http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Rivesaltes Project Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:30:16 +0000 a-n rss generator a-n The Artists Information Company and contributors edit@a-n.co.uk technical@a-n.co.uk http://www.a-n.co.uk/img/logo.gif http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Originally a military base, this camp in Rivesaltes (near Perpignan) has a really dark history. It has been used to hide people away, those whom society has rejected. The Spanish fleeing Franco's regime were put there. Then Jews, along with the other groups targeted by the Nazi regime; then the Harkis (the Algerians who fought for the French during the Algerian War of Independence) and, more recently, as a detention centre for those immigrants without the relevant visas.  The site was recently bought by the regional council and finally, after much debate, it has been decided to build a memorial, a place to remember the appalling way in which people have been treated here. It is also being used as a place for exhibitions and artists, musicians and poets come together here to respond to the site.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I started filming in Camp Joffre, initially in the area which was still in use as a detention centre for "illegal" immigrants (often asylum seekers). I didn't really understand at that stage the geography of the camp (it is vast). I was stopped by a police officer and asked what I was doing! Later I found the part of the camp which was used during the Second World War. It is known as "îlot F"(the name of the barracks in that area). I made several hours of walks through the undergrowth and over the tiles, through the buildings and along the old barbed wire. The atmosphere was eerie. It is quite an exposed place, the power of the wind must have made life uncomfortable for those living there.  I started working on the footage. Some of the walks could be used in their entirety, uncut. The images were surprisingly beautiful. I felt that I needed to work on the sound: I liked the idea of juxtaposing these images with a more sinister sound track to reflect the atmosphere of the camp. I had recorded my footsteps during the walks and I played with the frequencies to create the effect I wanted.    http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 My videos have been well received, especially in the UK. In France the Memorial Commission are interested in a screening in the camp, but it is difficult to pin them down to a date. The most recent project in which I have been involved was "War and Peace" organised by Fiona Meadley in September 2008 for World Peace Day. Films by 8 artists were shown in venues including the Arnolfini, Bristol. One of my Rivesaltes films was chosen. The showreel was really powerful and followed by a discussion chaired by Prof Paul Gough. http://www.war-and-peace.info/   Discussion extracts:   Paul Gough: Tell us about your video. Jonathan Moss: In the context of the other videos it’s quite surprising to see something so abstract with little relation to anything figurative. The subject-matter is the Holocaust and France's involvement in the Final Solution. ... I like to play with the idea of beauty and horror existing at the same time, I try to create seductive images which are beautiful, yet with something really quite macabre going on underneath. ... PG: Peace is very difficult to articulate visually... Jonathan mentioned that what seems outwardly rather calm and beautiful masks some of the worst things that have ever happened. Jonathan’s work is on an edge. You want to make them interesting for people to look at, films that are engaging. If they’re too polemic people switch off, there is a kind of seduction going on. JM: I hope my work works in a visual way, then you receive a ‘punch’ when you realise where its made. It’s this impact which I think makes it powerful... Audience question: What drew you to make films about Rivesaltes... What is it that has value for you personally? JM: I always have to have a connection with the landscape or it has to be linked to my family heritage... the first time I passed the camp I thought, what is that? ... it’s a land with a history, that’s what’s important to me. I’ve recently been exploring my family’s Jewish heritage... I felt that it is something that I really should be involved in and try to understand better. ... PG: You are clearly involved. JM: Yes. So much so that I wanted to actually volunteer at the camp, but they've closed it. I felt that I needed to get out of the studio to make my experience of making the work more real. As you mentioned you do get caught up in making images work visually, I felt that something rooting me in reality would be good. But I'm still searching to be involved in other ways. ...   Audience comment: When a film becomes abstract it really starts to engage your mind, it challenges you and gives you the space that you get with Jonathan’s film... to understand and to reflect on the subject... It helps when viewing the variety of films here tonight. PG: I agree.       http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Along the coast around Perpignan there are many sites of WW2 holding camps originally created for refugees escaping Franco's Spain.   Argeles today is known as a seaside resort, so I thought it would be a good idea to film what remains of the camp from where interns were sent to Rivesaltes. What I found was a vast expanse of wasteland bordering the sea, an area of scrub-land with only cacti for vegetation.   It’s out of season, so there were hardly any holiday-makers, just a few naked old men scattered along the beach enjoying the last of the summer sun. Even at midday the place was eerie, no huts remained, just areas where buildings obviously had been.   I walked over the scrub, an area fenced off as a nature reserve.   Vast, empty, bleak and silent (apart from a few birds singing, passing through, heading south) as if the past history of this place could not be completely obliterated.   I walked in circles for over an hour through this bland repetitive piece of land, no distinguishing features, just barren, not a lot of notable features to film, quite monotonous.   As I walked back to the car I passed a camp-site, mobile homes enclosed by a large wall, my friend asked me what they reminded me of, I answered the concentration camp at Rivesaltes – what a bizarre place to holiday.   I now have cactus thorns in my feet, in fact embedded in my shoes; not the most comfortable walk I’ve ever made, but I'm sure I have some footage I can use.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 The weather was pretty bad in our village, in fact it was completely hidden in cloud, so I thought it was a good idea to head for the coast. On the way I decided to make an unplanned stop at the camp at Rivesaltes – probably my 20th visit, so I didn’t expect to find anything new . . . I was a bit shocked to see, close-up, the large section of the huts (in fact a whole row) demolished. Next to the pile of rubble a sign read – Rivesaltes camp: Restoration of the barracks – it struck me as an odd take on restoration.   I have spoken with the director of the memorial and she had told me the huts themselves were going to be the memorial with a monument / visitor centre positioned next to them. I suppose some huts had to go to make room for the centre.   I made some footage of the debris (a large pile of wooden planks from the rooves and concrete from the walls), a video-walk around it. I had my 4 yr old son Louis with me – I told him not to talk (a bit hopeful). For over 3 minutes he repeated the words “Are there any people here?", I’m sure I can use that somehow.   Heading for the coast I followed one of the camp’s tracks, not one I’d followed before; it took me to an industrial estate. The other side of the estate I waited at a railway-crossing for a train to pass (Perpignan to Paris) – I noticed a siding, just 500m from the camp; I knew that Jews were taken to Auschwitz by train, in cattle-wagons, via Drancy in Paris, but presumed they only walked to the town of Rivesaltes to be loaded on to trains. This nondescript missable piece of railway track played a role in one of the worst episodes of the history of mankind – people must pass it everyday (as they do the camp) and be unaware of its reason for being. I plan to return to the siding to film it whilst walking, something repetitive and rhythmic, perhaps even encouraging reflection on the history of this part of France.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Yesterday evening I found out that a short clip of one of my Rivesaltes videos has been included by the Frieze Foundation for their film "Road Movie" and will be shown on Channel 4 tomorrow (Thursday 16th October) during the "Three-Minute Wonder" slot at 7.55pm after the News. It is the fourth film in a series shown since Monday. All four films can be viewed on You tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTbcnolKJB8     http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I watched the Frieze 3 Minute Wonder last night on Channel 4, interesting to see my video-walk from the camp in that context. I was pleased to have my name on the end credits as a director of the piece; it came up as ‘Jonathan Moss Video’, which I use as my user name on YouTube. Helen (my wife) joked that it was a good thing I didn’t upload the video under my other user name (which I use for my non art-related videos): ‘Jonny Moscovitch’. It sounds comic, but in a round-about way may have been appropriate as Moscovitch is the original surname of my Jewish family who travelled to Britain from Russia as refugees at the end of the 19th Century. A few weeks ago, during the discussion following the War and Peace screening at the Arnolfini, one of the audience asked why I am so interested in the camp at Rivesaltes, was it simply that it is a landscape local to me? It is my love of landscape which led me to film at Rivesaltes initially – the fact that the landscape has a dark history which is connected to my family’s heritage made it real to me personally. I like that my videos work on two levels, they present beautiful images but of a landscape that has a horrific past (a ‘landscape of trauma’, as Paul Gough would describe it). I still find it difficult to believe that in such an idyllic part of France a camp of this kind could have existed – every time I visit the camp the atmosphere is heavy with the weight of the past: 2,313 Jews were sent to Auschwitz from there during a 2 month period during 1942, the remaining 3,000 died at the camp from disease and malnutrition and this was in ‘Free-France’, they were sent by the French from an area not governed by Germany.   ‘Le Camp de Rivesaltes, 1941-1942’. Anne Boitel: The existence of the camp is still a thorny subject in France, the darkest point of those shadowy years. The term ‘camp de concentration’ was used by the French government. Although camps were never intended for such an appalling purpose many did die as a result of starvation rations and Rivesaltes was the first step towards extermination as internees were deported to Auschwitz.   I plan to visit the camp over the next few days, this time to project my videos on to the walls of the huts at night and to photograph the images made.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I have been painting today. It's funny that initially I attempted to recreate the images of my paintings in video and now I am basing my paintings on the stills of the videos. It is also strange how my videos are abstract but the stills themselves become more figurative - details emerge: grass, rocks, textures of dry earth... My work has always been based on memories of walks in the landscape and I thought why can't the walk itself could be the end result, recorded through video? It is easy to be absorbed in the process of working with images in the studio, which is important, but I felt with this project that it is vital for me to be personally involved in the camp at Rivesaltes; I have requested to be a volunteer at the detention centre which holds refugees awaiting visas, situated on the edge of the camp where my videos are made.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just returned from a bitterly cold and blustery evening spent at the camp. I went with Peter Watkins, a photographer who is staying with us. Equipped with a generator, projector, laptop and a large format camera we were ready for a night of image-making. We projected my video-stills (previously made at the camp) on to the huts and then photographed them - I took a few digital shots to get an idea, but the large format shots will probably suffer due to the strong wind and long exposures. The wind whistled through the decaying hut in which we were based, equipment was blown around violently, I could hear dogs, but Peter assured me it was just the wind. It struck me that, not that long ago, innocent people slept in this small space and experienced similar noises and cold on this desolate plain. Friedal Bohny-Reitel the Swiss Red Cross worker in her Journal wrote on the 5th December 1941: Glacial wind, crystalline skies, moonlit nights and so very cold. In the barracks they are freezing, shivering in their beds. I am full of important rage at such misery.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I was house-sitting for a friend last week at Elne, whilst I was there I visited the Maternite Suisse D'Elne (Swiss Maternity Hospital at Elne) which was active from 1939 - 1944. At this converted mansion mothers who were held captive at the camps of Rivesaltes, Barcares, St Cyprien and Argeles could go to the hospital to give birth (4 weeks prior and 4 weeks following, they then returned to the camps). It belonged to a local family and rented by the OSE (Oeuvre de Secours aux Enfants, a Russian Jewish organisation dedicated to the welfare of refugee children during the Holocaust). The house was restored last year and is now a museum documenting the work of a Red Cross worker: Elisabeth Eidenbenz, who set up and managed the hospital - she saved the lives of 500 children. Whilst I was there, there was a large Spanish family looking around, three generations, some were moved to tears as they looked at the exhibits. I watched as they posed for photographs. I presume that one of the family was born at the hospital during the war.  The house has a really peaceful atmosphere which reflects its role during the war as a little pocket of hope in the midst of despair at the camps.  As part of my documentation of the camps of this area of France I plan to return to make some videos (once I have completed editing recent footage made at Rivesaltes and Argeles).   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Recently I've been working on the rushes I made at the sites of the camps - particularly Argeles. Being totally absorbed by editing on the computer and the creative process seems so far removed from walking and recording at the sites and even more distanced from the events that occurred at these places - but that's the nature of making art. Viewing the videos frame by frame is very exciting as the random zooms of the vegetation, soil, sand, rocks etc grab my attention for the first time. At this stage I suppose I view the videos as a series of stills and I am constantly working out which stills would work independently to the videos, it is not until I work on the sound that I see these groups of stills as a coherent whole. So, that's the stage I'm at now - working on the sound, editing the actual noise I encountered whilst recording: my footsteps, the zip of the camera case jingling, breathing, birds singing, waves crashing . . . ; one particular sound I'm looking forward to playing with is that of a wire fence twanging (technical term) in the wind.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 After a long wait I've received the large format negatives that Peter Watkins kindly took for me at the camp on a blustery night last month - we projected my videos stills on to the walls of the huts. The photos of the projections on the exterior of the huts have a strange, eerie quality, projected light contrasts with natural disappearing light. It is as if the scene was a stage-set illuminated by stage lighting. I have yet to print the images, but have a few ideas how they can be presented.  The images which strike me most, though, are those of projections on the interior walls - decaying, peeling paint has been worn by 70 years of dripping water; vertical lines made by the rivulets dominate what seems at a glance to be a flat surface.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I came across a quote from 'The Journal of Rivesaltes' written on August 9th, 1942 by a Red Cross worker at the camp (Friedel Bohny-Reiter); it describes interns being loaded into cattle wagons headed for Auschwitz and links well with the section of this blog (October 14th) which is going to appear in the a-n magazine next month. "...Torrid heat at the camp. The barbed wire, tightly strung around K and F blocks, is oppressing. The moans of the tormented still linger in the air. I see them filing out of their barracks, panting under the weight of their belongings. The guards are beside them. Lining up for the role call. Waiting for hours in a field in the sun. Then the trucks arrive to take them to the rail roads. They get off the trucks in two rows, between the guards, and climb on the cattle cars. Some hesitant, others apathetic, others defiantly, heads held high. This goes on for hours until all are crammed into the cars where the heat is suffocating. I recognise certain faces through the bars. Calling out one last request, or thanking. At every door, two guards. I look at the faces. Even despair has disappeared from these aged, ashen, doleful faces. From the last car we hear "goodbye . . ."   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Winter here has been particularly hard, cutting wood and frequently loading the fire has figured highly, but strangely for this time of year has been eclipsed by trips to Berlin and London for exhibitions and screenings and an exciting collaboration with a composer who lives up the road. Blaise Merino, the composer, is the bassist for what could be described as a thrash-metal trio. He has locked himself away for the winter and focusing on his own work. I emailed a video to him before Christmas as we had previously talked of a collaboration - he finished the piece yesterday. I visited him, not too sure what to expect. There is definitely throbbing bass, but echoing the rhythm of my footsteps and syncopated juxtaposition of frames. Crackles and distortion give way to hypnotising waves of sound. It's refreshing to work with someone in tune with what I'm doing and sympathetic to the visuals. I plan to upload it to my new website (www.jonathan-moss.com). I've also found time to start a new series of paintings (sounds like a luxury bonus in the daily routine of things) - I'm basing the images on the wall textures of the huts. Weathered surfaces and drips revealing the passage of time are dominating the work. I intend to spend a day at the camp this week to draw and paint to feed into the process of making. The wind is strong here at the moment. I'm not looking forward to sitting in a ruined hut waiting for it to crumble around me - they've stood for 70 years, but recently some of the rooves have been partially removed which could have weakened the remaining structure, so I'll probably wait till the wind has died down.  I ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Ottica TV is going to have a screening tomorrow night at The Better Bankside Centre, 18 Great Guildford Street (corner of Zoar Street behind Tate Modern), London, SE1. Ten minute movie shorts by a selection of international artists. From 6.00 - 9.00. They are going to screen RQV2, the first video-walk I made at the camp.    http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It was snowing in our village this morning, so I thought I'd escape with my baby daughter, Emilie, to warmer climes. Armed with A-N magazine I was prepared for a morning of catching up on the art world, drinking coffee and rocking Emilie to sleep. The café was bustling with locals gossiping and drinking Pastis. An hour in to my quality time with Emilie an acquaintance walked in with his wife. We had met a few times and discovered a common interest in "religious" art and the Modern Painters magazine of Peter Fuller's day. He asked me how my work was going, I told him about this blog on the camp at Rivesaltes – at this, his wife, Suse, nonchalantly said, "My father was held there when the war ended". I was quite taken aback... Here I am making work at a site whose history is far removed from me sitting in a café reading and entertaining my daughter whilst escaping the snow. It turns out that her father was a German soldier in Russia at the end of the war; he was sent to Rivesaltes as it was a large camp that could hold thousands of prisoners. She explained how he was a pacifist and caught up (as were so many) in the Nazi regime. As a prisoner -of -war it was a difficult time, but locals took pity and gave him food through the fence. It was by coincidence that she ended up living in the same part of France. When she first came to the area, she visited the town of Rivesaltes, went to a café, and asked about the camp, the place fell silent and she realised that it was not a subject that they wished to discuss.  I now want to find out if the camp was run by the same French (locals from the nearby town) who worked at the camp during 1942 when so many Jews were held there. I told Suse about the blog which she seemed keen to read. So, Suse, I hope that you don't mind me recounting our encounter and I look forward to talking more in depth with you.     http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Yesterday I started another collaboration with a photographer friend (Chris Webb) who is going to organise a joint show of work made at the camp for the Wirksworth Festival. I was quite shocked to find most of the huts on Ilot F (the section reserved by the Conseil General for the memorial) to be rubble - the result of a huge storm we had on January 24th, winds were over 100 miles an hour. The hut from which Peter Watkins and I projected my videos has disappeared, the yellow wall photographed by Peter and featured in post 12, 2nd Dec has also gone. Most of the Red Cross hut has fallen, including the painted 'red cross' and the word 'Entrée'. The school room, with children's murals, is now also rubble - I am pleased that I had the opportunity to photograph these before the storm. I don't know if it can be described as a morbid fascination or not, but I found the afternoon inspirational. As I guided Chris around the camp the aroma of thyme filled the air as we trampled across the scrub - I went with the intention of drawing tree trunks for a new series of paintings but ended up photographing sun shining on the decaying walls of one of the still-standing huts, painted yellow again with fissures revealing white lime, new and old graffiti and crumbling plaster. Some of the graffiti was recent ('tags' made since this part of the camp has been accessible to budding Basquiats) but some looked pre-60s and older. I discovered a small drawing of a couple wearing striped tunics - could this be from the war? I need to do more research. In fact I have just ordered a book of photos which were taken here during 1942 and a book of records from that period - lists of those held at the camps of this area and those who were sent to Auschwitz. Chris photographed a Star of David which was gouged into one of the walls. I made a short video of the shadow of a tree rhythmically moving on the wall which was a glimpse of beauty amidst the heavy oppression of the past. Chris took lots of photos as night fell, illuminating the exterior of the red cross hut with a torch, the result was suitably eerie.  We popped in to a bar on our way back - the atmosphere was subdued, it wasn't until later that we realised France had just lost the rugby to Les Anglais.    http://www.jonathan-moss.com/      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've spent the last month researching Vichy France, the Holocaust in France and finding the odd respite in painting. To be honest it got me down a bit. I've been reading original documents from 1942, notices sent to Mayors regarding reporting the Jews living in their towns in order for them to be sent to Rivesaltes and then on to Auschwitz, letters from the Bishop of Toulouse pleading for innocent people not to be interned in the camps, records of those sent to Auschwitz. One thing that really struck me was that many of the Jews interned in the camps were refugees and were genuinely seeking refuge on their journey away from the anti-semitism of Germany - so at the start of the war they voluntarily stayed at the camps, as the war continued it became harder for them to have a day-pass to leave for the day, have food vouchers and have visitors; in 1942 their liberty was taken away and most of them were sent to Auschwitz. A Nazi collaborator in Petain's government, Laval (who Petain attempted to fire), arranged to send the Jews of occupied and free France to the extermination camps as part of the Final Solution. I watched Shoah, which is a ten hour documentary made in 1985, made up entirely of interviews of Holocaust survivors, extermination camp guards and local residents who lived next to the camps - powerful stuff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoah_%28film%29 ). The director and interviewer, Claude Lanzmann, pressed the same questions again and again and would not relent until the interviewees went into great detail regarding the events. What came over strongly was the continuing anti-semitism in Europe. I thought that this spoke strongly about the feelings of those of a certain age who had lived during the war . . . However, I've had two shocking encounters recently. I was eating at a friend's house last week. One of the other guests asked on which landscape my work was based - I started to enthusiastically tell him about Rivesaltes, he just stared at me and said that he didn't understand why Jews still go on about the Holocaust . . . I was taken aback, (he went on to explain that he was brought up living next to a camp) - this was the first time I've come across a view such as this. The following day a middle-aged French lady visited my studio, the same question was asked and I explained that I make work based on walking through the ruins and across the scrub of the camp - her response was of bewilderment: "Why make work on the theme of the Holocaust? That's in the past".   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I read this week in a journal on French cultural matters for ex-pats (which I would normally avoid) that the Holocaust in France is a taboo subject, which I now know to be true . . . I'm still trying for that elusive show in France of my work based at Rivesaltes - it's probably too close to home, strange how, as a nation, they have not come to terms with their recent history. I won't be deterred though. I am showing my videos and paintings in a barn next month with three other artists from the area: Sam Sweeting, a performance artist, Blaise Merino, the musician I have recently collaborated with and Paola Di Prima, an installation artist - it's a privilege to show with them. We've hi-jacked a local organic farm festival - I was in two minds to explain my work or not, but have now decided to include my statement and photos of the camp as part of the exhibition; I will find the visitors' responses interesting (I might even secretly record them). I've just finished some prototypes for a show later in the year, sand on aluminium, I'll show them in the barn on the 1st May.    http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I woke at 7.00 to create an installation in a friend's barn as part of the "De Ferme en Ferme" (an open day for organic farms in the area) with three other artists. The sheep were milked at 8.00, so I couldn't set up until they had left the barn. When I arrived the smell of sheep-shit was overwhelming, still steaming. This must have been the coldest and wettest day we have had in a long time - the barn might be warm and cosy for the sheep, but I was freezing. The roof leaked and many of the drips landed exactly where I wanted to place the screen, simple solution, hang a bucket over it to catch them. The barn was dark, so I exploited this: two spots gave a warm light, the paintings on metal seemed to glow from behind as the light hit them whilst they swung in the wind, which incessantly hurtled through. The afternoon was quite entertaining, following a long May-Day lunch many visitors were just a little intoxicated, some rolling about in the hay (pulling cables), some singing and others just giggling - a unique experience amidst my videos and paintings. Many stumbled at the fact that the videos were shown on an equal level to the paintings, so I decided that it would have been too much to expect them to be open to the origin of the work, I therefore didn't include a written explanation. Amidst questions about technique and "how long did that take you?", there were thankfully several visitors who took the time to be absorbed in the atmosphere I had created and took an interest in the underlying theme. A French friend told me that this blog, the research and creative work that I'm doing is important, which was refreshing to hear. The sound of my videos filled the barn; Andi, the farmer, had been recorded milking the sheep, so, in the background, a calming, repetitive and quite meditative sound complemented my installation; I feel though, that it would have been good for the sheep to be roaming in and out, bleating and causing mayhem amidst the cables and lights. The sheep were milked again at 6.00, so, following the final visitors I had to pack up pretty quickly.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 As the boredom struck whilst cutting paper for a new series of prints based on my new 'line' / 'zip' series on aluminium I 've been watching the news. The Pope's visit to Israel has reminded me that the subject of the Holocaust actually is a 'hot-topic'. The media hype may be obscuring the facts, but it was fascinating to watch the pontiff make his speech at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the camera focusing on the chairman: Rabbi Lau, a Holocaust survivor, looking on disapprovingly. Afterwards he expressed disappointment at the speech: "there certainly was no apology expressed here . . .". For what? The press have reported that the Pope is in a difficult position: he was a member of Hitler Youth (reluctantly) conscripted during the war, is planning to make Pope Pius XII (wartime pope who stayed neutral during the war and did nothing to hault the killing of Jews) a saint and has reinstated Bishop Richard Williamson and four colleagues who were excommunicated for denying the existence of the Holocaust (Williamson stated 20 years ago:" There was not one Jew killed in the gas chambers. It was all lies, lies, lies. The Jews created the Holocaust so we would prostrate ourselves on our knees before them and approve of their new state of Israel . . . Jews made up the Holocaust"). It has been reported that the Pope's presence at the Holocaust Memorial is a statement against the Holocaust deniers in itself. He also paid tribute to the memory of the six million Jews who perished: "May the names of these victims never perish. May their suffering never be denied, belittled or forgotton". It is not for me to comment - I just find it fascinating that the visit has caused such controversy; I cannot stop being reminded of all though armchair critics of my work who tell me it is not relevant today. Back to paper cutting now - a day of printing tomorrow.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/ Sources: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242029... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8045094.stm    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I have just had two videos accepted for the Athens Video Art Festival: http://www.athensvideoartfestival.gr/eng/default.a... They only contacted me yesterday, it starts on Thursday, so too short notice for me to attend, which is a shame. Recently I seem to have dedicated a lot of time to filling in application forms, preparing DVDs and stills, writing summaries, packing up the work and nipping out to the post office, only to never hear from the organisers again. I put this down to the fact that I decided to include a statement at the start of the videos explaining their origin: This is a video-walk through ruins and across scrub in a former concentration camp at Rivesaltes in the south of France, between the Mediterranean and the mountains on the edge of a motorway. Refugees have been held here during the dark episodes of the twentieth century: the Spanish Revolution, World War Two when thousands of Jews were sent from here to Auschwitz, the Algerian War of Independence, and recently, Eastern Europeans without visas seeking a better life. The videos (including the ones accepted by Athens) ceased to be obscure and started to be overtly about the Holocaust and the other dark periods of twentieth century France. Prior to this year the same videos, without the statement, were generally accepted for festivals. I accept that the work is not straightforward when compared to figurative videos based on a narrative, which was a reason for me to add the statement in the first place - my work demands time and effort from the viewer and the viewing experience desired is more akin to the experience of viewing paintings (after all, I am a painter). I suppose it's just how it goes - win some, lose some. If the work is not suited to some festivals / galleries it means that I have to spend more time  targeting the ones who are sympathetic to my style of work and subject. The statement on the videos will stay for now.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 The Holocaust is featuring a lot in the news this week. Today the trial of John Demjanjuk has started in Munich. He is accused of taking part in the murder of 29,000 Jews, but he claims it is a case of mistaken identity - he says he was a prisoner of war held by the Nazis during the war and not an SS guard at Sobibor death camp. This is the second time he has stood trial - originally in 1988 for the same crimes, by an Israeli court - he was sentenced to death as 'Ivan the Terrible' but later released due to lack of evidence. He has lived in America since 1951. Headline news, shows people are still concerned by issues concerning the Holocaust. In France there is a different format for the news on TV - it was reported, half an hour into the news for ten seconds, immediately following the thirty seconds dedicated to the Pope's visit to Jerusalem. Back to paper cutting . . .   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/   Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7998947.stm... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 This weekend I've been a little disappointed that I couldn't attend the Video Art Festival in Athens (too short notice), I decided to throw myself headfirst in to making some prints, which I've put off for a while. Mid print-run, I heard the postman knock at the door - the "Place, Identity and Memory" catalogue had arrived. I have a book of prints in the exhibition which starts next week in Dumfries. My book is based on the 'Rivesaltes. Shoah' series of videos, see Post 8. The catalogue is a thing of beauty, hand-bound with origami-style fold-outs showcasing each of the 70 books. Unfortunately I couldn't hold the catalogue immediately as I was covered in ink. The few days printing were tiring, but rewarding. I made four plates, carborundum on aluminium - printing on Whatman, which is always exciting as the ink seems to 'enter' the paper which still remains luminous. I was most pleased by the prints which were totally dark ('RSA. PI.'), the delineation of form is dependent on the contrast of the carborundum lines (the ink rested on the surface of the paper) with the spaces in between (ink which was pressed into the paper). Once the print-run was finished, I decided to turn the plates in to finished works - the results being much more visually dramatic than the prints! Both the plates and prints have their own merits though. This week it's back to less exciting work, cleaning the prints.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've been working on a series of line paintings (similar to the aluminium works) for the past two years; based on a video again, but I struggled to find that ineffable something that a painting needs. Well I found it today - perhaps it was the gorgeous weather we're having here, perhaps it was the sound of crickets, or that my wife could look after little Emilie allowing me to 'get dirty' and not worry about having to change a nappy . . . whatever it was, I'm glad they're finished after 2 years of dabbling, wiping away and thinking they're finished whilst not being convinced that I could ever show them. Today I basically glazed over a texture of lines (which I'd built up methodically over weeks, maybe fifty layers) and manipulated the drips. The fluid paint has now sunk into the textures which has emphasised the lines. As a result of the wet paint the surface seems to have great depth which will probably disappear when they dry; I'm reluctant to use a gloss varnish, so I'll do some experiments. There is little I can do in the studio, that is, until I can move the paintings, which is good as I've got some reading to catch up on; I recently received in the post an M.Phil thesis written on the most active and shocking years of the camp, 1941-1942. Morbid, but interesting, are photos of the incinerator (still standing but undiscovered by me) and Jewish tombs in the cemetary in the town of Rivesaltes. It looks like I'll be making another visit soon.