The Black Flag (band) logo recreated by pinning four black bin-liners to the wall. Ideally, those bin-liners will have been bought from a hardware store in Hermosa Beach, California (where the band originates from).
gallery
Libraries Gave Us Power /
A collaborative photographic project documenting the, over-800, libraries that have closed in the UK since 2010 (under this Tory government). I will publish a list of the libraries and their, defunct, addresses, with an invitation for anyone/everyone to photograph the buildings or sites and share them with me as part of the project, as a fully credited collaborator. These images could be a series of zines, a book, a video, an exhibition, or all of them.
Collaborative Print Portofolios /
A series of portfolios made up of an identical selection of my prints from across the years. These will be shared with a series of collaborators, who will add to the prints in their own unique way - me + 1 other artist per portfolio. A kind-of Basquiat/Warhol scenario. The portfolios will then be offered for sale as full collaborations.
Four Branches /
A series of medium-format photographs of sites, now, from The Four Branches of the Mabinogion (Welsh Folklore).
Desert Head /
A single-channel video of a head poking out of the sand in a desert landscape, the eyes are closed, framed in such a way as we can’t tell if it’s someone buried up to their neck or whether it’s a decapitated head.
The eyes dart open and we hear the head’s internal monologue, worrying over trivial and mundane aspects of everyday life - “Did I leave the gas on?!…”
At the end of the monologue the eyes close again.
My ideal ‘head’ would be the actor Paul Putner.
Marble Foot /
A marble sculpture of one of my feet, attached to a marble base - as if a fragment from a larger sculpture.
Include this work in every exhibition/project/installation I ever have, with an invitation for visitors to touch the foot to bring them good luck.
Over time this repetitive action will begin to polish and wear-away the marble, as we see with sculptures around the world purported to contain good luck.
Wal Goch /
A wall made entirely from old house-bricks found in the River Taff.
An artwork that is fascinating... /
A series of text poster-works describing disappointing artworks, such as…
“An artwork that is fascinating on paper, but that you don’t need to see once you’ve read about it.”
“An artwork that is fascinating on paper, but that doesn’t deliver in real life.”
Champagne /
A multi-screen video (wide-screen monitors, installed portrait, to create a tall tower of screens).
On the top screen is a full-frame shot of a flute of champagne standing on a tray. The tray wobbles, causing the flute to fall from the tray.
In slow motion, the flute falls towards the floor, moving from one screen to the next, until we see the glass smash on the floor.
Once it has come to rest, the audio of a room full of people cheering plays.
The end.
My Empire of Dirt /
A two part project/sculpture/installation, existing concurrently.
One part involves the purchase of a standard single burial plot in a cemetery. The plot is then dug, as if ready to receive a burial.
In the other part, the earth removed from that burial plot is exhibited as a mound in a room/gallery somewhere else (logically, within the same city/town).
Both spaces can be visited by the public.
Blackboards /
Fill a room/gallery with blackboards, so it looks a bit like an exhibition of Joseph Beuys blackboards from his lectures, but the diagrams on the blackboards are copies of blackboards from scenes in films, such as when Lieutenant Harris is writing on a blackboard in front of the new recruits in the first Police Academy movie.
Luck Favours the Brave /
A single channel video/projection of a multi-multi-split-screen image containing film of matadors being gored by bulls.
Battle Jacket Fiction /
A ‘battle jacket’ (cut-off denim jacket covered in band patches worn by heavy metal fans) covered in patches of fictional heavy metal bands.
Hiraeth /
A digital screen/monitor attached to a computer showing every tweet, in real time, that contains the word or hashtag ‘hiraeth’ in it.
Hiraeth is Welsh word meaning a deep longing for something, particularly one’s home.
Often described as an untranslatable word, as there is no direct translation in English, I’ve just translated it for you.
Burning Guitar /
An electric guitar, on a stand, plugged into an amplifier, feeding back, doused in a flammable liquid and set on fire.
This could be a performance that later becomes a video, sound work, and/or photograph.
All in This Together print/sculpture /
The phrase ‘All in this together’ written in the style of the ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ gate outside of Auschwitz, rendered as a print or sculpture.
‘We’re all in this together’ become the catchphrase and persistent lie of the Tory party from 2008 onwards to justify the crippling programme of austerity they unleashed upon the UK.
80s Politics Western Movie poster /
A poster that lists the main politicians involved in 80s politics, from a Western perspective, arranged according to the rules of a classic Western movie poster i.e. the leading man’s name is written biggest, with the leading lady’s name second biggest. Smaller, underneath, are the main supporting actor’s names.
i.e…
Biggest: Ronald Reagan
Second biggest: Margaret Thatcher
Supporting biggest: Mikhail Gorbachev, Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein, The Ayatollah Khomeini…
Rules of the The Pit poster /
A poster-diagram of ‘the pit’ from heavy a metal concert that defines the different areas and the unspoken rules that exist around it, such as…
Front row/on-the-barrier, about 2 or 3 people deep, un-moving.
Behind that - the main pit. An area of non-specific size (ebbs and flows in size and dynamic throughout the gig). The main rule - if someone falls, you help them back-up immediately.
On the edge of that - the pit-guards. A self-selected row of people, one-person deep, who act as a barrier between the pit and the people who just want to stand and watch. These people play an active role in, both, defending the standers from the pit, and also pinballing wayward pit members back towards the centre of the action. Pit-guards often peel-off into the pit for a while, then rejoin the row of pit-guards.
Behind that, the standers. The people who just want to stand and watch to enjoy the gig. Secondary rule - don’t start a new pit amongst the standers; make your way to the main pit and join in.
Etc. etc.
Carousel of Death /
A fun-fair carousel, where each of the horses is named after a horse that has died in the Grand National.
New Work - 'So Good!' /
Mid-to-large scale sculptural renderings of the shocked-face, hand clap, high-five, and fire emojis.
A second part to this work (maybe the entire work..) is a photograph of these works posted on Instagram.