Occam's Paintbrush

oh no….

gazzmatazz — Sun, 09 May 2010 21:55:18 +0000

I still hold out a tiny glimmer of hope, but it looks increasingly likely that David Cameron will complete his terrible rise to power and become our next Prime Minister in the very near future.

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes

gazzmatazz — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:14:21 +0000

I watched this amazing documentary by Jon Ronson last night. I’m a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick and this film gives you such an insight into his working practice. I’ve always been attracted to that slight level of obsessive research that borders on madness that surrounded him. Creatively, it’s so easy to get sucked into another world.

I received really positive feedback for my studio work this year, although my tutor did mention that producing more research, no matter how small or insignificant, will always help with my practice. I’m tempted now to go a bit ‘Kubrick’, just without the megalomaniacal reclusive genius parts :p

New Art Riot

gazzmatazz — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:55:18 +0000

My next body of work is going to be an orgy of nihilistic fury, with elements of life affirming tragedy and hope.

While I’m all for hyperbolic soundbites, here’s the serious thinking about what I want to try to tackle:

Semester 2 Brief (Towards self-directed study)

For the forth coming semester I plan on focusing my practice on the impacts that mental illness and depression have on us. From personal experience, it’s something which has played a major part in my adult life and is also something which has deeply affected a majority of my friends. I want to explore the difference in the image and persona we have of ourselves verses that with which other people see, through the medium of oil painting, more specifically portraiture.

For such a personal and honest subject, I want to be honest with myself and include as many influences as possible, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem, from Art, Literature, Cinema and Music, with song lyrics being especially important.

In terms of purely artistic influence, I want to capture the awe, beauty and presence found in the portraits of the Old Masters, Rembrandt especially, merged with the brutally honest subject matter of more modern painters like Jenny Saville, Peter Howson and Ken Currie.

Although depression can be crippling, I want to show the light and shade by combining hope and despair, the old and the new and the internal with the external.

I’m both nervous and excited about this next series of paintings. Approaching it like I’m amour plated I think is the only way to produce thoughtful and honest work. Even other aspects like explaing my work in the group crits will provide a healthy challenge.

Oh, here’s some of the research I’m doing the starting point of this project, a portrait of my friend Vix. Light weekend reading……

Method behind the madness

gazzmatazz — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:59:38 +0000

The main goal I’ve set myself this term is producing more work in my sketchbook. In the past I’ve been guilty of just taking an idea and producing a ‘final’ piece, which more often than not ends up being slightly underwhelming. Without trying things out, experimenting and producing different drafts, it’s no big surprise. So I thought I’d post some pictures from my sketchbook produced over the last 2 weeks and finally the finished drawing that’s been made for a mail art project I’m working on with my friend Rhian.

More life painting

gazzmatazz — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:39:04 +0000

Painting progress

gazzmatazz — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:52:48 +0000

Countdown to Halloween part 1

gazzmatazz — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:17:32 +0000

Over the next few weeks in the run up to Halloween I’d like to share some good old fashioned ghost stories with you all. First up, we have one of my all time favourites, Whistle and I’ll come to you, by the master himself, M.R. James. This television adaptation from 1968 is a master class in understated dread, playing on those base fears that we all have. The dream sequence really is something else, and by the finale you’ll never look at your bed sheets in the same way again. Subtle and genuinely unsettling, they don’t make them like this anymore. Enjoy.

I have a problem

gazzmatazz — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:06:58 +0000

I’ve returned from blockbuster, having gone with the intent of getting some icecream. I sit here with pre-owned copies of Gone Baby Gone and The Godfather.

And no icecream.

Life, the universe and everything

gazzmatazz — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 21:05:32 +0000

I’m going to be using the next few entries to flesh out some of the ideas I’ve come across in researching my Summer project for Art School. Before that though, here are two videos which sum up the themes I’m going to tackle. (The second clip is especially important for all my fellow Eels fans out there as E’s dad was a pretty big deal in the world of physics:p)

The Pale Blue Dot

gazzmatazz — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:04:29 +0000

I like how I’ve unconsciously managed to get to the heart of how I’ve been feeling recently even when dealing with a subject a million miles away from anything that could be seen as too personal. I’m really happy with it though.