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I was in Leclerc (France's Tescos) this morning in Limoux, the book section. I was looking for a book that has just been published on the camp at Rivesaltes that I knew was available in other branches. I looked on the shelves next to the till, the local interest section - I found loads of books on Rennes-le-Chateau (local Glastonbury) and also on the Cathars, but not the book on Rivesaltes. The cashier had to phone the manager, he took me to the history section where we found the book. When I asked why the book wasn't on the display of local interest books he said that it is a history book - I pointed out the title: "Les Camps de Rivesaltes, 1935 - 2007", he replied it's not a subject that tourists would be interested in. Bizarre.   I've been corresponding with Suzanne Bardgett (Head of Department of Holocaust and Genocide History at The Imperial War Museum) regarding my project and coincidentally she shall be in this area during the summer, so we are trying to arrange to meet so that I can give her a tour of the camp. She mentioned the 'Journal of Helene Berr', a Parisian Jew who was sent to Auschwitz from Drancy and then was killed at Bergen - Belsen five days before its liberation. She has been called France's Anne Frank. I wasn't aware that it had been published, but will now add it to my reading list - I am looking forward to reading something that's been translated in to English for a change - all the books I've read recently have been in French and very hard work.  I'm also in the process of watching "The Sorrow and the Pity" (French documentary made in 1969 on Vichy France's collaboration with Germany during the war, including interviews of resistance members from Clermont-Ferrand, German soldiers, politicians, French and British MOD. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sorrow_and_the_Pi...). I'm finding it fascinating, it's putting all the snippets of information on France during the war in to a context.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just had the most bizarre experience. Last week I was emailed by a student from St Louis, Missouri, she wanted to interview a printmaker - she had googled print studios in St Louis and came up with the name of my studio: Atelier St Louis, named after the village in which we live: St Louis in France. I explained and then jokingly said that she  could Skype me - which is exactly what she just did. I gave a 15 minute presentation on the techniques I use and also the theme of my subject-matter, I explained about Rivesaltes. The group was really interested even though this was their first class of the day, whilst I had just swallowed the last mouthful of my evening meal. The lecturer likened my work to Kiefer who has two pieces in St Louis Museum and offered me a Steichan (or was it a stipend?). They're going to read this blog, so hi St Louis.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just had a video screened at the Silent Movie Project at the Synch festival in Athens - I was one of only 23 video-artists, so wanted to attend, but it was my mother-in-law's 60th, so had to stay here. I showed RS-A1, one of the videos I made on the beach at Argeles where there was a camp during the war. Post 4 of 11th October details the making of the footage. The weekend was one big party, all of my wife's family attended - I had the opportunity to talk to her grandmother. She is 84, Dutch and a real character. She willingly and openly talks of her experiences during the war in occupied Holland. We discovered a strong link between the work that her father and brother did as part of the resistance and this part of France: they helped Jewish families escape Holland who planned to head for Spain, via the Pyrenees. They guided Jews through a network of caves which led from Holland to Belgium, risked their lives and were part of the first stage of a long journey, unfortunately never knowing the outcome. Some escaped to Spain and freedom whilst others would have been caught en route in Belgium and France and probably some ended up at Rivesaltes destined for Auschwitz. A book has been written by my wife's great uncle, Wim van Schaik about his encounters during the war - more to follow.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I'm not usually one to be shocked by the BBC's presentation of art  - but I've just heard the biggest load of drivel on BBC2's 'The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition'. A discussion led by Andrew Graham-Dixon on the inclusion of Video-Art in this year's show: Janet Street-Porter commented that it is merely poor cinema, Stephen Baily that it is poor art . . . Earlier in the programme the film critic Mark Kermode said that video should be reserved for the computer screen and not shown in a gallery. Unbelievable. Is it 1960? (Excuse the anachronisms.)   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I managed to find the time to watch another section of ‘The Sorrow and the Pity’ today. The documentary film about occupied France during the war was made in 1968 but not screened in France until 1981 due to its controversial nature and tackling of taboo subjects.I found the following section on anti-semitism particularly revealing, especially when accompanied by images used as part of an exhibition: ‘Jews and France’ held in Paris during the Second World War.[Pierre Mendies-France (Prime Minister of France 1954-1955 and Air Force  Lieutenant 1939)]“It is not surprising that, at first, such poison won over many new converts. Little by little, people began to realise it was propaganda and to see that the government was practising a policy which they themselves called collaboration with the enemy. Slowly but surely, people began to open their eyes and change their minds. But this propaganda still won over many new converts. You know as well as I do that anti-semitism and Anglophobia are never hard to stir up in France. Even if reactions to such things are dormant or stifled, all it takes is one event, one incident, one international crisis or one Dreyfus affair for feelings we thought long gone to suddenly re-emerge in full force, for beliefs we thought dead to be simply dormant.”[During the war] Edward Drumont was the first in France to examine the Jewish question. The Institute of Jewish Questions celebrates his memory today. Mr Laville has agreed to say a few words. “Out of one hundred Frenchmen of old stock, at least 90 are pure white, free of any other racial mixture. This is not true of the Jews. The Jews are born a mixture which dates back thousands of years, between Aryans, Mongols and Negroes. Therefore, Jews have unique forces, bodies, attitudes and gestures, it is reassuring to see that the public is interested in studying the characteristics presented in the morphological section of “Jews and France”.As it’s now the school holidays I may find it difficult to watch the remaining sections of the documentary without distractions – small doses of a documentary of this type are easier to digest though.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It was my wedding anniversary yesterday, my wife and I dined out at midday instead of the evening as it was easier to organise a babysitter. As a special treat I suggested we visited the camp because I needed to make some new footage in HD, after my wife had been wined and dined she complied.I’m making a new series of videos in HD for a festival which will screen only videos made in HD.  Up until now, I didn’t realise that I could make videos in HD; so far all my footage has been shot in HD, but as I don’t have an HD disk-burner the DVDs have ended up being standard definition. A friend who works in the industry in Soho has informed me that if I save the HD footage as a data file it can be viewed in HD, so, now, at last, I can put my HD camera to good use.When we arrived at the camp the temperature must have been 35 degrees, no breeze, stifling (during the war it was known as the Sahara of France). I had eaten quite a lot which was a mistake as I planned to make a ’spin’ video amidst a copse of fir trees. Well … I did it, but suffered, three minutes of spinning is not good for you, even if you hadn’t eaten a huge meal. The sound of crickets filled the air, a sound I can definitely work with.Back at home I edited the footage and am pleasantly surprised, especially with the sound which I have distorted in such a way that a high pitch note resounds with many harmonic layers. The images drop from the top of the screen to the bottom, almost like a waterfall of oranges and reds.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Some friends kindly invited us to the stay with them at the coast. After a morning of swimming we decided to visit the ‘Maternite Suisse’ not far from their house. During 1942 mothers-to-be from Rivesaltes and other local camps were allowed to stay for a month before their babies were born, give birth and then they had to return to the camps. I had planned to film at the hospital a while back, so when I arrived I was eager to experiment. The trial footage of the rooms lacked contrast and colour, so I headed for the roof terrace, here I found a quite stunning metal glazing structure which I hope will form the basis of a new series of videos. The walls of the building are lined with old photographs, some showing shockingly thin and tiny babies but many showing happy times too - a line of babies sleeping outside in the shade, smiling children being bathed in the garden... You can't help imagining what a haven of peace this must have been. Whilst I was filming in the hospital my wife chatted to a lady at the desk who explained a little about the history of the place. The Red-Cross worker, Elisabeth Eidenbenz, who started the hospital tried to keep the mothers in this sanctuary for as long as possible, up to four months. She also hid them and tried to help them escape. There was a story of Lucie who was taken to the Maternite by the Germans, when they returned for her she wasn’t there – they told Elizabeth that she had three hours to find her or she would go in Lucie’s place (on the train to an undisclosed destination); Elizabeth packed her bags, but the Germans found Lucie in a field.My wife questioned the lady on the reception about current reactions to discussing France’s involvement with the Nazis and she replied that the memory of the war is still too close, there existed too much animosity, some people saw terrible things and some people did terrible things. She believes that it is the next generation who will change this.We wanted to chat longer, but had to leave. The assistant has our email address and is going to contact us as my wife has offered to voluntarily translate the hospital’s leaflets from French in to English. She is also going to track down a copy of Friedel Bohny-Reiter’s ‘Journal de Rivesaltes’ (also a Suisse Red-Cross worker, who documented the day-to-day goings on at the camp and who sent expectant mothers to La Maternite Suisse), it’s out of print and quite essential for my research.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I had a good week last week - been invited by Ottica TV to show in The Hague at the 'Streaming Festival' in November, had a video accepted to be shown at  'One Minute Film Festival', Aarau, Switzerland and sold a painting (one from the new Argeles series based on the 'spinning' videos made on the beach last year). I am making a new video for Ottica TV - I was invited by some friends living in the village to help celebrate a 60th birthday by spending the day on a tourist train to Rivesaltes with their friends visiting from Germany.  So, off I trundled to the station at Axat (20 mins from my home) in Andi's car, the sheep-farmer who had showed my work in his barn during the spring - he had organised the trip for our mutual friend, Suse whose birthday it was. This was to be no ordinary train journey - as soon as we boarded the train coffee and biscuits were offered to everyone in the carriage we had commandeered  - five minutes later Blanquette de Limoux (local bubbly) was passed around. I placed my audio-recorder on the chair and surruptiously pressed record - the sound of the train whistle, screeching breaks and rhythmic chugg-chugga was accompanied by the sound of children and adults having fun on a grand day out. I hung out of the window and started to record the train-track, trees and bulidings as we hurtled through a changing landscape: woods, gorges and vineyards slowly disappeared as we approached the flat arid plain at Rivesaltes.  For me the atmosphere approaching the station at Rivesaltes was laden with the gravitas of the past, from this seemingly anonymous station carriages took Jews to Auschwitz - but today it was the destination of a fun day out with some friends. We ate lunch on a palm-tree lined square in front of a typically grand town hall - 30 minutes before we caught the train back was just enough to eat foie-gras, baguette and to drink Muscat de Rivesaltes (the other reason Rivesaltes is known). I reflected on the bizarre situation in which I found myself - what was a mini-pilgimage for me was augmented by being accompanied by German friends and aquaintances on a day when all that mattered was enjoying the sun, food and drink in good company, but I do hope I've got some decent footage with an atmospheric soundtrack.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 On Saturday I had a video screened at The Tenderpixel Gallery London as part of Rushes Soho Shorts. Unfortunately other commitments meant that I couldn't attend. It will be showing every afternoon until 31st July. http://tenderpixel.com/rushes09.html They have also produced a DVD of all the films showing as part of their 'experimental film' screenings which will be sold in their new shop: Tenderproduct. I'm planning to visit the gallery next month to pick up my copy - it will be good to make contact.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I was pleased Andrew Bryant chose one of my comments as quote of the month; I emailed him with the request for a forum on Artists Talking and as it turns out is something they've been discussing at chez A-N recently. Wouldn't it be good if Artists Talking became more a community, good for advice, support and discussion?   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I managed to drag myself away from framing and video-editing to start a new series of paintings. I locked the studio door to avoid any distractions from little Emilie and Louis and started to 'drip' over textures I made earlier in the year. The initial inspiration for the images was the HD video I completed last month (post 31). Drips of cadmium yellow, titanium white, burnt sienna and prussian blue took quite some time to control and didn't have that elusive something that the painting needed; I'm not sure if it was the exasperation or inhalation of turps, but I found the largest brush I could (15cm) and started to drag it down the canvas, low-and-behold that elusive something appeared . . . So now I have a prototype and look forward to starting the others in the series when I've finished the framing and editing (which at the moment seems like no time soon).   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Since the previous series of paintings I've been taking the opportunity to reflect on what I've been doing artistically. Its been a year since I started the blog and what an aid to the creative process its been; it has helped me focus the themes of my work and how I can best link the experience of the studio with the subject of the camp. I always direct those interested in my work or the history of the camp to this blog and it acts as a great introduction to those interested in the Holocaust in the south of France, I suppose my work gives an insight in to one approach to dealing with the past's influence on the present. Three interesting meetings are coming up, the first with the curator of the Holocaust exhibition at The Imperial War Museum - I contacted her last year regarding my project and she is planning a visit to this area soon so I shall be giving her a tour of the camp. The second is with an American lady who stumbled across this blog a couple of months ago, she is involved in teaching Holocaust awareness; she too is visiting this area. I plan to take her to the camp at the end of the month where she wishes to say a prayer and lay a stone brought back from the Kotel (Western Wall). I'm looking forward to meeting her and hope she may even allow me to record her whilst at the camp. The third is a long-overdue tour of the camp by Elodie Montes who works for the Rivesaltes Memorial, chatting with her will provide a new insight in to the layout and knowledge of the camp before I show the other two around.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Following a stint of DIY preparing the studio for winter (so I can hopefully carry on working whilst it's blowing a gale outside) I got back to some painting, I decided to finish a series that I started last year, they needed something, at the time I didn't know what, then, I suppose with the benefit of a little distance (in time) I could drip over the surface with the red I experimented with in my Argeles series of videos made a year ago. All went well and they seem to have that elusive something that paintings need . . . I need to live with them a little before I give them the necessary tweaks. So, I plan to spend a few weeks on some new paintings as I seem to be on a roll before I start editing videos again. I need to finish editing the rushes made on the train to Rivesaltes for a screening in the new year, hopefully the software problems will be a thing of the past.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It looks like the summer has ended, it seems difficult to believe we were in T-shirts and shorts just three days ago: it was too hot to sit outside, now all I seem to be doing is stoking the fire. Yesterday we went to the camp where I had arranged to meet Elodie Montes, the education officer for the Rivesaltes Memorial; stupidly I didn't take a coat thinking it would be warmer than our house in the mountains, it was, but was so windy that I could barely hear Elodie talking. Meeting her was enlightening and helped fill some of the gaps in my research on the camp, she confirmed some of my suspicions and recounted some great anecdotes. We started at 'Ilot F', the section of the camp owned by the Conseil General of Languedoc Rousillon (regional government). We looked at the devastation of last January's storm, she explained that many of the paintings on the walls were being rescued, dismantled and preserved in the archive before the huts crumbled. I pointed out a drawing of children in striped tunics on one wall, she was not aware of it and is going to bring it to the attention to an historian to see if it dates from 1941/'42. Elodie confirmed that the large paintings of figures with tools in a hut in Ilot K were painted in 1941/'42 to decorate the interns' workshop (which was established by one of the charity organisations working in the camp with the aim of teaching the young men a trade). Ilot K is owned by the army and the plan is to knock down the huts in the near future; the memorial is in discussion with them to try to save the paintings before the huts are dismantled. Ilot K was the only hut totally surrounded by barbed-wire, this was where the Jews were held later in addition to Ilot F. At first the camp was open, as it is in an isolated place and was called a 'Centre Rassemblement Familial'. Despite this, mothers and children were separated from the men. Boys of 14 were considered to be men and therefore taken from their mothers, so the mothers with little foresight to lie lost contact with their sons. It was the Tsiganes (Gypsies) who could remain in family units, apparently because they protested strongly and had the energy that the Spanish and the Jews lacked to make their case. At the edge of Ilot K is the remains of the railway track built especially to take some of the Jews to the main line from Perpignan to Paris; the sleepers are still there, but not the lines themselves. At different times during 1942 interns were transported not only by train, but by lorry to Rivesaltes station. Mothers-to-be were also transported by lorry to Elne to the Maternite Suisse, but had to return to the camp all too soon.