ARTISTS TALKING

# 70 [28 June 2010]

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.

I've uploaded it to Vimeo, but it can only be viewed by people with the password, I aim to submit it to festivals and therefore don't want it in the public realm. If you wish to view 'Rivesaltes' leave me a message and I'll give you the password.

So, I'm frantically promoting 'Rivesaltes' now and hoping there is some interest.

The videos I'm not promoting any longer are now on Vimeo (not password protected), it seems to be the professionals choice of streaming site...

http://vimeo.com/user2440606

I hope to create my own 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.jonathan-moss.com

# 69 [18 May 2010]

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.jonathan-moss

# 68 [8 May 2010]

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.jonathan-moss.com

# 67 [19 April 2010]

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.jonathan-moss.com

# 66 [24 March 2010]

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".

# 65 [20 March 2010]

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.

# 64 [9 March 2010]

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.

# 63 [2 February 2010]

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

# 62 [1 February 2010]

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. She doesn't 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 (may keep the mother-in-law happy as well).

http://www.jonathan-moss.com

# 61 [1 February 2010]

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.jonathan-moss.com/index.html