10.30.2004

Any comments?

I hope people start saying what they feel about what I write and post. There is no sense to keep posting if people don't comment. Maybe an average web page is enough.

"Why chocolate rider?"
I tried to answer this comment the best way possible.
Here is what you can find in one of the comments link:

The driver is the one who drives the car. The one who is in the back of the horse. A horse with the back “one meter” long. Similar phonetics to the world “grinder”, the rider shows the way to the machine and falls in love with the process of finding the way. Alcohol is something the rider can Not drink. I couldn't be the driver today. But I'm happy I can be the drive 29 days out of 30 (or 31). I love thinking about all the travelling I've done driving a car. I remember every minute I was driven by the train driver. But the car is the beauty Descartes described as being the world itself in the encyclopaedia he wrote based on his method. Isn't it beautiful that the car is taking the place of the work of art in a similar way the cereal box is? The car is paid and wished for. The cereal box is looked at. The car is looked after. The cereal box consumed. The work of art had it all but we lost it in the process of becoming the super man. The man that after all is just a cell belonging to a larger being we call democracy. I love democracy but I can't love the majority of the population that buy and consume themselves in the process of trying to be someone...

My friend Roberto has been given a clean bill of health. It's a relief for us all. Life is great! Posted by Hello

The entrance... This is the stairway to the kindom of sound! Posted by Hello

The DJ ruled the party in 24 Lower Hollyhead road... Posted by Hello

This is just a distortion of reality. This was the red room. But it's always good to take a picture with flash! Posted by Hello

Guys having a drink. The atmosphere was great. This basement will become a studio in no time. More parties will come. But those will have paintings around.  Posted by Hello

Paul. He is always helping people feeling better. Just a great friend I met in the house where I live. Posted by Hello

Nef in the basement... Brad's party... Free drinks... (this photo was'nt changed in photoshop). James Joyce would see it in a similar way if he was old enough.
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10.28.2004

Duchamp and Dossantos

I want to do my dissertation on Duchamp not only because he is a big influence in my studio practice, a stimulating artist, but also because there is some danger and randomness growing around any work on him. Ian Hays, my tutor, is absolutely passionate about the readymades, the large glass, his writings and other works. Above all things, he loves connecting him with literature like Joyce... I would love to imagine how he would adapt to the recent technology by analyzing the artists he influenced in the XXth century. My work wouldn't be about chance and accident which were kind of always present when artists started getting some input on him. It would be about influence. A topic that always worried me. The influence of Duchamp in the art world.
Let’s start with the thinking activity. I'm ready now. My writing skills are degrading because it's 7 in the morning but my instincts are fighting the unknown with wishes, dreams and random thought. The fluid goes down my spine and embraces a 9 centimetre trip on my bone marrow. "Little people" crawl over the desk. "I can see [little] dead people"! They want to kill me but I still like the way they talk.

This was the first sketch I did about the reactive semitransparent boxes. The idea will be explained in detail in the near future.
 Posted by Hello

About a performance

I was walking around town looking for a place to eat and this religious preacher starts yelling at people with a Bible on his hand. Comments were unavoidable. Craig, one of my mates said it would be nice to have him as a performer in the exhibition we are planning to do in Birmingham. But he didn’t mean it for real... He wasn’t willing to talk to the “voice of Christ” and ask him for a contact. So I did it. When I approached him he stopped yelling and listened. I asked for his card and he gave me his phone number, his name (Rashid) and his address. I asked if he was interested to do what he was doing in a gallery or a museum. To be honest I wasn’t expecting the answer I got from him: Yes, of course, it’s a call from God so I just have to answer. I am happy, he is happy with it, everyone gets what they want. Thom disagreed. He wondered if I wasn’t exploring the guy’s image. He asked me if I didn’t feel uncomfortable by doing that to him and religion. I’m not. I dislike most religions and I’m not going to put a label on the guy saying that you aren’t supposed to respect him. So I think we got a performance that will hopefully be unexpected. But will people listen to the poor man? Will anyone laugh? What matters to me is that we found it on the street and we are showing it just as we found the performance. To be honest it is quite similar to what happens with the sculptures we build with objects we collect from the skip (I’ll get some images of those in the next few days and post them here). Maybe I’ll explain to Rashid all these problems one day…

P.S. The close pathway installation was 100% skip art as you can tell from the rough look it has…

One note on COCO POPS

If coco pops were sold with that name in Portugal they would be known by every child as the Poo Pops. Because coco means poo. These cereals are named Choco Pops in Portugal.

Is Pop art coming back? Not again please...

Have you ever looked to a work of art in the same way you do to a cereal box almost every day? Why? I am planning to put some cereal boxes modified in Photoshop inside my draws...
 Posted by Hello

10.26.2004

More written posts in the evening...

Tomorrow I’ll write you something about what is happening to me and my objects. The night is getting way too long. My eyes are closing... I just hope people will give some more feedback with some more comments. Portuguese or English, it just doesn’t matter to me... Next weekend my web page will probably be ready. I’ll keep you posted.

Pessoal contem aí notícias de Portugal... é que já nã há tempo para correr a internet à procura.
->just asking for some Portuguese news to my friends.


