Hi Ruth Glad you and marc had a good long holiday and a well desrved rest. Lovely video - I like the way you have made your landscape drawings return to the landscape, to become part of the landscape again. And your drawings are great - you're very talented.
Interesting conversation here - I'd like to know more about what Simon is talking about - this "making of a work is when you appreciate it has a life of its own". This is the feeling that I like, and tend to get it when I do stuff on paper, or with physical materials, not so much with computer based drawing. It's the out of body feeling that comes when a work starts to take form. Do you have any links on Bataille and Marcuse, I'd like to know more about this? cheers, dave On 3 May 2011 08:35, Simon Biggs <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Ruth > > Subversive in the sense that an activity is designed to short-circuit or > destablise an established process or set of relationships. For artists this > has to be a daily activity if they are to critically challenge and refresh > their practice. > > Of course this is fraught with contradictions. What happens if subversive > methods become default? Are they still subversive - or are they the status > quo? > > I also used the word transcendent in this context, not in any spiritual > sense (let's be clear, I'm a materialist) but to suggest activities that go > beyond what we are familiar with, practices intended to shift the frameworks > we work within. > > But perhaps the best word that encapsulates all this, and which I should > have used at the start, is transgression. This might imply social > transgression but my focus here is on transgressing one's own conventions > and beliefs in order to challenge yourself. > > So, whilst I agree with you that drawing is about more than just "looking" I > would still argue that it is often by doing something extreme, that breaks > with what you normally do, that change is made. In our lives we all carry so > much baggage and are so adapted to that we are not aware of it most of the > time. Recognising what we carry with us is the first step in critically > evaluating what is worth the effort and what isn't. > > For me this is what art has always been for. It's an inquiry seeking to > apprehend how things can be, rather than what we think things are. The most > exciting moment in the making of a work is when you appreciate it has a life > of its own - that you are making choices you would not otherwise of > contemplated. > > The writers who were perhaps most eloquent in reflecting on this condition > were Bataille and Marcuse. > > Best > > Simon > > > On 02/05/2011 23:50, "Ruth Catlow" <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Thanks Martha, Simon and Renee for your positive comments, >> >> Simon thanks for the reminder about the value of removing things- very >> true!! >> >> how do you mean- subversive? >> >> : ) >> Ruth >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Simon Biggs <[email protected]> >> To: [email protected], NetBehaviour for networked distributed >> creativity <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] some landscapes >> Date: Mon, 02 May 2011 21:37:51 +0100 >> >> >> Hi Ruth >> >> I agree - except when drawing operates as a transcendent or subversive >> activity. Then you want it to operate on its own (as far as it can). Of >> course, this ideal is not possible but taking things away is as valuable as >> putting things in. >> >> Best >> >> Simon >> >> >> On 02/05/2011 19:21, "Ruth Catlow" <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi Simon, >>> I remember being taught something similar when I was in art school. >>> It was useful- because it instils a discipline of looking. >>> >>> But it shouldn't be definitive. >>> >>> I think that drawing is something that first puts your eyes, hands, >>> imagination, memory, attitudes, emotions, aspirations, and internal >>> streams of consciousness in conversation with each other - and then in >>> conversation with others. >>> >>> : ) >>> Ruth >>> >>> -----Original Message----- >>> From: Simon Biggs <[email protected]> >>> Reply-to: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity >>> <[email protected]> >>> To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity >>> <[email protected]> >>> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] some landscapes >>> Date: Mon, 02 May 2011 19:02:41 +0100 >>> >>> >>> The mantra I ask my 11 year old son to remember is that drawing is something >>> you do with your eyes - and the hand follows. When he takes the time, like a >>> day to do a still life of flowers, he can produce exquisite images. >>> >>> Best >>> >>> Simon >>> >>> >>> On 02/05/2011 18:15, "tom.corby" <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Lovely drawings Ruth. >>>> I started drawing again last year, it's a wonderful process and >>>> inherently discursive as it *forces* you to see the world as a series of >>>> relationships. >>>> >>>> Great stuff. >>>> >>>> On 02/05/2011 12:26, Ruth Catlow wrote: >>>>> Hello neighbours, >>>>> >>>>> Just back from a couple of weeks in the countryside - without an >>>>> Internet connection. >>>>> >>>>> Here I have blogged some drawings, photographs and videos that I made >>>>> while I was there. >>>>> http://www.furtherfield.org/blog/ruth-catlow/landscape-natureculture >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> : ) >>>>> Ruth >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>>> [email protected] >>>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>>> [email protected] >>>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >>> Simon Biggs >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ >>> >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.elmcip.net/ >>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> NetBehaviour mailing list >>> [email protected] >>> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour >> >> >> Simon Biggs >> [email protected] >> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ >> >> [email protected] >> http://www.elmcip.net/ >> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> NetBehaviour mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > > > Simon Biggs > [email protected] > http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ > > [email protected] > http://www.elmcip.net/ > http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ > > > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
