Category: cartoon (Page 2 of 4)

Studio Diary: Art Object’s progress image two.

October 1, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

The second image from the Hockney Rake’s Progress parody rebranded as art research.

Already the visual story becoming complex if going to map the version of Hogarth into a research tale! In this image ‘The Inheritance’ the art object ( I calling him/her ‘Muttly’ after R.Mutt signature on the Duchamp urinal) is receiving the inheritance of art research categorisation and theory from Sir Christopher Frayling. Thus ‘in, for and by’ and a litter of papers and books….meanwhile Bruce Archer’s paper is overshadowed and the ‘New Knowledge’ monolith floats over a wobbly map of the UK academic scene:-) Next image is called ‘Meeting the good people’ and will involve three statues and three philosophers.

and original

The original sequence of 8 Hogarth pictures here: http://www.soane.org/collections_legacy/the_soane_hogarths/rakes_progress/

Plotting a way forward……off the map?

September 30, 2013 / shaun belcher / 1 Comment

As my M.A. will finally complete in January 2014 my mind has started to wonder what next? the logical progress would be toward a PhD as teaching seems to be getting more and more vague come September 2014. I will have taught a subject which no longer of great interest to me now (web design) for seven years by then so time for a change. I may move into more research related teaching but this not guaranteed and if so will be in Graphic Design not multimedia which has been deemed to officially not exist by NTU art and design.

Whatever the outcome of that I looking to move forward to a PhD preferably funded. I starting to look into that now in preparation. I doubt that my institution will support me through it for various reasons some political some just resource driven. For now I have a few irons in fire who knows which will be drawn out….here a few options badly delineated.

Studio Diary 30th September: DRN

September 30, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

Well tomorrow 1st October so 22 days to go until DRN New York and finally embarked on the Art Object in search of new knowledge sequence!

I carefully re-read proposal (read it here http://www.scribd.com/doc/159584262/Drn-Proposal-2013 ) and fortunately I was quite careful about what I had promised. This means that I can just about fulfill promise to create a cartoon sequence but the full paper will have to be completed later (hopefully by M.A. completion date of January 24th). As for the animation I was really setting a high bar there and I think it may well develop separately to the DRN conference.

I have completed the sequence of 16 illustrations of contributors chapters to Elkins book and hope to complete the Elkins chapters after New York from the animation tests. To be honest I only likely to show a few sequences if that at end of presentation.

The project has however come together in my mind. the original ‘Rakes Progress’ by Hockney is a sequence of 16 images about his first trip to New York which dovetails with my first visit too. There however the comparison stops as my sequence whilst using the visual parody of Hockney’s suite of etchings will focus on current art research terminology specifically the idea of ‘New Knowledge’. Here I crossover with Elkins chapter on ‘Beyond research and new knowledge’ in Artist with Phds. To that extent this very much a continuation of investigation begun in previous conference with Frayling paper.

The drawings will mimic the number of Hockney etchings (16 in all) and end up in an art research ‘Bedlam’ 🙂

Here a photo from the studio whilst working on first drawing.

Only 15 to go! Also instead of drawing sequence after writing paper this time I experimenting with drawing first and literally ‘drawing out’ ideas for paper one for practical reasons and two as an experiment which may go dreadfully wrong. It interesting to see how drawing first affects decisions on what to include and structure of final paper. I will give an overview of ideas in presentation as at 20 minutes that roughly one image a minute.

To see original Hockney sequence see here http://www.hockneypictures.com/graphics_rakes_progress/graphics_rakes_01.php

DRAWOLOGY exhibition Bonington November

September 19, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

Exhibition: Drawology

Dates: Wednesday 20 November 2013 – Friday 6 December 2013

Time: Monday – Friday, 10 am – 5 pm

Location: Bonington building, Nottingham Trent University, NG1 5LS

‘I[who…?]you||you[me]Us’ humhyphenhum 2013 digital still.

Drawing is said to have the ability to record both its own making and the movement of the thoughts and body of the drawer.

Drawology brings together the work of several artists with differing practices, it aims to consider whether this premise is applicable to a specific process or genre of drawing or whether it is applicable to drawing generally.

In this respect the works in the exhibition represent an expanded field of contemporary drawing in a Fine Art context to include: works on paper, performance, moving image, installation, projections and three-dimensional drawings. The exhibition is part of a larger research project currently being undertaken by Deborah Harty entitled Drawing is Phenomenology.

Artists include:

Shaun Belcher
Sian Bowen
Rachael Colley
David Connearn
Paul Fieldsend-Danks
Maryclare Foa
Paul Gough
Joe Graham
Deborah Harty
Claude Heath
Juliet MacDonald
Jordan McKenzie
Lucy O’Donnell
humhyphenhum
Bill Prosser
Karen Wallis.

