Lightning Speed
Thursday saw a mizzly afternoon jaunt to Quarry Bank Mill with Yu-Chen Wang and Geoff Molyneux, as Yu-Chen is particularly interested in learning about the Industrial Revolution whilst she’s in Manchester and both Geoff and I are seeking possible starting points for our 3-way studio swaps.
Being reminded of the impact that industrial processes had on the production of cotton has inspired me to want to make a super quick piece of work during my 5 days at CAC. Because my pieces normally take months/years, this is particularly appealing. Although Yu-Chen, Geoff and I agreed that we don’t have to produce finished work during our swap, I quite like the idea of becoming my own high-speed production unit for a short time. This would be something of a Revolution (ho ho) as far as my normal practice is concerned.
Slow Burner
On Friday afternoon I met Iain Andrews for the first time. He had contacted me about the possibility of collaborating. Iain was an absolutely lovely bloke and although on the face of it our artwork seems totally different, we discovered that our working methodologies and conceptual interests have parallels that we could definitely use as a collaborative starting point. Furthermore, I’d certainly jump at the chance to think about colour properly again – and to do so alongside such a strong colourist would be a great opportunity. As we’re both mega busy at the minute, we agreed that this should be a no-pressure, no deadline kind of a collaboration, which is fine by me, as sometimes the ones that mature slowly work best of all.
Sign of the Times
Manchester’s Cornerhouse gets an increase in ACE funding, whereas Castlefield Gallery loses it all? Ridiculous.
