I made these out of plastercine at a sleepover at the science museum in London a couple of years ago. It was a strange event, Richard Wentworth was there doing a talk, he was very good, he is an old school artist and a good art reference when we talk of materialism. I especially like the green bean but Lollo Roso is not an easy thing to make or model, some things are easier to represent than others.
A few years ago I wondered why the figures at Madame Tussourds are not considered as super-real sculptures. I know they have their own tradition yet they are striving to represent the reality of a human, even if only from the outside. I don't know if anyone has written about it and for my blog I don't really care. There seems to be something in the negative or difference, the "not art" that might help us understand what art is. What is it about Wax works that means they are not art ? On Wikipedia it suggest that they are not art as they are not intended to be art and this makes them popular visitor attractions, perhaps this is why the fairground was a home for the early moving image as spectacle and ahy many art cinemas are empty. When I went to see Francois Massarto a couple of years ago he suggested that the term artist was a problem and perhaps we all needed move on; it was what Jessica Gullion would describe as a Zombie category. I still feel a bit niggled by this, I can see his point but behind being a dad and a husband it sometimes feels like I need the label. Nobody says firefighters or mechanics should not carry their labels within their job descriptions. Perhaps Francois point is that artists are like firefighters but all the fires have gone out. Perhaps that firefighters now do much more than fight fires so the label is confusing and outdated. I like being an artist because it is wild, undefined and is as Sartre would suggest it helps to live a life not as an object, to position existence before essence.
We are now here and here is where we are. I have just sent Kate a new draft of my RD2 which I seem to have been going on about for ages. It did seriously let get under my skin. I have learnt a few major lessons from this process and they will be helpful for the next couple of years so I put them here to remind myself.
1. In the end I am doing a PhD and although I can mess with the edges I need to make what I write into something that can be marked as a PhD.
2. The conception of knowledge at the university is not like outside the university. It is faith based in that it believes in itself.
3. This is not an opportunity to be honest or to perform - the path is somewhere in the middle.
4. Everything you read you forget.
5. It is easier to represent a green bean than Lollo Rosso sometimes the best thing to do is take the easy option.
6. The best writing, like the best walks ends up where it sets off . Dad doesn't always have to run back to get the car.
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