Material / Control, Redcliffe Bridge, Bristol

Material / Control was a collaborative, artist led exhibition co-ordinated by myself, Polly Kelsall and Emily Krainc. Bristol City Council kindly gave us the use of the gorgeous, brutalist Control Room on Redcliffe Bridge for just under a week.

Kelsall, Krainc and I created a truly collaborative show, we worked in the space throughout the week. All work had to respond to the Control Room and it's environment, or each other's work. We followed these parameters as we edited and changed the work in the show.

• On leaving the space each day, anything made or left belongs to Material / Control 

• Each edit must reference the space, its content, and/or it’s environment 

• Make new connections between objects, images and works 

• Add or remove 

• Nothing will be permanent 

• Nothing will remain unchanged

We kept a blog throughout the process; from planning and preparation to the final day. It was used to document changes, consider and highlight work and in some instances to present work. You can see my text works reproduced in the previous post to this; they were first 'exhibited' as blog posts at material-control.blogspot.co.uk 

Material / Control, for me, felt like a genuine conversation. It pushed me out of an established way of making and into something which was much more iterative and quick-fire; working with objects and works in an instinctive way, rather than being very thought through and self referencing. I also got to make pieces which were very much my own works, but in a different context and as a way to describe a space. 

Despite our best efforts though, each of us couldn't help feeling a little protective and a little put out at some of the interventions by the other artists. It is hard to let go and on my part there were a few re-arrangements and a few patches of colour that were frowned at and quickly changed. Maybe that was cheating, and it was fun to chat about that feeling in the end - I think we all felt at least one piece or arrangement had been 'ruined' by one or other of us!

The show became a series of call and response gestures. It showed more than anything how three artists can notice such a range of things about a space, and then bring out these things in wildly different and personal ways.

Redcliffe Bridge I

Chalky hospital green

Magnolia

Deep garden fence green

Old, murky green

Tagged

Scribbled

Patched

Street - dirt - soot - exhaust

Gather + fall 

Rest

Click(boom) click(boom)

Yellow lines

White lines

Grass green

Weed green

Oxygen green

Redcliffe Bridge I

Megan Hoyle

October 2015

As part of Material / Control

14:33

Phone gestures

Food box

Yellow / red / pink

Check / polo / chilly?

Man bag

Hunting hat

/// shoes

High vis o-o

Crossing, carefully

Giggling

Pyjama trousers & shorts

Cream quilted coat

Baby carrier

Yellow soles

14:33

Megan Hoyle

October 2015

As Part of Material / Control

Reto Pulfer's Gewässerzeiten and Patrick Staff's The Foundation at Spike Island

Reto Pulfer, Gewässerzeiten

I loved being in this room, wandering through the installation. It felt like a kid's den and everywhere were drawings, gestures and bits of things you half recognised and had to place. The tent-like structure has drawings on the inside and is completely handmade, It is really calming, maybe a bit like being in the womb.

The title translates as waters-times and the gallery text speaks about the link between water, seas and the river Avon which runs past the gallery. I'm not sure I would have quite got this from the installation alone. The 'fishing' net speaks of craft and interiors rather than the elements and something with a very specific role. It looks to be made from canvas/calico strips. The sheets hung also seem to be very interior and home-like. I think it is the materials and colour which detract from the water/sea/river connotations. Perhaps it is more an imagined, storybook waterscape than one relating to anything 'real'. The small objects scattered around the installation bring you back to the shoreline though, with driftwood and claws as well as silt.

I was less of a fan of the map paintings. They were quite awkward and didn't seem free or a pleasure to make but quite cramped and frustrated. 

The last room on the Pulfer show is gorgeous, it is full of these little sketchings and makings which really seemed to show the sense of humour and personality of the artist. It's the sort of room which deserves a second and third look. Contemporary work is mixed in with work the artist made as a child. perhaps because of this, none of the work was precious and it had a particular beaten up, mangled, handmade sort of aesthetic. Tactile and thoughtful. 

Patrick Staff, The Foundation.

I thoroughly enjoyed this, it was everything an artist's film should be. I was intrigued and compelled to watch the whole thing (and just a little bit more so I could watch the choreography again..) At times I was confused and was always unsure of what was coming next. It kept me in, made me smile and is beautifully shot and edited.

The film is split into two - one section shot in LA at the Tom of Finland Foundation. This section is a rough documentary, shorter clips, some footage shot on a mobile phone and everything feels quite messy. The other section was shot at Spike, with sets, beautiful panning shots, lighting and choreography. It is much more polished and pulls out meaning from the documentary footage.

The whole film is very much about sexual identity and gender but it is also very male,  I certainly felt 'other'. This is something Staff picks up on a little bit in his very eloquent interview in the gallery guide. Staff realised he was easily accepted at the foundation because they saw him as a gay male, the film is about perceptions, identifying and this feeling of being either outside or included.

