ARTISTS TALKING

# 21 [7 September 2009]

Dear Patrick

I wondered if you would help me with a project I am currently engaged in. Thank you

All the very best

Annabel x

Dear Annabel,

Yes...I would love to help. Will it have to be my hair? There are two versions that immediately popped into my mind...so I'll have to decide which one to go with. Maybe I could send both and you can then pick. Is there a deadline? Will the book be 1/1?

All the best Patrick

From: annabeldover@yahoo.co.uk> Subject: Re: Hairy book

Haha! any kind of hair you like-some people I have asked are bald so it's the only choice they have. The book will be in a small edition

Dear Annabel,Red Arrows are flying overhead as write this....this is not it but attached is a work from 2005, made from 2 sets of hair in Resin.I'll send my parts soon(ish)..All the bestPatrick

 

Dear Patrick I love this! It's very creepy and exciting. Where did you get the hair? Do you have red hair ? I do Annabel x

 

 

 

# 22 [9 September 2009]

The pie-crust head of Craig Brown looks damp between the lights of Aldeburgh cinema. He is interviewing Louis Theroux and he has just assured us, the audience that Theroux (junior) has

" a basic faith in human nature and a belief that we are all good"

Is this why he seems so excited by the sinister? Hoping to expose the naiveties of Max Clifford, Jimmy Saville & American neo-Nazis. People driven by their need tyo control;ridiculed by their lack of it.

I ask Louis a question assuming, naturally that we are a love-match, that he'll feel a sense of relief when I ask it-yes, that girl understands me

Me: "Have you ever met anyone who was so funny that you felt sobered and could not find the humour in the situation, perhaps until later?"

Louis: "So the question is um...have I ever met anyone so poisonous and evil that I didn't want to interview them?"

I repeated the question but to no avail. I think he thought I believed that people could be categorised as evil. This has never appealed to me as it explains nothing.

 

Maybe Louis had a fundamentally happy childhood. His father may write lascivious memoirs from his condo in Hawaii, but maybe there was little darkness in the Theroux household. Louis continues to try and answer me by telling an anecdote about someone who initially comes across as very unpleasant but who later revealed his vulnerability through a love of Are you Being Served.

I know of the photographs of Mussolini that were banned and that guests had to continue the conversations Hitler had stopped when he had fallen asleep half an hour previously.

I watched Marnie the other night and was interested how Marnie's behaviour was explained and excused as part of a Freudian equation. I suppose my very unpleasant childhood may account for my vertiginous fear of darkness-of the literal and the modern 'murky and unpleasant sort. Vertiginous in the sense that I want to jump from high places. I feel I am from and part of something with such Exxon Valdese darkness that I must avoid it at all costs and yet it is somehting I often find myself overwhelmed by.

So to owls: the most collected of all figurines in Britain and America. Traditionally birds of the dark and often thought to be ghosts.

I have two owl stories, one light-filled and one a sort of twilight...

 

Ctd on next post

Adapted from a text published in Dark Arty

# 23 [10 September 2009]

In 1837 a young Hungarian boy called Iguatz von Peczely cared for an owl with a broken leg. He noticed a black stripe in its eye, which became paler as the leg healed. More than 30 years later, having qualified as a naturopathic physician, Peczely found the same complaint. His research into the 200 or so markings in the coloured part of the eye, which are unique to each person's health from their eyes is the basis of modern iridology.

From The Guardian 27th Novermber 2005

 

In 1850 Florence Nightingale saved a baby owl from some boys who were tormenting it in Athens, smuggled it home, and christened it Athena. To be persuaded to enter a cage, the owl had to be mesmerised, but soon became a devoted companion.

She would perch on her mistress’s finger for feeds, as well as bow and curtsy on a table, but her life came to a rather sad end in 1855.

 

On hearing of Florence’s imminent departure for the Crimea, the family left Athena shut in an attic. Starved of the attention she craved, the owl - it seems - died of a fit, leaving her owner heartbroken.

Following Florence’s instructions, the bird was taken to London and embalmed. It remains in very good condition and was recently conserved by the National Trust, who for a time had it on display at Claydon House in Buckinghamshire.

Florence Nightingale's sister, Parthenope wrote and illustrated a book: The Life and Death of Athena an Owlet.

From The 24 Hour Museum 29th July 2004

# 24 [11 September 2009]

Thank you, I like creepy excitement too.  The hair came from my head and Theresa's head (my wife). She has wonderful red/gold hair. I have brown hair but when the sun shines there is plenty of red to be found.  In the future the work will be found in a lake and our DNA will be combined to create some kind of clone. My Daughter Eloise has Golden hair that would fit your book...maybe a new scan of both.

 

Dear Patrick That's really interesting thank you I have been thinking about red hair a lot recently and wrote it on my list of things to research at my last supervision meeting. There's a book on it but I have forgotten what it's called the something of desire...not as good as the Blonde book. 
Red hair really is best seen in the sun and you can discover secret redheads that way it's true.I was recently at a party where there were two other redheads and I made them line up with me. 
I would love a scan of Elöise's and Theresa's hair too if they wouldn't mind. I have just been looking at your blog which I like very much and found a giant squid ( did you see that picture of a giant squid that was in the observer/guardian a while ago? It was great I believed it was real but it was a text misprint and it was a replica) the hair picture you sent me reminded me of a squid/octopus so I was excited to see one on your blog. 
I have only just understood the joy of reading and writing blogs. I have recently started one on the a-n site.

