TEXT ART

Project Space Leeds

2012-01-29T05:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Real World

Back in the heady days at the end of Summer I was part of a 3 group show at PSL. It was an interesting experience for many reasons. It’s always interesting to see how groups come together and wether they have a common motivation or driver. I was shown as part of the Art House , and curated by Victoria Lucas. The other groups were Rogue Studios, Manchester and a group from Goldsmiths, London. I was really pleased with how WTTRW looked and worked.

I wanted to make something site specific. I took into account the canal which PSL fronts onto and the redevelopment of the nearby area. The past glories of the economic engine and the hopes for the future. The aspect of PSL is such that the sun tracks around it through the day. The two glass walls have an angular confluence which i wanted to make use of. The terms Viscious and Virtuous came to mind. The circularity of the economy, where we are now in its cycle. How inhumane and unjust the world can sometimes seem. So I devised the circular words so that they can be read from the outside but the shadows cast on the floor can be read the correct way round from the inside. The tracking of the sun changes the Viscious Circle into a Virtuous Circle.

I had never worked with vinyl before, and as can be seen I have adopted it for my last 3 projects. I really like its crispness and versatility. This is a cmplete departure for me because I would never have classified myself an artist concerned with an exquisite finish, always happy to have the process marks visible in the work if that occurs.

British Institue for Human Rights

2012-01-29T05:22:00.000-08:00

In the last few months I have been involved in a project with Arcadea and BIHR on a pilot project trying to encourage people to use the arts to exercise their human rights. As a result of the work undertaken the project had an exhibition at the International Centre for Life. When I was living in Denmark Rosa Luxemburg was very popular amongst the left wing greens – not that I could ever be as eloquent as Rosa so I went for keeping it simple.

When thinking about making these new works I wanted to emphasise that our human rights came about by people challenging the inequalities they witnessed, refusing to accept the status quo they found unacceptable no matter how difficult that was for them personally. I also wanted to aknowledge the personal responsibility we all have to uphold these rights, I was moved by Rosa Luxemburg, who said ‘Those who do not move, do not notice their chains.’ Essentially we need to be pro-active, empowered to maintain and assert these rights

Dundee Contemporary Arts

2012-01-29T05:05:00.000-08:00

In the Summer and into Autumn I was up in Dundee doing a residency, Engage Everyone, looking at gallery and museum engagement. This was with particular reference to how people with disabilities engage. I undertook a more psychological exploration of the building and it's various aspects. Here are some of the images I worked up. Initially i thought i would be mainly printing but as i discovered the laser and its potential i spent an awful lot of time on that. However, the work which will be shown in April/May is a mixture of print, laser and interventions.

Salisbury

2012-01-29T04:57:00.000-08:00

I made these in response to the exhibition The View From Here at Salisbury Arts Centre. Deliberately Low-Fi. We all wear various hats at various times in our lives - even several on the same day. This was a new way of working for me - coming up with the concept and sending it to be executed in situ.

The Art House Exhibition

2011-10-02T10:29:00.001-07:00

So Wednesday the 28th was the opening of my exhibition. It is tentatively called Everytime I'm in a queue I always imagine what I'm going to say about a hundred times'. This exhibition is part retrospective part new work - site specific or made especialy for the show, The title is taken from a new work regarding my new fictional newspaper which I am working on for my Engage Everyone residency at Dundee Contemporary Arts. This time it is more of an intervention.

As part of the opening - and I must admit it was unlike any I had been too - not the traditional private view. The Art Walk was so people were moving from venue to venue. People also tended to cut through the foyer - which is where many of the works are - and go straight to the studios. At 7 i did the now de rigeur artist talk. This was fine - there were even a few faces in the audience i didn't recognise. One of the questions asked was if i am moving to be producer cleaner- crisper work - referencing my recent foray into vinyl. I am enjoying playing with text and vinyl, but i remain of the view that i will produce work which fits the location, space or word the best. I still like being able to see the marks of the process which contributed to the execution of the work. My two new vinyl pieces are in the lift and main corridor of the art house.

Continuing my theme of communication, dialogue and the view that the more connected we are the more disconnected we become - the whole digital/social media diaspora then I am showing 'Solitary' in a paired down version without any additional text on the nature of lonliness.

There is always that element of how the work is going to breathe on its' own. I think there is a good mix or old and new, things in the gallery space and thos site specific and installational elements. I guess that's my work done on it, I've done all I can. Now I am waiting to hear the feedback, see what people think.

