ARTISTS TALKING

# 37 [3 January 2012]

it's been a while. There has now been plenty of time to reflect on ipso facto. So what of it? What of our practice together and apart. It has been over two months since we finished. Two month in which we have explored other avenues and ways of practice. I am considering landscape again, but this time with a new found pattern making backdrop. These possible new avenues do not yet have a home but perhaps this blog will help me place my practice. We can only wait and see. A new year and a new outlook. a time to look both backwards and forwards. lets see where this goes........

# 36 [22 December 2011]

Yes its been a while - so what of it and what of us now?

Richard:

"What's that about a coffee table?"

The first meeting after the talk: The return of my work:

"By now I will be working on a separate project that takes me away from this blog and this sort of work, but all I can think of - thanks to digital images taken of the work in the show - is how the exhibition was represented and how it has created a means to go on. You called me that Sunday morning or perhaps I called you I am not so sure. You told me you were driving through from Glasgow to pick up your work from the gallery - and then I think you changed your mind and said it would have to be one evening in the following week. I said I would probably be in the studio most nights - so if you could drop the work of for me there that would be great."

Ross visited my studio for the second time in order to return the work we spent time on together during his first visit a few months before.

The second meeting after the talk and the first meeting after the second visit to my studio: the fleeting hello and sharing of Roses chocolates:

"You have some chocolates stashed behind your display? Can I have one? Yes you can have as many as you like. Thank you I shall take a strawberry cream - how are you and is the book fair busy at all? I am good thanks… how are you? Oh I'm okay thanks feels weird being back on old turf this time last year I was sat in that seat doing the same job, but we had no chocolates to eat then and you're selling the same publications we sold back in 2010 and 2009… Well here shove some more chocolates up your sleeve and save them for later. Have you been up to much how is the new flat?"

Next meeting, to be confirmed, at Ross's new flat in Dennistoun to eat burgers off the new retro yellow coffee table

"What's that about a coffee table?"

What of us now and what of it? Let us not leave it so long until next time.

# 35 [10 November 2011]

Richard:

Very much a matter of fact?

The mad rush towards opening 'Ipso Facto', was in the end not so much of a mad rush - Ross had his wall drawing to do and, in and out of other jobs, I spent the week filling in with object placements and lighting for cornered installations and floor based arrangements. The result is what has been described as something that is coherent, so much as the show is fluid by way of one artists's work supporting that of the other - and vica-versa.

I sit in the space now with sufficient perspective and time away under my belt. Business is hit with more business but I have taken time out - on this red plastic chair - to reflect a little (and get down and dirty with the floor to take exhibition shots).

Formally the show has come together well - whether the exhibition itself builds on the research strand that is this blog, is yet to be decided.

This evening will help decide this, a talk chaired by Artists talking's online editor, visiting from London, that will build on discussions around web-logs and their placing in the birth and development of artistic relationships and collaboration. Hopefully a fair attendance will help us iron our any remaining thoughts and bring them to the surface.

In all I feel the show is successful in its attainment of being explorative. For now here are some shots of the work in the show.

And below is the blurb we presented in a hand out for the exhibition:



IPSO FACTO

New works by Richard Taylor and Ross Hamilton Frew
exploring drawing as a forum for collaborative exchange.

October 29 - November 18 2011
Thursday - Sunday 12-5pm
discussion: ‘web-logs and placing art practice’ Thursday November 10, 6-8pm



Richard and Ross have been working on this project since early 2011. First point of contact being a brief conversation in the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow (before Richard moved to Edinburgh and Ross moved to Lumsden), they were then set to embark on a journey leading to a better understanding of one another's work.

This journey, its pit stops and pitfalls included, is mapped out in their blog
'Drawing as a forum for collaborative exchange' (tinyurl.com/IpsoFactoBlog).

The phrase 'Ipso Facto' translates to 'matter of fact' and was used by Jean-Paul Sartre in reference to Alberto Giacometti's approach to rendering his drawings in sculptural form, and the conference these manifestations then had with the viewer. This terminology rings true within this exhibition and the project as a whole, as both artists have used the essence of drawing to develop their own production within a shared timescale and exhibition setup. For both artists their work has never been compromised to accommodate that of the other. Instead there is an equilibrium attributed to the what is shown, in terms of exploring collaborative and artistic partnership: both formally and conceptually.

