Frigg on Thursday





This blogging format has been slightly adjusted this week to allow myself a day out of the studio tomorrow, Nic will replace my Friday post tomorrow.

I'm returning to my homeland, The Isle of Man, for a Summer wedding, my cousin is getting married and I'll be adorned in full Manx National Tartan. as previewed below.





Last Sunday I went on a trip to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, to see the new exhibition there as well as getting out into the sunshine and walking through the splendid scenery. I was, in all honesty, most excited by what the YSP shop had in stock, various items from Vitra furniture, amongst which were Eames tables & chairs which I'm always fond of being reminded about and a set of Alexander Girard figurative sculptures / dolls, which I've shamefully never seen before, a very pleasant surprise.




I hovered around them for quite some time before I was dragged away to look at the exhibition on display by Peter Randall-Page, which was also great, I really enjoyed 2 scultures in particular located in the Underground Gallery, Two 8 foot+ Solid granite amorphous looking pieces, refercing plant seedlings, between seedling and plant state. I can only decipher that these monolythic sculptures try to solidify a moment in time, an amorphous stage in nature where something is neither one thing or another this stage would obviously be indicative of energy, movement and progress, presented fixed and solid, and to quote Ivor Cutler, "Larger than nature intended". The objects themselves are very impressive, not only because of there stature but that they have been carved out of solid granite to a very highly polished state, the shape is similar to an Aubergine sat on its axis with a slightly flatter bottom. The last truely amazing thing about the Sculpture park, which I have experienced before, is 'The Deer Shelter' by James Turrell, I can't really stress how amazing this piece is, so simple and experiencial, basically consisting of a hole in the floor with futuristic grey concrete seating around the outside with a hole at the top presenting the sky through a perfect 4m x 4m (appox) square with no visable edges. So yeah go to the Sculpture Park, one of the truely good things about Yorkshire.

That brings me quite neatly on to my next observation, what I really like about James Turrells' piece is it's immediacy, it is what it is and it does what it does and if you can do something like that and it still be truely facinating, you're onto a winner in my books. I was Listening to Radio 4's 'Front Room' last Monday, Radio 4's show about Art & Culture. There was a short interview at the end with Eva Rothschild, talking about her latest piece in the Turbine Hall (Tate Modern). I really like the way she talks about her work, very simple and concise but also very thoughful. I hadn't previously been familiar with her work but it led me to investigate further and I will continue to do so. She too is a fan of simplistic presentation, forms being presented for what they are, not referecing anything else. What I particularly enjoyed was her talking of the way she titles her work, basically by having a number of titles to hand and choosing one, the titles arn't referencial of the work either, they simply sit parrallel to the work and they play off one another. This is something we do in Nous Vous, but haven't had the brain powers to articulate it yet. You can tell she truely knows her own work, it's that truth and openess about it that I find endearing. You can listen to it here on iPlayer, it's dead on 24mins in ifyou want to skip everything else.

This week I've been working on a project for Friska a soon to be new health food store in Bristol. We've basically been commissioned by them & Thoughful (the super design agency) to illustrate characters for the store, there customers and colleagues. It's promising from our perspective to be a really nice place, so make sure you go give them a warm welcome when they open if you're in that area and have a look at some of our illustrations at the same time.

Lot Nine is obviously out now and will be on sale online soon, although I really enjoyed working on it it's a relief to see it finished. Very pleased with it. You can view some snaps by myself, over on the Nous Vous site now.

Have a pleasant weekend...