Newcastle Bridges Festival

2011-09-04T03:31:00.000-07:00

The Bridges Festival was a major event in Newcastle over the weekend of 13th and 14th of August 2011. For my part I was working with Julia Barton who designed the Lost and Found garden on the Swing Bridge. I did all the participatory work - involving 4 community groups from Newcastle and 4 from Gateshead. We worked together to design potager beds - small scale kitchen gardens set around formalised patterns - 'potage' meaning for the pot from the french. Normally doing planting projects you have months to design, sow, bring on the plants so they are ready and prime for the event. We had 6 weeks. Amazingly it all came off. The 2 days of install were well worth it. The feedback from the public was a resounding 'It should be like this all the time' or comments along that theme. Needless to say the delicate construction and planting was more laboured than the tractor dominated dismantle - All trace of it was gone in a few hours - Lost and found and lost again. A wee bit of Brigadoon - but hey, let's hope it's next year and not next century when we do it again. Some shots of it are below. If you want more of an explanation go to Julia Bartons Blog

Glass

2011-04-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

Glass

I had been doing a short course at the National Glass Centre, Sunderland. Glass is an amazing material – of course you could spend a life time exploring it – but I have just woken to its’ possibilities. I feel similar about glass as I did when I discovered letterpress. I know neon is a typical way of using glass and text, and yes, one day I shall do my first neon piece – hopefully in the not too distant future – but there are so many processes and ways of using glass and combining that with text that it leaves the years open for endless exploration. If only my current richness of time was equalled by cash as it’s a pricey do playing and experimenting with a new material. So this is my first glass/text piece – a naiive primitive affair.

Hurt

Hurt (Detail)

Can we talk about this?

2011-04-19T15:41:00.000-07:00

I have a new exhibition at Centre for Life - Newcastle. For further details go to http://aidanmoesby.co.uk/ - this is now my primary site.

Visual Poetry

2011-01-03T06:01:00.000-08:00

Something small and frail http://vimeo.com/18369152

Something simple, a start, the first of hopefully many.

Glasgow

2010-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

I am just wondering why so many people form glasgow have looked at my blog recently - maybe you could let me know -

Cow

2010-10-26T04:11:00.001-07:00

Cow Head

2010-10-26T04:10:00.001-07:00

Penguin

2010-10-26T04:09:00.001-07:00

Rain Man

2010-10-26T04:07:00.000-07:00

Sheep

2010-10-26T03:59:00.000-07:00

I have been experimenting making simple cards. Here are a few early ones.

Newcastle Gateshead Artfair

2010-09-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

Since getting a space in the Shed Gateshead I have been wrestling with the notion of being a business - though i struggle with this notion as there feels to me a difference in aesthetic of making something that needs to be made - coming from within - and creating something as a product before it's taken form. In this i am spending the weekend at the Newcastle Gateshead Art Fair. http://www.ngartfair.com/ The work is up(mostly) and now the things which i feel in deficit of begin - like the networking/selling/marketing etc.

Who?

2010-07-19T12:36:00.001-07:00

Another image from my thinking about the future by looking into the past. I wish this piece could breathe a bit more.

Naked Skin

2010-07-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

I have been reviewing my images, trying to put things in context for thinking about how to progress once I move into the Shed Gateshead (studios). Reflecting on my time in the Waygood where I had a development residency. This seems kind of incongruous now.

Snowed In II

2010-05-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

The Lane on the way to the Signpost. One of the last prints at Carlisle - unfortunately the AA2A has come to an end. Fabulous experience that it was.

Parliament

2010-04-29T03:16:00.001-07:00

Stigma, 2010

Common words associated with Fire Bricks are Insulation, Protection, Shield. Legislation alludes to similar constructs. Unfortunately there are those who still choose to stigmatise and discriminate against ‘Others’ who are different. Our language is perjorative, with ‘What is wrong with…?’ still in common usage. To stigmatise is to mark out or brand. Those with disabilities have always been marked out or branded, separated or ‘cleansed’. From exile to extermination everyone gets burnt by stigma.

One fire brick is: 14cm x 7cm x 3cm and weighs approximately 170grams

(photograph courtesy of Alex Beaton Photography)

Another Time Another Place

2010-04-22T02:44:00.000-07:00

Trekking III

2010-04-22T02:43:00.000-07:00

Trekking II

2010-04-22T02:29:00.000-07:00

Trekking

2010-04-22T02:27:00.000-07:00

All the things I lost No.s 7- 15

2010-04-22T02:04:00.000-07:00

Those Pesky Cyanotypes

2010-04-22T02:01:00.000-07:00

A long time ago I made a series of blueprint text works - some went into the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. I had forgotten how difficult they were to do till i re-tried the process.

Proto Ouch

2010-04-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

This was the first version of Ouch - just found it in the back catalogue.

