The Will To Live: Art and the Zeitgeist

 Arty Zeitgeist: Its not what you say it's how you say it

Fergus Drennan at Road Kill The Last Supper

ECO WARRIOR ( WE ARE WOMBLES )

The Show Begins and...

Road Kill ( In The Belly Of The Beast )



Road Kill Invitation and Repose

Road Kill The Last Supper

Road Kill The Last Supper has its say, from the 5 -17 April

Centrespace Gallery
6 Leonard Lane,
Bristol, BS1 1EA

http://www.centrespacegallery.com

Jiang Rong: The hour of the wolf and who's eating who?

Anything which describes the stupidity inherent to ignoring environmental issues should be encouraged and Jaing Rong has written something special.   Read it for yourself and just remember the fate of the Yellow River Dolphin, lest we forget.   There is no excuse for turning a blind eye and if possible less of an excuse for not taking responsibility for our actions.

Road Kill The Last Supper opens the 5th of April at Centrespace, Bristol   

Prema, It all starts with an idea ( Who is the road kill now? )

One of the most beautiful experiences of hanging an exhibition is developing a closer relationship with each of the pieces.  It is as if they themselves are regarding the spectacle of the artist facing their innermost reaches.  Insecurities, hopes, aspirations and despairs they find voice in the reaction of the arena to the presence of each piece.  And as part of this arena, the scrutiny of the public is the most exciting factor for without it the artist has no voice and no choice but to reflect on their own agenda, their journey.   When people choose to view and engage and make their own decisions, that's when the magic happens. 

Prema: and a few things on the way

Currently I'm working on my Exhibitions for Prema Arts 23rd Feb to the 5th April.

You can contact Prema by ringing the Office on 01453 860703.

Our general email address is info@prema.demon.co.uk

Prema
South Street,
Uley
Gloucestershire
GL11 5SS

And: Sabre Arts in the much loved but flood effected Gloucester.

Sabre Art Studio-Gallery© THE GLOUCESTER GALLERY
Unit 32, Sabre Close, Quedgeley, Gloucester GL2 4NZ Tel:- 01452 397479

MARCH  6th – 23rd - ‘PRELUDE’ at Sabre Art Gallery

Open each Thursday – SUNDAY 10am – 5pm.
http://www.sabreart.co.uk/

Adam Morrigan: a bit about me!

Born Swindon Wiltshire 2nd April 1969 Father an artist sculptor and Mother a nurse.
Education:
I am self educated in the processes I now employ, however, education is fundamental to the understanding of my art, its process, and technique.  Critique is welcomed. I have attended many courses in Art processes, my earliest endeavors as an Artist started with my working as a Life model which lead to a course in Ceramics at Stroud Art College. This fueled my already established interest in the Art Process as a means of expression and I decided to travel and escape my locale. I became homeless, traveling the length and breadth of the country at a time when the New Age Traveller scene was still active and enjoying a vibrant and creative social environment. I became part of a London based Squatting scene, ( posse ) taking over dwellings left empty, doing them up, being evicted, and moving on, always leaving them in better condition than we found them in, with a number of installations and sculptures in place from the junk we found. This was a collective Art process, creating a better environment to live in, at a time when civil liberties were being reduced with the advent of the Council Tax and Criminal Justice Act, and homelessness was rife. I worked for agencies carrying out various roles, from school Janitor to civil servant, meeting a vast range of different peoples and cultures. I decided to travel abroad and spent many months out of the country experiencing life on a shoe string, as usual, and the inspiring Arts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the America’s enriched my understanding. I became more and more interested in the indigenous arts culture of each people I came into contact with. The Art process at its most pure form, giving reference to the spiritual nature of all things and the transition of matter through the process of living with intimate engagement. This process transforms matter into new life. This interest has shaped my awareness, and as a result my Art process. The following 14 years of research including, education in the fields of sociology, politics, economics, and shamanic exploration have now placed me in a position as Artisan and Artist. For the past three of these years, I teach Leather-work for an educational trust. Engaging fully with the process, from its most pure form, in it’s indigenous roots, too it most poignant and alienated processes, where the hide ( Animal ) receives no developed contact other than machine processing. It is this understanding that has lead directly to my confrontational process using non industrialized methods, to show the separateness we face in an intensively rationalized society. Ultimately this is a reflection on our received helplessness and codependent relationships, which ultimately leads to unhappiness. Art is not about what we make, but what we become by making it. I am deliberately exploring this deprivation of connection to the intimate, because these processes are necessary for living, and it stimulates a reaction to that, which would have been very familiar to our ancestors. History plays a very important part of this understanding, post industrial and pre-industrial, in fact back to the very cave itself. This understanding is inspired by the works of many different cultures, artists and essayists,  Monet, William Morris, and John Ruskin are but a few and I continue to add more to the list every day.
I continue to involve myself in community lead projects, building super large puppets for use in carnival and running workshops for various age ranges, exploring the nature of creativity in relation to my process, enabling participants to explore their own.
Key word: Enjoy.

