Alphabets

Flipflops

I’ve been working recently on a lot of alphabet based artwork. Alongside the as large as I can possibly get away with sculptures and installations that I love to build I have always been quietly obsessed with counting systems and alphabets and the whole arbitrary and symbolic nature of the representational systems.

After all it doesn’t really matter if you are counting with numbers or kittens and goldfish (as long as the kittens don’t run away or eat the fish)…

Slowfall have just got funding to do some further pieces of work extending the Stories from the Tower project in Hackney (with a bit of luck we’ll get some more funding to publish a book based on the entire project). In a nushell the new project involves each of the artists involved making a piece of work in response to a story gathered in the original project.

The story I have chosen to work with is Blake Family, Tasmanian connection with Hackney and I have decided to make an alphabet illustrated with images derived from and refering to the story.

Howevet this has got me thinking about alphabets for different people. So today I have come up with an:

artists alphabet

Arman
Barlow, Phyllida
Conceptual
Donald Judd
Ephemeral
Flavin, Dan
Giotto
Hockney, Hamilton, Hirst
Ingres
Johns, Jasper
Kabakov, Il’ya (Iosifovich) , Koons
Light (as in studio with good light required)
Man Ray
Nauman, Bruce
Oppenheim, Dennis
Piero della Francesca
Queirolo, Francesco
Richter, Gerhard
Stockholder, Jessica (my favourite artist)
Takis
Underpaid

to be continued…

Hi, I’m Gavin Wade

flipflops 2 Comments

I recently recieved this email forwarded to me by a friend. I think its important to spread the word. It reminds me a little of my friend Karl‘s (inspired) ‘Say it with Chalk’ type things…

From: billmartin
Date: 24 October 2005 22:32:21 BST
To: somebody
Subject: “Hi, I’m Gavin Wade”

Artists: Pay Attention!

I seek your collaboration for the project “Hi, I’m Gavin Wade”.

Participation is simple: beginning with the launch night of Art Sheffield 05, and continuing at subsequent art events, you are requested to to simply introduce yourself at every given opportunity with the statement “Hi, I’m Gavin Wade”.

I shall of course be joining you in this.Please forward to anyone else you think may be interested in taking part (apart from Gavin Wade, for obvious reasons).It is of course permissable to introduce yourself to Gavin Wade with the phrase “Hi, I’m Gavin Wade” if the opportunity arises.

Thank you

Bill

Art Sheffield 05 lauch night is at a variety of venues around Sheffield on the 27th October.

More details: http://www.artsheffield.org

I have populated my address book with email addresses from when someone has failed to use the Bcc option and therefore displayed everyone’s address. This is an exercise in educating people to use Bcc. If you wish to be removed from my address book simply reply with the words “GET OUT OF MY HEAD!”

I shall certainly be introducing myself as Gavin Wade tonight and subsequently.

Cheers.

Gavin.

Deja Vu

flipflops

Awoke this morning feeling bad. Tired and Groggy. Since I’m working from home today I decided to go for a run, having not bothered for a few weeks.

7.20 am in a dark and wet Devon. I was struck by the oddest Deja Vu that richoched between the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia and the city of Valparaiso http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valparaiso in Chile. Why running through the rain I should have such powerfull sense of these places I am not sure.

Some friends of mine http://www.worldgonemad.org are in South America for 6 months or so at the moment and I remember talking to them about Valparaiso and what a fabulous place it was. Lately as autumn draws in the air here is always thick with wood smoke from people fires (a lovely smell for all you city types that tickles your nose gentley) – that definately reminds me of Valparaiso – the difference being they’ve taken the smoke thing a little far and when we were there it swirled about in the evening mixed with ocean fog in a Dickensian miasma…

But Malaysia ? Well it was raining and I think I was running past trees at the time other than that…