Christmas Card for CELT Colleagues

Even Steve Bull gets a gig.

Becher and Becher

Hochofenköpfe, 1963-95

Whilst talking to Lee about Charles Sheeler the other day we came round in the conversation to Becher and Becher the husband and wife duo photography-combo. Their representations of different industrial buildings and structures in a very stark, clean fashion without any distraction from human presence or “event” was what made us take the jump from Sheeler to Becher and Becher. To ensure the consistency of the representation so that the viewer wouldn’t even be able to discern what the weather was like as even a sunny day can create too much of a dramatic effect they only photographed on overcast days. This level of consistency becomes incredible when a whole collection is viewed, there is something about the monotonous photographs that carries a very raw power and really conveys a good idea of what that particular typology is. The photos are more like objective documents of a specimen in a scientific laboratory, they plainly show what the focus is so that others can interpret and learn from them in their own way. The photographer hasn’t dictated what the viewer should take from the photograph.

Sheeler and Becher and Becher both portray industrial structures and whilst their works by the very nature make no comment on what they feel about the subject of their work, it never the less reflects some of the concerns that these structures cause; alienation, banality, brutal ugliness, industrially damaged landscapes etc. They also reflect the exciting drama of this purely functional and efficient machine landscapes. Sheeler was commissioned by Ford to take photographs of the River Rouge plant, the pride of the industrial world and Becher and Becher’s work highlighted the need to preserve many of the disused industrial structures they were documenting. I quite enjoy not being told what I should think even though or possibly because I have been brought up a Catholic. Perhaps this is why I enjoy the work of these three/two artists, or perhaps it is just because they are AWESOME.

Gas Tanks, 1983-92

Pitheads, 1974

Water Towers, 1980

Charles Sheeler

American Landscape, 1930
oil on canvas

Ford Plant, River Rouge, Canal with Salvage Ship, 1927
gelatin silver print

Watching a documentary on American Modern Art aired on BBC4 a couple of weeks ago I became aware of Charles Sheeler for the first time and have subsequently become greatly enthused with his body of work. I was going to say bordering on obsessed but I’m not there yet…yet. My obsessions lie with Tame Valley at the moment and I hope that maybe I can bring the two together. What I like about Sheeler’s work is how it is most definitely landscape, with the focus often on the man-made intrusions without making them seem alien to the landscape. Often the subject of the painting is a warehouse, or a goods yard, or the rear end of a tenement block, not exactly picturesque scenes and certainly not the sort of place your average middle class art gallery patron would associate with. And yet these are some of the most fundamental elements of the city and without them the city would fail to function. This is something Alan Berger talks about in Drosscapes which I am beginning to realise as time goes by is one of the more influential books I’ve read since leaving university. In it he talks about the tourism industry and how postcards of cities generally show a civic centre, some grandiose piece of architecture, people enjoying themselves, maybe a skyline or a pleasant landscape within the city but rarely show any of the everyday elements that allow that city to exist. The drab workers houses, the sewage treatment plant, the warehouses of industry, the inside of an admin office etc. rarely feature.



New England Irrelevancies, 1953
oil on canvas

Classic Landscape, 1931
oil on canvas

Ballet Mechanique, 1931
Conté crayon on paper

In the paintings of Sheeler direct human presence is almost totally removed creating the sense of a monolithic romantic natural presence…or it does to me anyway but I’m no art critic. I also like the high realism without really being hyper-detailed, his paintings are crisp, clean and clear and that gives it “reality” without really looking “photographic.” Sheeler became a professional photographer but often used his commissioned photographs as the basis for his own paintings in many different media. His work became part of the early 20th-century abstract movement, Precisionism;

“a style noted for clean-cut, severe-seeming lines, simple forms, large areas of flat color, smooth finishes and the conveying of a general sense of good order and precision. Often the subjects were architectural or industrial and usually devoid of human reference.”