JK Rawlings writes her prose on Velum parchment in The Tales of Beadle the Bard

As an Artist, I applaud JK Rawlings production of her manuscripts 'The Tales of Beadle the Bard'. To me they are her conscious reflection of our need as people, to be responsible for our actions, and in this light be able to make a difference. The proceeds of her sales, going to charity for example. I also felt whilst reading The Harry Potter books to my children, Albus Dumbledore was and is, an excellent role model. Kind, intelligent, compassionate, far thinking, wise and I am sure he would have made his boyfriend/husband very happy.

However I need to clear something up. Radio 4 described Velum as paper in a interview with the author, which is wrong. I believe we are responsible for the materials we use, the impact this has on the environment, and the animals in our care.

Calligraphers are aware of the finesse necessary for their craft, and they are also aware of the materials needed for the finest of finishes. Velum is a prime parchment and the finest is produced from the tract of skin which follows the path of the spine, from the head to tail, of a new born, or in some cases still born calf. This product is referred to as slunk or slunk-skin and is not a paper, as Radio 4 would have us believe, but a prepared animal skin, or parchment. Here is the science bit. Paper is produced by the pulping of vegetable fibres comprised of cellulose, the primary structural component of green plants, not collagenous*, elastic and reticular fibres, formed from a cell layer, called the basal lamina and found in only one source - living or dead animals. Radio 4 found this distinction hard to bear and has referred to Velum as Paper which is incorrect.

It take less energy to produce parchment than paper and considering we incinerate a vast majority of hide produced in this country, and the current Global issues we face with climate change, it seems wise for us to review the way we use our resources. Trees lock in carbon, burning releases it, hides can be composted or eaten, you do the the math and ask the question which would be the better choice.



* ( Collagen, commonly used in cosmetic surgery is produced by boiling up cow or other hides. )

Self taught and the inner city Tales of Lawrence Hoo

Centre-Space Gallery Bristol. Go and see it... Lawrence has in my view achieved a great work of understanding, challenging consensus opinion of those considered responsible for the abolition of the slave trade. Lawrence puts the real history of uprising and consistent struggle for freedom against tremendous and barbaric odds, firmly in the hands and minds of the people taken and forced into labour, for unscrupulous economic interest. It is this kind of Art action, that Lawrence has taken, which provides a positive, conscious and objective history, enriching my understanding of what can be considered as shameful period in our history, and the far from glorious British empire.

http://www.innercitytales.com/

Road Kill ( Messiah ) Hand made, and for sale: by appointment only...

Roe Deer bark tanned leather, Olive oil, Linnen.

The Messiah came speaking clearly to the people, of a need to change perception, remember you are a part of every-thing.

Mappe Mundi: the ideal, and our cross cultural crisis...

Road Kill ( Mappe Mundi )

Mallards, Copper, Linen, Pinewood, Sinew
Two Mallard ducklings one male, one female, sewn together.
Rawhide, passing light shows the detail. ( No detail is too small. )
A belief in manifest destiny has been responsible for many atrocities, and the ideal of denigrating one belief, or people, over another especially, has caused immense harm and disassociation from our intrinsic relationship with the natural world.
Historically, the Mappa Mundi, held in Hereford Cathedral, is an 11th century document used to prove a point - justifying the Christian belief system. It is my belief, its ideal, led directly to the crusades, the inquisition and other notable atrocities in the history of the Church, including the decimation of indigenous cultures and their belief systems.


Road Kill ( Mappe Mundi ) is a subsequent reflection of our current state of cross cultural crisis and points to our need to re-learn the importance of our natural wealth.

Road Kill Requiem (I walked out one Sunday morning).

List of the dead, and ode to the dying.
One Badger, female.
One Fox, male.
One Roe Deer, male.
One Wood-Rat, female.
One Hedgehog, unknowable.
One Rabbit, unknowable.
6 killed in hit and run...
I walked out one sunday morning.
Road Kill Requiem.
Lest we forget.

