LustrousChemistry news

so long 2011

2012-01-01T13:44:00.001Z

an interesting year. "interesting" as in; I'm trying to be polite. really it was a mixed bag of stuff that I won't really be sorry to see the back of. but maybe that view has more to do with the fact I usually prefer to concentrate on the future than deliberate on what occurred during the year. for of course, 2011 was party to my potentially life-changing decision to study an MA in Fine Art at AUCB. I didn't see this return to education happening at this time last year and so vividly illustrates how just when you think you know what you're up to, life intervenes, pulls a fast one and sends you screeching and squealing into a rubber-burning u-turn.

the MA itself has been intense and challenging and everything I had expected it to be. it has wrapped me in it's all-encompassing arms and is currently testing all my notions of what I think I'm actually doing. but this submersion in study has not left me much time to update my online presence so my website and community pages have rather suffered. also, and more importantly, I feel I have overlooked my real-time friends.

this then is a little apology to all I have neglected in 2011. it is a statement of my intent to connect with you more in 2012, and perhaps also a little note to assure all whom I love that even if my communication seems a little lax I appreciate your friendship and carry you within me always.

-

I'm already planning some interesting projects for the new year, so if you don't already, please follow my progress on the pages listed below. your support and encouragement is always very much appreciated.

facebook.com/LustrousChemistry

twitter.com/LustrousChemist

(tumblr) www.fandminusf.com/

last.fm/user/LustrousChemist

mixcloud.com/LustrousChemistry

pinterest.com/LustrousChemist

and so to 2012 and all it may bring.
here's hoping it's a good one.

Px

little victories

2011-09-16T07:51:00.001+01:00

I have just added a number of new works to the archive section. these sculptures, collectively entitled little victories, have been assembled from found materials and adhere to the set dimensions of 20 x 10 x 10cm. they can be viewed as individual pieces, or as parts of a bigger body of work that will eventually comprise of 49 assemblages. they are trophies; testaments to the triumph over everyday apathy; of "doing" over "not doing"; a celebration of the vanquished blank page. little victories will be updated on a regular basis, as this project progresses.

the veil grows thin

2011-08-11T10:05:00.002+01:00

new work: recently uploaded images to be seen in the artwork section of LustrousChemistry.com. the veil grows thin is a series of hand cut collages with leanings towards the occult.

LustrousChemistry on facebook

2011-07-05T13:26:00.001+01:00

yesterday the LustrousChemistry facebook page made it to 400 likes. thank you to everyone who supports me via this page. it means a lot and is a constant source of encouragement to me. when the page reaches the 500 mark I would like to celebrate with some give-aways, so please tell any of your friends who may be interested in perusing the work on this page, and urge them to "like". thank you for your loyalty and friendship.

http://www.facebook.com/LustrousChemistry

the precarious palace of the world

2011-06-20T09:19:00.000+01:00

LustrousChemistry's archive section now includes documentation on the new sculptural piece the precarious palace of the world

june update

2011-06-06T12:13:00.001+01:00

I’m currently working on and developing a number of projectsat the moment. this seems to be my usual working practice these days and Isuppose it is the way that I work best. I like the way that one project canseep over into the other and perhaps inform it in unexpected ways. oftenbecause I work in diverse media this seepage creates a kind of unity in what Ido and perhaps provides a link between the two and three dimensional aspects ofmy work. there are also difficulties in this way of working, of whichconcentration on the matter at hand is most likely the greatest. so because ofthis I’m trying not to rush things and allow the works to develop at their ownpace. I’m taking inspiration from one of Franz Kafka’s aphorisms; “Allhuman errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure,an apparent fencing-in of what is apparently at issue.”. although ofcourse due to the constraints of living and working in the real world these “breakingsoff” will always occur but for the time being I am going to see how far I can takethis “methodical procedure” in search of a satisfactory outcome for thesecurrent projects.

the mixtape club session 021

2011-04-29T14:04:00.001+01:00

the first of the month is always a joy as it means a new edition of the the mixtape club. may's edition includes a selection from LustrousChemistry entitled the castle of crossed destines, which is a collection of askew electronic pop with slight gothic undertones. please have a listen to it as well as all the other splendid mixes at http://www.themixtapeclub.org/.

editions of you - the final act

2011-04-20T21:24:00.000+01:00

thursday (21/04/2011) sees the final live installment of the editions of you exhibition, and the release of Sleeps in Oysters full length album "Lo!".

