shadow drawing

Screen capture from 'A Natural History 1', 2011

I am now working on a video about experience and feeling of a place and identity in flux. As complex as that sounds I am actually seeking a very simple, rough or handmade feel. Being in Japan, I am always thinking on a daily basis about language and communication and what goes wrong when those two things become impossible or extremely difficult. What happens to the sense of self when these two given parts of life disappear. I am also thinking about what languages I can express myself in and what parts of me those languages reveal.

The work is the first video in the 'A Natural History' series and seeks to find the 'primitive' in the element of drawing. I am also returning to focus on more complicated sound design and more simple imagery as I last achieved in Baby Ophelias of 2006. Hoping for it to find its completion in time to submit to Animated Encounters Festival.

Porthole goes to Washington

One or two of my videos from The Sea series will be in the show 'Wresting with the Images: Caribbean Interventions' at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington D.C. The show opens on January 21st and goes until March 10th'. Again another show I couldn't make it to because of other trips I have planned soon and short notice. However, I kinda like being the phantom artist. Although as far as contemporary art scenes go, the more you are out there the better. Anyway so if you have a chance please go and see it as there are tons of exciting Caribbean artists exhibiting also.

About the show on Facebook

press release:

'Wrestling with the Image: Caribbean Interventions forms part of the About Change emerging artists’ program, an initiative of the World Bank in partnership with the Inter‐American Development Bank, the OAS, and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat. About Change is a series of juried exhibitions of contemporary art from Latin America and the Caribbean that will take place throughout 2011 and 2012 at different venues in Washington, D.C., including the World Bank, the Art Museum of the Americas, and the galleries of the Inter‐American Development Bank. It has been organized by the World Bank Art Program under the auspices of the World Bank Vice Presidency for Latin America and the Caribbean Region.'

Arts Bar@Rissei

Had a chance to exhibit again in Kyoto with the annual University Arts Exhibition. The space is an old, abandoned primary school with textbooks and chalkboards etc. all still in tact. Its a really large, nice old building with a whole lot of history on the walls. Each classroom was given to one university to exhibit in. My work was set-up in the corridor space and used a few bits of the furniture left around the building. The exhibition ran from November 19-28th.

DRIFT 2 begins

'in a way a puppet is a very rough kind of actor...'

- some famous artist

An interesting choice

I didn't have a chance to attend the show in Martinique but I got some photos of it taken by participating artist, Christopher Cozier. I saw that the prints and the videos I submitted were displayed in the same space and thought it was an interesting way to display the work. It never occurred to me before to put the prints in the same darkened space as the video but now I see the outcome, I can't think why not. In my mind prints or 2D wall mounted work particularly paper work was to be displayed in a white cube...but why? Why is this the only space. Perhaps this is where the work leaves off being a single piece and becomes an experience. I particularly like the weird illumination coming of the plasticky surface of the laminated prints.