Artists as the last makers in an Industrial Globalised Society

Because of the intimate nature of my work, its content and beauty, the 'Prelude Exhibition' has brought many valuable experiences not only to myself, but also to those who came to take a look. Many people experienced positive emotional responses, being affected deeply by the intention of the pieces, and their ascetic. It has affirmed my intention to take these works out to the people because, I believe it helps us to experience our own sense of alienation from the means of production, and the real dangers we face because of this. Artists are indeed becoming the last makers. My own evolution from artisan to artist, is born of the understanding you can get it cheaper in China (I use China as an example of economically exploited economies in the current trend in Globalisation) and the real consequences of this. The resulting death of intimate connexions with the process of making, and expressing. A tragic example of the "You can get it cheaper in China" attitude to commerce, is that it has led directly to the extinction of the Yellow River Dolphin. A tragic loss for the Earth. The dolphin is not alone. The extinction of the Yellow River Dolphin has been attributed to western need for cheap goods by the Chinese government.

No doubt many question my motivation, but it is very simple. We have an obligation to grow up and take responsibility for our activities. Losing face is meaningless, for we borrow the Earth from our children. John Berger in his book, Ways of Seeing, page 1. states "Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak." But I know we can take this much further, for before we can speak, or hear, or see, we can touch.

Why is my work so expensive? I want to make a difference and once considered my self as valueless. I do not anymore and believe in the integrity and value of each individual piece, its messege, and poignancy to our age.

I want to exhibit my work.

Why I'm not like Damien Hurst.

Factory processes in Art as in all other arena’s of life are crippling because they are intrinsically and notoriously deskilling:
Henry Ford’s famous quote being a fine example, “You can have any colour as long as it’s black.”

I believe classical artists such as Leonardo da Vinci believed in apprentices as a form of skilled specialisation, as a route to becoming a “Master” in a chosen field, as many of the Guild systems.

I think we are maybe missing the point of an apprenticeship, a term I have heard used in association with particular practises in art at present. Then again I am also aware that many, though not all, actively and effectively employ nepotism as a means of furthering their career. In this singular light, maybe we are all guilty by association.

We live in an Globalised Industrial age... why shouldn’t we? Good question. We have, as I have suggested earlier, made a bit of a mess of things, and as such we have a choice. There are other more intimate methods of preservation and production, older, and what is more cleaner, enriching, sustainable and far more importantly enskilling. So that the means of production are very much in the hands, eyes and hearts of the reskilled.

"The highest reward for man's ( or Woman's ) toil is not what he ( She ) gets for it, but what he ( She ) becomes by it." John Ruskin English critic, essayist, & reformer (1819 - 1900)



John Ruskin explored this and his work considers itself as a devotion to nature through observation. Ruskin as many other of his contemporaries believed the division of labor as the main cause of the unhappiness of the poor and he discussed this in his book Unto This Last; published 1862, taken from his original essays for the Cornhill Magazine published 1860.

I would take this a step further and say that it is also a cause of unhapiness in the wealthy or rich because they to are also alienated from the means of production, often turning to alternative methods to ease their bordom. It either leads to rehab, the gutter or clutter.

We have a choice.

Aleination it's a bit of a problem.

Oh and by the way I like what he does but thats not to say that I understand it fully because I've not had the opportunity of a good chat.

Prelude

All these pieces contain naturally processed forms which without exception bare in mind the simple premise of working with respect. The processes I use are indigenous in origin and therefore proven to be environmentally benign. However they are not entered into lightly and my understanding comes from the knowledge of what it costs to ‘produce’. All hides I have used are a product of human consumption and demand, be it from road traffic accidents or the meat and dairy industry.
My premiss is that all synthetic and processed materials have a relative cost and we as adults make conscious decisions regarding the materials we use. Often these decisions are made without a true ‘full’ understanding and therefore, due to this fundamental flaw, without our true consent.
I entered into making these pieces to highlight the plight of many of the animals under our care and stewardship and believe we have a duty of care to protect and sustain the natural spaces still remaining, before we ruin them by exhausting them completely.
The real truth: “It is easy to turn a blind eye.”


My goal is to highlight our need as a people to remember that we are but one aspect of the planet.
This is seemingly very difficult for all of us to hear. The reality is that we need to wake up and to take responsibility for our lives.

The simple truth: one planet, one people.


We have the choice to avoid the Richard Fleischer 70’s film classic ‘Soylent Green’ becoming our reality. Put simply the film predicts a break down in society due to a neglect of the environment.
In truth, we live in a vibrant multi cultural society which should be applauded. We too are part of the ecosystem. Variety should be celebrated because, believe it or not whether man or beast, beneath the skin we are all red.
Protection, conservation and education are essential to enable us to understand how we can re-learn to live in a better way, because it seems that at the present moment, we are making a bit of a mess of things.