Be open, be honest.

Trust my instincts.

Embrace the random (it’s all meaningless anyway).

To paraphrase, make the work like nobody is watching.

Make the work like I don’t give a fuck (because I really do give a fuck).

My role as an artist is to serve the work.

Drink the best beer I can afford, and don’t be afraid of the cheap stuff. A cheap, cold lager on a hot summer’s day really hits the spot.

Context, context, context.

Engage with the history of art. Or not. But at least make the decision a conscious one.

In fact, make sure all decisions are conscious ones.

Don’t be lazy.

Push the work.

Be wary of formula.

Good work has it’s own internal logic.

Fight the resistance – get off my arse, get in to the studio and get to work.

There are no shortcuts worth taking in painting – I have to put in the hours.

Amplify my idiosyncrasies.

Intent matters.

Be true (whatever that is).

Never paint drunk.

Believe in my work – if I don’t, no-one else will.

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Also…

Open your eyes and you will see it
It’s obvious, it’s love.

Do it now by Half Japanese

Work in progress
acrylic on canvas
508 × 609mm
2018

I’m working on six surfaces at the moment with the intention of discovering (through making) where this new body of work wants to go. I’m feeling my way, discovering / erasing / rebuilding forms.

For now I’m mostly keeping things to Paynes Grey (mixed with a regular semi-gloss medium) and Titanium white, though yellow has crept in on one of the surfaces. The lack of colour allows me to concentrate on the forms and brush strokes. That said, I’ve been having strong urges to add colour but for now, I’ll keep things simple.

I’ve been wanting to write more deeply, more essay like, for some time yet have been struggling to make the necessary time available. What follows is not researched, is full of opinion that may well change. It’s a “shitty first draft” and there are a couple of ideas in there. Here’s 395 words for you…

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The notion of thinness came up in a couple of conversations I had this week around some contemporary painting and art in NZ.

Like a meal from McDonalds or BurgerKing, the first taste is satisfying, salty, sweet and fills a gap. Lip smacking. Ten or twenty minutes later and you’re hungry again, feeling cheated and undernourished.

I was wondering if this thinness, in part, has something to do with the notion of second-hand modernism and seeing work in reproduction rather than in the flesh. (One of the things I miss from the UK is the relatively easy access I had to significant, historical works of art. To be able to go to the Tate or the National and just have a wander around.)

And to be clear, I’m not meaning the thinness of paint – works by Peter Doig, using the thinnest of paint – are not in themselves thin.

The notion of nourishment is a useful one. How much nourishment does the work give you, not just today but over time. How much looking is there? Does the work offer anything more after that initial contact and wow or is it spent?

And of course, the pertinent question for an artist, a painter, is how to overcome this thinness.

Some ideas:

• practice, practice, practice
• an awareness of art history and where their work sits in this history,
• having a clear intent in the making of the work and having this intent come through to the viewer,
• a visible confidence in the marks (again this is to do with intent and practice)

Also, I’m wondering if the wrong question is being asked. Contemporary art, hell society, seems to fetishise the new (and the young). I suspect trying to answer the question, “How do I create something new, something ground-breaking in painting?” is a mistake. It’s the wrong question.

A better question (or questions?) need to be asked, one rooted in the history of painting, taking in the post-object idea based art since Duchamp’s Fountain, in the actual physicality of making a painting and where you are (I am) as an artist.

My hunch is this better question (or perhaps the answer) lies in finding ways to make the work better, with leaning into the deep history of art, with emphasising my awkwardness and idiosyncrasy, and at times being uncomfortable with some of what I’m making.

This morning I’m enjoying the desire to paint but not being able to. I’ve a couple of canvases in their very early stages – see the one above – and before I develop them any further I want some other surfaces to hand. This allows me to leave a work early in it’s development, start on another and keeps me from becoming stuck or too precious. It’s good to keep things moving.

500 drawings (details)
charcoal on paper
approx a3 size sheets
c.1993

I recently heard students from Massey have seen and raved about my 24 Drawings at the Parkin. I’ve been asked to go and chat with them about how I use drawing in my practice, and what my thoughts were behind the work in the show. Here are my initial, very rough notes…

+++

Notes for a talk about 24 Drawings and how I use drawing in my practice - sfd.

Some context

Drawing as a foundational skill.

A means to express thought / ideas

Villa Arson, Nice – ink drawings on a4 paper 500 drawings

Grid format

• Eye jumps to make connections
• less is more, more is even more

Every few years - a drawing blat.
Pile of cheap paper, crayon / charcoal / brush and ink / pen
Could even be / has been a pad of post-it notes
Not precious.
A means of loosening up, of getting the need to draw out of my system.
They don’t have to be anything more than what they are.

Drawing as a means to quickly explore and develop ideas

Drawings / doodles in my notebook
*I don’t see “doodles” as being pejorative

Scale of mark relative to size of page

Also, drawing on the computer. Making works to a specific size. Digital drawing as planning and testing.

24 Drawings - my thoughts

The urge, after making so much hard edged work, to do something looser.

A surprise for people who only know my recent NZ practice.
(I’ve a history of mark making, unbeknownst to many who know my practice since I’ve been in NZ)

Blat
Not thinking / second guessing
Conscious / Unconscious
Material experience, visceral, Not thinking about a finished piece, making drawings to “scratch an itch”
Material feel / sensitivity (slip and resistance)

Accompanying statement – in part a petulant response to being asked to describe the work – you can see what the work is!

Keep churning it out - problems solved through making, worked out on the page (as opposed to thinking about making).

(Clarity of) Intent
Confidence in mark making

Images of..

• 500 drawings
• drawings / doodles in sketchbook
• older drawings in sketchbook around the time of 24 Drawings
• drawings made for Te Tuhi show
• other Illustrator drawings?

Change medium, change your thinking