t'es ouf?

Interesting things to look at and do - tell your friends, tell your mum. [All images are click-through links / all written content by Alice Brace]

[gssb2010-2013]

BUY BUY BUY!!!

Miserable Poetry is now available to purchase from:

http://www.georgesydney.com/Miserable-Poetry

For the reasonable price of £3.50 have a publication of fabulous poems posted through you letter box anywhere in the UK/EU.

You know it makes sense!

[tesouf-blog]

Whilst, of course, there is a certain level to which we must question Kanye West's sanity, and call to attention his ego, is he not also a pioneer of self respect and anti-modesty?

I think he's putting out the most positive message that someone in his position of "power" can do: he's saying be yourself and be proud of yourself. There's absolutely nothing wrong with just doing what you want to do, not necessarily because you feel it's going to change the world or anything, but because you want to. You want to study law for 5 years then drop out and go sailing round the world? Do it, and pat yourself on the back for it because that takes a lot of guts. But why does that take a lot of guts? Because in society's eyes you've spent a large portion of your life dedicated to one thing and have ultimately changed your mind. Why are these constructs in place to make us scared to follow our dreams when, especially in the last decade or so, they are all so readily available? Kanye's making music and fashion and babies, and frankly an excellent point. We're part of a collective which only exists as a self-perpetuated concept. It's a long shot, but if everyone collectively decided to leave this society and become kind of outlaws, then there's nothing stopping people from saying, doing and feeling however they want to. Granted, there's inevitably those rare breeds who go too far, but would there be any concept of crime if there had never been any laws? We got to this point through smarts and survival, so who suddenly decided that certain things were unacceptable and to stick to the one-size-fits-all system? 

And more importantly, who decided it was arrogant or immodest to say you are good at something? I have friends who are models who talk about how good looking they are, musicians who talk about how well they're doing, and why not? It's literally their job to be good at that thing so where's the harm in saying it? Admittedly, calling oneself a genius is another of those modern cases of pejoration where the overuse of certain lexis has led to its eventual lacklustre, as it were, but if one believes it, truly, then is it not true? What mediates success? 

Maybe I'm reading more into the parts I subscribe to than the overall message is saying, but as far as I'm concerned, that's exactly what I want to do and so why shouldn't I?

[aliceswelly-blog]

ATTENTION LONDON FASHION STUDENTS!!!!!

Tribu Magazine just launched its first printed edition last month, with a full editorial spread dedicated to a selection Switzerland’s pre - and post- grad fashion students, and for the next edition we want to do the same for London. So if you are, or know anyone, who fits that pretty liberal demographic, and are interested in having your designs featured in a multi-national fashion/design startup magazine, then please send me a portfolio or some examples of work to [email protected]. 

The first edition is available to peruse online. 

Spread the word!! 

[tesouf-blog]

[images not click-through, link to source below]

In 1967, during the midsts of the Vietnam War, Charlie Haughey was drafted into the US Army. 63 days into his service, he was made an official photographer - "I found a page in the file that listed my civilian occupation. When I was drafted, I put down ‘shop worker’; but sitting there on the plane, I looked at it and thought ‘Hey, I have some photographic experience, and that might not be a bad thing in the Army.’ So I said to the guy next to me ‘Hey, got a pencil?’ I went through everything that said that I was a shop worker, erased it, and I wrote in ‘photographer.’ Then I closed it up, and carefully wrapped that string back around the file and slid the string under the tape" - shooting for American newspapers (namely Tropic Lightning News) under instruction from his Colonel: “You are not a combat photographer. This is a morale operation. If I see pictures of my guys in papers, doing their jobs with honor, then you can do what you like in Vietnam.” 

Over 2,000 images were shot in total between March 1968 and May 1969, and since then the negatives have stayed in Haughey's possession, undeveloped, for the last 45 years. It was not until recently that circumstances lead him to delve into them. Seeing the images for the first time in decades brought back a world of memories for the veteran, who suffered insomnia and is now in recovery from the emotional impact. 

The images, largely in black and white, show American soldiers on- and off-duty partaking in a variety of activities; from drinking beer and having a barbecue, to arguing with Vietnamese civilians, to interrogating hostages. The images stirred potent memories for the photographer, especially for on-duty shots, such as, "A rifleman peers through bamboo...", where Haughey recalls the machine gun beginning to fire and rounds clipping the bamboo next to the rifleman, who hit the ground to avoid being hit, just seconds after taking the picture. 