also showing is a series of audio-visual works by the two-piece Details, and iON ghOST headlines the night with his unique brand of messed-up electronica from manchester. releases from all three artists will be available to buy for the first time on the night.

more information on editions of you exhibition can be found here

editions of you

2011-04-07T09:48:00.002+01:00

editions of you exhibtion continues until sunday 24th april with lots of interesting stuff still to look forward to.

thursday nights are live music nights, with the bumblebees, jelas and local kid dj's entertaining you tonight (7th april).

and this coming saturday (9th April) join the zinesters for a zine fair. there'll be lots of exclusive limited edition zines as well as self-published music releases, workshops, improvised performances, DJ's and live bands. join in with the fun 11am to 6pm at the beautiful striped marquee in Castle Street Square, Oxford.

for more details check out the events page here

artists dilemma

2011-03-26T11:31:00.004Z

to say new things in an known language.
or, to say known things in a new language.
to say new things in an new language is incomprehesible.
and, to say known things in a known language is dull.

editions of you

2011-02-26T22:37:00.004Z

looking forward to editions of you at oxford's o3 gallery, which is the next project that I will be involved with from 26:03:11 until 24:04:11

shit! I can dj

2011-02-19T22:35:00.002Z

I'm excited to be participating in shit! i can dj, a dj noise relay which makes up part of audiograft at modern art oxford. there's plenty of other exciting stuff going on as well, which you can find more information about here. also check out the shit! i can dj blog to keep up to date with future goings on.

ding dong it's the doodle!!!

2011-01-29T22:21:00.006Z

ding dong it's the doodle at the winchester, bournemouth there's live art, an exhibition and bands/djs in the evening and will feature new installation/artwork by LustrousChemistry.

for more info on times and how to get there check out the ding dong on facebook.

An Exchange With Sol LeWitt: Three Components; A Beginning, A Middle and An End (to be used in any order)

2010-10-10T20:40:00.006+01:00

all stories are fiction even if they were once true. the nature of beginning middle and end refers to something out side of life: cut off at both ends. started and finished. resolved perhaps. where all actions had purpose within the story. everyday life is not like this. and a person’s life viewed from the inside is never resolved.

“A story should have a beginning, a middle, and an end... but not necessarily in that order.”

Jean-Luc Godard

odds and sods

2010-09-15T20:45:00.010+01:00

the anatomy of the b-side

THE NON-ALBUM TRACK – not available in any other format until the major record label cashes in and releases a whole album of b-sides. or uses it as an extra track on the A-Side’s album’s 25^th anniversary re-issue.

THE NON-ALBUM TRACK – weird noodling that very few people will sit all-the way through and scares the record company exec enough to bury it on the 4^th single from the bands multi-million selling album.

A NEW TRACK that later becomes an album track. Exciting, when the band releases the single before their new album hits the shops.

AN ALBUM TRACK. - not as exciting as the above.

THE INSTRUMENTAL VERSION – the same track as the A-Side but with the vocals lopped off. I.e. I’m not writing any more songs than I need to. Particularly useful if you live in an age without karaoke machines.

THE REMIX - of the A-Side, hopefully by someone you’ve heard of and sometimes called something completely different just to confuse matters.

THE REMIX - of a better known song. This may increase sales if the original has been deleted.

A BETTER KNOWN SONG. - see above.

THE SONG USED IN A FILM THAT BOMBED - it could have been an A-Side if the film was a hit. “Ah well, we can fill the B-Side with it then.”

THE ACOUSTIC VERSION - the song that launched a thousand “unplugged” albums.

THE COVER VERSION - recording somebody else’s more famous track can often boost a new band’s profile. sometimes not.

THE ACOUSTIC COVER VERSION - I think I should stop now.

f and -f

2010-05-13T22:18:00.001+01:00

LustrousChemistry's parallel net art site f and -f is now up and running. check it regularly to enjoy more fluid and intangible works. http://www.fandminusf.com/

Crystal Cave

2010-01-31T18:35:00.006Z

during november 2009 I was artist in residence at parkstone grammar school. this was a wonderful opportunity for me to spend a week dedicated to working on a project from start to finish, as well as a great chance for the pupils to see firsthand, artwork created from initial conception to final product.

for the residency I was allotted a relatively large space at the end of one of the art rooms and I was given a free rein as to how the project would progress. when I am given an empty space my reaction is to attempt to fill it. so my first thoughts were how to fill such a large space within the timescale allotted with materials that could easily be found. space and materials then became the restrictions that would direct how this piece should progress. I think that much of my work arises from restrictions and that when contemplating a new work the narrower the brief the more creative I must be to achieve something pleasing.

