EPC edition 9, Klint / cut
Patreon Edition 9. Klint / cut, a collage piece made from fragments of pigment print proofs and foil sheets, debossed into a sheet of handmade Somerset paper
Hello,
Hope you’ve had a great summer. Extraordinary long dry spell here, lovely to get so many warm evenings to be outside of course…
I’m never quite sure whether people - you - would like more news from my studio, or not. To some extent I feel as though I ( we all? ) get enough emails to read already, so I’m not sure if anyone really welcomes more stuff in their inbox, as opposed to just receiving the print work? I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this if you’d like to share them! I’m happy to post a little more often if that suits people… or keep it roughly the same if that works better.
I’m just on the brink of making Edition 9 for the print club. The autumn edition for 2018. Having told you that I'm planning to make a piece on silk, and a ‘mantle piece’ in my last post (I’m still intent on making both of these) I’ve been somewhat waylaid by an interesting colour proof print experiment, which I think will make a good new edition to colour up the autumn. Time will tell. In essence it’s a kind of collage from some proofs of my Klint prints, mixed with some foil fragments, collaged onto a sheet of Somerset paper, by way of a backing sheet, with debossing. That's the plan anyway, I'll send some progress images shortly...
I guess I’ve become a little more interested in the cut out after really enjoying the Matisse show at Tate a couple of years back ( https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/henri-matisse-cut-outs ), and more recently reading / researching his Jazz book ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_(Henri_Matisse) ). I’ve got a fairly good Taschen version, which I’d recommend. If you haven’t already seen it, there’s a documentary online here which is worth a look too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4NHDpaQW9s
I have of course been cutting up my work in various ways for at least a dozen years, often by laser, but there’s something extra here about actually cutting the inked paper by hand and then reassembling it, that has real appeal to me this autumn. Maybe it's the haptic nature of the cutting that appeals.
Milan 2018
Having spent a fabulous couple of weeks in Milan, the lakes and the Alps this summer, I thought I'd jot down some notes re 2 galleries that are well worth a visit if you’re ever nearby.
Having previously made several enjoyable trips to some of the more overtly touristy cities in Italy, we finally made it to Milan this summer. In the past I've made work for a few of Milan’s better known fashion houses, inc Prada and Armani, so it was an absolute pleasure to be able to see the city for myself.
Apart from the incredible duomo, with it’s sensational roof terraces and sculptures, the two places that I thought really stood out were the Prada Foundation, and the Pirelli HangarBicocca.
The Prada Foundation takes the form of a set of a dozen or so buildings laid out around a central courtyard, each housing different parts of the collection, most of it permanent, but with several temporary spaces too. The largest temporary space is reminiscent of Mies Van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion, in so far as there are no internal columns, and the exterior is curtain walled with glass. So it makes for a fabulous huge open plan space, although the show they had in there this summer was too gothic for my taste. Further in they have Thomas Demand’s paper cut Grotto, both the photographic work, and the original (huge) paper and card installation. I love Demand’s work, so it was amazing to see one of his models / sets in the flesh. I’ve seen quite a few of his photographic works over the years, notably at a solo Serpentine show, but never one of the paper cut models he uses to create the photos from. Amazing.
Further on again there’s an 11 storey tower block, designed by Rem Koolhass, which has the most amazing architecture, inc a double helix stairway which is completely confounding, with cutaway views through windows into seemingly impossible mirrored spaces, and several toilet blocks which are hugely playful, facilities hidden behind fake walls in darkened spaces, etc. The artworks inc a John Baldessari piece which is inspirational, using a time lapse technique to project images of the viewer into a second space after you’ve walked through, and a fabulously playful mushroom installation by Carsten Höller, at the end of a series of pitch black corridors. Very psychedelic.
The second space I’d recommend a visit to, if you’re in Northern Italy ever, is the Pirelli HangarBicocca, which takes the form of a disused train works, repurposed as two huge spaces for contemporary art. One is given over to seven Anselm Kiefer towers, from the same series that arrived at the RA Summer Show courtyard space a few years back, and a second space that currently houses an extraordinary Matt Mullican exhibition - The Feel of Things - which had all of the power and intrigue of Charlie Kaufmann’s Synedoche New York, re imagined as a visual arts show. Mullican seemed to have laid out the totality of his life, thinking and experiences, in the most singular, explosion of work and exploration I’ve probably ever seen. Amazing.
New website, v4.0
Work wise the last few months have been dominated by the creation of my new website, v4.0, which is taking far too long to complete! I feel as though it’s taken over my life recently. I’m endeavouring to catalogue most of the pieces from the past 12 years, along with show photos, and ‘liner’ notes on each page. So far I’ve edited over a thousand images, and made over a hundred individual pages. I’m looking forward to launching it in maybe 4 / 6 / 8 weeks time, depending on how it goes from here. Seems like a worthwhile chore, although it is keeping me away from the main event, making new work, which is hugely frustrating! I’ll look forward to sending you a link when it’s ready…
Frieze
I’m really looking forward to visiting Frieze London this October, so I’ll probably jot down a few notes about that later in the autumn. I tend to visit most years, often with my friend and fellow artist Anna Gillespie, whose sculpture is well worth a look if you haven’t already seen it. She tends to exhibit with the Beaux Arts gallery in London and Bath.
I’d recommend a visit to both the contemporary and masters events; if you’re in London for the first weekend in October, it’s always packed with the most amazing new work…
Looking forward to sending you some more notes, and specific info about the latest edition shortly…
Best as ever — Chuck