Expressions on both the faces of the civilians and the soldiers - for the most part - are distraught, weary and devastated. Though the venom of the entire war can be seen in the three men photographed in "Infantry tactical officers observe and direct a combat operation aboard a CNC ship - a command and control chopper"; from right to left a spread of indifference, animosity and guile. 

Though the Vietnam War has been over for nearly 40 years now, it still weighs heavily on the concious of the US government and the troops who served it, as well as the citizens of Vietnam. Regardless of the historical factor, the series of images collected by Haughey are a reminder to us, especially at times of such soci-economic crisis, of what it is to be human, and what happens when we forget that. 

A special 28-image show under the title "A Weather Walked In" opens in Portland, Oregon on 5th April, by Charlie Haughey himself (along with a team of volunteers), to display some of the most powerful of the collection. 

[tesouf-blog]

There is something haunting and poetic about that sentence alone. The entire mystery behind the Joyce Carol Vincent “incident” resonates with the same tones; a vastly popular and ambitious woman amongst art and academic circles alike, and yet her death went completely unnoticed for 3 years. Those who knew her and loved her - and many did - all “just thought she was off somewhere having a better life than they were”. 

This is one of my greatest fears yet somehow one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read. How can someone grow up in such a bustling society, in the dawn of a new age, being a stranger to almost no one, and die isolated, desolate and forgotten? In an age of technology and networking, the mystery of Joyce Vincent is a complete anomaly. A fantasy to some and a nightmare to others. 

[tesouf-blog]

The advertisements have been inescapable throughout the entire city for months now: the serene greens and sharp geometrics of Edward Hopper slowly working into your subconscious down every Metro subway and dark alley. Even without the extensive press coverage, it would be impossible to avoid. On a nigh-on daily basis there would be someone talking about it within earshot, more likely than not about how they want to go to, but the tickets are completely sold out until November, December, January. The development this week was that the show had been extended for the weekend, constantly, until Monday evening.  So there we were, at two in the morning, joining the queue outside of the Grand Palais. We'd previously discussed our game plan: if the queue was long but moving, we'd join it. If the queue was short and unmoving, we'd join it. If the queue was long and not moving, we'd go elsewhere. Naturally, it was the latter, but we liked our odds and joined all the same. If we're not at that white plaque over there within half an hour, we ought to leave, we agreed. Indeed, we were at the white plaque within the time frame, so we waited.  And we waited.  And at one point, a Brazilian lady in front of us invited us, and the Parisian beside us, to join in with a game she had brought with her. For the following hour we got to know one another between rounds of playing Doubles (an elaborate version of Snap), when we'd have to breathe on our hands to regain circulation. After over two hours of standing out in the freezing cold with nothing but sunny dispositions warming us, the end was in sight. Throughout the morning, there’d been sporadic cries of glee upon entry to the gallery, or more accurately, exit from the queue. Ours was a chant of chau-ffage, chau-ffage as we climbed the stairs up to the entrance – sadly it didn’t catch on. Once we’d seen to all the admin – buying a ticket, having a coffee – we were in. You’d have thought it was the opening night for the amount of people inside; as far as an art exhibition goes, it was packed to the rafters. A natural conveyer belt formed on the outer circle of each room, where people would walk as if roped together at a slow and steady pace, with just enough time to examine each work, read the plaque and form an opinion. The freer spirited of us drifted around the centre, wandering from canvas to canvas, peering in between shoulders to get a look. The execution of the exhibit was phenomenal. Before seeing each phase of Hopper’s oeuvre, we were given a comprehensive guide to the artists from whom he drew his inspirations. The portraits of Robert Henri and the landscapes and live scenes of John Sloan, amongst others,guided us through Hopper’s work processes. The collection held by the Grand Palais surpassed expectations, even with all the hearsay. It contained a shrine of his complete works, everything from early political illustrations to watercolours, to his later, most celebrated oil paintings.   What stood out the most to me through the first half of the show, were the etchings. From afar, they impressed through the level of detail of shading and the intensity of contrast. From up close they held a very unique textural quality. Each stroke of the mark was raised as though it were a fresh, unhealed tattoo, with the same level of permanence and precision. As I continued to wander through, I also noticed more and more the detail to which Hopper would paint shadows. His eye for light is remarkable. The best example of this is Sun in an Empty Room (1963).The mere fact that Hopper had taken the time to paint an image of, exactly as the title would suggest, sun in an empty room is proof in itself that he was a great lover of light composition. Every aspect of the painting was both aesthetically and mathematically breathtaking, from the subtle angle at which the light was flooding in through the window, to the harsh divisions created by the wall, the window and the light itself, right up to the depth of colours in the darkest parts of the shadow and the lightest of the light. Walking through the various gallery rooms, one saw not only the documentation of Hopper’s work, but of time. As the works developed, it was possible to see historically how each epoch had an effect on the artist. The colours changed, they became deeper and bolder, as well as the subject matters, which became increasingly modern, from countryscapes to gas stations. The most dramatic change of all though was of course the style. As time elapsed, Hopper became sharper and, as mentioned, more focused on the geometry of a painting. The compositions were photographic, with off-centred focal and vanishing points, yet possessed the ‘perfect thirds’ of classic painting. On the way back down to the Metro, which by this time had re-opened, the line to get in was just as long as when we’d joined it, four or so hours beforehand. One of the most beautiful things about the Edward Hopper exhibition, it has to be said, was not the art. It was the dedication. 