I like how he revisited the same scene over and over using different media each time capturing a different atmosphere within the piece. This is especially powerful in the paintings he did using stills from his film “Manhatta” that he worked on with Paul Strand in 1921. I like this version of Manhatta as the minimal techno soundtrack doesn’t sync at all with the footage yet is strangely befitting conceptually to the footage being shown…although it might just be that I have made that connection in my head after seeing his Detroit works.



New York, Park Row Building, 1920
gelatin silver print



Skyscrapers, 1922
oil on canvas



New York , 1920
graphite on cream Japanese vellum

I hope that I might be able to start a little series of work based on the Tame Valley utilising the same working methods as Sheeler. The lengthy visit to an area not normally frequented by people who don’t have to be there, the photographic documentation of powerful scenes followed by the experimental trial and error representation using clean no nonsense artistic styles, almost painting by numbers regurgitation but always seeking to capture a different atmosphere felt from my experiential memory of the site. Watch this Space…probably a lot of space and hot air before anything happens…but watch it.

Criss-Crossed Conveyors, River Rouge Plant, Ford Motor Company, 1927
Gelatin silver print

Church Street El, 1920
oil on canvas

Architectural Cadences, 1954
Screenprint

Gene Krupa

I've always appreciated Gene Krupa, just found this awesome video of him playing, love the lighting.

Exciting

Concrete Wall

I get really excited when I see what can be done with concrete, not necessarily always at things that I particularly even like but just its sheer potential and then robust solidness when that potential is realised. There is something reassuringly real about concrete. Came across this project the other day in Architecture Today and got well excited, could make such a cool retaining wall or a bench or something like that.

This blog was taken from
http://heartlandscw.blogspot.com/2010/11/crushed-wall-sample-unveiled.html
dated from  18/11/2010

Artist Walter Jack is working on the art commission that will lead visitors in to Heartlands from Pool Village in to the main site.

The 24 metre long Crushed Wall will be 2.8 metres at its highest point and 1 metre at its lowest. Walter's Crushed Wall is inspired by Cornish geology, a sample can be seen in the above photograph. Local concrete works Ladds, are involved as the wall will be cast in concrete. A rubber mould will be used to cast the wall, which will create the crumples and wavy effect of the structure.

Posted by Heartlands Cornwall at 12:31

Baby's on Album Covers

Came accross this when looking into Drummers from Birmingham and thought it was amazing so made me think of other album covers with babies on them...got to be some of the most awesome covers ever.

ORE - IKON - BIRMINGHAM

When a gig is advertised as a evening of sound performance delving into the region's musical heritage featuring a drone doom tuba group called ORE you just know its going to be good, and it didn't disapoint. This latest offering from Capsule showed how they continue to operate outside of the normal sphere of music promotion, even by their own standards. Whilst I have had a gripe at the time Six Organs of Admittance were put on at the Town Hall because of the stuffy nature and "ego massaging lets give ourselves a pat on the back vibe" it was cool to be in that environment with potentially a slightly broader audience demographic than normal, certainly a larger audience in terms of number. It was Tunng that went and spoiled it for everyone. The venue of the Ikon was brilliant for the event, it turned what called have been a really ominous, dark, dirge into an almost transcendent mantra performance of drones, particularly in the "circle-pit" immersion of Lash Frenzy's performance. Whilst these videos can do almost nothing to recreate what it was to be at that gig they still show the coolest musical event in Birmingham on that night. As Lash Frenzy said, musical performance should be without focus, representation but about the here and now, the present, performances become immersive, participatory events....SWEET!

Diagram for Student Induction

This was a rough mock up a presentational diagram to explain student inductions...the yellow leaves to the right fold out to revel text explaining the various stages of the induction process.

Finished Posters for NWMS-BCU visit

Exciting times for Brum

Lots of new expensive transport ideas for Brum: and lots of far out house music video visualisations of them and all!