As some works in the show were made prior to the exhibition's installation, others have been made on site responding to direct conversations the objects have with each other in the space. Ross's wall drawing, a direct formal response to Richard's painted coffee table, has taken a week to complete. Meanwhile Richard's carefully considered found objects map out the space next to his painted props, which build on pieces depicted in his figurative drawings.

A special event 'web-logs and placing art practice' will be held in the format of a discussion around blogging and its uses in the development of artist projects, whether individual or collaborative. After initial conversations both artists did not see one another face to face again until September 2011, instead they used their blog on Artists talking to converse, develop and propose new works, research strands and ideas. The discussion will be chaired by Artists talking's online editor Andrew Bryant.

The artists would like to thank SUPERCLUB for this opportunity and Andrew Bryant in advance of his journey from London to chair the event.

# 34 [17 October 2011]

So we finally have a poster image to post up!

Since Ross's last post on here we have managed to grab some time in my studio here in Edinburgh. Whilst drinking fragrant Turkish coffee the conversations began to loosen and spread over the works - plans we had originally in our heads separately were ironed out on the page! I think we're as ready as we can be to face mistake and rectification during the week long install beginning October 21st. Then on to the opening on Friday 28th.

Ross is on his way over this Wednesday too - just to finish some joint things off and get to a point where we know what is being packed and where.

We also have a discussion planned with Andrew Bryant in the week preceding the end of the show in November. On Thursday 10th of November Andrew will be visiting Edinburgh to chair a discussion around the use of blogging and its applicability to collaborative working and project realisation. We will be posting discussion points up on here when we have bashed out heads together (I'm sure this will happen naturally once our work is installed).

A quick and slightly less poignant post that my usual efforts - but non the less informative. See some of the attached images, and hope to see some of you at the opening on 28th October!

For now see press release and further information at - http://www.superclubstudios.com/p/future.html

# 33 [4 October 2011]

Ross:

We find ourselves in the month of October and less than 25 days until the opening of 'Ipso Facto' an exhibition by Ross Hamilton Frew and Richard Taylor. It all is beginning to seem very real and it's fast approach gives me something to think about. I haven't seen Richard since we started this blog but it will all change tomorrow when I visit his studio to make use of the facilities. I will also make the trip to the superclub to have a chat with team member Ross Christie. Promotion and invites have to be done and that all has to happen when we are trying to finalise the works that will be displayed during the show. It's been a while since I've been this involved in displaying my own work. Group shows have been the mainstay of late, along with the curation of show I've not displayed in, but the excitement of this is unmatched. I can't reveal any images but if you look through the previous post as far back as May you will get an idea of what will be on show. I hope to be as prepared as possible before the 14th but with some work to be done in situ, I will be kept going right to the last moment. For the time being here are some images of some things that have influenced my practice over the last 6 months.

I hope you can make it on the night.

# 32 [26 September 2011]

Richard:

These images were taken last Friday evening in the studio, no one was there but me and the mood sort of took me. I had decided that the sticks I have been painting needed to be a little more representative of the actual task of handling them and applying pencil / paint to them - a lot of the work is process led here, much like the work of Ross too. A mark repeated again and again to build up a pattern on a surface - these particular surfaces are thin and long, there is more trajectory than on a wider squarer page.

In fact, here is a good point to say a few words about the resourcing of materials chosen for the show - much of it is acquired from the streets or from renovated kitchens, left over bits of wood or old dusty forgotten coffee tables. The application of pattern to these objects is concurrently derivative of the small pencil drawings and their depicted interiors as well as representative of a way of working I left behind for some reason a few years ago - that being mark after mark after measured mark.

