THE BLACK SERIES: 16 – 18 July 2 - 6pm Opening Friday 16th 6pm onwards Südbalkon gallery, Hamburg, Germany www.südbalkon.org
I experienced technical problems and was unable to document the entire show - hopefully Paul will send them from rainy Jamaica. You may have noticed (from the original map of space) that there is a new addition... a kind of bump that appeared for the show. I thought it could be a sort of heterotopia, Paul might disagree with me though...
untitled_Wall Hill_blackstar series 2009 from Paul Jones on Vimeo.
Black star (detail) 2010 Paul Jones
Intuition cuts in when one has to make something urgently. I can’t talk for anyone else here – we all have our own ways of doing things… I never really manage to do all the thinking research and making in the same sitting. It’s more like cycles for me, times when I can’t make, I read or look at someone else’s work. But when I want to make my own, I can’t look elsewhere for months!
So working earnestly towards this show I was very much in the state described above. In some ways I wonder whether it’s a failsafe to stop criticism and doubt from creeping in - disrupting my resolve. It doesn’t make one open to in-depth critique though... Mainly I like to watch people navigate the work spatially, but the few conversations I had were useful.
Black Star 2010 (Background) Untitled Black series (foreground)
I had less preciousness about the situation; the space had its own ethos. Because it had music nights and so forth, there were many coloured lights - we didn't change them. As darkness fell we were plunged into a strange twilight, it felt rather comfortable. We spent most of the night there, some how it was like keeping the work company or maybe it was the other way around...
going the distance @ 3am
hot inside John BockWe had a pa system at our disposal… now I can string up a regular domestic stack job – but this was serious soundman stuff. I love music and looked forward to attaching my ipod. First problem was where to put it? It was a substantial bit of kit, we spent about an hour (well it felt like it) trying to find a place that wouldn’t interfere with the show. We didn’t succeed, in the end we built a false wall to hide it.
I made a box of my own, people needed to see what I was seeing. The real depth of the image only works in the flesh. I’ve been taking photos for some time, but photography is expensive. Light boxes are expensive too, but I think better value - plus it’s a bit more hands on. I had a great time finishing the metal box – although I’m sure nobody noticed my (anal) wet n dry job. I put a German (black rubber) plug on – which tucked in rather nicely to a handsome three way circular socket. The box sat comfortably at the end of the wood panel/glazed corridor and was the first object visitors encountered in the exhibition.
The space consisted of two rooms (the second not on this map) a corridor and a bridge. Our hosts were really generous and accommodating, especially Tilo who stayed up (virtually all night) during the installation. We were making an exhibition, but really if felt more like a marathon - not in a stressful way. In fact there was a certain level of ease about the situation, which made it fun. The Sübalkon group are serious about what they’re doing, (they invest a great deal of time, effort as well as money into the project) but because of the mix of people there isn’t the preciousness about status as a visual arts space. That stiff professionalism wasn’t around – I found this rather refreshing and empowering…
The thinking around the earlier drawings corresponds with something ‘singular’, whereas the new drawings start to consider each mark as a component - now I’m considering each drawing as a ‘multiplicity’ - like I said its a bit fresh, I'm not ready to put those out just yet…
Untitled black series 'Corridor' exhibition 2009
So I'm gonna show something I made a little earlier ‘Blue Peter’ stylie. I’ve shown them before, but it’s a good opportunity to experiment with the installation – if I don’t show them, what the heck will happen to them? I’ve already thrown a bunch of stuff in the Artbin… As you get longer in the tooth at this game, you realise that an exhibition mainly proves that what you do exists. Even in that crazy oversized construction (the Artbin) all that work proved its existence, even if each artwork lost its separate identity in becoming one big monument/artwork. I'm not entirely convinced though that the exercise represented failure in the end...
Amanda
How to start and where… it’s been a rather intense period with my family and the heat. Its hurricane season and its extreme; hot hot sun, ridiculous humidity or torrential rain. St Lucia is a place where physicality and emotion seem to rule – well certainly in my case. Its a contrast to London, and to this thing I’m doing called art. It seems very cold right now (certainly in my studio) and complicated. I always get the impression after a holiday that life could be much simpler - its a state of mind init?
But things are not so simple in St Lucia despite the tag-line...
My trip to St Lucia was mainly about my family. To somehow find out more about my (long passed) mother’s side, maybe to collect a picture or two, and talk to my grandfather a man in his 90’s. I did what I intended (and a bit more) and somehow I’m trying to process it, in the meantime I’ve got to get on with this show – I’ve got two weeks.