My chocolate rider is under construction. It will react to your presence (I hope).
 Posted by Hello

Meet my future bride... Is she just gorgeous?
 Posted by Hello

This installation I did is NOT the kind of thing I want to build this year. The sing says it all!
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One tired brain

I'm collapsing. I'm not in pain because I don't feel a thing. The Bride undresses in white and asks me to take off her bra. Because of that I become this interactive chocolate rider. The glass will give me the perfect media to deliver the message - the cereal box. Witt comes and spits in the air. Where is it going to fall? Maybe in a touring group exhibition. Maybe in a talk about Skip Art. What? Excuse me... Yup: Skip Art. Give people what they put away. Build with the only thing free around. Make your ideas flow to the other side. Change the question everyone is asking. Give the thinkers a different angle on anti-art. Put it away. Dream with the love you lost while you were awake. Show the world you are better than that...

This is my ancestral friend Roberto Barbosa. This post is about him because he is family (a mix between my brother and second father) and also because he is the one responsible for the most beautiful photos I have in this blog. His artistic portfolio touches my sensibility as deep as it gets. It’s a pity I don’t have those in my laptop or I would show you what I mean. The family pictures he takes are just too good to stay in the album. Just like the one I posted with my father and me. His images gave me my memories back and the chance to remember the great days I had when I was taking a bath in the green big “Alguidar”. He lives for and through pleasure and teaches photography in two universities in Lisbon. He is loved by everyone he meets. He goes to FabriCa every July and shares the most perfect holidays with the other 10 of us. Poetry will never be enough for him. Only a great dinner with friends and lots of Portuguese wine will meet his desires. After that everyone goes outside to watch the Milky Way in a warm night remembering his glorious days of Cabo Verde and trying to guess if the waves will be big enough for us to play in the next day. He is the artist I would love to exhibit with. I just feel I need to improve a bit before that... When I'm ready I'll ask him to do it in Tavira. Roberto will always be the dreaming passionate love he shows every single day to everyone. I'm sorry I couldn't write this in Portuguese but I want all my friends to understand. E que ganhe o Benfica! Que as Solteiras nos esperem em Julho perto do nosso monte alaranjado e que as conquilhas seguidas do nosso polvo nunca nos deixem à espera na mesa porque a sangria de espumante não dura sempre... Um obrigado lá de dentro pela força toda, pelos ensinamentos e por seres o Bob.
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10.25.2004

Squares and Boxes

The past was green the future is transparent. I’m becoming a box. React. Fight. Admit you are one too. Box me.

Stressful bums and tums making the desire of the eternal bachelor come to the best place possible. Wheels of lights drumming and bossing on the free tone of the XXI thing after Jesus Christ (it’s so easy not to). Cigarette? My sister will ask me to watch my language. I’m looking at it (or her in Portuguese because language has gender, as everything else). False gargoyle chases the notes and the books I never did. Handy - teaches me sculpture. Mindy isn’t it? Tarzan comes around and dreams about his girl. Isn’t it surprising how people dream about each other? Ai ai ai … I’m lost in Mercy. Run to Holland because they have the stuff that can help you. No they don’t they give you a permanent chill but that doesn’t help. You quit the world of countries and ask your white blood cells if you have any serious infection. They say the problem is in your Neurons. But they can’t find the one responsible. We need to make it easier for you. We only need to know if Broca knew where the area of responsibility is… No but… au. Ond eé que pára o Roberto? Fogo que isto está mau. That’s the way it goes inside me. Just is justo. No more randomness going around. No more chance. No more accidents. The end of pleasure. The autumn leaves with Coltrane and triumph.
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10.24.2004

Miles written pain(t)

Moments of madness and total loss of control overcome me. My life shows off. The memory of the brown bear attacks us all. There is no escape from the pain(t) but we can stop thinking about it when we have a computer connected to the internet. I must draw. These words shouldn't be together. I draw. It's a must. Better now. Roll over the antiart(ic) and give the web an output. Input some air. Put it into letters and keys. Open the doors of the kingdom and fly through the consciousness messed up by all the emotional flow. Streams are not rational and they adapt. Kill your wish and fly. I have a strobe in my head. Flash it over again. Flash is my next goal. Maybe it shouldn’t be. Revolved memories, jazz solos, depressions that almost killed me (twice). Double yourself. Not a quark. A bark. BIBÓ TINTO. This means bad stuff. Almendra and I fly back to my friends. They'll say they still remember me. Who knows... who feels the Old Devil Moon that Miles played in the other room yesterday. Triumphete mumbling in the wor(l)ds of orgasm and happiness. Avoid sex make love and then you get a big nail on your head. Kill Bill. Kill the gates to hell. And Cerebrum will look at you right in the eyes. You will frieze but you'll have fun looking at the Camden Town of art.

