PETE'S PIPE PICKLE...PETER DOHERTY, ARTIST, COB GALLERY LONDON

I know...I couldn't believe it either, is there no end to this bohemian oaf's talent? A difficult one to defend I won't deny but I maintain my respect for Doherty's determination to live life entirely on his own terms - two fingers to the red tops and dreary suburbanite haters, (styled by Primark, engaged to university sweetheart, holidays in Mallorca) lurking around office water coolers across this green and pleasant land accusing him of leading the kids astray with his blatantly drug-addled buffoonery or worse - obvious lack of talent. Lets face it, the guy is hilarious with his antics and if he was good enough for Cocaine Kate then hes good enough for me. Its called rock'n'roll people!! Nobody gave a shit when Keef spent half the '70s on the nod.

Peter, being a Rimbaud-reading boho now lives in Paris where his brand of louche decadence is perfectly acceptable, positively encouraged in some arrondissements. Everything about Peter from his nonchalant sartorial elegance to his pretty-boy-lost-in-a-dream-world-of-fey-literary-heroes-adrift-in-Arcadia countenance seems to fit like a glove with the je ne sais quoi, that indefinable charm of the City of Light. His reported recent friendship with a certain Madame Sarkozy seems the perfect Parisian fusion of his charisma and her inherent rebellion. Underneath the artifice...they are two sides to the same coin, the post modern Birkin and Gainsbourg.

LL Cool P....Parisienne mademoiselles know the score...

So Mr. Doherty has now evolved his notorious blood fetish into a new career as an emerging visual artist - his idiosyncratic canvases recently exhibited at the Cob Gallery in London's Camden Town. A few of Doherty's mono and neutral toned multimedia pieces were mildly interesting (below)...combining elements of collage, his own putrid blood, tabloid newspaper imagery plus the detritus of a chaotic life with his largely illegible 'word vomit' pencil scribblings.

Far more striking were the installations in the gallery's basement. Featuring all manner of symbolic, Dohertyesque objects (Babycham anyone?), the subterranean opium eater's cave was draped with threadbare flags, sweat-stained backstage passes, ancient typewriters, vintage guitars and beautiful antique crucifixes. The only things missing were burnt foils, dirty spoons and a crack pipe stained with Amy Winehouse's lipstick. Vinyl punk albums littered the floor and a decrepit Beatles poster from the (sadly) now defunct News Of The World gave the installation a real sense of authenticity, as though you were poking through this genuine music fan's own personal wreckage of the Albion Rooms circa 2001. Which I probably was. I love Doherty's celebration of his Englishness and pride in the ancient motifs of a once great country now consigned to the imagination of poets and dreamers. As a songwriter, Doherty's talent lies in evoking this lyrical imagery of a lost utopia. As a visual artist he offers up the tangible, literal interpretation.

MATTHEW ROSE'S PARISIAN BOHEMIA

One of my artistic inspirations of 2010 was collage artist Matthew Rose, after seeing his October solo show at the Orange Dot gallery in Bloomsbury. Back in April of this year, Matthew was lovely enough to allow me to visit his studio in the faded bohemian district of Montparnasse on Paris' rive gauche. Ascending the grand staircase in Matthew's modernist apartment building, I was greeted by the amiable American artist and shown around his top floor studio/apartment - its warm, timber interiors punctuated by the endless stacks of cuttings, materials and messy paraphernalia characteristic of the collage artist.    

It was a real honour to finally meet Matthew in the flesh and have an opportunity to discuss his work, much of which had been featured on his various online presences including his sales blog here. Some of my favourite pieces included the the witty, tactile text-based works pictured below, each one featuring a clever satirical spin on a well known song lyric or little known artistic movement alike.  

Matthew utilises a range of imagery in his work, recontextualising innocent looking, vintage-inspired aesthetics (in predominantly pastel hues) to create nonsensical, amusing and often disembodied comic book style collages. His pieces evokes an almost feminine, retro Americana...a feeling of a more innocent time of soda pop, diners and juke box jiving. Combine this with the inevitable European influence years of Parisian residency has injected into his work and you have the makings of a very interesting body of work.   



This great poster below advertises Matthew's imminent Paris exhibition featuring his latest work and is available to download free from his blog here.

ART OR ARSE?

