I think Ruth has articulated this better than I could have :)

Best

Simon


On 05/05/2011 10:31, "Ruth Catlow" <[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi Dave and Simon,
> 
> Thanks again for positive vibes: )
> Thanks Simon for expanding.
> 
> What I can't account for is pure excitement of the process of drawing.
> 
> Like you say Dave, drawing or working in any way with physical materials
> produces a thing with "a life of its own" that some how resonates with
> my body in a way that making a digital image doesn't. I think it may be
> because I haven't taken the time to get close enough to the v. complex
> raw materials of the digital image (to manipulate the software,
> hardware, display and so the framing of the image)- I am restricted to
> working with other peoples' emulations of a painting or drawing pallet.
> I used to play the violin and I feel that there is a parallel with the
> difference between electronically produced sound and that produced by
> playing a physical instrument. Not that I need to make a violin before I
> can play it, but with image manipulation software I am using clever
> effects, cleverly created by others. Yes I know... it's a can of worms.
> 
> Where the "liveness" comes back in in digital art for me springs from
> the networked relational, aspect. The way exchanges of ideas, language
> and digital artefacts take root in the lives of our 'neighbours' in the
> context of their lives. While the effects of this are mediated by the
> technology- the most extraordinary effects seem still to arise between
> 'people'. This is electrifying.
> : )
> Ruth
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: dave miller <[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: Tue, 3 May 2011 09:29:28 +0100
> 
> 
> 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
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>>>>> 
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> NetBehaviour mailing list
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>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> Simon Biggs
>>>> [email protected]
>>>> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
>>>> 
>>>> [email protected]
>>>> http://www.elmcip.net/
>>>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> 
>>> 
>>> Simon Biggs
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
>>> 
>>> [email protected]
>>> http://www.elmcip.net/
>>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
>> 
>> Simon Biggs
>> [email protected]
>> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
>> 
>> [email protected]
>> http://www.elmcip.net/
>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
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Simon Biggs
[email protected]
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

[email protected]
http://www.elmcip.net/
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/


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