Absinthe Of The LoveGods
September 29, 2005
 Hurrah! The LoveGods new album "Audience Of One" is out on October 4th, available from their website, gigs and selected stores.
LoveGods art work by Serena Sussex
Great bit on Absinthe in the current Tate Etc leading up to the DEGAS, SICKERT AND TOULOUSE-LAUTREC exhibit starting next week.
In 1997 John Moore, of the Jesus and Mary Chain, wrote about it in The Idler magazine, after an experience following a gig in Prague. The magazine’s editors subsequently set up a company to import it. My last experience of it involved a blazing row and me throwing my mobile at the wall in a bar! Use wisely kids!!!
The Musée de l’Absinthe is at 44 rue Calle, 95430 Auvers-sur-Oise, France. [MAP] Where you can see Toulouse-Lautrec’s absinthe spoon amongst other things!
All new posts are publishing three times for some reason - Apologies if it's freaking anybody's feeds out!
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Chihuly After Dark
September 28, 2005
 Nights of Glass: Chihuly at Kew
Kew Gardens
22-26 October
As part of the Chihuly exhibition at Kew There will be six special evening events... Visitors will be able stroll around the Gardens exploring the glasshouses lit up, accompanied by glass blowing demonstrations, fire-eaters and jugglers. Actually, I hate jugglers!
Well worth a visit and as it's not likely to be that warm strolling around in the daytime now you may as well make the most of it at night, so to speak!
I'm going to have to change the commenting system here soon as Blogback are giving up so I may lose all the old comments unless I can work out how to import them into Blogger.
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Frieze Araki
September 27, 2005
 Araki: Self • Life • Death
6 Oct 2005 – 22 Jan 2006
Barbican Art Gallery
£8/£6
Nobuyoshi Araki is arguably Japan’s greatest living photographer and certainly most controversial. He will be sigining copies of his book Nobuyoshi: Self, Life, Death, published by Phaidon Press on Thursday 6 October at 11.30am at the
Barbican Art Gallery bookshop,
Barbican Centre,
Silk Street,
London, EC2Y 8DS.
The Frieze Art Fair takes place every October in Regent's Park, London. It features over 150 contemporary art galleries. As well as specially commissioned artists' projects and an ambitious talks programme. The third edition of the fair takes place between 21-24 October, 2005.
I'll be there on the 24th.
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Northumberland
September 26, 2005
 Hey! Maybe summer isn't over just yet... Spent three sunny days in Northumberland last week [well it was cloudy on occasions but it didn't rain!].
Stayed in Alnmouth, after seeing a few Sunday supplement's writing about it. Visiting Alnwick, Warkworth, Amble and the Holy Island. Stayed at the Hope And Anchor in Northumberland Street. Took a few pictures had a few walks... Especially the 6 miles to Holy Island. No buses on a Thursday. But it was worth it.
Alnwick is a nice town, with the Harry Potter castle and the enormous Barter Books. As well as Alnwick Garden with their fantastic water features.
You can see the whole set at flickr
 
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Is Summer Over Now Then?
September 16, 2005
 The sky was weird last night - Strange sunset on these gathering clouds - and it was dark 30 minutes later.
Paragraph. What a great concept - Kind of like the library but less books and more comfort I suppose - Like the name/graphics. Is there an equivalent in London?
Lot's of activity over at flickr with my Candice Breitz image - Have now got 13 out of 30 names of the participants - Mostly through Reinvented Paul and Sara B. Still 17 to go - The one's they have added do not have flickr account so are kind of cheating on my part...
Must go here Hotel Puerta America in Madrid - Check the coverage here and here and the video of Jason Bruges Studio Memory Wall, which picks up the colours of your clothes and your movements and projects a distorted image on a pannel of light dots. In the corridors, the "Flock Wallpaper", made of fibre optic and flexible polymers, creates light patterns that travel along the walls and shadow guests to their room.
See also Project Litmus and while you're about it Acoustic snooping All via We make Money Not Art.
I'm really enjoying My Computer's No CV album for completely different reasons than I had anticipated - There's an element of Prog Rock in there, as there is with the Clor album - But My Computer are fresher somehow with something less pompous/grandiose about them. I was expecting something far more electro based though. Not guitars!
Currently have them both playing randomly with Superthriller, Bronze Age Fox, the new Kanye West, Princess Superstar's My Machine and St Etienne's Tales From Turnpike House album.
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Exterminate!
September 14, 2005
 Firebox.com have these 12" high, radio controlled Daleks - Well they will have come October 14th, when new stocks arrive. They cost £39.95 each, but they only come in one colour, so you only need one!
This RC Dalek features 360 degree rotational movement, automated dome and eyestalk movement, flashing lights, an illuminated eye, plus posable gun and arm. It's also loaded up with seven sound samples, including speech and weapon blasting FX.
