Colin of Alaska

I have conceived this character, Colin d’Alaska, as a new work. I saw that his blog could give me the opportunity to explore new ideas, new ways of looking at images, new ways of communicating some of the issues that preoccupy me in other areas of my work, new ways of expressing those ideas.

So, here I am, creating Colin’s life. Consequently, I am spending time inside Colin’s head. It is a strange place; OK to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

Colin d’Alaska is part art experiment, part social experiment. He is obviously fictitious, but I wonder how ‘real’ he and his family and friends can become? How will his character develop as his story progresses? Colin is already someone who doesn’t quite understand the world, who lives on the fringes of his own life. At this stage I have chosen to let him evolve naturally, rather than to predetermine a path, and an outcome.

Having said that, I have set a few broad parameters: I am using photographs, but none of these are staged or taken specifically for the blog. I have elected to use only existing family snapshots (or rather reject snapshots, occasionally cropped but otherwise unretouched), then create a brand new narrative to transform a mostly useless image into the basis for Colin’s story. This reinterpretation – or reinvention – of an image is core.

Secondly, I wanted to introduce the ambiguities and the shades of light and dark that I aim for in other areas of my practice. As a blog there is an element of entertainment, but there is also a serious side to reflect my other work. I am excited by the potential of this contrast. Finally, there should be substance, if not also sustenance.

I am enjoying ‘blog’ as a medium, with it’s own idiosyncracies: the reverse chronology, for example, may have limitations, but I am learning to exploit it to advantage.

There is another intriguing aspect – the idea of an artwork that people can return to, whenever they wish, to see a progression.

I want to see how word will spread – it has already started to happen. Will Colin have a large audience? Will he have dedicated followers? I will be considering ways in which this could be taken beyond the internet. I wonder about taking the blog to another audience.

By the way, Colin d’Alaska is French for Alaskan Pollack, or Coley (fish). We have some in the freezer.

I hope to have cause to talk about further developments here on Artists Talking as they happen. The final twist as that now I am talking openly and comfortably about a work in progress….

Colin’s blog is at http://colinofalaska.blogspot.com

Writing a blog has become a part of my practice in a completely unexpected way: it has become a work in itself.

I made my first ever tentative attempts at writing a blog here, on Artists Talking. I have a problem, though. Generally speaking I tend to prefer not talk about my work whilst it is in progress, in fact it is not unusual for me to hide work in progress even from my family. As a consequence I didn’t exactly embrace blogging.

I’m away from my studio at the moment. It is a regular thing, 3 or 4 months of the year, working in France. I find it a very productive time creatively, mainly because I don’t have the usual distractions: I have the opportunity to concentrate on ideas for my notebook, usually in the evening, and develop them once I get back to the studio. This year I have another way to realise some ideas.

Recently, having received a few invitations to join (but always putting it off) I finally joined Facebook. Once in (but still not entirely convinced) I became fascinated by the viral element of the network – it reminds me of the theory that everyone is connected to everyone else by friends, family, acquaintances. Next, for some time I have also been working with the idea of a work of art existing only on the internet. I had previously created several pieces of work using only the computer and small sections of internet images, and I was absorbed by the idea that these works had no physical existence until they were actually output. Lastly, I had been kicking around the vague notion of Colin d’Alaska for a year or more.

These ideas suddenly converged. Colin of Alaska was born, and he is writing a blog.