Once a Catholic

2010-04-22T01:53:00.000-07:00

Communcation

2010-04-02T10:42:00.000-07:00

In the modern world we have ways of keeping communication to a minimum or controlling it. I feel it has become cheapened or under valued. We don't really communicate anymore really. We text cos it avoids real contact (i know the argument of it's the economics etc of language), we can filter our e-mails to only allow some people through. No one writes letters anymore. We dump by text, we reject through e-mails.....This one is for Volker as promised.

Letterpress, 2010.

The embossing on this paper was difficult to scan - apologies for image

ON THE BRINK

2010-04-02T10:37:00.000-07:00

We all get there at various times in our live s for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes we need to go there and only realise why when we are safely back away from it (the brink). Right now I wish there was more space around the days, that might keep me from straying too close.

Extension

2010-03-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

The good news at the moment is I have received an extension to my AA2A in Carlisle. I have been loving my time in the Print Room but because i was ill before christmas i am no where near my 100 hours. However, even though the photography is happening next week - 1 hour in a professional studio - i still have stuff to document. It is going to be such a luxury having a professional photographer to document my work.

This changes much about my overall opinion of my experience. i was thinking i have not made the most of it - what with illness and then loads of work - which is great but then i can't go to Carlisle if I am working. It's that catch 22 of a brilliant opportunity becoming more low calorie than it need be because life gets in the way. But now i can continue so that's brilliant.

And when i say it's not been made of the most of, i have still experimented and made stuff, and one of the pieces went into the Government Collection - so it's not all bad. In fact it's been great.

Go Home

2010-03-04T11:04:00.001-08:00

Putting More Meat on the Bones

2010-03-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

I just love this font. It was lying unloved gathering dust. I dusted it down, showed it some love et voila

Cliche?

2010-02-04T14:51:00.000-08:00

Letterpress. 2010.

I am obsessed by relationships, psychodynamics, inter and intra psychic conflict. I want to know what makes relationships tick, work, fail, how they start, why they finish. I collect those stories like others collect butterflies or stamps or cornflakes.

Is this a cliche cos no one says it anymore? Has anyone ever said to you -

'You don't make me feel like I'm a woman(man) any more!)?

Guilt

2010-02-04T14:48:00.000-08:00

Letterpress. 2009.

What can I say?

The Big Freeze

2009-12-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

Out in the woods on Christmas Day - what else would I do?

Re-Trace

2009-12-29T11:25:00.000-08:00

No text in these but I'm pretty sure i can see some w's in this one.

Last night i took advantage of the freezing conditions, the snow and the windless night to try a prototype installation. Here are some of the results.

New Screens

2009-11-30T05:16:00.001-08:00

I have been a bit obsessed by these two buildings for about 20 years. Erfurt - when it was in East Germany still. These are the roughs for the exposure onto the screen

Erfurt. 2009

New Letterpress

2009-11-30T05:10:00.000-08:00

You Put the Ouch in Touch 2009

Burn Baby Burn

2009-11-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

Burn Baby Burn. 2009. Firebrick, Text, Bracket, Pigment

AA2A

2009-10-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

YAY!! These coming months I will be taking advantage of the access offered under this scheme to ferret myself away in the university print studio – playing, thinking, experimenting and creating.

NEW STUDIO

2009-10-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

A new venture. This week I took the keys of my new studio. I haven't had a proper studio since Waygood. That's a long time. It was there i realised the benefit a studio gives. However there is always that "Can I afford to have it? - Can I afford not to have it? dilemma. So I have taken the leap and will spend the winter making/creating in a much more focussed (hopefully) way.

A blurred camera phone image to give a hint of the flavour

At the moment it's bare - apart from the first few bits i could take. It will be becoming more studio like in the very near future. It's going to have to lure me in and make that hour long drive seem like a good thing - i know how grim winter driving is - and that whole leave in the dark get home in the dark thing . At the moment though it's all joy. I just picked up an overhead projector off freecycle so that will be making it's way studio bound soon. Beginnings - always exciting as they unfurl.

ARVON 41

2009-10-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Much to my surprise - and joy oh joy! I have been awarded an Arvon 41 bursary place at one of the Arvon Foundation's (have I used my apostrophe correctly?) residential writing courses.

