A brief interlude from the bigger stuff: July 2020

So much, and so little seems to have happened since I last wrote my blog. One one level the World seems to be spinning faster, and on another a lot of things seem very static right now.

The work that I was (and still am) creating is morphing continually and I have to check myself to make sure I’m not just producing stuff as a reaction to what’s going on. This week there was an exception, and I made a piece out of my political anger on a particular day.  

It began with a vintage magazine image… I made it into a collage with other cuttings and newspapers from 1976 - 1984. I deliberately decimated the tree through scratching it - partly as a reaction to my current mood and partly as a symbolic gesture of the tree becoming newspaper, media, and all that that currently represents.

The man in the upturned hot air balloon thinks he is exerting his power and strength, but look how close to the edge it is...

Media #1

And then, after it was finished, it dawned on me that the magazine that I had cut up was volume 1, number 1 of National Geographic Traveler (1984). Whoops, does it matter? I went hot and cold when I realised what I’d done! But then it gave me a new idea - a new project (while I’m having a short break from my main work. I have magazine numbers 2,3 and 4 too - they were left behind in our loft by the previous occupants.