Click on the Dalek to check out Firebox.com
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NewcastleGateshead Naughtiness
September 13, 2005
 There was an interesting article in last Saturdays The Independent on Art in NewcastleGateshead. So I thought I'd leave myself some links, that caught my eye, in the hope that I will get up that way soon - Actually I will be up that way next week, but will be in Alnwick and I assume the closest I will get to NG is a glimpse of the Angel Of The North from the train window.
Baltic Mill
Globe Gallery
AV Festival 06
Hatton Gallery
Vane Gallery
The Biscuit Factory
The last of which features the work of Anne Yvonne Gilbert. That's her Naughty Nurse there! Produced without artists permission or permission of the Pod gallery, but as I am advertising their sale I hope they won't mind!
Anne Yvonne Gilbert is probably best known for her Relax album cover for Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Her more conventional work has won her the World's Most Beautiful Stamp Award for Britain’s Royal Mail and her “erotic” works have featured in Playboy and Men Only magazines. Her artworks are in the Private Collections of HRH Princess Margaret and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger amongst others! Her work can be purchased from the Pod Gallery in New York. A couple more interesting links: Art Lexis
My Flickr Slideshow
Found Shopping Lists
Just added the Electra Complex tracks to the Jukebox below as well.
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True Bluu
September 11, 2005
 We went to see Candice Breitz's "Queen" [See Friday's link] and it's even better than I imagined it would be. The fact that the "singers" perform the entire tracks and you can't hear the backing makes it far more interesting than I had imagined. The instrumental passages provide some great ad-libbing, with some hilarious results at times. I'm trying to track down the names of everyone here. I have four so far via flickr, so if you are in this please add a comment on my flickr page. Just click the picture.
It's a shame it was so hot in the White Cube as we only managed to sit out about 4 tracks before I had to nip across the road to Bluu [formerly the Blue Note] for a refreshing Kastell Cru [a lager made with champagne yeast that I can't find a link for].
This has to be one of the best bars I've visited in a long time - A far cry from the appalling Trafik, where Kev played last week, across Hoxton Square. Very friendly staff, not too crowded, although I guess it fills up a lot later by the number of tables reserved. Original looking cocktail list and food too.
Earlier we had eaten in the Hoxton Apprentice - catching the tail end of their Italian Week, featuring foods of the Abruzzo region of Italy - Sam had Fusilli con tartufo e funghi misti [wild mushrooms, pasta and truffles] and I had Filleto di maiale al mosto cotto [fillet of pork in a sweet grape reduction] and garlic mash - Apart from 30 Italian visitors the place was quiet but the food was perfect - A similar concept to Jamie Oliver's 15 it gives, mostly, local... Hey, don't listen to me, this isn't a bloody food column. Check the website or get down there and speak to the apprentice's - We learned a lot from our waitress, Sophia, who made us feel very at home.
Afterwards we finally managed to get to Colour after Klein... just in time! And I'm glad I didn't miss it. A great concept for an exhibition taking the basis away from the artist and onto the colours. Yves Klein was someone I knew little about as was Gerhard Richter, who seem to sit either side, conceptually of Donald Judd [a particular favourite of mine].
- Spencer Finch is someone I had not heard of before and his 102 Colors From my Dreams really ought to published in book form.
- Mona Hatoum's The Light At the End installation is incredibly powerful and is a polar opposite to James Turrell's Rise.
- Anri Sala's documentary Dammi i Colori was intriguing too - And I'm looking into more information on Tirana, the subject of the film, online - to see how things have progressed since 2003.
Checked out the Sun and Doves, in Camberwell, for the first time on Sunday. They do a mean Bloody Mary I must say! Made with cucumber vodka, Guinness, sherry, horseradish and nutmeg, amongst other things!. It's bigger than I expected and quieter, although it was a horrible day weather wise so maybe it's usually busier. great place to while away a Sunday afternoon though.
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LoveGods Primer
September 10, 2005
 Went to W'sens for cocktails last night - Sam had "The Randy" [Courvoisier, Warres Port, Grand Marnier and vanilla liqueur!] and I had a "Blimey" [which is as good a name for anything! This happened to be a Lime vodka, cassis and blackberry concoction that tasted almost healthy!], very nice place - if slightly up it's own arse.
Went on to the cinema in the Trocadero [£17.40 for two of us!!! Even the cocktails weren't that much] to see Shane Carruth's, 2004 Sundance Award winning, Primer - described somewhere as making Memento look like a some kids film or other it has to be seen to be believed... And then you won't believe it... But somehow it all seems feasible! I'll be getting it on DVD, when it comes out, to clear up a few things - Probably over several viewings, but well worth the time spent [pun intended!]. - So we went to for a drink, while it all sunk in, to decide if we needed food, music or a train home.
