Re-Cycling

...It did.

Cyclogeography

I’ve formed the opinion that, along with some form of camera, a bicycle is one of the most useful tools for the psychogeographically inclined artist or urban explorer.  Purists of the tradition might point to the examples of Parisian Flaneurism or the Situationist Derives, claiming that such activity must be performed on two feet, and my younger self may once have have agreed.  Certainly, I used, habitually, to walk for dozens of miles at a time around various cities.  However, I seldom have much truck with purists and, as age and painful joints have more say in what I can do, my trusty old bike provides a great compromise between maintaining mobility whilst covering some distance, and remaining immersed in the city/landscape to the most immediate degree possible.  For me, the plus points include:

• The possibility of jumping on and going wherever one’s instincts lead at short notice, and of stopping almost anywhere that seems worthy of investigation.

• Negligible running costs and low environmental impact.

• Total immersion in one’s surroundings, with all the sensual/sensory advantages that implies. 

• The ability to cut through back lanes, cycle tracks, unofficial routes and hidden/forgotten territories and, (tyre width permitting); to leave the well-beaten track behind.

• The mechanical miracle of the freewheel combined with loads of gears, meaning one can still travel at walking pace with minimal effort/impact when the body insists on it.

• The child-like joy of jumping kerbs and swooping down any significant slope.

• The by-product of getting some exercise without really noticing. 

• Mine is purple.

I still have to pace myself and take care of my knees when cycling but, for the present and with the holidays approaching, two wheels definitely feel like the way to go.  I just need it to stop raining now…

For The Record

'Unhalfbricking' by Fairport Convention, Diogenic Attemps Ltd./Eric Hayes, 1969

I don't generally use Leicester’s city centre much for shopping or recreation these days but found myself doing so twice in the last couple of weeks.  It reminded me of the years when I worked in central locations and spent most lunch hours, and Saturdays, wandering around the centre in more prosperous times.  Surprisingly, amongst the empty units, I actually found two functioning record shops, which seems to completely buck two heavily reported current trends.  It seems HMV is still trading here whilst; even more uplifting, is the decision of our last remaining independent, Rock a Boom, to persevere in smaller premises but apparently buoyed by the current enthusiasm for 12” Vinyl.  It was cheering to hand money to real humans and enjoy a chat at the same time.

 'On The Shore' ByTrees,  Hipgnosis/Storm Thorgerson, 1970

I can’t afford expensive vinyl and have never shared the enthusiasm for surface noise, (even when I was young and it was an inescapable feature of the default format).  However, the current fashion does seem to put a greater focus on quality artwork again, which is something to be enjoyed.  There are some good recent examples around (see my recent reference to ‘Tomorrow’s Harvest’).  But here’s an excuse to visit two more favourites from my early years.

I was reminded of this kind of thing with a wave of self-indulgent nostalgia when Storm Thorgerson died a few weeks back.  Ironically, I didn’t hear these two actual albums till years later, (both great), but I’ve always loved their artwork and the way they seem to distill something of my pre-Punk youth.  Both display a peculiar English Romanticism that is redolent of the era and highly appropriate to the Folk-Rock idiom they represent.

While I’m at it, here’s a fond reminder of Lincoln’s long-defunct Sanctuary Records.  It’s the local record shop I grew up with as a teenager and, consequently, the best ever.

Sweet Decay

So often I find...

...the forces of chance and entropy create a beauty...

...far greater than anything we can bring about ourselves.

Vacant Lot

The city clears its throat and creates some breathing space.

Interiors become exterior as industry ceases.

Change of use from trade to vacancy.

Belgrave Gate Project 4: Paintings In Progress - 'Cave Wall'

Apologies to any easily offended readers:  A recent post included a bit of swearing and this one contains more than one ‘comedy penis’.  It’s not my intention to shock deliberately and I hope it’s all justified artistically.  I’d be lying though, if I didn’t admit to a little juvenile humour on occasions, - I’m only human.

Work In Progress:  'Cave Wall 1', Acrylics & Paper Collage On Panel,
60 cm X 60 cm, 2013

Following the completion of ‘Belgrave Gate: Yours 1’, I’m currently engaged in the development of my next piece(s) under the banner of the ‘Belgrave Gate Project’.  Having already made numerous research visits to Leicester’s arterial Belgrave Gate and surrounding area, on which the project focuses, I’ve amassed many more photographs than I actually have time to deal with. 