The tram seems a slightly odd one...I think it’s a fairly decent idea, I'm not just against it because of the short distance covered argument put forward by the news report. It will probably help people move out of the city centre towards places like the jewellery quarter because whilst that is only a short distance it still remains a bit intimidating crossing the barrier posed by the ring road, especially to people who might not know the area. So it offers a decent link for that...but it seems a trick has been missed in not linking it up as far as the cultural centre of the library, the town hall, the symphony hall and the museums etc. which would also be handy access to broad street. At the least it could join up with the Mailbox. And, I don't know what will happen to the current buses of Bull Street and Corporation Street...I'm sure something will be sorted for them but it would be interesting to see what. Before I saw this route but heard about the development I presumed that it would be going along Colmore Row to Victoria Square and then either down to New Street or onwards to Centenary Square but that would have cut out all of the shops which would be a travesty!

Next up, the new New Street Station

I'm not sure what to make of this, without wanting to sound like a grumpy old twat. Whilst New Street definitely needs to be redeveloped to create a more alluring gateway to the city and generally a more enjoyable and efficient traveling experience I'm not sure this is the answer. Yes the main hall looks a lot more dramatic with its high roof and natural light and the addition of extra seats will be a massive improvement but it still seems that the actual platforms are low and dingy. The old booming tannoy system and dirty trains belching out their exhaust will remain. The wider stairs will be a great improvement and hopefully they have sorted the lifts which are just stupid/terrifying at the moment but it looks like once you get up off the platform a long trek through pokey, low ceiling, narrow corridors lined with shops is what awaits you. I would go potholing or to a bondage club if I wanted to scrawpe around tight fitting orifices, I’d probably rather not do it on my commute…although having said that it might add a bit of excitement to the daily routine.

I guess the main emphasis of it is probably about making a nice entrance for John Lewis which it probably achieves so that’s fine. It would be well cool if the reflective façade treatment was designed in such a way that it would concentrate the sun’s rays on a massive tank of water so that it boiled and then the steam could be used to generate electricity and power something…like the tannoy system. Nevermind.

Last but not least is the Hs2 development to be designed for old Curzon Street site...the information on this is pretty vague at the moment, probably as a concequence of all the "not in my back yard" campagins of the little englanders...have seen quite a funny visual which suggests that it would't be happening until...

Also found this really exciting video:

Long House - Living Architecture - Progress

Driving around the lanes of Norfolk we came accross the site for the Living Architecture project by Hopkins architects. The site was looking a bit deserted, apparently one of the contractors went bust,,,? It was looking pretty cool though, quite similar to their Norwich Cathedral Refectory project which is ace. Will be a sweet place to spend a weekend when it is done.

http://www.hopkins.co.uk/s/projects/7/156/

Thunder Dome

Driving along the lanes of Norfolk this weekend we came across this intense looking building...a world war 2 training dome used by the RAF. There were around 40 built around the country but only 6 are believed to remain. They were constructed as concrete hemispheres that used then state of the art technology to project footage of enemy bombers in a 180 degree sphere and could be shot at using simulator guns. All that remains of the base here is the training dome...a stark left over object of war in a landscape that has since reverted to its pastoral routes.here is a pathe film showing one in action.

DOME TRAINER

I've always been quite interested in old buildings being reflected in new ones. It demonstrates an urban continuity and allows us to perceive the buildings through a different lens. Probably should get a bit of good old JP in here, maybe I'll get my notes and actually do a proper blog at some point. On a more basic level I think it makes quite a nice photo opportunity...but maybe now I'm just flattering myself. Any which way here are a few photos I took in Kansas City and St. Louis this summer.

One pleasent little anecdote, after taking the top photo two business men stopped and saw the reflection, it was as though it was the first time they'd seen it and concequently they took out their phones and photographed it, as I walked off I turned behind and saw another pedestrian notice the business men and get out their camera...sometimes it takes an outsider to get a different perception on your city, sometimes it just takes a reflective modern building.

A Couple of Posters

First bit of fun at my new job, had to make a couple of posters for the Northwest Missouri State contigent that are on there way over to us in a couple of weeks...still a work in progress but here we are:

Thankyou MADE architecture

had a decent month at Made working on a variety of projects and playing badminton, this was just a quick thankyou card I knocked up for them featuring the badminton and company logo in elements...yeah yeah, brown-nose whatever

Zumthor's Pavilion