Decided on music and headed to the Borderline for The LoveGods - managed to miss both support acts but the LG's promise of 1 hour of music [for a change] was almost true to their word, as it included a carefully scripted encore. A few new [to us] tunes didn't disappoint either and with a new album due next month the future looks bright for them. Well, I hope so. It's going to take a few more people to see it than me and the other 100 [if I'm generous] in the Borderline.. I've previously described them as a "punky" Fleetwood Mac but there is a funky element creeping into their bluesy rock now and they are far too accomplished musicians to pigeonhole anyway - Deah and Art are a Gap Ad waiting to happen, which wouldn't do them any harm. I wish they would change that logo though.
Walked back through St James' Park to cool down and made it back to Herne Hill and last Orders in the Escape... if only I had known that the previous night it had been the venue for the Mancini Gallery launch... Amongst the DJs for which was Iain Baker, Jesus Jones keyboard bloke and XFM DJ, who I once worked with at Music and Video Exchange and who put up with all my stupid questions when trying to get my head around my first attempts at sampling, with an AKAI S950, Nice bloke, wish I'd known about this before and gone and said hello now.
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Qoop And Cube
September 08, 2005
 Candice Breitz exhibition at White Cube
48, Hoxton Square, London N1 6PB
Google Map
7th September - 8th October
Upstairs at White Cube Breitz presents a thirty-channel video installation entitled Queen [A Portrait of Madonna]. Individually filming thirty hardcore Italian Madonna fans [gathered via advertisements] singing their way through the greatest hits album Immaculate Collection. Shot in screen-test mode, into a choral grid, in which moments of incidental harmony emerge from the general cacophony. White Cube is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00am to 6.00pm
Qoop + flickr - I mentioned this before - is now in Beta so I have ordered a book to test it out.
I have ordered the images from my Aix-en-Provence set as:
Color Cover, Color Pages [Double Sided], Perfect Bound, 30 pages at 8" x 10".
It should take 3-5 days to ship, from the States and costs $21.94 [inc shipping]. That's just under £15.00, so it's not cheap but then photographic books aren't! The cover should look like the image above.
This should change the way I compose/edit my images now as if this turns out to be good quality I can see myself shooting with these books in mind. Should make excellent gifts, especially for family photo's etc. As the option to include titles and descriptions is available it might also encourage me to put a bit more thought into those as well. I'm wondering if other flickr users will start offering books of their work now?
There's an hilarious "stalking" Billie Piper blog entry at thetriforce.com
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Variousness
September 07, 2005
Must try and find time to check out the Billy Childish Exhibition at the Aquarium Gallery
Google Map
A tip gleaned via Spoilt Victorian Child" [I think?] is the curiously monikered Bronze Age Fox [Free download to be had off their site - try it and see!], worth investigating for their poppy strangeness. Quintisentially English I'd imagine you'd say!
Watched both of Richard Linklater's Before and After movies, for the first time, last weekend - And for a bit of cod psychology they are great - Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are natural together - Here's a transcript of Before Sunrise, probably the slightly better of the two.
Spent a couple of days investigating the delights of East Dulwich this week too - Lordship Lane mostly - Highlights being Green And Blue Wines, where you can take your selection out the back and enjoy it with a selection of ham's or cheeses - Don't take my word for it, see what The Observer had to say about it. Further up the road is Franklins Restaurant - Where you can find some awesomely gamey dishes. Not for the faint hearted but worth the experience - Luckily it's a cheap cab ride home from there as I wasn't walking anywhere afterwards!
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I'm Spinning Around
September 05, 2005
 Fire Starter Spin Painting
By Andy Shaw
2003
Gloss paint on canvas 30" x 30"
Available from Britart.com £450 / $870
'Instinct and intuition lead towards colour combinations and structural forms evolving whilst the painting is still in progress'... So says Shaw. 'The flow of paint reacts in various complex ways, operating at the boundary between order and disorder, chaos and anti-chaos, macroscopic and microscopic.
Sounds like bullshit I know - But the same thing happens with the Digitalia pictures I create - On the one hand they are completely random but at the same time you find yourself trying to control the randomness.
I used to do things like this, on a far smaller scale of course, as a kid - Local fetes and Brighton Pier [if I recall correctly] used to have these turntables, I assume made out of old record players - And somebody used to produce a toy one. Not sure who though. It could have been whoever made Spirograph [who was that?].... Maybe I should have kept it up; Shaw's work features in the collections of David Bowie, Noel Gallagher and Marco Pierre White!
Great Little Spirograph Java Applet here
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Grade 1 Puff...'n' Stuff [made you look!]
September 01, 2005
 I see Damien Hirst has bought Grade I listed Toddington Manor, near Cheltenham, a 300-room mansion to house his personal art collection.I can highly recommend Superthriller Superthriller #1 [Mint Music]
As usual I've left it too late to get to Ars Electronica again. Why do I never see this coming? Whoah! HR Pufnstuf The complete series on DVD... Poor Sam, all 17 episodes!!! I just ordered mine... £33.99 from Sendit! That should keep me quiet for ages. Apart from singing the theme tune that is!
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