shardcore » MASS

MASS in the Tin Drum

shardcore — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:52:22 +0000

Sam and I have installed some of the paintings from MASS into the Tin Drum, in Kemptown, Brighton. It’s interesting to see how well [or not] they work in a different space, and hopefully a few more Brightonians will get to enjoy them.

Aleister Crowley (2008)

shardcore — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:48:24 +0000

After the intensive period of painting activity leading up to MASS I took a break away from the canvas for a few days. However, I couldn’t keep away for long, and ended up painting ‘the beast’ himself, the occultist Aleister Crowley. I’ve never had much personal interest in magick, however I find the life of Crowley fascinating. Imagine becoming a tabloid hate figure in the early part of the 20th Century, when he was declared “The Wickedest Man in the World”. His behaviour was completely at odds with the reserve of post-Victorian Britain, and he evidently relished the fear and scandal that he was able to inspire, purely through his writings and the mysteries of his philosophy.

The painting features his most famous aphorism: “Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law”. Update My friend centrifuge tells me that Crowley ‘lifted’ the phrase from French Renaissance writer Rabelais.

I’ve given him some twinkling red eyes which looked positively delightful when set amongst the rest of the MASS congregation. You can see them in action at the end of the timelapse recording below.

Final MASS

shardcore — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:23:25 +0000

It was with a heavy heart that we said goodbye to our congregation of paintings after the last MASS. However Mike was on hand to entertain and illuminate us with his words.

First, a somewhat shambolic rendition of ‘All you need is Love’ by the Beatles:

Then, the sermon itself:

Iain (2008)

shardcore — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:14:41 +0000

Painted for MASS – this is a portrait of my good friend, film-maker and photographer, Iain Gaffney. As usual, acrylic on canvas, but with added ‘found objects’ embellishing the super-8 camera on his lap.

‘Things can only get better’ – Michael James Parker at MASS 17.05.08

shardcore — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:43:01 +0000

Of course we sang. How can you have access to a pipe organ and not have a sing-a-long? Last weekend we enjoyed the anthem to ‘New Labour’ – ‘Things can only get better’ by D:Ream. Michael James Parker performs with the congregation.

Michael James Parker at MASS

shardcore — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:02:38 +0000

Poet Michael James Parker gave another stirring sermon to the masses this week.

MASS Private View

shardcore — Sun, 04 May 2008 17:24:55 +0000

Thursday 1st of May saw an array of paintings arrive at my house, many of which were still wet – however we managed to install them all in the church and prepare ourselves for the Private View. In total MASS has 58 canvases by 27 artists – a complete congregation. We bought some wine and invited some friends to celebrate the launch of this unique exhibition, and the highlights can be seen in the video below. We sang songs, accompanied by the church organ, and listened to the words of local poet Michael James Parker.

MASS video

shardcore — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:48:14 +0000

Phew, MASS is installed. We had a fantastic Private View on Thursday, with well over 100 people in attendance – video of the event will be online shortly. In the meantime here’s a re-cut version of the MASS promo, featuring a lot more artwork.

Peter Higgs (2008)

shardcore — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 22:02:26 +0000

A portrait of Peter Higgs of ‘Higgs Boson’ fame. The Higgs boson is a (currently) hypothetical elementary particle, which, should it exist, explains how the universe gets its mass. It has been referred to as ‘The God Particle’ since it nicely ties up a lot of loose ends in quantum physics. No one has yet recorded the presence of a Higgs boson, though it is hoped the new Large Hadron Collider at CERN will be powerful enough to reveal one.

acrylic on canvas 762mm x 1062mm

The Higgs boson is a quantum component of a Higgs field – it suggests that even in a complete vacuum there’s still something ‘going on in the background’ and this stuff acts like a viscous liquid, dragging on all the other particles which gives them mass. My friend Sacha suggested a nice simile: “i remember someone explaining the hypothetical boson as a pretty girl trying to walk through a party – everyone keeps attaching themselves to her slowing her progress.”.

Peter Higgs first postulated the idea in 1964, and at once recognised it as ‘the idea of a lifetime’. However having the idea and proving it’s true via experiment is always tricky in the world of Physics. As with all things sub-atomic you never really catch a boson, you merely infer its presence by smashing some atoms together very hard and watching the interaction of the resulting particles. Maybe 2008 is the year we finally get to ‘see’ one.

Quantum Physics deals with particles too small to comprehend, doing things which make no sense – at least in terms of our common sense experience of the world. Which, to me, is what makes explanations of the quantum realm feel like magic – without something that I can reference back to my own experience and expectations, it all becomes mysterious. There is a sense of wonder and incomprehension which comes from seeing a great piece of sleight of hand, and the I get same sort of sensation when trying to rationalize particle physics with my intuitive understanding of the universe.

With these thoughts in mind I’ve painted Professor Higgs performing a conjuring trick, producing the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen from thin air. It’s not so much a painting of a boson, as a painting of the idea of a boson – a smorgasbord of scintillations.

You can of course see the painting in person when it is presented as part of MASS next week.

Below is a timelapse recording of the painting.

This is only the second time I’ve painted a living subject without having met them, the other of course being John Lydon. I trust that should Professor Higgs stumble across this page he’ll let me know what he thinks…

This is not an Exit (2008)

shardcore — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:41:30 +0000

I have rather a back-log of paintings and videos to post, MASS is taking up all my time. This first one is a bit of a departure from my usual style, but I present it in the spirit of aesthetic experimentation none-the-less. Based on ‘The Kiss’ by Rodin, this piece is in three distinct tones, two of silver and one of black. The title and text refer to American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. The cold black hole between the indistinct faces of the two lovers echoes the black hole in the mind of Patrick Bateman, where his sexual encounters inevitably result in death.

acrylic on canvas 762mm x 1062mm