It's certainly a show I would like to go back and look at again - partly because I missed seeing Staff's sculptural sets, which were around the corner - but also because both the shows seemed quite layered. I think they will stand up to a second viewing. Both shows are at Spike Island until the 20th September.

The Manifesto of the Wall, Fringe Arts Bath 2015

This year at Fringe Arts Bath I showed as part of The Manifesto of the Wall. The show was curated by Sveta Antonova, who also wrote the manifesto.

The Manifesto of the Wall:

1. The Wall has its history, respect it.

2. Do not exploit the Wall – it works with you and for you.

3. Find a direct method to include the Wall into your artwork and vice versa.

4. If no.3 is not applicable, you made the wrong piece for this space and may stop here or restart.

5. The term ‘to hang something’ is not an option in this context.

6. Don’t add.

7. Include.

8. Adventures are accepted.

9. Once the artwork is ‘up’, you added a new piece of history to this Wall.

10. Same principle for the Floor & Ceiling, just in case someone asks.

I created a text work, different to anything I have shown before. The Wall was a booklet 130 x 130mm which was bound by hand, with canvas. The booklet was presented on a shelf, with a poster asking viewers to pick up a booklet and walk around the space whilst reading it. See below for images and the text in full.

The show was successful, there was positive feedback as I was invigilating & it was good to see people really engaging with the works. The show suffered a little for not being in the main FaB venues; we were in Little Southgate. However this meant we had a few people popping in who wouldn't ordinarily see any of FaB. I had a few really good, and unexpected, conversations with different groups of young lads (maybe between 12-14 years old) who came in out of curiosity when they saw us from the skate shop opposite. 

The Wall

From the earth, not far

Limestone

Freestone

Before that, the sea

Shellstone 

Bonestone

Built, dug and cut.

Bath, Italy, Bath

Heated in the mantle

Forged

Grown in forests

Plastered, painted and nailed

Covered, recovered and stripped

Like Atlas and the heavens I carry

Hold, protect, shelter

Link arms for a street

Holes - 

Windows, grates

Porous

Summer/Winter 

Expanding

Cracking

Chipping

Damp

Tiny creatures

Scuttling, spinning

Nesting, perching

Larger things

Leaning, hammering

Changing, using

Years and years

and Years?

Mouldering, crumbling

Cracking

Then

Machines cutting, pulling 

Crashing.

Graffiti Squares

More Graffiti Squares spotted in Bristol

BV Open Studios 2015

I had a great time at this year's open studios. I was in the studio for the whole two days this year, making and chatting to people. It was great to get to chat at length with other studio holders as well as the public.

I was the only one showing in my studio, which meant I could properly clear out my space, putting books, tools etc in the car and squatting on another studio holder's table for most of the weekend. I showed a few different works, most finished and one in-progress. 20x20cm Unpicked and Separated into it's 'Horizontal' and 'Vertical' Threads has been shown before at Fringe Arts Bath, the rest are new. I tried not to be too precious about what I showed and where which seemed to work well.

Unmade/Remade I (In Progress/Failed), Canvas and Stretcher

20x20cm Canvas Unpicked and Separated into its 'Horizontal' and 'Vertical' Threads, Framed Canvas Threads

20x20cm Canvas Unpicked and Wrapped, Canvas

Found Things (Tower), Materials Unknown (Plaster & Cardboard?)

This is a very new work which I included on a whim really. It is not about the materials of painting at all, but is formed from a few objects I found and have been keeping in my studio for a while, thinking they fit, maybe just because of the colour. It felt quite liberating just to throw it in, and a lot of people were asking about it. 

As usual through conversations I found out what I liked about the objects and why I have been keeping them; they seem to suggest materiality and 'thingness' without actually referencing real-world objects, and I haven't made them so they seem to have been formed rather than made. It's a thoroughly satisfying 'thing'.  

Study VI of 20x20cm Canvas Unpicked and Wrapped, Emulsion, Lukas IV Oil Medium and Pencil on Paper 

These drawings are quite difficult to photograph as they are so pale (better images will be on my website soon). I love them though. Maybe I shouldn't say that about my own work, but particularly with the drawings of 20x20cm Canvas Unpicked and Wrapped, I love making them and they are exactly the kind of drawings I think are very beautiful; quite subtle and pale and not really of anything commonly recognisable.

Stitched Chip from Unmade/Remade I (I), Canvas and Paper

I enjoyed watching people's reactions to the work. For some people its just not their thing, and they walk in and straight out, which is fair enough. Other people laugh and you can see they think it is a load of crap (even though they try to pretend otherwise!) which again is completely fair. Then there are a few people who take the time to look, figure out what is going on and either chat amongst themselves or to me. I only make for myself really but it is really gratifying to have conversations with strangers who are excited, interested and completely understand what you're trying to do.