Ian Hays thing - This is my tutor's Photoshop image. He works with found imagery and aims to give the world a visual puzzle about James Joyce and Marcel Duchamp. If you want to know more please click on Ian hays blog and his web page draft available in the links section. Posted by Hello

A.Inteligence

Is a computer able to guess what you are thinking about with 20 questions? Try the artificial intelligence available in a web page that my friend Pequenão showed me. It’s amazing what a strong memory can do. If you want to play the game please select the link on the side called 20Q.net. If you give the right answers and if you don’t think of anything only a few people know about you’ll probably have a nice surprise.

This is just a Photoshop image that simulates the Science Centre in Warwick where they have a contest for a mural with 10 meters by 2 (prox). This is my proposition for that commission.
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The umbrella year - 1

Last year I worked with umbrellas almost exclusively. After all that time I could see that all I was doing wasn't idea driven as I wanted to, but media driven. People said they could see my scientific past in there but I wasn't happy at all. It was just a maker’s work. I want to fight with art. Everyone is a maker but only a few fight for their own ideas. I have to search for my own content. Express ideas. Don't stop because if you do you die.

Umbrella à la Magritte... Posted by Hello

Instalation - first year Posted by Hello

Gertrude Stein

A BOX.

A large box is handily made of what is necessary to replace any substance. Suppose an example is necessary, the plainer it is made the more reason there is for some outward recognition that there is a result.

A box is made sometimes and them to see to see to it neatly and to have the holes stopped up makes it necessary to use paper.

A custom which is necessary when a box is used and taken is that a large part of the time there are three which have different connections. The one is on the table. The two are on the table. The three are on the table. The one, one is the same length as is shown by the cover being longer. The other is different there is more cover that shows it. The other is different and that makes the corners have the same shade the eight are in singular arrangement to make four necessary.

Lax, to have corners, to be lighter than some weight, to indicate a wedding journey, to last brown and not curious, to be wealthy, cigarettes are established by length and by doubling.

Left open, to be left pounded, to be left closed, to be circulating in summer and winter, and sick color that is grey that is not dusty and red shows, to be sure cigarettes do measure an empty length sooner than a choice in color.

Winged, to be winged means that white is yellow and pieces pieces that are brown are dust color if dust is washed off, then it is choice that is to say it is fitting cigarettes sooner than paper.

An increase why is an increase idle, why is silver cloister, why is the spark brighter, if it is brighter is there any result, hardly more than ever.


The first time I heard a Gertrude Stein poem I was in a lecture about cubism. I didn't know poetry could be sound, phonetics and similarity. I just wonder if she really wrote for strangers and herself, as she used to say. Until today I feel I didn't understand a word she wrote but I love reading her every now and then.

10.23.2004


Probably the best photo about my life. My dad is giving me air and I'm having the best life I can imagine. I was about 5 or 6 and I ran to the water with excitement. I just had to come back for the floating device…
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The ways photography transformed the art world (and specifically painting) are obviously related to the possibility we have to record and reproduce works. This simple fact completely transformed the teaching of art(I), the permanency of an image(II), the importance of realistic painting(III), gave artists the possibility to work with found imagery(IV) and finally created a new area within the fine arts (V).

Today we only need a click. We are bombarded with photos and we usually don’t spend more then a few seconds if so to look at one image. This for me is scary. I can’t explain rationally the fear I feel but it moves my insides to think that I don’t really give a chance to most artists that will come across my way. Of course film makers and the artists that use more traditional media have an aura protecting them… I believe that it comes from those times when an image used to mean more than one year of hard work.  Posted by Hello

Art Forum Quote

The article mentioned was published in March 2004:

«According to a recent article in The Economist, "men lose their fiscal prudence in the presence of attractive women." This assertion is based upon the theory of "future discounting," a notion that economists and psychologists alike ascribe to the reward center of the brain: One either goes after immediate pecuniary satisfaction or defers it for higher gains in the future. This curious idea, which collapses finance and libido within a visual economy, is the impetus behind Josephine Pryde's rather modest but engaging show. The exhibition includes a suite of photographs of pigs' brains and an imposing hanging sculpture fashioned from used bicycle chains—a "masculinized" version of Eva Hesse's Untitled,1970, originally fabricated in latex-covered rope. ...»

David Busse

I just wonder how many women use this daily and how many men are still sleeping.


These are just some metal "weels" I found in the skip. You can also see the food covers I'm planning to use nest week. I'll try to combine these objects in the sculpture I'm currently making. Posted by Hello

There are animals living inside me

In this sleepy night my freedom takes me to the back of my mind. I try to put away all the challenges I'll have to face in the next week:

-How can I write an essay about "chance and accident in art"?
-Is it possible to build a transparent sculpture that reacts to the presence of the observer?
-What is the topic I'll develop in my research? Drawings on technology? Etchings and watercolours about science and my past? Photos with the Portugal's sun... but about what?
-Will I manage to interview Rebecca Horn? Will I do any exhibitions this year?

None of these matter. I just need to sleep and go with the flow. Fall in love, come back to those that love me and build pleasure spiced with happiness.



Just a sweet thing from frieze art fair... Posted by Hello

10.22.2004

Pure Pleasure

In the memorie of the unfortunate I find the word that kills me...

10.13.2004


This is just copy and paste... But tomorrow you'll see the final images. Posted by Hello