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Returning home from a rain soaked running training session this evening, I caught the end of an interview on Radio 4’s Front Row with sculptor Richard Serra. Towards the end of the interview (28 minute offset) he made a fascinating aside about graffiti, specifically tagging, after being asked about a mark that the interviewer had seen on a recent installation:

If you notice, kids never tag advertisements because advertisements, they think, are something they aspire to, even though advertisements are probably what represses them and makes them conform more than anything else. Yet they’ll tag something they think has no useful function. And the interesting thing about art is that it’s purposely useless. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a use in terms of evoking feelings and sensations that nothing else can do, but it means it’s not useful in the utilitarian way that a doorknob is.

Thinking about it, I can’t think of any graffiti or tagging I’ve ever seen on adverts. But maybe other factors are at play – that adverts are replaced frequently, that they’re slightly out of the way, or maybe that I’m not paying attention. 

But I can’t shake the feeling that it hits a truth about the process. It struck me as a fascinating observation, and presents an interesting insight into the mindset of the perpetrators.

My friend shardcore offered to paint a picture for Frances and my recent wedding. Frances wasn’t so keen on the prospect, but I rather fancied seeing what would happen, so jumped at the chance at getting the shardcore treatment (How often do you get such an offer?). So without further ado here’s Richard and Marvin (2008). I’ll leave the explanation of what’s what with the picture to shardcore: he’s done a far better job than I could manage. But I’m honoured to be featured on what he describes as perhaps “the geekiest painting ever”.

The fun didn’t stop there though! After the post was submitted to boingboing.net, it then got picked up by no less than gizmodo, and the comments on both have been (mostly) enjoyable, and nice and geeky too. My server ‘dexter’ (which hosts both leyton.org and shardcore’s website) has managed to survive the ensuing load reasonably well too. It’s also getting it’s first public viewing at Brighton’s £5 app get together. I’d be there myself if I didn’t live at the other end of the country.

Anyway, hope you like the painting. I think he’s done a great job – Be sure to check out his other pieces too.

Update: The original was taken by Chameleon at a Scottish Bloggers get-together a while back.

Initially I was rather amused, but I settled on rather peeved. Glasgow’s Tramway didn’t let an exhibiting artist in to an exhibition on ‘Social Engagement’, because he couldn’t afford the £100 (!!) entry ticket. The Vacuum Cleaner, all credit to him, decided to sit outside and beg for the money, raising some interesting questions in the process about the theme of ‘Social Engagement’. Sadly he didn’t raise enough money (More here)

But more power to him, when they approached him again, he got 25 tickets in lieu of payment for his latest piece of work as part of Performing Rights Glasgow (more here). It’s a day (10th Feb 08) of performances, presentations, discussions, screenings and interventions around ideas of performance and human rights.

So he’s inviting people who want a ticket to e-mail him. Invites accepted from those who are on a low or no income, who’d not normally go and see modern art (or think it’s rubbish), and are willing to give it a go, but have been put off by the cost, or think that art has nothing to do with social and ecological change.

I’m minded to go along, and try find out more about this guy just on the basis of his endeavours so far. He’s doing a fabulous job, and asking some very good questions. I wish him every success, and very much hope his offer is taken up. Perhaps even to encourage the Tramway to do this itself in future, especially given it’s a council managed facility.

In other art news, my good friend shardcore is exhibiting this week, down in London. Be sure to check out his latest piece (Freud vs Reich).

Via The New Humanist, (itself via The Metro) I’ve just come across this brilliantly subversive seasonal painting, called “A Glasgow Nativity Scene”. The Metro dubs it “The Chavtivity”, but should probably more appropriately called a “Nedivity scene”, given Ned is the term used for, er, Chav up here.

A bottle of Buckie, a box of cigarettes and a satellite receiver of dubious origin are the gifts from the three, er, men. Modern day humble origins indeed.

Absolute genius.

Brighton based artist shardcore has an exhibition on at The Tin Drum, Kemptown, Brighton. I’m a bit of a fan, and have a print of Schopenhauer and Hegel on my office wall.

If you’re in the area, do pop along and have a look at the exhibition – preview here. You even get to eat tea and cakes whilst you’re there. How good is that!?

Well worth a look, and I do even have a hope I’ll be able to make it along at some point myself.

I was fortunate to be invited to The Citizens’ Theatre on Friday morning for a ‘behind the scenes’ look around. My company has recently signed up as a ‘cast’ level corporate supporter. As I think I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I endeavour to put some of my own company profits into ‘good causes’ of various sorts. Having enjoyed various plays at The Citizens’ theatre since moving up here, thought it would be a great recipient, not only for helping with their productions, but with their education and outreach programmes.

Frances came along too, and we were able to have a look around the empty main stage, had a detailed history of the various statues (including my favourite: The pink elephants) that feature in the foyer (They are hoping to raise donations through sponsorship/naming of them). Best of all was going backstage to look at where the props are stored, where the backdrops are painted, and even under the stage, where the ‘genie trap‘ and various mechanisms are situated.