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Some of the Spanish who were held at the make-shift camps on the beach at Argeles were recruited in work parties to extend the already-standing military base at Rivesaltes, little knowing that they would be interned there themselves. During the '60s when the Harkis were housed at Rivesaltes the huts were in bad repair, most of them uninhabitable, so they slept in tents. When the last Harkis left the camp in 1970 they were housed on an especially constructed estate, unfortunately on a flood-plain, even after flooding they remain there today. One issue that has interested me is the organisation of the camp during the war, at no time were German Nazis involved in the running of the camp, it was the Vichy administration who were in charge. The Jews who were sent to Auschwitz were sent by Vichy government chief-of-police Rene Bousquet; the Nazis had requested 40,000 Jews to be sent to concentration camps in Eastern Europe from the south of France, he sent an extra 10,000, 2,313 of which were from Rivesaltes. Elodie explained that in this way Rivesaltes played a real part in the Final Solution. The guards were all French, mostly local Gendarmes from Rivesaltes and Perpignan. The Jews held at the camp were mainly from Germany and Poland, French Jews were not held there (unlike other camps in the south). I found it interesting that the French Rabbi from Perpignan visited the camp. Jewish festivals were celebrated and other interns, Spanish and Gypsies, joined in - language was not an issue. Vivette Samuel, an aid worker for the OSE: With a trembling hand, one of the veteran inmates lights the first small flame of the gigantic Menorah built by the detainees. And the traditional song borne by hundreds of voices ascends in the night that falls on the camps. For a moment the suffering recedes and I allow myself to be invaded by an immense hope. Another piece of information which had eluded me was what happened to the bodies of those who died at the camp from malnutrition and disease, I knew that the few graves at the cemetry at Rivesaltes did not account for the thousands who died there. Elodie explained that there are a few graves at Perpignan, but it is largely believed that many were incinerated or buried in a mass-grave outside the camp, however no evidence has been found. Whilst walking around Ilot K, Elodie pointed out the hut where Friedel Bohny-Reiter wrote her journal ('Journal de Rivesaltes'). The hut was covered in frescos on the interior, ones I had not noticed before, a Swiss mountain landscape. On the exterior, covered by bushes a painting of a train (a strange subject to us, but they didn't know their fate) plane and boat. Elodie said that the thinking behind these depictions of transport was to encourage people to consider how they might leave the camp. It is such a shame that soon these may be lost.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Another interesting insight in to the camp  was the system of heating used during 1941 - 1942. The huts weren't heated, only the school huts (where the Quakers organised wood stoves), administration buildings and ilot G - the health centre. At one moment the camp staff realised that there were a lot of beds missing and it was discovered that the interns were burning their beds, so desperate were they to keep warm. Many charities worked at the camp, obviously the Red Cross, but also the Quakers, YMCA and the OSE, a Russian Jewish charity. The last one interests me personally as my Jewish family is from Russia . . . I'll do a little more research. The hour or so was really helpful, especially discovering the hut where Friedal Bohny-Reitel wrote her journal. Elodie is mainly concerned with giving teachers the tools to teach awareness of the Holocaust, particularly the role of the camp at Rivesaltes in the Final Solution, but is soon off to Auschwitz to take part in a conference. I plan to visit Auschwitz myself sometime in the future, perhaps travelling by train from Rivesaltes to make a new series of videos.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Nick Griffin (BNP leader) on BBC's Question Time was controversial and caused violent protests. People say to me that the Holocaust is not a relevant subject today, so why did a Holocaust denier stir up so much anger? Before QT, BBC news broadcast the following: Although he now says Hitler was wrong, he once said about the Holocaust: Orthodox opinion is that six million Jews were gassed and cremated. Orthodox opinion also once held that the world is flat. But without a formal ban on the BNP and with the party polling 6% in the European elections the BBC felt he could be allowed an occasional slot on Question Time. Nick Robinson, BBC Political Editor, commented: He's also been given the chance to deny that he is a Holocaust denier, to simply confirm that he thinks that the Nazis did kill millions of Jews. He failed to do that tonight... The QT show mainly focused on Griffin. Amongst questions from the audience, regarding his comments on race, immigration and the BNP hijacking the image of Winston Churchill, was the following: David Dimbleby: Which is the untrue quote that's been said about you? The Holocaust denial possibly?... Did you deny the Holocaust? NG: I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial. DD: But you did deny it... Why are you smiling, it's not a particularly amusing issue. NG: I was very critical for the way in which the Holocaust was and is in fact abused to prevent serious discussion over immigration. DD: Just you say you're misquoted... [Quoting NG]: I want to see Britain become 99% genetically white just as she was 11 years before I was born. ...I can't find the misquotations and apparently neither can you. The discussion continued, then came a question from the floor: Winston Churchill put everything on the line so that my ancestors wouldn't get slaughtered in the concentration camps but here sits a man who says that that's a myth just like a flat world was a myth. How could you say that? NG: I cannot explain why I used to say those things... anymore than I can tell you why I've changed my mind. I cannot tell you the extent to which I've changed my mind because European law prevents me... DD: Have you actually changed your mind or do you only say you've changed your mind because the law makes it illegal to be a Holocaust denier? NG: I have changed my mind, a lot of it is about figures. One of the key things which makes me change my mind is British radio intercepts of German transmissions about the brutal mass-murder of innocent Jews on the Eastern Front...which changes the figures very greatly. Jack Straw: What about Auschwitz? Couldn't people see with their own eyes what happened in Auschwitz? You didn't need a subsequent radio intercept to find out that people were gassed at Auschwitz. Maybe my work is about a contemporary issue afterall.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Pat Weed from Kansas came to the studio today. She stumbled across the blog whilst researching the history of this area of France before her holiday to the area. She is Judeo-Christian and takes a deep interest in the Holocaust. Having read this blog she wanted to visit the camp with me which she did this afternoon. She arrived at 1.00 with her husband and daughter. Following a good while getting to know each other better the conversation veered towards the Holocaust; as we were discussing the nature of Rivesaltes as not only a transit camp, but as a concentration camp and the implications of both names, Louis burst into the room dressed as Darth Vader, it was clearly time to start looking at my videos. Pat asked where the images that I painted originated, so I showed her the video RQV2 and explained that my work is more evocative than descriptive, the context giving the work meaning rather than it emerging from the images. I would say that my work is 'difficult' to view/interpret if not allowing yourself to be absorbed by the ethereal sound and images on a meditative level, which they seemed to appreciate. Then we got on to the paintings. They listened attentively as I explained how I interpreted the video-stills through using various materials in the studio. They seemed to like the work as they left with one of the new red drip paintings 'Argeles. 1.i' based on the Argeles video. Helen dropped the children off with the grandparents and off we went to the camp. As usual wind and rain featured, but even on a sunny day the camp is grim. Following a tour of a small section of the camp we headed for the railway siding where Pat wished to place a stone from the Western Wall (Wailing Wall) which she collected earlier in the year. She handed out sheets for us to follow the Kaddish mourning prayer, which she then prayed and we all finished with an Amen, it was moving. Before we parted we went to the memorial stones to each of the peoples held at the camp for a photo opportunity. The memorial stone for the Jews, vandalised in 2003 reads:  ... Delivered to the Nazis in the Occupied Zone, by authority of the French government, deported to the extermination camp of Auschwitz and murdered because they were Jews. We will never forget these victims of racial and xenophobic hatred. She is going to speak with a friend at the Mid-West Centre for Holocaust Education in Kansas about the work I'm doing based on the camp, so a longer-lasting link may have been formed... all due to this blog.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just returned from an Armistice commemoration in our village - most of the villagers attended (about 20 people). Amidst a shambolic (and strangely entertaining) ceremony including a very loud and distorted recording of The Marseillaise played on the village tannoy the mayor read the following which was written by Hubert Falco (Secretaire d'Etat a la Defense et aux Anciens Combattants): . . . peace, which seemed to have been acheived on the day following 11 Nov 1918 did not last. Twenty years later the Second World War broke out. The generations of people who suffered greatly during the Great War had to live again through terrible times. Throughout the 20th Century, there have never been two nations who were so affected as France and Germany. Let us consider together the road travelled since the Second World War thanks to the work of the Franco/German fathers of reconciliation: Robert Schumann, the Adenauer Chancellor and General de Gaulle. There are no other nations in the world today other than France and Germany who are so driven by such an intense desire to pursue the establishment of a common future. Franco-German reconciliation, the shared determination to build a united Europe, all of this is not being constructed on an attempt to forget or deny the past, but as a consequence of it. Today the Pesident of the French Republic and the German Chancellor have come together in Paris. United, they respectfully honour the dead and the soldiers of the Great War. They are also celebrating the long-lasting links which France and Germany have sealed. For the greatest honour we can give to those who lost their lives in the First World War is to construct that which they hoped for but did not know or see: a reconciled Europe, a peaceful Europe.   Considering that a large proportion of the villagers in attendance were not French, this was met with some bewilderment, however, it was swiftly followed by an aperitif in the village hall. As we drank Pastis at 11.15 in the morning, nobody commented on the speech, rather, the topic of conversation was that good old favourite: the weather.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Journal de Rivesaltes. by Friedel Bohny-Reiter, Published 1998, written whilst she was a Red-Cross worker at Rivesaltes during 1941 - 1942: 13th September [1942].  It is 12.30 and we have only just got back from the station. We have been there since 3pm. It was horrible today. Such scenes. The people were left standing up for the roll call under a leaden sun, from 7am to 11am. Then they separated those who had to leave from those who stayed. I can still hear the cries of the women. I managed to free the children of one of the mothers. When I wanted to take them she pulled them to her. I lifted the children in my arms and took them to our quarters. When the mother refused to get into the truck the guards pushed her in. Wagon after wagon was filled. Two were still empty and they had to find more to fill them. A woman who was a Belgian Protestant had come to the camp with her two children to look for her Jewish husband. Three more were needed to make up the convoy and they seized her and her children. The guards held her down as they took her and her to the wagon and shut the iron door behind her. ‘I am not a Jew’, she screamed. Sometimes I feel afraid that we are implicated in this terrible betrayal. The journal cites many incidents of children being separated from their families, some with a happy ending. Whilst researching Holocaust survivors who were interned at Rivesaltes I came across Norbert Herz who was a child at the camp. He is 78 now, a retired teacher living in Cheadle, Manchester. He escaped from Nazi Germany to France, where he was interned at Rivesaltes and then fostered into a Jewish home at which time his mother was kept prisoner by the French administration. He escaped to Switzerland and then headed for Palestine and eventually settled in Manchester. Yesterday I contacted Dr Jean-Marc Dreyfus a lecturer in Holocaust Studies at Manchester University who invited Norbert Herz to give a talk last year at a conference on Holocaust education at the university. He is kindly going to request that I meet Mr Herz - I would like to interview him, not only as an important part of my research but with a view to form a new series of works. Watch this space . . .   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I watched 'The Art on your wall' on BBC2 last night and it raised some interesting points. Sue Perkins approached the subject as a typical home-owner who wants to decorate her house with pictures. She made a distinction between artists who make art to decorate walls and artists who make art for galleries. So, which category do I fall in to? When I started making videos I thought to myself: 'now I'm a real artist, nobody can buy my work!'. However, I still paint and people do still buy my work even though the subject is the Holocaust - this does surprise me, but the inspiration and origin of the work is not that obvious to everybody. On the surface, my work is about texture, colour and repetitive forms; on one level one of my blue paintings could easily adorn somebody's lounge wall because it matches their sofa. Does this demean the work? Sue Perkins interviewed members of the public in Ikea buying Klimt prints, their reasons? They liked the colours. The content of the work was not important to them - it became merely decoration. Clearly there are many different art worlds - even Jack Vettriano admitted he could not be compared to Bacon and Freud. What did strike me as odd though was that he believed that his work was so popular because it demonstrated great skill (maybe at A'Level in my opinion), he continued to say that skill is not evident in recent graduates work which, in his opinion, is only concerned with how to shock Britain. Where does this leave me? Do I make work for the gallery elite? That doesn't please me either. So, I've decided that the best thing to do is to make work for myself, hopefully no integrity will be lost. Let's open a can of worms - comments invited.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I found last night's "Where is Modern Art Now?", on the BBC, heartening. Gus Casely-Hayford (GC-H) explored the position of the current art scene during the recession and post YBA celebrity bling. He asked: 'Where do you go when being provocative is old-hat?'. Whilst viewing a show in a Peckham car-park of work by recent graduates, he was shocked at not being shocked. He interviewed Michael Landy whose work has dramatically changed since 'Breakdown' which involved destroying all his possessions. After publicly destroying himself, what direction could his work take? He started to make delicate etchings of weeds and has recently been drawing portraits. He has turned to quieter pieces. Apparently even Damien Hirst is painting in oils again (isn't that a bit messy for him?). On attending the Goldsmiths MA show GC-H was underwhelmed. He thought it was work you could definitely hang on your dining room wall, modest and institutionalised. He stated: "I'm disappointed with this show, ambitions have been stunted by the recession ... this is in the shadow of the all-powerful YBAs. The market should come to the artist not the other way round." I was particularly struck by the work and philosophy of Whitney McVeigh who at 40 is only now being recognised. Her work is governed by process rather than the 'big idea', she explained: "It's about arriving at a point which has gathered itself over a long period of time." (Which sounded like me talking.) To GC-H she is " ... a quiet voice after a noisy decade." The process of making is clearly admired these days. Grayson Perry's astute comments distinguished between the making of 'art' with that of 'craft'. He explained: "you can teach craft ...' One remark which made me laugh: "Jackson Pollock was very good at dripping, whereas in the field of painting, he was rubbish". So 'technical ability' is important to Grayson - maybe a throw-away comment because Pollock developed his complex technique over a long period. This is something I've had to deal with as I'm dripping a lot recently ... Whilst talking of visual pleasure, Grayson said: "I want to titillate the neurones ... we undervalue the visual." His pots are beautiful; thankfully these days it seems that the term is not used in a derogatory way. GC-H concluded: "The art scene is alive and well. Artists think about technique and history ... artists are less brash than their predecessors ... they like the idea of practice ... I want art to produce challenges, not be just another form of entertainment ... and back in touch with materials. " He ended with an appraisal of the work of Tom Price - beautiful miniature busts of heads, alluding to anthropological images regarding race. The aspect that appealed to GC-H was that his work required real thought, you don't get it instantly. I am now fully inspired to get back to messing about in my studio with materials and encouraging beautiful surfaces to evolve.