To all readers of Shouting To Communicate,

Have a great Christmas!

Al Palmer

Willem De Kooning – Excavation

This painting is probably my favourite of all time. I was reading a book on De Kooning early, just felt the need to post this. Sublime.

Teletext came to an end yesterday, taking the mighty Planet Sound with it. I always liked the writing, even when I didn’t like the music. John Earls gave equal help and coverage to established and up-and-coming artists. It’ll be missed.

John Earls has formed a record label, WET Records. Its first release is by The Incredible Flight Of Birdman nd I’m looking forward to hearing it.

I’ve just learned that Larry Sultan died. I’ve long been an admirer of his work, he deals with pretty heavy themes (childhood, belonging, aging parents, suburbia) in fresh and interesting ways. He’s probably best known for Pictures From Home, a series of photographs documenting his parents and their relationships in old age. My favourite work of his is probably The Valley. He documents the sets of porn movies in middle-class houses in California. There’s nothing particularly voyeuristic about these photographs, they are quite matter of fact. There’s also nothing titillating about them, nothing more than the odd buttock or (gasp) naked thigh. Primarily it’s a thoughtful look at the American middle-class dream that these houses are lived in by families and rented to pornographic studios during times of absence, Sultan himself growing up in a similar environment. Bizarrely the actors and crew almost seem like props, little reference tags putting the main subject, the area, into perspective.

Larry Sultan – Tasha’s Third Film (from The Valley)

A truly thoughtful photograph with an individual view of the work. Larry, you’ll be missed.

I keep a little notepad in my smallest camera bag. When I’m out and about I invariably stop for coffee, collect my thoughts and write a little. Any ideas for possible projects or things of interest are listed. I’m at a point now where I have three strong ideas which should occupy me for at least the next year. How do I choose which goes first?

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Shred #7

I’m quite enjoying this work. There’s no aim in mind, just a cohesive bunch of images.

Rinko Kawauchi – Untitled (from Utatane)

The work of Rinko Kawauchi is becoming increasingly important to me, the tenderness and delicacy she uses to document her world fascinates me. She often exhibits her work alongside haikus she has written which is very apt as her work is very poetic.

I first saw the above photograph a few years back and it really grabbed my attention. To this day I can still spend hours looking at it.

I thought I’d show some new work. I’m not totally sure where it’s going, these may just remain as sketches.

Shred #1

Shred #2

Also, I’ve found BBC2’s School Of Saatchi to be quite distasteful – I don’t like art being a horserace. Especially when put into this X-Factor style format. It’s quite a shame as the show does have it’s  good points. Matthew Collings and Kate Bush always have interesting and constructive points to make.  The work of Suki Chan is by far my favourite. Really subtle and poetic. She’d be a deserving winner. I’d seen some of her work at the Chinese Art Centre in Manchester a few years ago, I remember liking it but then forgot who it was by. Revisiting it has been a very pleasant surprise!

Last month I went to see the Gerhard Richter retrospective at MIMA in Middlesborough. Richter is my favourite artist, the benchmark I judge other contemporary artists by, and Middlesborough is only an hour on the train from me.

There were four rooms housing his work. The first room contains Richter’s Corner Paintings. There’s something quite disconcerting about the focus of the room being in the corners. It cuts the viewer off rom the rest of the room, shrinking the viewing space down.

Gerhard Richter – Eckspiegel, Braun-Blau (Corner Mirror, Brown-Blue) 1991

The second room is composed solely of Two Sculptures for a Room by Palermo which is two sculptures of Richter and Blinky Palmero by the artists themselves. The sculptures are situated on plinths and are facing each other so seem to be ’staring’ at each other. The locked gaze creates tension between the two objects.

Gerhard Richter – Zwei Skulpturen für einem Raum von Palermo (Two Sculptures For A Room By Palermo) 1971

Room three shows several of Richter’s Abstract Paintings which he’s probably best known for (along with his Photo Paintings). These were the first Richter works I ever saw and it’s always pleasant to revisit them. It’s easy to forget the subtlety happening on a large-scale while looking at reproductions of his work. They still have the same impact on me that they did when I was a student.

Gerhard Richter – Abstraktes Bild (Abstract Painting) 1994

The final room contains a selection of Richter’s drawings. The fluency of line he employs is truly spectacular. It also houses some of Richter’s painting of Gilbert & George.

Gerhard Richter – Gilbert, 1975

Gerhard Richter – George, 1975

It goes without saying that I loved this exhibition – it’s a good overview of his work (it’s by no means even close to exhaustive but it would take a much bigger gallery than MIMA to achieve this).  I’d love to see what a bigger gallery, say the BALTIC in Gateshead, could do with his work.

At one the wind rose,
And with it the noise
Of the black poplars.

Long since had the living
By a thin twine
Been led into their dreams
Where lanterns shine
Under a still veil
Of falling streams;
Long since had the dead
Become untroubled
In the light soil.
There were no mouths
To drink of the wind,
Nor any eyes
To sharpen on the stars’
Wide heaven-holding,
Only the sound
Long sibilant-muscled trees
Were lifting up, the black poplars.

And in their blazing solitude
The stars sang in their sockets through
the night:
`Blow bright, blow bright
The coal of this unquickened world.’

Phillip Larkin – Night Music