...Answers on a postcard please...bit of a random post showing some of the posties I either sold at my show a few months back...all pics of which disappeared down the back alleys of Hammersmith when I lost my camera...or gave away to thankless London media wankers (not naming any names, Yentob) in futile networking attempts at White Cube openings...sigh...c'est la vie!!

Poorer Than You (c) 2011

Smell Me Finger (c) 2011

Women In Love (c) 2011

The Idiot (c) 2011

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

I was lucky enough to make the acquaintance of Paris-based American artist Matthew Rose after visiting his Scared But Fresh exhibition at Bloomsbury's Orange Dot Gallery in October 2010. Matthew specialises in beautiful, retro inspired collage-based works, which can be viewed and purchased on his website here.

Mr Rose additionally conceived the idea for A Book About Death - an exhibition of postcard art from all corners of the world, first shown in New York City in 2009. Inspired by the 1950s/60s mail art of Ray Johnson and the New York Correspondence School (read more here), this year's show features international postcard works based on the theme of DEATH. The concept culminates in an exhibition at the Willo North Gallery, in Phoenix, Arizona in 3rd to 28th May. The show is being organised by artist Patricia Sahertian, whose blog about the show (here) features a catalogue of the pieces submitted so far.

My entry into the show is this collage below and further details about the work can be found here.

Death (c) 2011

I DON'T LIKE MONDAYS...ANYMORE THAN I LIKE BOB, PEACHES OR PIXIE GELDOF

Just beginning the long, cold descent into another dark night of the soul...followed by another long wintery week of work. Fiddlesticks, harrumph and yawn.

I've been entertaining myself today by busting out a few collages, even though I should have been working on that albatross of a job application. The fact is when 'the muse' speaks one is as powerless to resist as the ancient Greeks were to the sirens' song, try as I might to tie myself to the bed and drip melted wax into my ears...

Below are the fruits of my labour, with thanks to my favourite store, St Vincent De Paul, Katoomba branch. That hour I spent over Christmas feverishly leafing through vintage wildlife & train periodicals and the $3 I eventually spent turning out to be a wise investment indeed. Yawn.

MORE REFLECTIONS...

Just wanted to post some more reflections up...though as I'm not feeling reflective in the slightest I'll keep the Piccadilly palare to a minimum. A few more shots of London's pretty mise-en-scene...around the streets (paved with gold) of Soho and Chelsea. Easy meat and a reasonably good buy...

THE 2011 INTERNATIONAL POSTCARD SHOW, NOTTINGHAM

I chuffed up through the bleak east-midlands darkness on the dreaded 6.15am train yesterday (the only one the RST exchequer can afford these days!) to see the 2011 International Postcard Show at Nottingham's beautiful Surface Gallery (below).

Including the work of over 100 international artists, the exhibition's brief was entirely unrestricted apart from the simple requirement that each piece be limited to the standard 4 x 6 cm postcard size. Your humble correspondent, I admit, had a vested interest in seeing the show, with six of my own works exhibited (below). Leaving the biting criticism of my own output to the likes of my nemesis Alan Yentob, I will mention that a website is currently under construction - featuring the full range of RST works - which will be available to view and purchase imminently. Details to follow soon. 



Beyond All Pity (c) 2010



Presents From Brighton (c) 2010



The Psycho And Sex (c) 2010



Vote Conservative (c) 2010



A Bad Review (c) 2010



Picasso (c) 2010

Other interesting work included Youngjoo Yoo's minimalist series of 'figurative numbers' 1 to 6 (below).  Each piece charmingly simple in its approach - the utilisation of flat matt black paint on a cardboard brown surface - Yoo's work was reminiscent of early 20th c modernists such as cubist Georges Braque and eminent British sculptor Barbara Hepworth.   

Another impressive piece I really loved was Ioana Coman's 'Who Am I?' (below). These three tiny words accompanied by the mixed media image of a woman's crossed legs hoisting up (or down?) a delicate lace thong seemed so universal in its comment on the modern young western woman's psychology, sexuality and general insecurities. Always interested in art that speaks of the female experience, I found this piece amusing, poignant and pretty in equal measure.

Work featured in the Surface Gallery's International Postcard Show is available to purchase and will be exhibited until 29th January, 2011. Find out more at the gallery's website here.