I am keen to use mundane materials like paper, which can be turned into something more dramatic. paper is usually thought of as being flat and white and is commonly used as a vehicle for other work that is written, painted or drawn upon it. with this work I felt that I would make the paper the art itself.

the structure was built from 208 individually folded paper pyramids of differing sizes, and was inspired by the hidden internal crystal cavities found in geodes. hidden internal spaces interest me and I was drawn to the idea that I could use the space allotted to me to map another separate space within it.

I approached the formation as a pixelated image, like that of a digital photograph, but instead of building the image by varying the colours I would alter the height of the elements. also I wanted to escape the idea of the pixel as a square unit and wondered what would result if the pixel was pyramidal.

the structure was made by organizing half of the pyramids on a base lifted from the floor, and then suspending an exact mirror copy from the ceiling. the internal space was then mapped by the gaps made between the varying sizes of the pyramids.

I thought the residency to be a great success, especially as the structure very closely resembled my initial vision as well as turning up some unforeseen delights, like the optical patterns that each line of pyramids made, and the wonderful shadowplay created when the work was illuminated.

Cursed Land

2010-01-25T19:49:00.004Z

this is a story that may or may not be true.

about 15 - 20 miles away from where I was born lays the coastal area of romney marsh. this land as its name suggests is flat boggy land that was once taken from the sea. it was reclaimed several hundred years ago and was seen as a great opportunity for people to stake a claim and invest in a new future. so people moved from the neighbouring towns and as far afield as london to be part of this new heroic venture.

only the reclaimed land was marshy and not much use for farming. the wetlands proved a great breeding ground for mosquitoes. a huge number of the people who moved to this place died of malaria in their first year. as no-one at that time knew what caused malaria the deaths were seen as a judgement from the almighty. "do not do un-natural things!", "do not tamper with the way things are." "how dare you believe that man can create land? that is dealings for god only“.

the place today remains a cursed land. the curse is emphasized by the nuclear power station that hums inaudibly on the horizon. the promontory of the beach points into the sea like a shingle finger. the sense of un-natural-ness is enhanced by the waves on the west side of the projection that transverse the beach to break on the coast further north. this gives the impression of being on a liner, sailing out to sea.

The Geography Of Time

2010-01-25T19:47:00.003Z

the idea of a threshold to me is always an imaginary one. the concept of boundaries and lines-to-be-crossed have always seemed arbitrary. the place where one thing ends and another begins, like the borderline of a country that follows the landscape; mountains and rivers, has always appeared too neat. this point is perhaps proved by the continual conflict between the people who inhabit these borderlands. arguments arise as to the true nationality of these peoples and often they see themselves as a nation apart.

for the pieces in threshold 6x4 I have chosen a line that is ever present but seemingly harder to cross. for me the most intriguing threshold is the one offered by the present; the fascinating levee that is built in the now, to separate the tide of the future from the deluge of the past.

we live on this threshold like the populous of a border village shaped by the masses on either side. but like a real village our delimitations are hard to pinpoint. the areas where one thing becomes another are always blurred. there is a gradual change from one thing to another, but within this gradual change there is a point where the two become a third thing. this third thing is the border itself.

on the map of time it is very easy to notice this border, to see where the past faces the future is clear, but like a traveler using a map to negotiate unfamiliar terrain the corresponding map includes points that are hard to specify

it is straightforward to comprehend that we are a product of our past and of all we once were but our present is also shaped by the future and who we imagine we may become. the possibilities that the future can throw our way affect our understanding of whom we are now as much as the realization of what we have done previously

but this cartographic version is in reality often hard to follow. the border settlement of the now is constantly under siege by its warring neighbours and the partition between past and future is constantly being redrawn, so we are left to wander the fuzzy no-mans-land of the present, never quite sure if we are stumbling into overwhelming territories of the past or inhospitable enclosure of the future

Ghost notes

2010-01-25T19:46:00.003Z

phantoms enticing travelers from the path of safety
to a certain doom

an idea that is worth nothing but is attractive

stagnant and unwholesome

alluring and attractive shadows

they are asking you to remain in their spirit world;
for you yourself a spirit to become

a facsimile of the natural world

beauty with an ulterior motive

a sinister beauty

the idea of temptation

being drawn from the goals that you have imposed upon yourself

Land. Ranger.