Embossing

2009-09-14T13:54:00.000-07:00

Paper, Embossed Letterpress. 2009

A bit too much embossing

2009-09-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

Paper, Embossed Letterpress. 2009

Outside In

2009-08-28T01:13:00.000-07:00

On the 7th of august I was Lucky enough to attend the opening of Outside In at Pallant House Chichester. This is the Biennial of Outsider Art and it is a real privilege to be in such a brilliantly curated exhibition. Marc (Steene) and Kate (Hadley) have done an amazing job in pulling this off. The show runs until 8th November. http://www.outsidein.org.uk/

UNTITLED

2009-06-29T01:45:00.000-07:00

Untitled, 2008. Acrylic, Paper

You remind me

2009-06-10T16:29:00.001-07:00

Letterpress, acrylic, paper. 2009

Don't be so hard yourself

2009-06-10T16:25:00.001-07:00

Letterpress, acrylic,paper 2009

2009-04-25T01:16:00.000-07:00

Ouch, Screenprint, 2009

Are you alright?

2009-04-25T01:13:00.000-07:00

Bethlem Gallery, 2009

Liar, Liar

2009-01-12T08:22:00.001-08:00

Liar Liar, 2008

Text on Mirror, Cabinet

This was made in response to a residency at the Affective Disorders Unit at the Royal Victoria Infirmary, Newcastle. Exhibited in the Mind the Gap exhibition at the Discovery Museum (Newcastle) and The Bethlem Gallery, London (Feb 2009). For some reason in the format conversion the colour has been drained.

Liar, Liar (Detail)

2009-01-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

Liar, Liar (Detail) 2008

Text on Mirror, Cabinet.

CALL ME

2008-12-11T09:01:00.000-08:00

Call Me, 2008

PARKING

2008-12-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

Parking, 2008

RED WINDMILL

2008-12-11T08:52:00.000-08:00

Screenprint, 2008

WINDMILL

2008-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

SALMON

2008-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Photo Screenprint, 2008.

This is the first photo screenprint I did. It's a learning process.

LIAR

2008-10-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

LIAR. 2008

My very first letterpress print. This is a prototype for an installation I was making which went into the Mind the Gap exhibition at the Discovery Museum (Oct '08 - Jan '09).

OUCH

2008-10-16T07:39:00.001-07:00

Ouch, 2008

I did a printing day taster at Northern Print. This convinced me about printing. I have only started the very long journey, but I have packed my sandwiches and made a flask.

LOSS

2008-07-14T10:04:00.000-07:00

Loss. Paper, Text. 2008

EVERY DAY - A LITTLE MORE

2008-07-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Every Day. Paper, Text. 2008

SOOTHE

2008-07-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Soothe. Pins, Paper. 2008

PSYCHOSIS

2008-06-16T04:30:00.000-07:00

PSYCHOSIS. 2006.

FULCRUM

2008-06-16T04:24:00.001-07:00

FULCRUM. 20008

DELICIOUS

2008-06-16T04:12:00.000-07:00

DELICIOUS. 2008. Paper Cut (rough)

DRIFT (iv)

2008-06-16T04:09:00.000-07:00

DRIFT (iv). 2008

DRIFT (iv)

2008-06-16T04:01:00.000-07:00

DRIFT (iv). 2008

DRIFT (iv)

2008-06-16T03:50:00.000-07:00

DRIFT (iv). 2008

DRIFT

2008-06-11T03:47:00.000-07:00

Drift. 2008. Installation

ALARM

2008-06-11T03:44:00.000-07:00

Alarm. 2008. Drift Exhibition.

COLLECTING MEMORIES

2008-06-11T03:41:00.000-07:00

Collecting Memories. 2008. Drift Exhibition

DRIFT

2008-06-11T03:37:00.000-07:00

Drift. Parquet Installation. 2008. Waygood

HEAL (Detail)

2008-06-11T03:32:00.000-07:00

Heal (detail), Wood, Text. Drift exhibition. 2008. Waygood

Drift

2008-05-13T06:21:00.001-07:00

Drift. 2008. Text,Dust. Waygood Studios CSDI Residency

2008-03-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

Help. Papercut. 2008

2008-03-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

Angst. Papercut. 2008. (It's meant to be blurry!)

Resin Strawberries in Sunlight

2008-01-28T02:47:00.000-08:00

Everything's Going to be Okay-A New Age Cure For Everything

2008-01-28T02:39:00.000-08:00

Wood, Bach Remedy Bottles, Text, Oak Cabinet 2005

Distillation

2008-01-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

[Queen Elizabeth High School Victorian Walled Garden, 2007]

Dreaming of Nowhere Imparticular

2008-01-11T10:24:00.000-08:00

Iso-lation

2008-01-11T10:19:00.000-08:00

Woodsmoke

2008-01-11T10:15:00.000-08:00

[Produced for Helix Arts, Newcastle, 2006]

Heart

2008-01-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

Fulcrum

2008-01-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

Dialogue

2008-01-11T09:06:00.001-08:00

[Photograph Courtesy garyjones ]

This is Agony

2008-01-11T08:58:00.001-08:00