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Last Friday I was privileged to interview Norbert Herz (now 78), Holocaust survivor and Rivesaltes intern. I have applied for a grant to visit him in Manchester, but for now we spoke over the phone. I plan to use extracts from the interview as a soundtrack for a video (I am working on it at the moment). I shall include everything that he said, unedited, as it really gives a shocking insight into life in 'Free France' during the war. Section One   JM - How did you come to be at Rivesaltes? NH - I was at Rivesaltes twice . . . I was born in Berlin in 1931.  In 1938 on the 9th November was the Kristallnacht; the morning after my mother and I and aunt and uncle left from the Alexanderplatz . . . We travelled by taxi to the Belgian border and at the Belgian border the German border guards let us go. In a field, what you would call somebody who helps you pass the border clandestinely, a smuggler if you like, was waiting for us. We walked with him in the night across to Belgium and he had a farm house on the Belgian side. There we waited till daylight and we got the train to Antwerp and in Antwerp I was a year and a half. I went to school there and in 1940 when the Germans invaded Belgium my mother and I and my aunt and uncle got the train to France. Many people, not only Jewish people, got the train to France, the train took us to the south of France. We went to a village called Boulogne-sur-Gesse [near Toulouse], which is called in French ‘une résidence assignée’ a kind of apartment in that village so that the authorities knew where we were. Then after some time they started putting foreign Jews into internment camps. The first internment camp was called Brens which is next to Gaillac-sur-Tarn [near Toulouse]. There I was for a few months with my mother and then we were all transferred to Rivesaltes, an entirely different camp. We were in Ilot F. Rivesaltes . . . a flat plain surrounded by hills, it was always very windy and in winter it was extremely cold and in the summer it was too hot. The conditions were very harsh and then I was taken out from Rivesaltes by an organisation OSE, a French Jewish organisation which took out children from the internment camp and placed them in homes. They took me out from Rivesaltes and put me in a home in Brout-Vernet which is near Vichy. I was there some time.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Interview with Norbert Herz, Holocaust survivor and Rivesaltes intern. Section Two Then in 1942, summer, I had the bright idea to visit my aunt and uncle. My uncle was a very unwell person. In those days it was possible for unwell people not to be interned. He got a ‘Résidence assigné’ in Gaillac-sur-Tarn. I wanted to go there, so they gave me a train ticket and I was able to go to Gaillac-sur-Tarn. I was there in the summer with them and I had a very nice time, you know how it is in French little towns with the foire and all that. Then in the middle of the night there was a knock on the door. Two Gendarmes said: “You’ve got half an hour to pack your things. We are taking you to an internment camp in Albi”. When we arrived in the middle of the night in Albi, I said to the Gendarme: “If I have to be in an internment camp I want to be with my mother”. They assigned a Gendarme to me and we travelled through the night to Rivesaltes. In those days it had a train station. When we arrived in the morning he took me to the Ilot which was reserved for the Jews, Ilot K. He posited me there and off he went. Then I started looking for my mother. Quite by chance I saw my mother, so . . . you know, the emotional thing. We slept in wooden barracks and in bunks, she put me next to her. The second time I was there people were dying from hunger, from disease, all sorts. They also had started deportations to, I don’t know where initially, perhaps Drancy and then from there to the extermination camps. They put us, as children, in a children’s barrack for the day until the deportations were over. When it was finished those mothers who were there who had not been deported came to collect the children and my mother among them. There were a lot of children who never saw their mothers again, it was very tragic. Some of these kids were even younger that I was at the time.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Interview with Norbert Herz, Holocaust survivor and Rivesaltes intern. Section Three Then I was taken out again by OSE and returned to the children’s home where I was. In the morning we went to the village school and in the afternoon we had tuition in the home. I was there till 1943. In 1943 there was a decree that all Jewish children, non-French because I was not of French nationality, who were not with their parents and considered abandoned would be deported or whatever, so they made frantic efforts to get as many children out as they could. I was lucky because I had an aunt in Switzerland, a Swiss aunt and she vouched for me, so I was smuggled across the border at Annemasse [next to Geneva on the French / Swiss border] . . . I was in Switzerland at Zurich for 3 months with my aunt and then she put me in a Jewish childrens’ home which was a Zionist home and from there, at the end of the war, May 1945, I emigrated to Palestine. That’s the story in a nutshell. JM – When you were at Rivesaltes did you attend a school in the camp? NH - At Rivesaltes there was no school. In Rivesaltes the conditions were very, very harsh. In our Ilot was a barrack that was allocated to the Swiss Red-Cross and the Swiss Red-Cross had sent over two nurses, not Jewish ones. They tried to make the lot of us children a little bit easier,  I remember what they did was bright and nice in that place. Outside it was horrible and they even made us a little Christmas party, it brightened a bit of the daily existence. Rivesaltes was a very harsh camp, it was a notorious one. Interestingly the village of Rivesaltes is just next door to it, the French saw everything that was going on. I never realised the village was just next door, I was too young of course. JM – Do you remember any of the locals visiting the camp, did the Rabbi from Perpignan visit? NH – To visit what? JM – The camp at Rivesaltes. NH – At the time? No. Why would they? A Jewish person visit? They would be hidden, They wouldn’t be allowed to. It was very, very harsh, I can assure you. Also, initially it was guarded by Vietnamese from the French colonies.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Interview with Norbert herz, Holocaust survivor and Rivesaltes intern. Section Four Rivesaltes was a camp that didn’t only have Jews, it had Gypsies, it had all kinds of what they called undesirables, but the Jews were concentrated in Ilot K. JM – Were you able to mix with the other interns? NH – No. What I remember clearly is that we were always waiting for the post, that was the only connection with the outside world – for parcels. We were always very hungry, the conditions were appalling and we always wanted some sign from somewhere. Rivesaltes where the camp was, is military terrain ... they were trying to eradicate it, they were trying to make out that nothing happened there. I came across an army officer when I visited it in the late 80s or early 90s as a tourist whilst I was in the Pyrenees and we went to Rivesaltes. We walked in the camp in the area that was still ruins of barracks and all kind of things and an army officer came from out of the blue and said: “This is military terrain. What are you doing here?”. I said: “I beg your pardon, I was interned in this camp!” and he tried to make out there was no camp, there was no such thing. JM – I find that locals don’t want to talk about the camp and the things that went on there during the war. NH - Nobody talks about it? I’m not surprised. JM – Tell me a little more about your mother. NH - My mother was liberated from Gurs. My mother survived because ... in the barrack for sick people,  people were dying and they needed women who would sit with the dying. My mother wasn’t qualified for anything, but she sat with the sick and dying. People used to say to her: “You’re a fool. Why are you doing that”. She said: “Well, if I do that I shall survive”.  And she was right. When the deportation took place my mother had already been put on the lorry on the convoy supposed to take them to the station to ship them off. The doctor of the Ilot was there and wanted to check the list of people going, when he saw my mother’s name he said: “I need this woman to work” and she was taken off. So she was, it was a miracle and she was saved. Many other people lost their lives. And fathers? I don’t know where the fathers were, but certainly the mothers. My mother was liberated and in 1945 I left Switzerland to go to Palestine, she followed in 1946 because I had decided to go to Palestine and obviously she wanted to be with me. That’s where my father was. My father had left us in 1933/34 in Berlin and that’s how we, if you like, were re-united in 1945/46.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Please click on 'Reverse Order' to read all five sections of the interview in order. Interview with Norbert Herz, Holocaust survivor and Rivesaltes intern. Section Five JM – I’m finding the recent interest in the Holocaust fascinating, but in France it is extremely difficult to talk about the Holocaust. NH – Who are you talking to? French people? JM – They always say: “Why are you making work about that? That’s in the past?”. NH – Are they Jewish or non-Jewish? JM – Non-Jewish NH – There you are, of course, that figures because it is a nasty past and it is a past they they don’t want to think about. Yes, yes  . . . yes.   His experiences have provoked many thoughts and feelings in me: I have visited the Alexanderplatz in Berlin many times from our house near Rivesaltes - he made the journey from Berlin under traumatic circumstances not knowing what lay ahead. His experiences must have been difficult for a young boy. I looked up all the places that he lived in during the war, what struck me is that they are in idyllic parts of France. He managed to eek out an almost 'normal' existence in the 'Residence assignée' and foster homes only then to be taken to another internment camp, not far away physically, but far removed from the safety of the homes. Fortunately the ending is a relatively happy one as he was reunited with his parents and was able to settle in Palestine. I wonder though, whilst he was a teacher in Manchester, did he ever disclose his story? Did people know the horrors he had experienced? And finally, visiting the south of France in the late 80s / early 90s must have been difficult for him, the same place but under very different circumstances. When I asked him if he would visit the camp again when the memorial is finished he said that if he is still able to travel he would be interested to come.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I was pleased to hear Matthew Collings' views on video-art earlier this week on 'School of Saatchi': "Video-Art at the moment gets you brownie points if you do it". Everybody is doing it now. I remember four years ago I applied to be part of a BBC2 production on contemporary art (I saw the advert in a-n). I was accepted and when I asked one of the team why, she responded that they needed a video-artist in the group. I recall saying to my wife that I thought it would be a docu-soap and not my sort of thing, but I was pleased to be accepted and thought that the exposure could only be good. Shortly after that there were huge cuts in programming on the BBC, so the show was postponed. Whilst we were watching 'School of Saatchi' Helen said to me: "Isn't this the programme you were accepted for?". Well, the format has changed a lot, its more glam and more 'X-Factor'. I saw the advert for 'School of Saatchi' last year and would have applied but only UK residents were eligible. However, the point is, this time round there were 1000s of applicants, including probably 100s of video-artists. When I applied four years ago I got the impression that I was accepted because video-art was a bit different . . . how times have changed in such a short period. I put it down to the ease, accessibility and affordability of new technology amongst other things. Throughout the programme the panel analysed the videos of some of the candidates. The prevalent debate was: "What makes this video-art and not film?", an issue I've had to deal with a lot. Could my videos be categorised as film? I come from a totally different background to a film-maker. I am a painter and see my videos as an extension of my paintings. In my videos I address the same visual issues: colour, form, composition and texture but with the exciting additions of movement and sound. Linked to this discussion is some good news. Whilst I was transcribing the interview with Norbert Herz yesterday I received an email from Bangkok confirming that one of my videos will be screened in a festival of abstract video: FRESH ABSTRACTIONS organised by the School of Architecture and Design at the University in Bangkok. Rarely does such an opportunity arise for abstract video-art. Ten minutes later I received another email, this time from Ottica TV, a video streaming web channel of which I am a part. There is to be a screening in February at Bankside and a possible projection on a building in Croydon. So, back to work preparing disks for presentation . . . strange, as just this week I decided to get back to messing about with paint in my studio.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just been Skyped by two monks from Douai Abbey in Berkshire - I offered them four large paintings (1.80m x 2m) some time back. They are stored in my wife's parents garage in Hampshire following a show in London a couple of years ago - it seems such a shame for them not to be seen. I decided that they work best in a meditative environment rather than a gallery - we used to spend time at Douai Abbey when we lived in England, a real escape from the chaos of life. We are still in touch with one of the monks and he was pleased I contacted him. The taste of the community is quite traditional, but they were open to my 'memory of nature / land with a history' meditative textural pieces. They are hoping to hang all four together which will be phenomenal - reminiscent of the Rothko Chapel? I'm so pleased they are going to a good home.     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Today I visited the camp with my friend Deev, a sculptor. I've been invited to put on an exhibition in our local town on the theme of Rivesaltes. Instead of a solo show, or something purely information-giving, I've decided to show all the collaborations I have made on the theme. All the work is wall-based, apart from the sound-art - so I thought I'd ask Deev to make a sculpture from found objects at the camp. It went well and he took away a fallen wall section made from reinforced concrete - in three parts joined with iron bars. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with it. The light today was extraordinary, brilliant sun and dark sky, the atmosphere was very still. Sitting quietly, reflecting on the heavy weight of the past, I took a few more photos of the huts.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 www.jonathan-moss.com  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I frequent a forum for guitarists - I took part in its Christmas quiz. I had a few queries to pose to the quizmaster and following a few private-messages he asked what line of work I'm in: Just had a look at the website and your CV to get a feel of what you do. I loved some of your stuff particularly your latest project it made me think of the Pastor Martin Niemöller poem  They Came For The Jews In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up. My father who is still alive at 90 was in WW2 . . . My dad was born in 1919 in Liverpool, his father died when he was 7. The family name was Abrahamson which, like many Jews, my father changed in the 50s to Graham. He spent his 21st birthday in a trench at Dunkirk being straffed by Stukas; he then had to go on the run for three weeks having not been able to get on a boat, coming back and getting on one then. He ended up fighting at the Battle of el Alemain where he was wounded driving an ammunition truck. His father's family owned tobacco plantations in the Dutch East Indies in the early 19C, which were annexed by the Germans. He is real fighter even now . . . He married my mum on 2/1/48, they celebrated their 61st wedding aniversary last week. I put their longevity down to the chicken soup. My mum was born in Brick Lane and is Jewish. I am Jewish. I grew up in a mainly Jewish enviroment in NW London but I do not practice, although as I get older I am more aware of my Jewish history. I have heard people who have been to visit concentration camps being moved to tears by their visit. . . I was very moved by your interest in the camp near you. I want to go to the Holocaust museum which is near me, but I have to go when I feel that I can deal with it. I have the " I Came For The Jews "poem engraved on my heart and on the wall in my house, it has been my compass throughout my life, not really to do with anything Jewish, but because I have always stood up for the underdog, minority and protested and fought for what I believed to be right. I suppose that's why I became a lawyer. The saddest part of all is that the human race have never learnt from the lessons of the Holocaust they still happen. Look at Africa. Following an innocent exchange regarding an online quiz (I came 2nd incidently) I stumbled upon something much more rewarding. Paul is now going to advise me on the best way to research my Jewish family, the Moscovitchs and Abrams.     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547      ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Recently I've been using the internet to network: FaceBook and Twitter. Even though I'm living up a mountain in the middle of nowhere it is easy to be in contact with galleries, curators and fellow artists. I've had a FaceBook account since the beginning, but just for friends - now I have a profile for my work. It is linked to Twitter, as is this blog. It has been an interesting experiment to see how the hits to my website have increased: up by 546 %. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jonathan-Moss-Art/26... I am now making sure that I regularly post new events on my Axis pages as well. http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 Haven't things changed in the last ten years or so? Not that long ago I remember being limited to the opportunities pages in the AN magazine, then sending out slides to the few galleries who advertised. Just in the previous few months I've noticed galleries and festivals prefer applications by a web link or image upload - it is so much more straightforward, time-efficient and ecological. I have a lot of things going on and coming up and mostly thanks to AN. What started as a once-a-month read has become a community of artists, galleries and the AN team. Gillian Nicol and Andrew Bryant regularly interact with AN members on Artists' Talking and on the forum, it seems as if barriers have disappeared and even an artist living outside London, in isolation, can work in a supportive environment. Oblong Gallery daily screening: http://www.oblonggallery.com/#/current/ Ottica TV screening by contemporary art movie makers projected onto the south facing side of the building at the junction of Wellesley Street and Walpole Road in central Croydon: http://www.ottica-tv.com/high5/ Ottica TV annual screening: http://www.ottica-tv.com/ottica2010/index.html Video Screening with Bleach Box: http://www.firestationartscentre.com/index.php?vie...     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Following on from the previous post, the downside of working out in the sticks is that it makes it very difficult to attend openings and screenings - I could spend a lot of time travelling to screenings and shows across the world, but realistically I can't afford the time away from my family, nor away from my studio and it also would cost the earth to visit every show. Of course I prioritise and attend openings for solo and small group shows, but there are many shows I really wish I could attend. Like the projection in Croydon that started last night for example. Ottica TV is an online TV channel for video art: http://www.ottica-tv.com/ Paul Malone, the curator and organisor of the channel, set up Ottica TV in 2008 and he arranges screenings in addition to the online presence. This week's screenings onto a tower-block in the centre of Croydon are going to be photographed and filmed, so even though I won't be able to attend I'll be able to use the images on my website. I'm disappointed though not to see my video of rapid movement across the sand dunes on the beach at Argeles projected onto Britain's only skyscraper (well. . . that's what it looks like), a surreal transformation from its insignificant origins.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Today is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.Netanyahu spoke at Auschwitz today: “From the cursed ground at Auschwitz, Birkenau and other camps rise the voices of our brothers and sisters, our people who choked to death and were burned and murdered. . .I have come here today from Jerusalem to tell you: We will never forget. We will not allow the Holocaust deniers or those who desecrate [Jewish] graves and signs to erase or distort [our] memory. . .We will never forget and always stand guard. . .Murderous hatred must be stopped in its tracks, stopped right from the beginning. All countries in the world must learn this lesson, just as we did after losing a third of our people in blood-soaked Europe. We learned that the only guarantee for the protection of our people is the State of Israel. . .I promise, as head of the Jewish state, that never again will we allow the hand of evil to sever the life of our people and our state. . .Am Yisrael Chai, we have returned to our homeland, to the land of our forefathers, to Jerusalem, our capital. We have converged from all corners of the world, Holocaust survivors, Arab Jews, Jews from former Soviet Union states, Ethiopian Jews. . .We bow our heads in memory [of Holocaust victims] and raise our heads as our flag waves with its two blue stripes and the Star of David at its center. We still haven't lost our hope.”In France Sarkozy sent a letter to European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor. The French president wrote that his country will continue taking action to remember the Holocaust and to commemorate the victims."This memory is a human obligation, it is a requirement, a sacred mission to restore the human dignity and the unique characteristics of the children, women, and men who encountered the unspeakable, the inconceivable. . .Auschwitz is the symbol of absolute evil inscribed in a red flame upon humanity's consciousness."Pope Benedict XVI has marked Holocaust Remembrance Day by denouncing the "horror" of the Shoah and the "unheard of brutality" of death camps created by Nazi Germany.The German-born pope issued an appeal Wednesday "that such tragedies never repeat themselves."Benedict called the death camps "abhorrent and inhumane places" and turned his thoughts to the "countless victims of a blind racial and religious hatred."I couldn't find anything commemorating today on the Rivesaltes Memorial site, which is a shame. http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547http://www.jonathan-moss.com Sources: http://www.jpost.com/Default.aspx http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3840495,...    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Yesterday Georges Frêche, the President of Languedoc Roussillon (one of the 26 regions of France), said of former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius (of Jewish origin): "voting for this guy in Haute-Normandie would be a problem for me, his face isn't Catholic".  He later claimed in a press release: "When questioned about not supporting Laurent Fabius, I answered with a popular expression which has been used by all the French for centuries".Needless to say, this has caused a huge public outcry. The fact he is a Socialist is surprising. It seems that anti-semitism continues in the south of France.     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com Source: http://www.lefigaro.fr/politique/2010/01/28/01002-...... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Work's been hectic recently - been editing videos for two screeings coming up in February - one at The Firestation in Windsor which will run concurrently with a photographic exhibition by Bleach Box and the other a screening organised by Ottica TV at Better Bankside next to Tate Modern. Every year I apply to 700is Reindeerland, a video exhibition in Iceland, every year I am rejected and I'm not sure why - what I make is the sort of thing they're looking for and I've shown with artists who have been successful with their applications - one of life's mysteries . . . the point of this is a positive one: this year they are showing a still from all the applicants in a touring show in Iceland. So, the effort applying was worth it, one of the venues is CIA - Center of Icelandic Art in Reykjavík - wouldn't it be great to visit? I now feel a new chapter in my creativity starting - I've been making sound, video and editing for months now. My studio has been too cold to paint so this morning I moved Louis and Emilie's toys out of the way on the ground floor of our house (can't really call it a lounge as it's just one big open space) and set up 16 canvasses, primer and some brushes. What am I going to do? No idea, but it's a start. I hope Louis and Emilie will understand when they get home!   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com/index.html... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've decided to paint 20 or so layers of primer on the canvasses - sanding them down in between coats, so that eventually I will have a mirror-like surface. After that who knows what will evolve? I started this afternoon, it was quite meditative and fitted into my normal day-to-day chores quite well: chopping wood, charging the fires, cooking leek and potato soup, making applications . . . It occurred to me whilst methodically applying the primer that it is four years since I finished my course at the RCA in printmaking - and I started to reflect on how my work and outlook has moved on. For me working in the printmaking dept was a revelation - the teaching, based on an ethos of working in multi-media, had a profound effect on me. Within the dept, as long as students included some element of printing in the process of making, anything was acceptable, from sculpture and  performance to video. Something Chris Orr said to me in a tutorial once has stayed with me as well, I'm not sure if it's his catch-phrase though: "The work must be shit-hot!". It is so true - every image I release into the world shouldn't just be acceptable, it must succeed in every way. Being there was such a buzz and such an inspirational environment in which to work. I was invited to stay on for a three year course and was very tempted. I spoke to one of the tutors, who is coincidently a friend of my wife's, and she persuaded me that it was not necessarily the only route for me to take. I have a young family and a great life here in the Pyrenees - it would have meant living in dodgy digs in London, being broke and missing my family all the time. My work has moved on since my time there - I was stuck in a rut, now I feel free to create whatever I wish, be it sound-art, video, painting, collagraphs . . . it all co-exists and feeds into each other. The camp at Rivesaltes also acts as a powerful context for what are basically landscapes. The exhibitions and screenings I've been part of since have been really exciting, but as my mother-in-law points out they don't make much money. Sometimes it's hard to understand it's not about the money (even though I do earn a living from the sales of my paintings). Back to the here and now . . . my video camera screen has broken, so I need to replace it, also I need a more powerful computer and faster hard-drive to enable me to continue creating videos without the added stress of technical problems. Four years ago I had a sale in my studio and sold over a hundred old paintings and prints for 50E each - I need to do that again.   http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Wilried Agricola has kindly included my project on the camp at Rivesaltes in his Shoah Film Collection. For those of you who have been directed from his site: Draft Title Shoah, please click on 'Reverse Order' at the top of the blog. Post number 1 gives a brief history of the camp, following that are sporadic bursts of information which put my videos made at Rivesaltes in the context of The Holocaust. My videos made at the camp can be found here: http://www.jonathan-moss.com/moving-images.html Wilfried'd site can be found here: http://dts.engad.org/shoah-feature.html     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 The layers and layers of primer on the canvasses are finally finished - painted a couple a day, rubbed down inbetween each coat. This afternoon I decided to create vertical lines using glue and sand, but before braving the Narnia that is my studio (-10 outside and not much warmer in the studio) I thought I'd look for some exhibiting opportunities on here and on Axis - nothing that immediately needs attention, but whilst browsing I stumbled across Graham Crowley's interview on the John Moores. I know Graham from the RCA and he helped me a lot, he talks sense - here's what he said about applying to the John Moores: Yes, of course I’ve applied again this year. I hope there’s something on the CD that I’ve sent in and that they get to see an image, and then I hope that I get through to part two. That’s all you can do. As an entrant you have to be stoic.  Don’t get suicidal because you didn’t get the judges approval. Move on. I’m sure your readers are familiar with this experience. There have been times in the past when I’ve looked over a list of judges and thought I don’t stand a cat in hell’s chance. You have to think strategically. It’s expensive; you’ve got the work, the transport, the entry fee. Above all though is the emotional investment. I’ve made masses of bad commercial and strategic decisions during my career. You have to treat the only other resource you’ve got – your time – as precious. I didn't apply, neither to the Summer Show - for me it is logistically complicated working in the Pyrenees. I have submitted in the past and have had to depend upon favours from friends and family to deliver and collect works. The time I was accepted for the Summer Show they didn't hang it, so it was almost worth the effort. Things would be different if I lived in the UK, but here I am, free to do what I want (well, that's what I've decided, of course it's not true), even paint every day if it's not too cold. My studio is strangely empty as I managed to off-load a lot of my old stuff in the sale I had. It is quite a strange feeling, cathartic, but also unnerving; it is as if keeping the old stuff was some sort of crutch, comfort in past work - the paintings I'm going to make this afternoon will be like starting from scratch and I like that idea. The work must look ahead rather than just fit in with the old. I hope to become engrossed in my 'quiet' paintings, form some sort of relationship with them and see how things develop, maybe make some new friends who don't mind that I haven't applied to the big open exhibitions.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I was pleased to hear that 700is Reindeerland is showing one of my video stills as part of their experimental video-art festival. I plan to go to Iceland in the future to make some work, it looks a really inspirational place. I'm not too sure my career as a film-maker is going to last much longer. . . I bought a new Mac Pro (new to me) so that I can effortlessly make videos, just one problem: I can't use my editing software on it as it's not compatible - so now I've got to buy new software which will cost more than the computer - anyway, at least the keyboard is lovely and shiny and chic. Also my video-camera is broken, the LCD screen is just black, so it is impossible to change the shutter-speed etc as this is selected through the menu on the screen; back to painting for me then, paint brushes are pretty reliable and cheap to replace - at least it's warm in my studio at last.     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Reading the letters at the front of this month's Artists' Newsletter, I thought I was reading Artist's and Illustrator's Magazine, not AN! Don McNeil's letter provoked a lot of feelings in me. It is true that current art taught in colleges is based more on ideas, but skill and the craft of making are still taught on many courses. I don't agree with a lot that Anthony Jones wrote in his letter, but he did hit the nail on the head referring to Patrick Heron's idea of "visual presence".When I was studying at the RCA (PEP in the Printmaking Department) Chris Orr said something profound which confirms this: "The image must be shit hot". The Printmaking Department was an exciting place to be - etching for example, such a traditional technique yet imbued and synthesised with a quirky, innovative approach encompassing other forms of expression: performance, installation, sculpture..."Visual presence", or "shit hotness", is the elusive element of the work I strive for; I suppose my work is not only about ideas but about the process of putting paint on a surface or, with regard to my videos, translating those formal concerns into the moving image.I come from a traditional education in drawing, painting and art history. I was fortunate to have drawn from life one day a week for seven years (from A' Level - MA), it was an integral part of my practice and discipline. At the moment my work is landscape-based, some would call it abstract. What role did the hours measuring and dealing with line, form and composition play in the development of my current practice messing about with paint and video?It is not common-place to study life-drawing anymore. Is it important? What effect has the demise of life-drawing had on the work being produced today? Conversely, if the work is accuratelty drawn but lacks "visual presence" what value does it have?Ian McKeever wrote this in his collection of essays In Praise of Painting: What is it about certain paintings, that they are able to get right under the skin? Often they are the paintings which one would least expect to do so. How and why do we find such intimacy with certain works? At times it feels as if they had been painted specifically for oneself. They leave the mass and weight of art history behind them and become an inexplicable part of one’s life.That sums up "shit hot".   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547        ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 A year or so ago I read 'Love and War in the Pyreness' by the travel writer Rosemary Bailey - a good read and full of her personal encounters with ordinary folk who lived in this region during the war. One section of the book is dedicated to the camp at Rivesaltes. When I heard that she was giving a talk in a local restaurant / conference centre and that it coincided with my wife's birthday I booked us in immediately. I chatted to Rosemary briefly before she gave her speech and told her about my current interest in the interaction that the Jews at the camp had with the Jewish community in Perpignan and the locals of the town of Rivesaltes. I told her that I had interviewed Norbert Herz and she was quite interested. I also mentioned that I had experienced more success with my videos on the theme of Rivesaltes in the UK than in France and she responded that that spoke volumes.The talk was an overview of the book and focused on some of the personal encounters that she had during her research. Rivesaltes was referred to whilst she was explaining about the aid workers who helped the condition of the refugess in this area.The conclusion centred on a quote from her book concerning the horrors of Rivesaltes - it was a poignant note to end on.The questions which followed included one regarding the on-going research and accessibilty to information on Rivesaltes... Rosemary mentioned our chat about my research at the start of the event, which was great.Following a great meal we spoke again and she said she'd be keen for us to be in contact - so I'll be sending her a link to this blog. The prevailing memory of the day was Rosemary's reaction to the research on Rivesaltes and the harrowing stories that she came across, she found it particularly difficult emotionally... which is something that I can relate to.