Apparently The Citizens’ is the largest producer of props and stage items in Scotland, and also has many of the oldest original stage components. Many of the original mechanisms, frames and supports are from the original theatre, upgraded where safety concerns exist. The main part of the Theatre itself is one of the oldest parts of the Gorbals, which were extensively cleared of the old tenements.

As far as the few plays I’ve seen there, my personal preference are for the smaller, more intimate and immediate plays in the Studio or Stalls stages. Most recently we saw Tom Fool, which we thoroughly enjoyed. That said, the main stage of the Citizens’ isn’t a big affair so ensures everybody is closer to the stage (The theatre has a capcity of 600 or so, presuming they’re using the top level, which is really only for their very popular productions). It’s certainly a great venue.

All said it was a fascinating tour, not least for the history of the Citizens’, but also for the behind-the-scenes sneak peak at the work they do, and even some of the sets that were being worked on for up-coming shows. I’m also delighted to have learnt more about how the small piece of corporate support is not only helping support it’s excellent productions, but also the various social and regeneration programmes they are involved in: Giving opportunities for local people in difficult situations to constructively turn their lives around and build on their experiences. There is more to be found here, on their outreach and education programmes.

There’s much more ahead too, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing more productions, as well as I’m sure, hearing more about the good work the Theatre does.

Frances and I took a walk down to Glasgow’s Tramway, which is “one of the leading contemporary visual and performing arts venues in Europe“. It’s also only a 20 minute walk from our front door, which is nice.

It was a spur of the moment decision, after having seen a mention of an exhibition in the Guardian’s listings supplement for Kirsty Stansfield “Object Scores” exhibition whilst sipping coffee at Shawlands’ Beanscene. Adding to the reasoning was that there was also a combined exhibition from Scottish contemporary artists Katy Dove and Victoria Morton. All free too. Double-plus good.

The Tramway is an interesting venue. I’d not visited there before, and Frances hadn’t been in years. It’s certainly an excellent space for exhibiting art in all it’s forms. There have been some challenging plays on recently (Aalst is particularly infamous, dealing with infanticide), and a look through the forthcoming brochure certainly indicates that there’s more to come in that vein.

What interested me most was the marvelous ‘Hidden Garden’ at the back. It’s a Garden, that’s, well, Hidden. But as well as that stunning revelation, it’s a surprisingly calm and refreshing spot, nestled as it is between two railway lines, and close to major roads in to town. Bright. Clean. Green. Hidden. With a coffee shop. With nice pastries. We’ll be visiting there again.

The art itself was worth a visit, but not as compelling as I’d expected. I was a little disappointed by “Object Scores”, part of her study of how people relate to objects that make sound. The centre-piece didn’t work for me, not least that I was peering under the table and trying to work out how it worked (well, spot the geek!), but also that it wasn’t quite as responsive as I would have liked. Frances left unconvinced it was working at all. None the less, turning the visitors into a study in themselves is always interesting. Her work from a residency at a hospital in Glasgow certainly struck me as a more interesting angle.

The paintings of Morton and Dove were interposed, and it was a bit of a struggle working out which was which and belonged to whom. A floor plan, rather than picture names, didn’t really help matters. That the artists seemed to, er, title much of the art “Untitled” was a bit unfair. Or ironic, in an arty sort of way.

Morton’s work certainly was a bit more compelling and involving of the two, as the paintings seemed to unveil hidden depths the more you studied them. Dove’s images and sounds were curious, but I struggled to get anything much other than mildly curious with any of it, other than the larger projector pieces: Moving images and sounds. I even seem to have had my picture taking by another visitor when I was sat on a bench trying to be contemplative, and ignore Frances’ comment about “I hope we’re not sat on some art” – A not uncommon problem in contemporary art venues, I fear.

Contemporary art is always challenging, and the process of understanding the art and the artist can be a challenge in itself, especially to somebody such as myself who is not particularly artistic or replete with art knowledge. However, I did feel that the exhibition didn’t really contain enough variety. Whilst there may be original ideas there, the studies on display felt a touch repetitive.

I’m still waiting for another ‘Oak Tree’ moment. This relates to when I first saw perhaps my favourite piece of modern art: An Oak Tree, by Michael Craig-Martin. The journey from shocked (”But how’s that art!?“) to contemplative and, perhaps, understanding was one of those moments where the joy of viewing art, particularly non-representative art became apparent to me, a artistic n00b.

Still, to risk sounding a bit odd and not a little contemplative: art is a journey for artists and viewer alike. We need to expose ourselves to various works – good and bad – and see where it takes us. Much is in the eye and mind of the beholder.

Today’s visit to the Tramway certainly exposed me to some new, if not hugely arresting pieces, but more importantly (for me) introduced a new venue that’s within walking distance of our house. We’ll be back and perhaps I’ll endeavor to do a bit more research before heading along next time. And maybe even get there to hear the artists themselves.