It is this other way of working I think that first brought me and Ross together - it marked, if you will, the beginnings of this project. I remember we sat together at the CCA and just asked each other about one another's work, and it soon became evident that Ross applies similar methods in his work to the methods I used to use to fill a page. Now, thanks to Ross I have got back to this root in my work and found that a similar process can be used to alter ready made or found objects, re-contextualising them / making them in to props / suggesting their painterly consequences…

It is also interesting to comment here on how much these images are muted and edited. The original shot show the whole of my studio space that houses at the moment a lot of other work that is planned for the exhibition: this work I have chosen not to show here! It is not a reluctance I do not think, more of a careful choice. The black and white helps in this stripping down of context - its more about the document or the evidence. The greyscale edge also makes another link back to the drawings themselves.

# 31 [18 September 2011]

The reluctance to share information or images of late is perhaps telling of the stage Richard and I inhabit just now. From Richard's naritive a few posts back I see him dealing with the practicalities of an exhibition. Transporatation and arrangement are key features of the text. The work is beginning to come together and we will no doubt start to become nervous about the upcoming event as it begins to loom and we find ourselves coming together to actually present something. I have plans to travel to Edinburgh next week so I can spend some time with Richard's work (I have only seen what is posted here). This should give me some insight as to how our show will turn out.

I'll let you know what happens.

# 30 [17 September 2011]

The last week or so has seen me move back to the west coast and with that comes a greater focus on the finished work for our show. 

We have a name and a deadline for our work to be completed. It is becoming more and more of a reality. 

I'm reluctent to put our chosen name for the show up here just yet, which coincideds with a reluctance to put my recent images up here as well. 

With around six weeks until the opening Richard and I should be keeping some things back so as not to reveal to much ahead of our show.

In saying that I have a number of photos to show you. The abandoned house project is done and along with it one arm of our project. 

Now for the show.

# 29 [12 September 2011]

Richard:

Suggested title: New Works by Ross Hamilton Frew and Richard Taylor



            Storage vs production

It has been over a week since we last touched this blog - in place of bad weather and what's worse to come hurricane wise... I thought a little narrative would be fitting. I seem to plug in bits of narrative with much of what I do - in fact there are some current projects that have begun entirely narratively, almost in character - but I feel this particular project is more about form, and the translation of ideas in to storage containers (or photographs), these containers will hopefully result in successful delivery and production. But thanks to this shit weather the last thing I want to do is go to the studio, so in place of that, I will do what I usually do - which is to write a brief narrative:

             "Oh, when is the show?
If it is late October harvest will be over and I can use the Landrover to get your gear from A to B - no problem": the clock chimed, it was 11pm and my bus was at quarter past, I needed to get back up the hill past the castle to get some much needed sleep - I had work all day the next day. "Well, I have a coffee table that needs moving, as well as some shelves and most of my plates and picture frames - the rest I think I will leave at A when the time comes... but we have time enough until then. I keep saying that, 'we have time enough'... but there is less time every time I do say it. I have to run, got to get the bus."

    It was darker on the pavement now,
the Sun had sank passed the hill and the street lamp next to the bus stop flickered with intermittent sulphur tungsten. I think of the underside of each object I had planned to transport, one flick the underbelly and construction of a fold-in coffee table incised by yellow angular blemish - a shape cut by glass accordance and the bus stop standing there next to me, a shape Ross would be proud of. One other flick a glass panel, used to paint an effigy of this light, left on the floor beneath the table - it gives the right sort of reflection to see the table's affected hidden language. One more flick and the shelf I have next to the table holds a small metal plate that is tilted on its edge and leant against the wall - this is a sketch for my objects and their planned installation.

Ross, the measurement of the table in diameter is approximately one metre - the plate is of ratio 1:10 of this, a diameter of around ten centimetres. The shelf is one part the tangent taken across one side of the table before it is folded, the shelf is adorned with burnt umber.

The sticks - they act as roller trajectories for your brilliant bronze cast balls. They also act as notions for displacing the mire - this mire we talk of - a way of transporting goods from one side to the other.



# 28 [1 September 2011]

SOME MORE IMAGES HERE TOO, OF WORK PINNED TO THE WALL BY OTHER WORK.

-- WATCH OUT FOR THE painted sticks... you won't find too many of them in Aberdeenshire... I don't think. (need to visit first and find out).