Letterpress Commissions

I have just finished my first major commission for a letterpress printing job. I can't say what the commission was or who it was for just yet - but i will post photo's soon. It always involves so much more than ink up and print. I like to keep the clients happy and informed - i like them to be part of the design stage as much as possible - showing samples of various options - fonts, papers, inks etc. these days everyone wants debossing,  but the real skill lies in 'kissing'.  Not to mention that the humidity and strange weather we have been experiencing plays havoc with inks.

If you're familiar with my work you will know i use letterpress extensively - but there is a shift in headspace that has to occur when someone else is commissioning you.

Needless to say, a day up in the wilds with the press, and no internet or mobile signal to distract was just the recipe. A dozen or so exquisite prints rolled off the press - once everything was set up. Now that really was a little more complicated than I first though. It definitely required a bit of tangential if not curvey thinking to solve. But I got there in the end. Hurrah.

If you want to commission letterpress then get in touch.

Project Space Leeds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

Hurt (Detail)

Can we talk about this?

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

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

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