ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [2 May 2008]

We are making a sculpture that has books as a plinth.  It is made of clay and has a brass-look plastic plaque. It was blessed this morning by the big boys and so now we're ready to rumble.

This picture is not it, we'll put one up another time !!!!!!

Bye for now

# 2 [7 May 2008]

We are really hot and sweaty today.

We are in the library making a list of our favourite books especially the fat ones. We will create a tower because we all hate plinths. It will be a tower for the sculpture we made that we mentioned before. The picture is comin soon.

One of us is in the pub, another has a dodgy wrist, and the other one is the shortest.

That's all for now.

So there's three of us ok?

Bye

# 3 [8 May 2008]

go..........

we've done our list and there are thirty six. we don't know how tall this is.

next. write next.

next. you've written next.

what did you write? next, write next. we've written next.

what do you think about the height of the plinth? maybe just at the height the books are at and that's it.

did you know that the lethaby gallery is named after W R LETHABY 1857-1931.

# 4 [11 May 2008]

sneaky peek pic!

HELL

Please Pay Attention Please

Truth before Power

Past Imperfect

Raw Materials

Raw Notes

The Impossible Project

Thinking Aloud

I reas art like a magazine at the barbers

Decoys and Distruptions

Shark Infested Waters

The Uncanny

Breaking down the Barriers

We won't play nature to your culture

Bad Behaviour from the Arts Council collection

Critical Vision

Arts, Politics and Dissent

Childsplay

Art in Theory 1900-2000

Reading Things

Talking Art

Double Act

Work Ethic

State of the Art

When Attitudes Become Form

The rape of creativity

Contemporary Art: from Studio to Situation

BLIMEY!

The Lure of the Object

Objects for...and other things

Part object, Part sculpture

Equilibri

The Way Things Go

Nervous Stillness on the Horizon

LaLa land abd Parody Paradise

Wasted Youth

# 5 [16 May 2008]

Today we are at school. We have lost our plaque already and need to get another one done in order to document it.

We have been talking about making two things instead of one.

We want to be present in the degree show, saying "couldn't think of anything", a development, or progression of the blob with the plaque we made before. Someone said we must be careful not to patronise our viewer...there are going to be far more patronising art works in the show. Patronising, in it's useage towards us was probably  not the best choice of words.

Like gilbert & george.

But now we're in the library-we've found our library loan history over the past four years-including the foundation course also at csm but at back hill not charing cross road. there are loads, hundreds infact.

We realise that the degree show is a time where we can showcase ourselves, our practice.

we are frustrated artists, cynical, but happy cynics.

# 6 [17 May 2008]

Reflecting on yesterdays very productive day, in terms of realising the potential in our individual library loan histories, it is clear where we were going wrong.  The list of thirty six books we initially selected were not reflective of Trois Elementos as a collective or indeed of us, the three individuals who make Trois Elementos what it is-our needs, concerns and desires.  We are individual artists with practices in our own right.  It is inevitable that aspects of our practice are going to overflow and be realised in our combined efforts. 

Choosing books, merely by their width and catchy titles was ultimately going to fail.  The lists was not extensive enough, and thus was rather limited in it's scope in terms of its period in history and art theory. 

Our knowledge and theory as engaged individuals and artists is more varied and in depth than the list suggested.

It is even more varied than the list we compiled in the library, because these are only the books that we took out in the charing cross road site and was also limited by the height of the pile as it was about to tip over. 

Our work is performative in its undercurrents and we are considering live performance in the show, the three of us speaking to the viewers. However, only one of us is professional and mature enough not to laugh and look self conscious in such situations. We have to tackle this - but live perfomance is notoriously impossible to do without looking like a turd. 

We have also considered making this blog a feature of our show. At some point next week we'll have a super productive day and pin it all down just in time. 

# 7 [18 May 2008]

In sharing ideas and creating works together we have an advantage over our peers working individually on developing their practice:  We are able to play and make work as opposed to being intent on creating ‘masterpieces’. 

Through creating works with a playful quality we go against the notion of the artist as a gifted individual, a singular person.

Being three of us means we can take risks and push things more than a singular artist might wish. We can take the piss.  We can make work which some may deem to be shit and we can take it.  There are three of us, you do not have to pussy foot around us.  Say it like it is, we are strong, we can take it.  

# 8 [19 May 2008]

We do not want to look like turds. Live performance will not feature in the show, from us anyway.

# 9 [20 May 2008]

Today we were likened to a sandwich, not a shit sandwich, but rather a jam sandwich.

Two slices of bread and a jam filling.  Each of us is a vital ingrediant in a jam sandwich sucess. Without one we are merely two slices of bread or jam spread on bread.

We were likened to the jam sandwich in conversation about our 'loan history' work. The loan history, although a visually complete work, is a little dry. A little, or a lot if you look at it in comparison to the style of works with which we make.

A tutor who knows us; who understands and gets us, described it as though we had gone 'all conceptual'-that it was a little dry. We have fun, we take the piss.  We, Trois Elementos, are missing from the piece.

Contemplating us being in the work-precariously balancing the towering stacks of books-segreating the books into indivual loan histories making a structural jam sandwich.

Times where tensions are fraught is when Trois Elementos shine. Having fun, taking the piss out of looming deadlines and the serious situations which lie ahead.

Looking back over the previous two years of collaboration it is clear that we often create shite, time wasting-keeping sane while those around us crumble and admit defeat-sucumbing to the madness of the asylum. We later create great last minute nike, 'just do it' works. Fingers crossed that this happens this time. If not, what is the worst that could happen? The audience sees the shit before the masterpiece-the masterpiece to evolve at a later date, a show outside of the degree show umberella maybe?

# 10 [22 May 2008]

To do list:

1.Pick up 'Couldn't Think of Anything' engraving.

2.Document 'Couldn't Think of Anything'.

3.Re-make 'Loan History'.

4.Make a research file for Trois Elementos and one for each of us to include in our supporting studies.

5.Avoid wood and plinths.

6.Have fun!