 

 
Annabel x  

Dear Annabel,
 
Did the two other redheads mind? Was the line-up for a photo? Did a fight ensue?
Yes...I know the 2 books, unable to remember titles too. I work in University Library.
 
Eloise had her hair cut into a bob recently, so I have a strand. She has Theresa's hair, very lucky. I find it very striking. When I first heard Theresa's name being spoken by her Brother at the start of 1996(before I met her), I imagined an orange/gold/red/pink formless cloud shape just above my head...I sort of felt it more than visually sensing it .
 
Yes of course you can use the image, I look forward to reading the blog. Full of detail. Lot's of Animals. Your website is very interesting too. I can imagine a huge monograph of your work. or museum in a whole house. or a theme park in a forest. I've attached a slightly better image of the work, plus a picture of the giant squid at Propeller Island. Violet Clark likes the picture, which is nice as I like her music.
 
 
All the best
Patrick
 

 

 

# 25 [11 September 2009]

Jumbo flying squid have invaded the shallow waters off San Diego, spooking scuba divers and beachgoers after washing up dead on the beaches.

The carnivorous cephalopods, which weigh up to 45kg (100lb), came up from the depths last week, with swarms of them roughing up unsuspecting divers. Some reported tentacles enveloping their masks yanking at their cameras and gear.

Stories of close encounters with the squid have chased many divers out of the water and created a whirlwind of excitement among those torn between their personal safety and the once-in-a-lifetime chance to swim with the deep-sea giants.

The so-called Humboldt squid, named after the current in the eastern Pacific, have been known to attack humans and are nicknamed "red devils" for their rust-red colouring and mean streak. Divers wanting to observe the creatures often bait the water, use a metal viewing cage or wear chainmail to avoid being lashed by the creature's tentacles.

The squid, which is most commonly found in deep water from California to the bottom of south America, hunts in schools of up to 1,200 individuals, can swim up to 15 mph and can skim over the water to escape predators.

 

"I wouldn't go into the water with them for the same reason I wouldn't walk into a pride of lions on the Serengeti," said Mike Bear, a local diver. "For all I know, I'm missing the experience of a lifetime."

The squid are too deep to bother swimmers and surfers, but many experienced divers say they are staying out of the surf until the sea creatures move on.

Roger Uzun, a veteran scuba diver and amateur underwater videographer, swam with a swarm of the creatures for about 20 minutes and said they appeared more curious than aggressive. The animals taste with their tentacles, he said, and seemed to be touching him and his wet suit to determine if he was edible.

Guardian 17th July 2009

# 26 [11 September 2009]

In "The Analytical Language of John Wilkins,"Borges describes 'a certain Chinese Encyclopedia,' the Celestial Emporium of Benevolent Knowledge, in which it is written that animals are divided into:

1. Those that belong to the Emperor

2. Embalmed ones

3. Those that are trained

4. Suckling pigs

5. Mermaids

6. Fabulous ones

7. Stray dogs

8. Those included in the present classification

9. Those that tremble as if they were mad

10. Innumerable ones

11. Those drawn with a very fine camelhair brush

12. Others

13. Those that have just broken a flower vase

14. Those that from a long way off look like flies.

# 27 [12 September 2009]

Max de Winter sent you a message of Facebook "Where do I know you from?"

Dear Max,

Sorry you don't know me. I just liked your name and it is the same as the character in Daphne du Maurier's book Rebecca. I like the idea that the character was still alive somewhere; the book starts and ends with the recollection of a lost place and a suggestion that the unnamed present day Mrs de Winter and Max de Winter are still alive.

Thank you for being my Facebook friend.

All the very best

Annabel Dover

 

# 28 [14 September 2009]

Helen Taylor M.A. Food Styling.  University of Central Lancashire. Dr.J.H. Birchall   helenc.taylor@btinternet.com                                                                       Questionnaire: Food, Nostalgia and Contemporary Cookbooks

 

PLEASE ANSWER ANY OF THE FOLLOWING AS YOU ARE ABLE-

 

Would you care to state your name and occupation?

Annabel Dover

Artist

 

Food is very important in my life, and food is central to many of my memories:

Do you live to eat or eat to live?

I love food and often if I am feeling depressed I think about food I would like to eat. I have tried to work out what it is exactly-it's certainly a substitute for addressing emotions. I have noticed I instantly want to eat after an argument. I am much more addicted to (excess) food than I ever was to cigarettes. I also spend a lot of my days feeling boredom and frustration and food fulfils temporarily that desire for that gratification-that sounds more sexual than I think it is-although I think that is certainly an element of it. I recently read bits of Paul McKenna's 'I can make you thin' and he mentioned how to be thin you have to stop eating when you are full-this is an alien concept to me! I think also if I gave up eating too much I might have to visit a psychiatrist-I think I would rather eat too much! I think also it's an aspect of my life that it seems acceptable to lack discipline in-as it will not actually hurt anyone (unless of course I become morbidly obese!)

