Usefull Mushrooms

Here’s one of my latest pieces, less like art and more just practical fun.

It’s a bottle opener, the stainless steel stem is solid, so is heavy enough to stay put, the head is red nylon with stainless rivets in it, and it’s this that is used to pull the top of the beer bottle.

To add class, I also experimented with copper versions, one with protruding spots....

 ...and one with a smooth surface....

...all versions are practical and will be on the website soon.
They're all a bit of fun and the hope is maybe they will bring sunshine to someone's life.

I’m now working on a corkscrew of a similar vein and maybe a salt and pepper set….I’m entertained by the concept of developing a range, under the guise….

“The Useful Mushroom Co”

….quite why is beyond me, but it does make me chuckle.

Suggestions for useful mushrooms anyone?

Plumbing problems

Possibly the most fun I've had with a piece for a long time, here is my latest humorous sculpture, titled simply “leek”

The vegetable is real, and so the piece was only in existence for a day or so before things began to get pungent and the whole thing was taken apart. Considering this, there was quite some effort. The tap is a 2” stainless steel gate valve, with 2” stainless steel pipe sections protruding from top and bottom.

These pipes had to have threaded sleeves welded on, and the bottom piece has also needed a flange welded on to both resemble pipework in an industrial environment and to allow it to stand. I then had to cut a hole in the top piece of pipe, trying my best to give the impression of a burst or similar, and then finally the whole thing was hand polished up in a satine finish to give a nice semi-dull effect.
Fitting the vegetable was the easiest and quickest part, with photographs being taken in earnest to quickly capture the sculpture before the leek started to turn – all quite frantic. The pipe work and valve have been retained, maybe one day they will be useful for another project – all that remains of the piece is the photographic record. It will end up on my web site one day soon, and then maybe I should consider making a steel leek to give it some permanence.

Sad Art

Here’s a sketch that I recently drew on a more somber day…

Sadness can be an extremely destructive emotion, almost as if an addictive debilitating drug feeding on a self perpetuating spiral of despair and helplessness...when in a depressive form, it can bring one to total catatonic failure...overwhelmed by emptiness and unable to see or make sense of anything or anyone..

It is refreshing then that as this emotion has such a huge strength, it can become almost overpowering when portrayed in art. Take this fantastic piece from Seo Yeong Deok made up from bicycle chain...

or this wonderful piece by Michael Magrath which is made from from salt stone and is designed to degrade in time, making it every day that little bit more hopeless....

........they both reek of the hollow shell that is a man in the throws of the empty lonely darkness.

Art and Religion

We make sculpture for a number of reasons, it can be an escape, an outlet for pashion and frustrations as they build up inside, it can be to satisfy another through commission. It can also be a simpler method for some to communicate, an easier forum.....

Art is a release, as a religion is for some if you like, connecting people who would otherwise remain disconnected.

It offers us, as people trapped in a harsh world which as a species we've created but we really aren't designed to exist in, a way to connect with something larger, a way of escaping the limitations of our individual life and individual selves.

Personally, if I'm not creating something I go quietly mad … the desire to get the image in my head out into a tangible piece is so strong it can drive me to destruction.

One of my recent works is a simple wooden cross. Measuring about 2ft by 1ft, it's made from kiln dried walnut wood and deeply polished.

The cross was made for a picturesque and tiny Chapel at Abergeirw in North Wales.

Clearly not in any way an original piece, this is a design that is thousands of years old. It requires no special skills or materials, and is fundamentally simple to make.

Oddly ironic then, with the religious undertones that are associated with art and its effects, that it was a deeply satisfying and moving piece to make...

Things to do with fruit before making jam

This was more accidental than contrived, resulting from experimenting with taking photos with a new Nikon Coolpix and trying to get focal point and shutter speed settings right for future web site work.

Clearly another homophone (see “String Theory" earlier in the blog, and the page for this kind of humorous art on my web site) this is definitely a throw away piece, mainly because the plums will be turned into home made jam and eaten soon....

..couldn't resist it.

Urban Art

Here’s something I found entirely by accident on a walk recently.

It’s been painted in an abandoned and very derelict church in Bewdley, Worcestershire and the most striking element to me is that I immediately read it from right to left.

In this direction it conveys the impression of afterlife, re-birth, and surrounded by overgrown and fallen gravestones of some antiquity, bought peace and poignancy to death – despite its garish colours and vivid imagery I was somehow calmed by its image.

Whoever painted it needs applause, its brave, especially considering the location and its somehow arresting, it stopped me in my tracks…..question is, was it meant to be read in this direction or is it meant to convey the route from youth to death…a real example of how art can be interpreted in different ways.

There's plenty of examples of urban art in public spaces on the net,  and the temptation to create in a public space is obvious, these pieces get an audience that is in effect easy - the art is bought to the audience rather than the other way around so there's no persuasive media needed to have the piece seen.

However, whilst browsing through photos of derelict buildings on a derelict buildings web site I came across some urban art that fits a different mould altogether. On this site there are pieces of art that are simply fantastic, and yet, they are never seen except by trespassers, those in need of a  temporary home and the demolition crew .... these artists are creating work entirely for their own  pleasure, not influenced by a viewing public or customer commission .....

Is it true to say then that an artist is only truly free to create when there are no commercial, fashion or other external influences?

String Theory

There's a danger (perhaps) of becoming ridiculously addicted to The Big Bang Theory. Those who know me know I'm a huge fan of humorous art. The effects of too much Sheldon Cooper can be seen in this, my latest work, titled simply “String Theory” - it is simply that, a formula made from string.

Playing with the homophone theme again (you can see how I've played with humour before with the "Nut and Bolt" piece in the Perspective page on my website) this will end up in the same section in due course. That said, this is almost a piece of throw away art....

make - record – smile – dispose

….it's a little bit like listening to a comedian I suppose, take the joke in, enjoy the humour and then seek out the next one …. I will be doing more along the same lines in the future (although perhaps not all will be throw away) ….there are ideas a' brewing..

I'm no physicist you understand, but I'm fairly sure this is a genuine string theory equation; if anyone can explain it in simple terms I'd be fascinated

Lord knows what my similarly unhealthy addiction to South Park might bring....