.

PPS Now this blog is related to Lepidopterophobia - fear of butterflies and Cluster Thoughts.


Sunday 25 April 2010

About the little things.

Our holiday in Lithuania has been extended by the volcanic ash cloud. Hurrah!
Unfortunately, a long holiday does not necessarily mean a productive one. I took a some photos and I did a bit of thinking. I was thinking (thinking!) of the small things that make my farm world what it is. They are little fragments of my place, my life - like two minutes out of a film. Six words out of a paragraph. Six paragraphs out of a book.