Away from Cameron

Jewellery or Perfume or something

It was probably Liz Taylor

This is Ron

A small group of recent images, a bit patchy and disparate. All were originally newspaper photos except the second from top .

In the second one the fusion between the gold paper and the distressed image seems to have worked out well. There is enough evidence to see that it is one sheet of paper resting on top of another and there are also enough folds and lines to give the illusion of an integrated whole. Not bad for a tatty old bit of paper taped onto some old Christmas wrapping paper.

The above image is of R.B Kitaj, a painter of considerable strength , complexity and valour.

Above him is a small note about Liz Taylor, but it could have been anyone really. I was more interested in the reflected image picked out on the support.

At the top lies Cameron the P.M , I have not really tested this image to destruction yet , he looks too genteel, too pleasant, like someone in a Miss Marple made for t.v mystery. So as an image I think it is a failure,  or at the very least , in its first state.

This is the first image of the shoe advertisment. I guess there is something fortuitous between the shoes and the fact that they are on the ground. They look a little 3D too, at least to my eyes.
I am going to track this image for a while and see how it degrades in what seems to be increasingly harsh weather.

Shoes are iconic too, or at least have that potential. They take on the character of the wearer. I prefer something practical and all weather. My days of Converse Monos or purple Doc Martins are well over.

These recent shots seem quite characteristic of what I want to achieve. They are derived from a magazine called Look. I chose it for the cover image and the advertising image on the reverse of the cover. I shot about 150 images and managed to keep 20 or so after editing and trashing.

I see them as painterly entities rather than photographs per se.

They were photographed against a semi reflective surface and due to a happy accident the colours on the reverse side were picked up without any trouble.

If I had thought more carefully of course , and this is just an idea , both the main image and the image caught on the reflective surface could have contained contradictory visual information.

The covers are generally the most difficult to manipulate. The process is not entirely random but chance plays a part. They are not totally pre-conceived.

I look pretty closely at the images during the process , almost like objective drawing.  It seems closer to painting and drawing than photography.  The tools I use are pretty ancient , second hand bits and pieces of camera and lenses.  Nothing too flash.  I carry two cameras at all times.  The one in my rucksack gets gummed up with bits of packed lunch.  There is one I carry in my pocket which I use to record information on the bus.  I make little films with it too.

I spend a lot of time wishing for an aircrash or a huge motorway pile up, and then, suddenly I would be there. I do not carry a mobile phone. I am the only person I know who does not use a mobile phone.

Wet and weathered image on gold

Wet and weathered image on gold

Wet and weathered image on gold

Detail

I couldn't resist making a small set of Streep as Thatcher. I have not seen the film, too much like a bad dream.
What interested me is the collision of the two sets of facial features, Thatcher somehow grafted onto Streep.
I am reminded of the cult of personality that is said to exist in North Korea.
Seeing the Streep as Thatcher image trundling past on the sides of Cambridge double deckers during the course of a working day is disturbing to say the least.
Opening a newspaper or magazine and seeing the same image is equally unsettling.

Perhaps the film will do better abroad where both Thatcher and Streep are admired, albeit for different reasons.

But I for one do not want to be reminded of the reason why I left the U.K in the first place.

Anyway, I enjoyed making the photographs, I was pleased with the black background, which was an old black fleece draped over a stool.

Recently I was asked why I used pre-existing images.  Firstly I understand the origins of the images. I know they started life in a design studio or a press photographers daily output. They have already been cropped, text has been added, the audience identified.

Once they are on the racks in the supermarket then they become material for my part of the process.

The images are chosen for their graphic boldness and iconic value. Then, if it is a cover, it is usually physically altered, usually by a process of folding and crushing. The interior upmarket advertisments are usually removed and left to weather and change until the elements have sufficiently damaged the surface, removed the sheen.

Images of personalities are isolated and can undergo a variety of alterations, including some digital manipulation.

The photographs which are the result of these processes of transformation stand for a certain kind of criticism of consumerism, a visual attack on the ruling classes. They are also technical investigations, how small can a press photo be and how much can it be enlarged, thus revealing its printed origins, its transparency as a physical object.

The quality of different types of printed papers is also made use of.  Newsprint paper is soft and becomes fluffy and soft and easy to manipulate, it can be explored like a miniature landscape.

Streep as Thatcher

Scraps in a bag

Scraps in a bag

It is doubtful if the physical evidence of this image exists.

The physical evidence of this image no longer exists.

Conflicted icon

Hello

Hello again

Drawing board

These images were taken in 2011.  They are not really planned.  The board images were just where the images were put.  Sometimes I just wander about the place wondering what can go together in some way. 

Drawing board

T

These are images taken from several strands of research. I am not too sure of the cover derived shots. The colour management is incorrect to my eye but in fact natural light was used. They may need some out door weathering to take away their sheen. What looks right on a magazine rack, like day glo inks and metallic pigments designed to catch the eye, look sadly unbalanced in colour terms in daylight. And why not ? Most printed matter is read in artificial light within man made structures.

Glance

Death Wish

G.Q Magazine

Some of these images are more transformed than others but all have been edited in a rather rudimentary way on a computer. Some are more painterly than others. One or two are frankly not very good technically or in terms of colour balance.

I had thought I had already seen the end of the Bag Lady but still her image clings tenaciously to what is now an extremely fragile piece of printed paper. 

Final Image

Weathered Couple

Queen image (wet)

Queen image (dry)

Archbishop

Cameron image

Other images have their origins in cheap newsprint. Some are derived from glossy magazines. A number of them will be allowed to weather outside for various periods of time.

Osbourne image

The images of politicians are derived from press photos of David Cameron,  George Osbourne and Nicholas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy

I am looking forward to 2012 . Especially in terms of work. What I am not looking forward to is the continuing recession which is set to deepen. The Government will tell us how to eat healthily in the Age of Austerity. Celebrity chefs will instruct us in the art of making nourishing meals from scraps and leftovers.

The next step will be to reintroduce post war bomb sites. The unemployed and feckless could be made to work on this type of heritage landscaping. Children could be encouraged to run around making World War Two noises.

Astonishingly wealthy people will tell us how to be happy while we ourselves struggle day to day on reduced incomes.

Boxing Day

Get the London look.

Garden Image

Garden image

Beckett

Towards an image of peace, ongoing.

Certain types of artist develop in times such as these. One thinks of Punk Graphics, Dada, as well as the American Depression era W.P.A initiative.

This year I intend to make as much work as possible , my aims are reasonably clear , at least to myself.