Preview

Date: Wednesday 20 November 2013
Time: 6 pm – 8 pm
Venue: The Bonington Gallery, Bonington building

This exhibition is curated and hosted by Bonington Gallery.

Studio Diary: 8th September. Back to work.

September 8, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

I have been on holiday for two weeks and finally went back to studio to pick up threads today.

Throughout July I was working on illustrations for the second edition of James Elkins’s book ‘Artists and Phds’ due out in 2014 I believe. So far I have completed half of the sixteen or so pictures required. This is a distant shot of the pictures on wall of studio. I do not want to show in greater detail until published. An interesting project especially as one of the chapter authors I worked with was my ex-Dean.

I also have received funding to attend the Drawing Research network conference in New York at end of October and now have 8 weeks to complete animated paper on ‘Phd and New Knowledge’! So I going to be more than busy especially with start of new term, new changes at NTU and all….

I also picked up a Blundell haring drawing board in Oxfam which much sturdier than my previous and great for drawing 🙂

Studio Diary: June 4th: Mutt in Space

June 5, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

No drawing this week so far due to other matters. I did get to studio briefly but mostly I have been laying the groundwork for a busy summer. I have an extended commission. A paper on early cinema and the rest of M.A. to complete by October. To manage all this I am on a tight schedule and I already called in help with animating the DRN paper from my excellent animating colleague Andy Love. His initial experiments with R.Mutt in Space below 🙂 For the rest of his super work go to his blog here: http://recursiveworlds.com

R Mutt Experiment 2… from Andy Love on Vimeo.

Studio Diary: May 23rd – Cartoon Droodles?

May 23, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

My biggest inspiration 🙂 A book called Droodles which I got from a jumble sale when a kid ….most famous droodle is the cover of Zappa’s Ship arriving too late to save a drowning witch (below)..so now you know is not pop art, minimalism or a profound theory is DROODLES 🙂 These drawings are profound meditations on the hinterland and liminal spaces between inbetween-ness in a multi disciplinary meditation on landscape, time and sequentiality specifically ‘the first and second sequential ‘moments’ (my theoretical tagging of the invention of ‘cinema’ or was it animation? (1888 LePrince) and the second moment ‘youtube’ 1995….)..so now you know..then again it could be a droodle…

M.A. assessment and DRN New York

May 17, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

I finally had assessment for M.A. stages one and two ‘Research Proposal’ and ‘Development’.
Was a lengthy session which explored where the work might lead in terms of developing as both practice and research.
I also proved the age old maxim that any power-point created on a PC will not work on a MAC..it still true 🙁

I also had good news about my submission for the Drawing Research network Conference 2013 in New York. My paper was accepted which means I have a lot of work to do between now and M.A. show in October!

More info on DRN Conference here: http://www.drawing-research-network.org.uk/call-for-submissions-drn-conference-2013/

Studio Diary 13th May: Sequential Drawings?

May 17, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

A rapid set of drawings playing with idea of cartoon abstraction, shop comic strip and film…sequential narratives on a fixed canvas?

Studio Diary: 7th May – Burolandschaft?

May 7, 2013 / shaun belcher / 0 Comments

A very hot day and studio a little cooler than expected which good. Still managed to create three drawings despite also reading photo related items specifically about early photography ( Lady Elizabeth Eastlake’s Review from London Quarterly Review).

Had a fascinating message from an architect doing a PhD at the University of Tasmania who picked up on the recent drawings. He said they reminded him of the German ‘Burolandschaft’ workplace drawings of the Quickborner Team of 1960’s.

I did some hasty research (Googled it) and came up with drawings he referring to which were fascinating (see below). The connection is not entirely strange as I have been regarding these drawings a s cumulative ‘memory’ maps of my hometown/landscape. I am coming at it from a fine art viewpoint which more influenced by artists like Simon Lewty (http://www.artfirst.co.uk/simon_lewty/) and Aboriginal Bark Painting (signifiers of place) as much as maps and graphic diagrams. The idea of linking this further to architectural diagrams/theory fascinating. I shall be delving deeper. Especially as the drawings above show Caruso St John plans for the new Arts Council offices…ironically 🙂

http://www.carusostjohn.com/media/artscouncil/new_national_office/introduction/index.html

For one of the drawings I sectioned the page into ‘staves’ or ‘cartoon strips’ to try out some sequential abstract narrative notions I have. This could lead to some large painted/drawn canvases for final show.