 

 

Do you buy cookbooks? – Are they old or new publications?

Not really. I look at my sisters-they all have Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's-there is a snobbery they wouldn't have Jamie Oliver's now although pre Sainsbury's perhaps they would have done.

 

I like Elizabeth David because she was an exciting woman and I suppose there are elements of her writing that alludes to biographical details that Nigella Lawson has adopted in her books and certainly on her programmes. There was a lovely Aga book of the 30s I found at my aunts which was written in a way that almost echoed the aspirations of the soon to be developed NHS...you could see more of a social concern that might be interpreted as nanny-stateism now.

 

What draws you to them?

 

I like the idea of ridiculous food I think like a lark inside a quail inside a pheasant etc. repulsive to eat but visually beautiful to imagine-Andy Warhol's recipes are probably not that apetising to eat. Edward Bawden's collaboration with Fortnum and Mason highlights the magical as does the great Surrealist recipes of 'goldfish' soup which I think was just carrot-revolting but magical like Meret Oppenheim's furry cup and saucer-which highlights I suppose all of those sensual texture experiences of eating. All the gold leaf and artifice of Lee Miller's food somehow seems nobler than Fanny Cradock's lurid mashed potato!

 

 

 

# 29 [16 September 2009]

I understand that there is a growing trend in cooking programmes on television, but does this mean that more of us cook from ‘scratch’ ingredients or are we just passively observing the ‘experts’ and so cooking has become entertainment. 
Do you cook?
I occasionally cook-rarely. I am going to make bread this week-sometimes I plan something like that or to make a pudding. I am making cyanotypes at the moment and the process is chemical-but really very similar to cooking and I do get bored with it. I admire people that can cook.

Sometimes if I have a fantasy it will be to imagine cooking all the time lots of cakes and looking after babies-this is obviously a desire for nurturing I have denied in myself and probably will for a while.

I think if I had time and a lovely big kitchen and quite a lot of money I would enjoy buying food-but I would prefer leaving it in its singular state-that's how I felt about the chemicals too really-they looked so pretty on their own the prints couldn't help but disappoint me-the opposite of alchemy!

Do you use cookbooks to do this?
If I am at my sisters I look at hers-but on the whole I make it up often not very successfully-I should they certainly teach you new skills. I love those old pattisier books

What are your five favourite cookbooks?
Oh dear I am such a novice! I haven't ever found the one I want-it must exist. I did find a great one in Barnes & Noble in New York-I copied the Baked Alaska recipe down and made it for the person we were staying with. My sister bought some very smelly leeks for the first course that she was making. We went to a gallery to look at a rare Joseph Cornell box, not realising it was a private home and stank their apartment out!

My ideal book would be really simple and things you could do to enhance things say-really simple fish next to...well what would accompany it really beautifully.


What is your favourite recipe?  (or recipes)
Gingerbread-from someone called Bronwyn-I suppose it's maternal substitution.

My mother is and was an appalling cook. She used to put cheap crisps in the oven till they were soggy and call them game chips

# 30 [17 September 2009]

HT: What drew you to it?  (or them) – Can you recall how it was presented?

I often cook things that I enjoyed making as a child, not necessarily just because I want to eat them now, but because I can share them with others.  It is the memory of the process itself and who I made them with that creates a fond nostalgia for that moment past.  (Favourite recipes might be Brighton Pasty, a family recipe, which I made with grandma, Scampi Portokali, a Cypriot dish favoured by my mum, or homemade limeade which reminds me of Sri Lanka).
Do you cook certain dishes or enjoy particular foods because they have special meaning for you? -Could you give an example and describe its meaning for you?

AD:

Most of my childhood was loathsome but when we went on holiday and stayed at my grandparents house in the Isle of Wight I loved it. They had a cook who used to make really simple food but I still dream of it and that was the first time I had butter not margarine. I knew when I was an adult that I would always have butter and would never have to wear tights again! The other food was ham and new potatoes from their garden and a pea soup which I think was 90% chicken stock. My father was a vegan and he tried to impose this on us for years. I have only had one steak but it felt dangerous to eat it and I felt liberated! A lot of my adolescence I was anaemic and craved meat but knew it wouldn't be worth my fathers rage if I ate it secretly.

Some food memories are not about cooking:
Do you have a favourite or most striking food memory?
AD:

Sorry got carried away above-yes loads. When we went to Edinburgh it highlighted to me how everything I usually hated was lovely in Edinburgh-like the rock. There used to be a baked potato shop called Tatties there too and I loved going there-we were hardly ever allowed baked potatoes at home as the drain of my mother's oven was too much of a strain on the national grid.

My mum says she loves using her grandmother’s rolling pin.  This Victorian piece of wood seems to have its own life story!
Are you attached to certain objects through nostalgia or memory?  Could you give an example and describe its meaning for you?
AD:

Loads I think-I think other peoples maybe more than my own. I recently raided my fathers recycling bin. I hadn't seen him for 18 years so his old papers with the crossword filled in have a strange emotional value for me.