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It is the Athens Video Art Festival this weekend - seems like bad timing; I've been following the terrible events on the news and contacted them via Facebook, as have other artists, to find out if it has gone ahead, but not yet had a relpy. I also was part of a screening in Crouch End last Thursday: One Minute Volume Four - they showed RSA4. The programme will also be shown at PRISM hosted by S1 Artspace next week. I received an email this morning saying that it will also be shown at the Big Screen in Manchester and Liverpool, organised by the BBC. I remember now that I sent the organiser of One Minute an email on the day of the deadline asking if I could submit a link to my website - she replied immediately and accepted my work... all was decided within five minutes - the fastest response I have ever had. I was pleased to be accepted for the screening in the bar at Crouch End - and now it has evolved into greater things - isn't it great when things work out.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I'm now recovering from four days of guests as part of a local open studio event. It's good from time-to-time to be able to chat to people interested in what I do, openings rarely give you that opportunity. The weather was terrible, but hundreds of people came up to my little village, not only to see my work, but for concerts and performances.A friend of mine made a sound and video performance in our 17th Century chapel - images projected on to the ceiling; there was also a string quartet and a jazz duo on at other times over the weekend. Also, a choir sang in my studio, which proved to be a good idea as I made a few sales that night.Amongst the people who just came for the entertainment were some collectors... I also met a printmaker who has a large etching press which I may be able to use, a film-maker who knows all about Final Cut (and of particular interest for me, export settings for broadcast) and two gallery owners who have invited me to exhibit - so, all in all I can say it was a worthwhile experience.Back to work now though - my camera has been repaired so I'm planning on making some films, this time at night and I also have a new series of paintings which needs to be completed.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 At last I've done it... made a video featuring my interview with Norbert Herz, the intern at the camp at Rivesaltes during 1942.I have been debating whether or not to make my videos self-explanatory, less abstract and more descriptive. A while back I posted on the AN forum  how much information should you give in a work of art... My videos are usually quite abstract, so need some sort of context, which I usually provide at the start with a few lines of text explaining where the video was made and a little history of the camp, this time I've built on that.The new video is entitled simply: 'Rivesaltes' (rather than my normal 'RQV' or 'RSA'); at the start is the usual text with the addition of a quote from the memorial stone at the camp which reads: Delivered to the Nazis in the occupied zone by authority of the French government, deported to the extermination camp of Auschwitz, and murdered because they were Jews. We will never forget these victims of racist and xenophobic hatred.Then dispersed throughout the video are five sentences spoken by Norbert Herz, for example: People lost their lives, and many children, many, many children lost their mothers and fathers.The images and sound are evocative, made at the camp, the sound is the howling wind and sometimes crunch of a footstep, the images are presented as a triptych... moving forms, occasionally a glimpse of a hut, but mostly shots of trees, bushes, grass and stones.The images present a blurry indescriptive view of the camp... I've explored how we perceive the world and how we sometimes have a vague memory of something. I filmed a random walk in the camp - trying to avoid my personal reaction to it. Nothing is focused - I've not sought to emphasise any aspect of the filming, it's just a walk, not necessarily mine - a walk anybody could make at the camp. The images aren't ones I planned to make... just 'open' images for anyone to interpret.This is all sounding a bit 'Death of the Author'... and to a certain extent that is what has guided the development of the video.Norbert Herz is talking, explaining his experience of the camp, an experience he had 70 years ago, a strong memory, but more recollections of experiences and feelings.Is there suspense in the video? I'm not sure there has to be, but it is a film, with a beginning, middle and end... the viewer may wonder who is talking and it is only at the end that this is revealed - I'm hoping it works.So, I'm frantically promoting 'Rivesaltes' now and hoping there is some interest. I hope to create my own vimeo channel and spend some time interacting with other members - all good networking - so little time though. I'm also bogged down with framing the new series of paintings on metal that I've just completed. They are quite fragile so need to be protected, quite good timing though as it's good weather now and I can work in the studio without a coat (at last).   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Its been a busy few weeks for me: screenings, painting and making a new video. One of the screenings is virtual and curated by Wilfried Agricola de Cologne who runs New Media Fest. I submitted a video I made a couple of years ago made up of scans of my face: http://videochannel.newmediafest.org/2010/self-fea... I had neglected this technique due to its time-consuming nature... well, that was the case until I decided that I should start scanning outside, the minutiae of nature that surrounds me which is mostly ignored. There is a great path just up the road from my studio, grass followed by mud, then rocks, then scree... very varied and ideal for a new video. The aim was to scan the path and then join the scans together to create an animation... a simple idea in theory. One week later: 300 scans, one aching back and one neglected family... I have at last completed the images. The amazing thing about them is that, at first glance, they appear to be unmanipulated photos, yet something seems to be wrong with the space... for each scan I slowly moved the scanner in different directions. The locals thought I was a little crazy and wondered what on earth I was up to with 100 or so metres of extension cable, laptop and scanner... I thought I was too. I'm sure I'm onto something exciting though. I've colour-corrected them already and this weekend plan to export them to FCP... that's when the really hard work will start. I have enough images for a one minute video which, if it works out, I plan to submit to one minute film festivals. The 'stills' work independently, so I may print a few off, as ends in themselves and perhaps as starting points for new paintings. This week I've also been playing with caustic soda on aluminium, but that's another story.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've been curating an exhibition called 'Rivesaltes: Landscape of Trauma' which is showing locally before it tours. It is a show including the work of artists with whom I have collaborated - sound: Lois Laplace, Blaise Merino; sculpture: Deev Vanorbeek; photographs: Peter Watkins, Chris Webb. My paintings, videos and audio works are also on display. Many of the collaborations are documented in this blog. Some texts accompany the art: an introduction by me, the interview with Norbert Herz (intern at the camp in 1942), a quote from 'The Journal of Rivesaltes' (1942) by Friedel Bohny Reital, time-line and statements by some of the artists - just enough to give the work a context. The show has been received well with sympathetic reviews in the local press. http://www.lindependant.com/articles/2010-10-29/le... I did a Google search for it and discovered that it is advertised on a site called 'Harkis and the Rights of Man' - which was a nice surprise. The Harkis (Algerians who fought against their countrymen for France during the civil war and thus not able to return to Algeria) were held / housed at the camp during the 70s. I have been invited to take the show to Toulouse to be part of the CineEspagne film festival next year. So, it is generating some interest. The director of the Rivesaltes memorial organisation in Perpignan is planning to visit, I'm hoping she will adopt the exhibition and help me organise the tour. I'm looking forward to reading the comments made by the visitors - there may even be locals who have particular associations with the camp. In my introduction to the show I wrote: 'Some people might say "Whatever happened half a century ago during the occupation is in the past." But now I see that my work is surprisingly relevant because the French Government is repeating history, seeing that we have arrived at the point where the Roma must be rounded up in accommodation centres or sent back from France to Romania.' I'm hoping it will touch those who visit.     http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Instead of hibernating this winter I decided to lock myself in my studio and paint. I made up lots of 100cm X 100cm canvasses, surrounded myself with them and then got to work. It has been refreshing not to have an end in sight and just to experiment. Music and films figured highly whilst working, in particular 'Glassworks' by Philip Glass and the series of films 'Comedies and Proverbs' by Eric Rohmer - strangely, instead of distracting me they allowed me to focus more. I only have a short space of time during the day whilst the children are at school and the time restrictions have also added a new momentum to my working practice. Lots more to do, started two more series today and still a few yet to finish.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com/  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 This week I bit the bullet and finished the first in the series of scanned path videos. I've been living with the images for a while and wondering how to create a gripping video from them. First I colour-corrected them, set the contrast and reduced them to a megabyte etc. in Photoshop then exported to FCP. One decision that had to be made was how many frames per second; 25 individual fps meant it flowed well, but was difficult to appreciate each image. In the end I opted for 5 different images per second, it still retains the flow and continuation, but allows a little more time to focus on each scan. I may use some animation software to blend the scans, we'll see. This definitely wasn't an easy project. The first video I created, in colour, looked fine, but for some reason lacked the wow factor - the images were distorted as a result of the scanning process, just enough for the viewer to query what was going on, but it wasn't enough. I decided that the colour detracted from the patterns and comprehension of the forms, so I created a black and white version with a touch of blue to add depth. Now I was on to something. Some of the scans had mirror images in them, so I decided to extend this idea and mirror each image. Suddenly a whole world of bizarre and 'phantasic' images appeared. The 60s intro to 'Dr Who' sprung to mind, as did Rorschach ink blots and paintings by Arcimboldo. The images are reminiscent of gargoyles, samurai warriors, vaulted cathedrals, some touching on the primordial. Rorschach psychologists may have a lot to say about individual viewers' reading of the images. In fact they are so loaded I'm thinking of creating prints from the stills and even a book. I will work on other versions and then choose the strongest to promote. I find it bizarre, and magical, that from such an insignificant origin (a path nobody would usually bother to notice) has evolved into something visually powerful. The following is the text which accompanies the video: 'St Louis (Path 1)' is an animation created from scans of a path situated next to my home in the French Pyrenees. Hundreds of images were created with a flat-bed scanner of the rocky path, back-breaking, but I thought I was onto something good. Each scan was slightly distorted when I moved the scanner creating an unfamiliar image. Eventually I took this image manipulation one stage further in post-production.Initially I was grabbed by the bright blue and orange shale, but as the creative process took over the final version is monotone, however more versions are in the pipeline.The final result, reminiscent of a Rorschach ink blot, is beautiful, yet can be strangely disquieting. http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com/ ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185   Usually I cast February off as the month to just get through - the coldest, dullest, quietest. . . isn't it funny how lots of exciting things seem to happen when you least expect it. Last week I was contacted by Lauren Healy, Jobs and Opps editor for a-n. She asked for my views and experiences regarding making contacts internationally, social networks, approaches that I’ve used to begin /continue my international practice and for some specific information related to the French arts scene. I think she plans to write an article for the Jobs and Opps page. My response attempted to sum up my experience living here up a mountain in the middle of the Pyrenees whilst trying to have a foot in a happening art-scene. I outlined the ups and downs of my working practice and concluded: . . . it seems that my working practice here reflects that of many contemporary artists - it's about collaborating, creating art events and not relying upon the established gallery system. Where I show isn't restricted to where I live, which is mostly made possible through online networking.In an ideal world I would exhibit more in France, but, as yet, the internet is not used in the same way by artists and curators for networking, i.e. they don't have an equivalent to a-n. [An hour after I posted this blog-post I was telephoned by a curator in Agen inviting me to have a solo show in a museum. She saw my work during the open studio event I participated in last May. . . so it looks like I'll be showing in France pretty soon, made possible by old fashioned personal contact, funny how things turn out.]   I went to check the Jobs and Opps pages and stumbled across Nick Kaplony's selection for the current Choice Blog - I recognised the photo which accompanied it, a photographic scan of my village I made during the summer (I held a flat-bed scanner up and waved it about a bit). That was a nice surprise to be chosen. So people do read my blog, which is a bonus as primarily I write it for myself, it helps make concrete my sometimes vague ideas and acts as a pseudo journal recording any developments regarding my working practice.  He wrote this about the blog: http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/article/10510... I checked out his work and it seems we share a common interest in Rorschach ink blots - all fuel and inspiration for this new aspect of my work.   I've been working on the book of the images from the video 'St Louis. Path 1' - I've decided to create it through Blurb.com as a record of the project and give the proceeds to charity. A writer friend who specialises in Surrealism is going to write an introduction for it. Everything seems to be coming together, just one aspect to organise, the ISBN. I contacted a friend, Silvie Turner, who also used Blurb for one of her projects and who has published many books on printmaking - not only did she send me the details for the ISBN, but invited me to show my book at an artists' book event she is organising. She has a great collection including books by Lanyon, Caulfield, Chadwick, Emin, Long, Paolozzi, Pasmore, Phillips, Tilson,Tyson. . . So, the dead month of February has sprung into life - no time to let the bitter howling wind get me down.   http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I went to the opening of a show on Friday, works by two artists I vaguely know. The first: Doris Schlapfer, a friend of an artist who lives in the village and the second: Patrick Sauze who coincidently owns a barn here in St Louis, but never visits - we met once about ten years ago. The exhibition was at The Maison des Art at Bages, called 'Screens:Ecrans'. It was an interesting exhibition - hung well in a decent space. I thought the work was quite powerful and wouldn't have looked out of place in a cutting-edge new gallery in the East End for example. However, Bages is on the coast in a tiny fishing village, idyllic - next to a lagoon full of flamingoes - really hidden away from anything. Having entered into a dialogue with Lauren Healey (a-n ed for jobs and opps) on the art 'system' here in France I took the opportunity to do some research. At the opening I asked the artists why such a gallery showing decent work isn't known - they replied that it is known, in the departement of the Aude. I emailed Patrick to pick his brain a little: You can see what I'm up to on my blog which is on a-n (the artists' newsletter) a great resource and community for artists and curators and students - check it out, it's great. Does something like that exist in France? You will also see a link to 'axis' - which may be interesting for you; it's another artist and curator organisation, but more about promotion - they now accept international artists. Both a-n and axis are good for opportunities world-wide.  I think I mentioned to you how surprised I was that the gallery in Bages is little-known outside Aude, if a gallery with exciting contemporary work like that existed in the UK its reputation would be wider spread; maybe it's a 'cultural' thing rather than an 'art ' thing.  I would be interested to hear how you view the situation, i.e. the divide between art practices in the provinces and the cities. That difference doesn't seem to exist in the UK, rather, art created and shown in obscure places, let alone in small galleries, is celebrated and soon becomes known and held as valid and exciting to the wider art community. I received this reply which seems to speak volumes about the outlook of artists regarding communities and networks: I think that unfortunately the artist's life is difficult in France,there is a lack of vision. I think there is a saturation of artists, too many artists and not enough quality places.There may be communities such as "a-n " and "axis" in France, but I do not know. So the prospects don't look good here - if the equivalent of a-n and axis exist in France, there seems to be an unspoken hierarchy of artists, maybe at the top are those who don't need that system of networking and support. . . the outlook seems to be more dependent upon a gallery structure rather than artists getting together and creating opportunities. It's another world which doesn't seem to be changing. I remember somebody asking me, whilst I studied at the RCA, whether or not she should move to France for the art-scene. I said maybe not, perhaps it's different in the cities though... I'm beginning to think I was right. It is heartening when I'm contacted by someone like Jane Boyer though, another a-n-er, she also lives in France and we plan to share experiences - so it's not so isolated after all. However, it is about the 'work' - sadly due to making applications that has suffered this week, but that's the life of an artist these days (maybe not for French artists though). The ISBN came through for the 'Path' book, so that will be printed as soon as the author has completed the text; a copy will be in the British Library which is good. Also, tonight I'm sending the path video by FTP to Ottica TV (http://www.ottica-tv.com/) for their annual screening at Better Bankside next to Tate Modern - its just started to snow, so hopefully we won't lose the internet connection. http://www.axisweb.org/seCVPG.aspx?ARTISTID=11547 http://www.jonathan-moss.com/... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I drove to Agen on Saturday to view the space for my show which starts in July - and very nice it is too. It's in a museum dedicated to the work of Gertrude Shoen, a sculptor who gave many of her pieces to the mairie. Apparently she's quite well known, but never really made it - her initiative means her work will at least make a mark locally, be seen and live on. What a great idea - why should work be hidden away, never to be seen? Coincidently, I just stumbled across the work I donated to Douai Abbey on the internet... I just did a google search for Jonathan Moss to see which of my images came up first and those pictures appeared. I've not seen them hung yet, so it was a nice surprise to see photos of them in-situ. They are in a corridor that leads from the monastery to the library - so will only be viewed by the monks, which adds a level of quietude and intimacy that would rarely be found in a public place. I now really need to focus on the new series of paintings I started before Christmas; life has been hectic though as I shall soon be the proud owner of a garret in the centre of Perpignan (it comes with an apartment underneath!), strangely next door to the school of art. Hopefully it will give us access to a little bit of culture every now and then which we miss living up our mountain.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It's funny how you have to enter a particular frame of mind to be able to paint... for me, the process starts with detailed drawings based on zooms of nature; doing nothing also figures quite highly too, well, physically doing nothing and thinking and reflecting on what I intend to do with the paint. This building-up stage can take weeks, it could be viewed as procrastination, but for me it's all part of the process. It's definitely not waiting for inspiration, more a ritual. Last week I started the drawings, a series based on clumps of grass growing on a red-earth hill. Then I projected them onto canvases 120 x 120cm, four of them. I dedicated a lot of time to creating the images even though I know that these initial stages may be totally eradicated by the process of painting, but that doesn't matter to me; these initial drawing phases are important to prepare me mentally for what is to follow. This week I've been creating textures with PVA and gesso primer on the canvases with what started life as a paint brush but now resembles a stick. This painstaking process may also be obliterated when the real creativity with paint starts. When these textures are dry I'll start rubbing and dripping paint - if it works, great, but usually the painting has something else in mind and the painting's direction will have to change. I do have an end image in mind, but the exciting thing is that I don't really know what will happen. If I just started throwing paint around, the lack of direction and mental focus would be missing and the end result may reflect that. Sometimes though I do paint with no intention or idea of what I want to happen... making those images work is a nightmare. Maybe making these paintings work will also be a nightmare, losing sight of that initial idea may actually help though. Making videos is linked to this process - but obviously is not as messy. I'm having a little break from starting any new ones, but not from screenings. My new video 'St Louis. Path 1' was screened at Better Bankside in London last Friday by Ottica TV and this Friday that video plus another at Grimsby Minster organised by Grimsby Institute entitled: Lightworks.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Panic is a great motivator. I've got three solo shows and a group show coming up during June and July. Will I have enough work? As it is, no. I have been frantically creating and recreating. I took the drastic decision to change some paintings I made last year which neither have the 'wow' nor the 'subtlely-interesting' factor. They are a striking cadmium red, which I've now decided should be just an occasional accent - there's no point holding on to them as they are. I'm also still working on the series of 120 x 120 canvases, meant to be random forms, vaguely clumps of grass on a chalk bank. They're at the stage that I can leave them and live with them for a few days. They may be finished, but they look very different to the others, maybe that's a good thing though. When I've not been painting I've been re-reading 'Art and Psychoanalysis' by Peter Fuller. One of his comments in the chapter 'Abstraction and The Potential Space' struck me: 'the least interesting subject for a painting is painting itself' (paraphrased). Well, that is one of my concerns, rather, obsessions. The final work though always takes on other layers of meaning, references to the history of landscape painting, glimpses of forgotten memories of nature, hints of the sublime, references to spiritual and religious art. If the work lacks these things, then I suppose it is vacuous, devoid of depth and would be just about paint (as interesting as I find that). Andrew Bryant has asked me to reflect on my practice living outside the UK... and that has reminded me of a comment made by my MA tutor: "You will never be in such a privileged position as you are as a student being able to work in the studio all the time". Living here in the Pyrenees allows me to do just that - we're pretty self-contained and have incomes from various sources, not only from my paintings - a situation that would not be possible in the UK. Thankfully I don't have to teach and tutor anymore, it was inspirational, but draining, leaving very little energy to paint. Some people may think that it is self-indulgent for my greatest concern during the week to be that a glaze has dried too quickly, but that's the life I've chosen. A major issue is that what I do is in isolation, I miss regular interaction with kindred spirits - but then there are the contacts I've made through AN and collaborations with local and UK artists and musicians. And if I can't easily visit them, I'll invite them here to work with me in my studio. I'm pleased that this summer I have a mix of French and UK exhibitions. The group show in June came about though someone seeing my work on a UK based website - the show will be in Camberwell and of abstract painting; opportunities like this have been pretty rare over the last two years, I suppose due to the financial climate. I'd like to be showing my paintings as much as I do my videos, maybe things are picking up.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 It was good to receive a flyer this morning from Silvie Turner advertising her upcoming artists' book show - which includes 'Path' by me. I've been so bogged down by preparing paintings for exhibiting during the past few weeks - tidying up edges, screwing in hooks, touching up - that I've almost forgotten about the end result, the shows. I sent 'Path' to her a few weeks ago, the end book worked out well - I just need to find the time to promote it now and to create a 'Path' website. I also sent the British Library a copy and am waiting to hear if they need additional copies for the other copy libraries. Back to painting for now though...  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Yesterday was a momentous occasion - all the paintings I have been working on for the past few months are now ready for exhibiting. I can relax a little now. It feels like the end of a chapter - I suppose I view a short burst of creativity, where all the paintings are closely linked, to recording an album. Also, in a sense, they belong in my studio, remnants of the frantic activity that has recently gone on and will be taken out of context when they are shown in galleries. The paintings represent what I'm interested in at this particular time and now I can move on to something else. The exciting thing is, I don't know what is to come in the coming months. I photographed everything and was really pleased to see them on the computer screen, somehow you view them differently reproduced and it helps assess them. One in particular stood out to me... my studio looks a tip, the painting is one I've not given much attention to since it was finished, but the painting photographed grabbed my attention.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I feel a new level of recognition has started in my artistic career - I received some hate mail yesterday.It came through the post - a page from a catalogue of an exhibition I'm showing in - it really did make me laugh, not only has the perpetrator scrawled all over the images, but gone to the effort to place a sticker over my works so the the word 'Merde' can be seen clearly - you couldn't make it up... 'and even more shit' on the video still. The curators know it's someone they rejected during the exhibition selection process. Well, I know my work's not easy, but I've taken it as a compliment that they've gone to all that effort.On a more positive note, I've had some great feedback on the 'Book / Art' show curated by Silvie Turner that finishes today; lots of people have really liked my book and would have bought a copy had it been available to buy. And, tomorrow, the 'Time Out of Mind' exhibition starts in Camberwell - the PV is on Friday and I'm looking forward to going.I also submitted a video for 'One Minute Vol. 5' organised by Kerry Baldry. I was selected last year for this touring show and thought they'd be a slim chance two years in a row, but last week heard that she wants to include my work again. The showreel travels to some fantastic venues and festivals all over the world, so I'm keen to see what's in store this year.All these good things going on further afield, but I'm also a firm believer in being known where you live, that's why I think it's a good idea to show my 'shit' in the local event. I received this email from one of the curators about the hate mail: "we think it is *****.(she is mad)keep smiling..."Again, I laughed, but sadly that may be true - I'm keen to write back to her though to tell her that I, on the other hand, really like her work: quirky, naively-drawn characters inhabiting a make-believe world of glowing flowers and psychedelic colours. Maybe it is good to air your views rather than bottling them up inside - the anonymity of the note suggests she is just a little bitter though.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just returned from the opening of a show of my work in a museum north of Toulouse. I think it went well, lots of people wanted to talk to me about my videos, paintings and prints, but it did seem a strange experience as it was the culmination of months of work creating new paintings and oddly, seeing them hung, I felt a little removed from the situation as if I were viewing work by another artist. To help the understanding of the context of my work, I made a small speech (in French!!!!). "- So, what do I paint?I have an obsession with beautiful surfaces and with the contrast between light and dark, those works are objects that have evolved over a long period of time - months playing with paint in my studio.Layers and layers of paint are applied and then rubbed away, many times. I live with the works and usually have a battle with them to find that elusive something that makes them strong images that hold the viewer's attention. They are not easy images to make...When are they finished? They really are the results of a long process, snapshots of a period of my life - akin to a journey and I have to decide when I have reached the destination.- When I am asked by strangers what I paint, I usually tell them 'lines'... obviously they expect something like: hills, people, flowers. But to paint a line sounds obscure... but it isn't. All of these works have their origin in my experience of nature. I paint what I see with my eyes... I used to paint landscapes (evident in some of the large prints), now I paint zooms of landscapes, close-ups, but not taken directly from the tangible world, taken from my videos of that world.The videos are not what you expect, they are not manipulated images, just video-walks in nature. Close-up images of grass, stones, rocks, water...My paintings are based on those images, journeys in nature, but removed from our usual understanding of it.- So, what will you take away with you from this exhibition? You can view them as aide-memoires - something to trigger a distant, fleeting memory or feeling of a place you may have visited through the minutiae of nature: uneven, weathered stone textures, cracks in rocks, dry earth, moving grass and trees, drips revealing the passage of time - the elegance and simplicity of nature pared down to its essential components.- I hope you enjoy the show and perhaps return to experience it in a quieter atmosphere and maybe allow yourself to be lost in the world I've created." The curator was very pleased with how it looked and has a few ideas to help promote my work... one of them being for me to exhibit at a friend's gallery in Dubai - she thinks my work will go down well in Muslim countries due to its abstract nature - why didn't I think of that? Looking ahead now... I'm off to New York in a couple of weeks time with my wife; it will be a great opportunity to create a new body of work. The guy we're staying with has some crazy ideas about getting me an exhibition in the Chrysler Building! Any building would be good enough for me!!... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Just finished this video, filmed in Toys'R'Us in Times Square, NYC - I was almost thrown out by a security guard! The lights on the wall next to the escalator reminded me of a Dan Flavin installation and was just waiting to be filmed...   New York was such an amazing experience - didn't visit one gallery (fed up I didn't have time to see the Alexander McQueen), but filmed constantly and took hundreds of Lomo photos. So, it looks like I'm going to be busy editing over the coming weeks - good timing as I've just sprained my ankle, so not that mobile. Some shows in the pipeline, hopefully they'll come off, who knows?... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Editing the videos from NYC has allowed me to lose myself in great memories... The visuals are ready, I just need to work on the audio. The video I uploaded to vimeo this evening sticks out a little from the others, it has audio that seems to work well, but images that may need to be tweaked. It's a video-walk from 42nd Street (Times Square) to 19th Street (where I was staying) - I followed the line of the pavement relentlessly, so everyone had to move out of my way, I wasn't popular. I was initially grabbed by the 'line' falling across the screen, but now I've finished the first cut it is actually the 'grid' that appears regularly that looks really interesting. So, I may do another cut tomorrow, featuring just the grid.  ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 I've just been snatching the odd minute here and there during the past few weeks to finish off my videos and soundtracks started in NYC, other commitments getting in the way. Considering the lack of quality time to dedicate to my work, the results have been surprising. The most exciting aspect has been creating sound that works with the images. I mostly adapted field recordings, adopting a similar approach to the one I use for video editing. Never knowing the end result and letting the creative process guide the outcome has allowed each video to take on a life of its own... strangely similar to the way I paint. I do bear in mind though that I may just be making the best of the material I have and if I had set out to make the videos (in their final form) they may be very different and perhaps more successful, but that seems to be the job of a film-maker, not an experimental video-artist.    ... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Hello everyone who clicked the link on Stramash Space. I'm pretty chuffed that Kim Walker chose to feature my new videos on their site this week. I hope you find them interesting, hopefully something for everyone! It seems weird that the random footage I made of neon lights and New York streets has now evolved into a finished body of work. One regret I have is not taking a tripod with me... how stupid; I took loads of wobbly stuff which I couldn't use, next time: fewer pairs of socks! Some of the imagery is a departure for me, but I'm thinking it will lead to a new phase in my painting too. It's been a while now since I finished them and I haven't yet viewed them as a series, so I'm looking forward to looking at them later when the kids are in bed. I've been thinking about the pros and cons of an online show... on the negative side the viewer may just flick through with the sound down whilst watching TV; on the positive side they may allow themselves to be totally absorbed in the images and sounds, closing themselves off from the outside world (something that's difficult to do in a gallery environment).  Potentially more people can view an online show and perhaps one of the greatest pros is that the viewer can interact with the artist (which I find a little ironic given the remote and virtual nature of the exhibition in comparison with a physical exhibition which is supposedly more 'personal'). I'd be pleased if anyone wants to leave feedback, thoughts, reactions... http://www.stramashspace.org/exhibitions/current.html... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185 Internet access has been difficult since I moved unfortunately, but it has allowed me to dedicate more time to renovating the house. (Internet now sorted thankfully.) Today I finished painting my new studio - small, but just big enough to paint the new 180 x 200 cm canvases for a show in New York; it will be a tight squeeze and that floor may be a distraction, but it's better than the corner of a bedroom. I mentioned to our new neighbour, a very sweet elderly lady, that I'm a painter by trade, not a professional DIYer and she very kindly said that she could arrange for my paintings to be shown in the local hairdresser's... I was touched by her kindness, I did explain that they are quite abstract, very large and not to everyone's taste. It's good to be known locally though, so I thought I'd introduce myself to the art school in Perpignan and see what emerges. Just the facade of the house to paint now and the shutters, then on with the real paintings which I'm itching to start, it's been too long now.... Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000 http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/projects/single/468185