[tesouf-blog]

In amongst his other works, all of a similar calibre, Jim Flora has created this fine collection of album covers. As I passed on this link to my brother earlier I found myself describing him as “a jazzy Keith Haring”. You’re not meant to judge a book buy it’s cover but jazz is all about breaking the rules, and I want to listen to these albums based on Flora’s art alone.

[tesouf-blog]

Unlike the usual Google Earth screen shots of people with horse’s heads or celebrities walking into adult video stores, clementvilla.com brings us a wonderful assembly of Inception-style quirks of satellite and database alignment. Everything about each picture is ordinary, boring even, aside from the lapses in visual communication which results in these lo-fi glimpses at what the world might look like in 2-D. 

[tesouf-blog]

Photographer Sylvain Granjon first caught my eye when his work claimed a rightful poster position for ‘Photo-Off’, anexhibition in Paris’ up-and-coming le Bellevilloise last winter. Since that blustery evening, showcasing some of the most prominent young photographers from all corners of the world, Granjon has rapidly been making his name as one of France’s new wave of tech-savvy artists. His works span a variety of genres - from the candid shots of ‘1000 Pieds Sous Terre’, to the beautifully modelled ‘Duce Amére’ and even the comic book-style ‘Mister Zuper’  - but the key theme and concept rarely strays from Identity. Perhaps that is what draws the eye to the artist’s extensive œuvre: the accessibility of the works. Identity is as important to the artist as it is to the spectator, and the art itself, thus all three are intimately connected through a variety of mediums, both personal and universal.

By far the most striking of Granjon’s collections is ‘Duce Amére’. The concept behind this series is “an adult on a desperate quest of the mythical image of childhood”, which is expressed honestly as the photographer captures the essence of his 5-year-old daughter’s youth, yet somehow entwines a haunting sense of growing old and losing innocence.

The images are simple, black and white portraits, each incorporating a prop of some kind, as well as very subtle photo-manipulation, giving a depth of character to the entire series. With each reflection on the collection comes a new layer of meaning. In an interview released along with the premier of the ‘Duce Amére’ exhibition, Granjon explains his intended interpretation of the piece, “it’s not me who’s looking at the photograph; it is she who is looking at me”. Whilst this is the key concept behind the work, the simplicity with which the photographer has realised ‘Duce Amére’ is what makes it so powerful and able to surface strong emotions of sentimentality. It is a collection which really does not wear its heart on its sleeve as the meanings become more profound and apparent the harder you study it. On first inspection it can look like harmless, playful photography, but the closer you get, the deeper the intensity of the child’s gaze, and the more alert you become to the significance of the props, be they enlarged facial features, dolls or ripped photographs. 

Granjon’s direction and his daughter’s modelling collaborate elegantly and are able to evoke ideas of searching for a lost childhood without being obvious or controversial. This combined with the signature soft-focus, vintage quality of the post-production creates just the right balance between elegance and eeriness, sadness and playfulness.

[tesouf-blog]

If you, like me, used to live under the illusion that the world was black and white before about 1940 then you too will be fascinated by these images - all taken between 1909 and 1912 in Russia. It's a slightly surreal peak into what the world really looked like back in't day, including some slight glitches, resulting in frankly trippy results. 