Burleys Flyover, Leicester, 2013

Burleys Flyover Leicester, Manipulated Photograph, 2013

Burleys Flyover Leicester, Manipulated Photograph, 2013

However forensic or oblique my investigations of the area may become, I’m, predictably, very drawn to the two flyovers that dominate it and the environment beneath them.  I’m certainly not claiming any originality for them as a subject but at this early stage it seems permissible to address the most obvious stuff on the understanding that more tangential subjects and themes will emerge as the project progresses; to get it out of the way, as it were.  Also, it would be foolish to ignore the particularity and inescapable resonance of such zones.  The key, (to the project overall), is to divine my own subjective response and allow an observed site to trigger whichever more obscure connections emerge.  Indeed, the potential of a particular place to supply a portal to parallel dimensions of imagination or temporal slippage is pretty much the whole point.

Burleys Flyover, Leicester, 2013

Burleys Flyover, Leicester, 2013

During my first visit [1.], to the Burleys flyover and the junction below, I had a somewhat revelatory experience that is providing the stimulus for my current pieces.  Crudely inscribed in the dirt high on the concrete surface of one of the supports I discovered a tangle of finger-drawn graffiti, (including names and a territorial postcode), augmented by the negative prints of hands and a bounced ball.  The textual content is of the most rudimentary kind, being no more than the usual territorial claims and personal idents.  The other obvious motif is a small phallic pictogram, - presumably intended to offend but actually rather amusing in its half-assed naivety, as such things often are.

Burleys Flyover, Leicester, 2013

The overlapping, intersecting planes of the paving, and the flyover’s verticals, carriageway and parapet already felt distinctly cavernous and I was immediately reminded of the prehistoric cave art that fascinates me so much and, in particular, the British Museum’s Ice Age Art exhibition [2.], and the accompanying BBC TV ‘Culture Show’ program [3.].  The need to mark one’s territory, to assert identity or tribal hierarchies, and to leave traces of habitual activity and survival strategies all seem to connect over the millennia.  Certainly, pictorial reference to hands and generative organs appear to be timeless themes, even if our own displacement of ancient gyneo-centric imagery by symbols of aggressive maleness reveals uncomfortable truths about the evolution of human society.

'Panel Of Hands', El Castllo Cave, Spain.  Photo: Pedro Suara (AAAS)

My fantasy is of a contemporary, wandering urban gang/tribe, pausing in a significant location, (as our ancient ancestors once did), and collaborating to leave significant marks in a difficult to access place before moving on, (I’m assuming that ‘Fletch’ of ‘LE5’ is the tribal chief and most sexually active ‘member’, with ‘James Mitchelson’ his second in command).  The sunlight reflecting onto the surrounding concrete surfaces creates a distinct atmosphere, (as smoky firelight may once have done in caves), whilst the unceasing traffic outside might parallel the teeming populations of prey and potentially dangerous animals that once outnumbered our own.

Work In Progress:  'Cave Wall 1', & Accompanying
Studies, 2013

Sketchbook Study For 'Cave Wall' Paintings,
Acrylics & Paper Collage On Panel

It’s still fairly early in my exploration of this idea but I’ve elected to go about things slightly differently this time.  Initially, I produced a small number of sketchbook studies in collage and paint applied over a photographic image of the scene.  The main emphasis of these images is, as usual, to create layers of meaning, with synthesized motifs extracted from the actual graffiti to float over the top.  However, instead of producing a single, significantly sized painting from the most successful of them, I’ve elected to produce two or three panels of modest proportions and to continue producing small paper-based studies in parallel.  I hope this will feel like I’m producing more within the time available, (allaying my hang-ups about speed of production), whilst exploring the ways in which I translate representational imagery from photography to paint.

Sketchbook Study For 'Cave Wall' Paintings,
Acrylics & Paper Collage On Panel

The first modest panel is well under way and I intend to start two more very soon.  Whether this will all culminate in a larger final statement is, as yet, uncertain but the encompassing environmental nature of the subject certainly suggests it.

Sketchbook Study For 'Cave Wall' Paintings,
Acrylics & Paper Collage On Panel

I'll end this post here so that I can go and get wood...




[1.]:  Something which, perhaps pretentiously, and in tribute to Situationism, I've decided to call 'Belgrave Gate Derive 1'.

[2.]:  'Ice Age Art: Arrival Of The Modern Mind', British Museum, London, 7 February - 26 May 2013

[3.]:  'The Culture Show - Ice Age Art - A Culture Show Special', BBC 2, First Broadcast: Saturday, 9 February 2013