Jonathan Ouisse – Painter in Budapest was filmed and edited by Berlin based creative, Jacques-André Dupont.

Website | Vimeo

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In the summer that just ended I exhibited at Generator Projects as part of their Summer Programme. I will be writing here about the work and process behind the show. I firstly want to thank Generator Projects for being so supportive and offering me my first solo show.

My stay at Generator Projects was a week residency with an open studio night where I exhibited a series of plywood “Maquettes”. These “Maquettes” framed, hosted, collected or created objects (e.g. a piece of PVA tube or small craft paper rolls), as well as, a suspended acrylic tube with iridescent paper and a circle photograph of a soap bubble. Previous works like Icespace, Collection of cut outs, Spectacular studies and (Show) and the universe raised the main questions I explored in these works.  I will write mainly of Maquettes to be brief.

I refer to them as Maquettes, because structurally (and this is deliberate), they resemble them but in no moment is this their official title. They are like proposals, yet also the “final” (shown) work. The objects inside them are made mainly out of recycled or cheap materials, partly out of an interest to explore the ‘readymade’, but also to keep expenses low and create work that holds hands with my living finance. I consciously work-with-and-state-this, for I feel there is this Great Force that is adored by venues and drives creatives to make each time larger and more ambitious works which are, inevitably, more expensive too. The art world each time with more confidence justifies such expenses and I am weary of its impersonal swelling. All the above, none-the-less is also sometimes sexy and challenging.

My materials are specific leftovers or art materials that caught my attention because they reminded me of something grand. Through main dissection cuts, the Maquettes’ insides are directly exposed and through smaller cuts, windows, cropped views of the hosted objects are created. These windows were made to highlight the specific feature in the object that originally raised my attention. It is here, that the themes of my research (the sublime, spectacular landscapes, celestial bodies, immersive fields, science fiction…) can be most directly noticed. Unlike with Icespace (shown in my degree show), which also created an “image” (wrinkled cellophane that looked like ice) though it’s single aperture; Maquettes are also open, so a notion of the magical is reduced and with it too much imposition from my behalf.

Like with proposals, these works carry temporality and changing facets. In no moment were they registered as final or limited.  I wanted to embrace through them an in-process mentality. They aim to hold no specific future projection or represent fully realistic constructions. What I like of maquettes or blueprints, in general, is their capacity to appear like grandeur before becoming grand and permanent (superior, intimidating, inaccessible).  The latter being something that bores me. They felt like minimalized romance. Where I explored imagery that felt iconic, rich, figurative and atmospheric (the subjects of my research) whilst at the same time presenting and working with banality, simplicity and reduction (my concerns behind the production of art works).

In my proposal to Generator Projects, I insisted that for me it was very important to not only arrive with work, set it up, show it and leave; but to arrive with work, discuss it and present something we had all contributed towards. I wanted to exhibit something I had no possible way of previously envisaging. This truly happened! I care about the influence of curation and I was happy to see that the exhibition resulted out of its genuine questioning, doubting, and not from pretend or recycled caring.

All the Maquettes required specific lighting to lift the hosted objects to that realm where they became part of a constructed mini environment. Leading up to the open studio night, private view, after trying various mechanisms that felt all wrong; we all had a small moment of panic. We knew that the awkwardness of our proposed solutions (ultra complicated ideas) compromised the simplicity of the Maquettes. Still, Generator Project’s members were so kind and calm, that I felt no pressure to make rush decisions. I went to bed and woke up thinking: “If I truly want this show to be the result of my work in dialogue and alignment with the space, I should work with what I have. I am not going to build any extra lighting, that’s crazy and expensive; I am going to place the plinths with their works where they get their exact lighting. All this, using only the lights already installed in the space.” We moved all the work over and over again until each one was placed precisely. Chasing reflections and avoiding clumsy shadows we came up with an unpredictable layout. The lights determined the show’s curation, taking a weight off our shoulders, and saving the work from rigid placing. Some were tightly close to each other, some isolated, space was ‘wasted’ by leaving empty gaps, and a show I know I could now never reproduce came about.

In the following days, I spent my time documenting the work under the same mentality with which it had been installed. Aligning the camera frame with the angles of the works and the room, cropping the works again and again like the windows did, and approaching the works and the space with similar movements I saw visitors had. I left Dundee with an archive of images that like non-conventional documentation is now a separate work in its own manner. I see them as material that allowed me to have no-finalisation of the works and as the main body of a new project, a publication. I will be working on it with graphic designer Tomas Carlile and Generator Project’s Members.

Where to find out more:
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Alex Boyd with his portable camera, Downpatrick Head, Ireland

For several years now I’ve been working as a photographer specialising in historic processes such as wet-plate collodion. This is one of the earliest ways of making images and was first invented in 1851 by Frederick Scott Archer.

