I have started to accumulate the props for ‘007 v John Ridley’ which is soon, the 25th to the 29th of October (pv on the 26th) I really enjoy this bit as it involves going around those house clearance and office furniture places. They just seem to function separately from the rest of London, sprouting up like mushrooms on high streets and side roads from tooting to Walworth. The DIY, ‘make do and mend’ mentality was a big part of my fathers personality and as a kid I was always in and out of dusty second hand shops. Having a solid prop around which I can weave a performance is almost the final piece of the jigsaw. Short of having the actual wooden swivel and reclining chair that we had at home for years in Dads ‘office’ I have found the perfect substitute. There is quite a theme of absence in our relationship, perhaps this is apt.
I went to the Charles Matton show at All Visual Arts, and I was left with a particular envy of the space that some of the artists whose studios Matton reproduced in miniature, had at their disposal. One especially that had a motorbike being dismantled on a table, high ceilings and lots of empty floor space. I thought about how much stuff I seem to accumulate and how it interferes both mentally and physically with making new work. As Kate Murdoch has commented on the projects unedited blog “Project Me 145“: new starts are essential to keeping us from getting moribund and repetitive in our practice. College situations are full of challenges to our creative paths and I think it is healthy to try and continue this process once we are in the ‘real’ world of art. So lets hear it for shifts and new starts. Now I have to get rid of things EEK! In the end it will make new projects easier to start and build.
When I start a new project, it is certain that I will encounter new problems that I could never have envisaged. ‘007 v John Ridley’ concentrating on and examination of my father and his dedication to his business career have led me into very personal territory.
As Richard Taylor has commented there are modes of operation that produce fictional narrative from personal history and that is an area I have not examined so far. This also applies to tautology, the unnecessary repetition of an idea, or simply a doubling up, honest truth, I am unanimous in that or widow woman, these are mostly constructs of speech, something I enjoy using in performance. I don’t feel that I want to stray too far from the unvarnished truth, or the truth as far as I can conceive it from such close quarters. From where I write this (France) the performance feels more distant and less personal, but ideas about the soundtrack of the video have condensed further towards a clearer goal, that of combining movement and stillness. Maybe tautology will figure in the texts I use during the performance. Critical and physical distance are useful aides to creativity.
After the movement and sounds of Carnival this bank holiday, it is very calm and still at my studio this morning. As I questioned in my last blog, is movement fundamental to my work? Well the people that ‘matter’ have singled out a still from a video of 007 using a hula hoop as being their fave for a publicity shot, so I should take that as confirmation of the importance of movement. Advice from my established artist friend and the comment by Richard Taylor have only strengthened my nerve as to the dichotomy (a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different) between stillness and movement. In this case the action and glamour of the fictional 007 versus the rather staid desk bound office existence that my father actually experienced. The exploration of the preconceptions we have of close family members is new to me, my subjects have been up to now mostly at least once removed from my personal life. But here one person is a relative and the other a far off fictional character. I will have to not fall into the trap of concentrating too much on the glamour of Bond and leave room for the mundane day to day of 60s office culture, with all its lack of movement. The purchase of an ‘Empire aristocrat’ typewriter has helped to bridge the gap between the office and the spy world, as it looks like a piece of espionage equipment when in its case.
I have used the energy of the first meeting at the Oval House to get some things on paper, video and to make some images. The fun of trying to find the exact kind of cigarette case and lighter that Sean Connery uses in Dr No has been interesting and diverting. Now sketches have been made and a video shot, props amassed and photos taken. Then I had a great talk to a an established artist I know and she has opened up a whole new line of thought for me. Movement, is it what motivates me? New analysis of what inspires us make art is healthy but also scary. Now I have to re evaluate what I have made, take a deep breath and send it off in the hope it will be received OK by the people who matter.