These images are the result of a rather genius method of filtering and layering, which was unable to be developed until the invention of the digital camera. 

It's well worth a look. 

[tesouf-blog]

Whilst Garrett works with many different mediums I find this one the most interesting. Somehow turning porn into art without simply adjusting it to black and white is quite an achievement. Follow through the link to his website, which is currently displaying four main projects, largely influenced - according to my very brief research - by the occult and ideas steaming from witchcraft and general ne'er-do-well-ing. 

[tesouf-blog]

"What there needs to be is love and compassion for everybody involved. I think if people are committing criminal behaviour then it needs to be dealt with legally but you need to offer them treatment, not some airy-fairy let's-all-hold-hands-and-hug liberalism, but because it deals with the problem and it prevents further crimes being committed. Addicts that get clean, one day at a time, through abstinence-based recovery generally speaking stop committing crimes. That's better for the victims, that's better for the addicts, that's better for society."

This is the full-length version of Russell Brand and Chip Somers' committee on addiction, which was held yesterday (24/04/2012). They raise some interesting points on how they'd deal with the judicial system where drugs are involved, specifically on how the "criminal" should be dealt with for the most gain in the long-term. Of course the entire committee is compiled of well groomed, Guardian types, but despite all the counterpoints thrown at them both Brand and Somers come across calm and articulate. 

I cannot tell whether Brand did this purposefully or under duress but he repeated all of his key points several times, including key words: love, compassion, abstinence-based recovery and authenticity. I found this especially interesting to watch as Brand is well known for glamorising and then damning drugs in the public eye, as a hugely popular - or at least active - public figure. This is something that the committee actually touches on several times (the first instance being about 10 minutes in). 

"Time is infinite"

[tesouf-blog]

Playful and observational photographer, Crawford, gets back to basics in terms of composition as well as editing, using minimal and subtle effects, if any. Though he may be taking a good, old-fashioned approach to his subjects, tools include an iPhone and a variety of Dianas (Lomography). Shot mainly in black and white, Crawford captures the beauty of photography.

[tesouf-blog]

I found myself searching for anything tagged with "Johnny Bravo" for a frankly embarrassing amount of time, when I found this picture. It made me chuckle so I followed the click-through and to my delight discovered Henry (who claims to be the worst, which is debatable).

His works consist mainly of 90s pop-culture references and self-portraits in this eclectic style; imagine, if you will, if Egon Schiele bought a graphics tablet. I imagine it'd look something like Henry The Worst's stuff. 

[tesouf-blog]

TIME! HAVE YOU GOT INSUBORDINATE AMOUNTS OF IT? DO YOU, LIKE SO MANY OTHERS, FEEL LIKE YOU'RE DROWNING IN TIME?? FEAR NOT! The kind people of The Internet have devised this genius little token, a virtual pair of armbands if you will, which will allow you to float fearlessly on a a sea of time.

It's a simple concept: just keep Kanye out of his zone! No catches! No glitches*! No hassle! Just hours and hours of unabashed glee as you rake in the points and defend the zone with all your might. 

*Side effects may include: sleep deprivation, RSI, poor eyesight, chronic Kanye addiction and sporadic urges to listen to the entire discography of Kanye West for up to 7 weeks after going cold turkey. 

[tesouf-blog]

From the moment I read the words "I am pretty sure that over 50% of my followers are stoners." I knew I liked her. Since that fateful day in 2010, The Future Cat, who has remained shockingly elusive on her personal details, has been my favourite illustrator of this style. A lot of (what I imagine is) her personality comes out through her pictures; from repeated patterns to pop culture figures, the specific subject choices and compositions exert wit and charm that hasn't been seen since Mr Darcy became all reclusive and married.

There is also the occasional bit of photography in The Future Cat's archives, which is equally as quirky as the illustration. Obviously I have no idea what the future holds for The Future Cat, but I can only hope she doesn't lose interest in art.

Look at me now, I'm gushing.

[tesouf-blog]

Surrealist conceptual artist, Nancy Fouts, plays on idioms and associations found in day-to-day life. Her ideas are simple, yet no one had thought to (or gotten 'round to) doing them before, thus creating that familliar sense of aah of course! with most pieces. All are finished to an impeccably high standard, both in terms of their actual realisation and the images available online. It turns out that I saw a lot of Fouts' work back in January at the London Arts Fair - I liked them then and I like 'em now.