Den Bruiste Sea Stack, County Mayo, Ireland

This process has the slight downfall that it requires you take your studio with you, with enough chemicals, supplies, water and materials to make images wherever you are working.

Alex’s portable studio

It currently takes a car to move my studio from one location to another, with little room left once the camera and my darkbox are packed alongside me. If I’m working inside, in a dedicated studio space, or an improvised one such as the vaults of Stirling Castle, then making images is fairly straightforward, as long as there is an ample supply of light and water, and the chemicals such as silver nitrate are behaving themselves.

Inside the darkbox, portrait on tintype

Louise Boyd

Working outside in the landscape however brings a whole new set of challenges, difficulties and frustrations, however it is probably where I most enjoy working with this process. Setting up my portable darkroom, in effect a large wooden box in which I can work in the field, I need to contend with high winds, rain, snow and intense heat and in the case of a residency on the Atlantic coast of Ireland I undertook earlier this year, all of these within a matter of hours. Difficult locations also mean that you have to drag all the gear to where you want to make images, sometimes a back-breaking and laborious task.

Alex’s studio, WW2 bunker, Downpatrick Head, County Mayo, Ireland

Scottish artist Hugh Loney

To date I’ve worked across Ireland, Scotland and England with my darkbox, everywhere from Rannoch Moor up in the Highlands, to the ruins of several Second World War clifftop bunkers in County Mayo in Ireland. Working in this way allows me to completely immerse myself in each location, due to the slow and methodical approach to image making, with each plate taking 15 minutes from the moment I pour collodion on the glass, to the final development using potassium cyanide.

Darkbox, camera and chemicals in studio

I’ve been asked many times why I persevere with collodion photography, especially given the difficulties in producing images using chemicals and the need to bring so much equipment with me. The answer is a straightforward one – it perfectly complements the way I make images. I found that with film and digital my approach was slowing down and becoming more contemplative, and that I was investing more time into each individual shot. This of course does change with the subject, however for landscapes I would say that my pace at the moment is fairly glacial.

Cashlanicrobin Rock, County Mayo, Ireland

The approach also produces distinct images. Aside from collodion’s unique aesthetic, each image is a moment in time recorded on glass, not just the scene before me, but every flaw and imperfection which goes into making that image. This can range from chemicals producing chaotic and unexpected results, to blades of grass from the side of Loch N-achlaise or midges from Glen Etive trapped forever in the collodion like amber. The corner of every image also contains my fingerprint from where I held it during its creation, a marker which signifies that I was there.

The Old Tree Graveyard, Ballycastle, Ireland

Alex Boyd is currently the RSA Artist in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

Since the beginning of my artistic adventure, i have been extremely excited by the human form.

The idea for my latest project “Weight” comes from my own personal experiences and from my curiosity with how we co-exist with one another.

I began Weight by first setting up for a photo shoot. I already had the idea in my mind so the trick was to try to represent the same ideas through photography first and then create the artwork. Normally i use either myself or my girlfriend for the modelling.

To start it all off, I set the camera to a 10 second timer and just go for it, randomly trying different poses so that I can have more references to choose from later.

When the photo shoot is finished, I upload the pictures onto my computer and begin editing them to the desired shape, size, colour, etc… When I have found the desired picture, I begin to draw. Weight is drawn on 5mm Plywood.

This is the first time that I have drawn on Plywood so it is very exciting. The surface of plywood is very soft and smooth so the pencils take very well to it.

Using my computer helps me to achieve the extreme lights and dark’s that are so dominant in my work. I use the photograph only as a reference for the line drawing and the overall structure. As the piece progresses, I allow myself the freedom to change, distort and go crazy on it so that it is not a complete replicate of the photo.

I admire Photo realism and the skill involved but for me i feel i could just as easily be looking at a photoshop picture. Realism for me has to be precise but still keep the look and feel of an artwork. I like to see that it has been painted or drawn by somebody, not something.

Here is a video of the complete making of “Weight” part 1 here.

Enjoy my artwork and remember to keep drawing as much as possible!

Little bit more about ‘Weight’

Weight is a two piece project that is drawn and painted on 5mm Plywood with Arcylic and Coloured Pencils.

Weight as a term, refers to the amount, quantity, mass or heaviness of any given object that puts pressure on another object. When translating this metaphorically into the relationship between a man and a woman, it is as though each of them are sitting on their own base plate, trying to balance the weight of each other.

The term “weight” does not describe anything about the delicate substances that our weight is made up of, instead, it gives us the possibility to balance each other’s experiences, outlook on life, ability to learn, acceptance or non-acceptance and our strengths and weaknesses.

I would encourage the viewer to recall their own way of how we balance one another and also their reasons for keeping or not keeping the balance.

You can find more about Glenn and his work on his website & blog.
He’s also on Facebook and Twitter.

As the title suggests, this is a timelapse video of the sort of stuff i do all day. This only comprises the first two hours of my working day as that’s all my little flip can record (and can apparently only record in hour-long chunks too?), condensed down into about thirty seconds.

I probably should’ve set the timelapse with my proper camera to shoot more than one frame a minute too. nevermind, maybe next time.

Interesting? I’ll let you decide

Co:Lab is the collaborative-experimental-screenprint project of Andrew Morrison of New Dead Language – Beto – and Jono Sandilands.

This is Andrew and myself printing our first series in my garage – Each artist drew a layer and passed it on to the next, who worked over the original to produce the top layer. The prints were then screenprinted with semi transparent ink.

For more info see www.colabproject.blogspot.com.

I have been looking at Lynne’s clothing donations and have started to put some drawings together, these are works in progress, to be layered and to grow.

The thing that I am trying to do is embrace a form that is a work in progress, trying not to think about a final garment and just playing with the textures and structures I think are relevant to the information she has given.

The only possible reason for this divergence is that the design process, with it’s characteristic state of flux in relation to human context, has superseded my own preconceptions of what should be done. The logic of human need and the engineering of appropriate response has somehow become a liberating experience, less of a struggle, and more of a journey, with an unknown but fascinating end.

I worked in different roles for each of these projects, but both share a common logic of trying to do what I’m good at in a way that creates value. In the first project, a large joinery contractor who was refurbishing the meeting desks for the Scottish Parliament needed a way of connecting the desks securely, in a way that could be disassembled and reassembled repeatedly. The existing fittings weren’t up the to job, and the last time the desk had been stuck together with NaeNails, the silicone mastic beloved of joiners everywhere. The fittings were never seen, but had to be accurate and strong, and made within a week. These constrictions lead to a 6mm steel plate, CNC punched with holes that used replaceable bolts as location fittings. The finish was oily, the edges rough, the holes accurate in their centres to within 0.1mm, and the client was dead chuffed.

In a sense, it was the constraints of time and cost that helped resolve the design of the fittings, which anecdotally confirms the benefit of constraint. Sometimes, however, these restraints come from other, though equally compelling, directions. Safety was the major factor in the second project, where a jewellery shop sign was initially proposed in water jet cut Travertine, sandwiched between two sheets of toughened glass, and hung on the side of a building.

To have a chunk of stone fall on a client’s head, we all agreed, would be bad for business for everyone, not least the client, so through revision the stone became thinner, changed into stainless steel, became covered in gold leaf, and then finally BECAME gold leaf. The glass became laminated, then acrylic, and finally polycarbonate, bonded together with clear epoxy resin in a sandwich with the gold leaf in between. The project is under construction at the moment, but the sample shows that the concept of holding a precious object captive within a crystalline case has survived this transformation.

Looking at these two images, they are linked more by rigour of approach than by a formal language. I am convinced that the divergent materials are appropriate to their respective contexts, but explaining ‘what I do’ is increasingly difficult, as clients tend to focus on product, rather than process.

Is the blanket application of materials or technique by designers due to a perceived need to present a coherent catalogue of work? And could we address this poverty of ideas by allowing process to take the place of product?

First I create a press release about the show, it details dates, times, venue, info on the artist and the exhibition. I try to keep it short and snappy with important info bold and details in list form so its easy to read. I also attach just 2 or 3 low res images. I try to do this well in advance and send it out to press contacts about 3 months before the show. Some publications have print deadlines way earlier than you’d think. I then send it 1 month before the show, then 1 week before again. Persistance is key! I also call the local press arts editors to make sure they got it and chat to them about the exhibition.

3 weeks before the show I load up the same details onto as many artsy/ creative networking/ community sites as I can and send it out to other arts, creative, and street culture blogs to see if they might like to post it too.

Within the month leading up to the show I put the details on our blog, facebook, central station page, and flickr and we send out an e-flyer to our mailing list too.

My advice is to take every opportunity you get for promotion and to push hard for it. Its hard work and can feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall sometimes but is so worthwhile and pays off in the end.

Hope thats helpful to some folk out there. Good luck promo beavers!!

I remember a discussion years ago with a pre-art school tutor about sudden rushes of blood to the head, and then how in order to make the work more successful it had to be considered and this would bring the refinement.

I wonder though after going through the process, and then in my current employ, having to think on my feet all the time on behalf of others, how much of the process can be from an instant?

Is there value to an idea that you just think of absent mindedly and then can be quickly put together?

I wonder I wa wa wa wonder…

I partly reject it, on the basis that some stuff that comes about quickly is pure pish, but on the other hand some of it can be quite good.

Maybe good art comes about from having a built in filter for whats good and whats shite.

Instant filter.