2010-01-25T19:45:00.002Z

I have held a long and undiminished love for maps of all kinds. a cartographic lust.

all maps hold a certain charm. maps in the frontispieces of old hardback books. the london tube map with its electrical circuit-like flow. bus routes. maps of the world hung on classroom and office walls almost as you would a work of art. chromatic and static.

but my real love is for the maps that you can carry around. the maps in the glove compartments of cars, in the front pocket of your rucksack.

ordinance. survey. land. ranger.

I am always excited by the way maps unfold. space concertinas out of itself. 3D represented in 2D form, which with the creases and the folds are also three dimensional. it is an object you hold in your hand. an object you fold back on itself. an object that tells of other objects. turn the map upside-down as you try to work out where the hell you are. so, where the hell are we?

like most conventional illustrations or paintings, the drawn map conveys something that can be seen or could have been seen. But the painting gives you enough information so you are tricked into believing you are seeing the actual object, landscape or subject. The map is slightly different. It is made of essential information only. The landscape is a mess of lines, symbols and colour that the viewer must de-code to form a mental picture of the land surveyed.

the map and the landscape do not look like each other but the traveler would find a map easier to guide himself by than a typical painting or even a photograph of the same area. in reality there is too much information to be useful, the map must present only the needed data, but it does so at a cost.

the cost of this simplification is that it may tell you precisely where a church or public house is, it may show you the quickest or most economic route to take to arrive there but it does not tell you what the church is actually like, it does not qualify the public house in any way.
it reduces brick, coloured glass, lead, gold, wood that may have stood through centuries of upheaval, personal confessions, economic disaster and joyous family occasions to a square with a cross, a cross or two letters.

old maps are like old photographs that document what once was and is no longer. countries that no longer exist. countries that have been torn apart by war. borders that have shrunk. roads that have grown-up to be motorways. fields that are now roads. houses that no longer stand as the railway extension flattened them years ago. the way things were.

because the map does not give you all the information you are free to imagine how the land lays. who populates this area, what do they do, how do they live, work and function within this landscape. from the literal facts, the truth of what exists bends and bows under the weight of the fantasy that reigns with a free hand.

so, where the hell are we?

YOU ARE HERE.

2010-01-25T19:43:00.002Z

tidiness
is the refuge
of the oppressed

you remain

2010-01-25T19:39:00.003Z

what interests me about our memories is not what we remember but what we forget. the experiences, the moments in our lives that get pushed to the back of our mental drawer and lay there, discarded and disregarded. these are the things that we seem not to need in our day-to-day existence

but I think that these forgotten moments are never truly lost. I believe that our personalities are created by the sum total of our experiences. whether we remember them or not, our moments make us who we are and whether they are deemed good or bad we use them and build upon them to deal with ensuing encounters.

I am therefore interested in how our memories are transformed from a figment into something more physical. the way that what has happened to us throughout our lives remains with us but is somehow changed. it lies within us as something chemical. a residue of experience.

the painted-over pages in my work “you remain” represent something experienced and then forgotten. the pages remain, like a book may remain on your bookshelf after you have finished reading it. it is there for you to pick up and hold even if the majority of the words have vanished from your recall. the intention of the book remains but it has been transformed into a personal experience, into something else other than words and paper, it has become part of us. chemical. physical.

the prose written over the top of the pages echoes this idea with a possibly romantic elegy to a lost love that is transformed into something more sinister by the final word of the sentence. again I am interested in how our memories are modified. the beautiful feelings that once were are changed, in this instance, into something bitter and acrid. but this bodily chemical also helps us digest our next meal. it is both an aid to digestion and a feeling of peevish anger. our memories are like this , I feel. they evoke feelings within us but also once absorbed and forgotten become our very being, allowing us to make judgements on future events.

memory is transformed into instinct.

my spine/millefeuille

2010-01-25T19:30:00.000Z

with this sculpture I continued my exploration of materials and the way they inform the creative process. I returned to the idea of how we see ourselves, the self created by the way we remember what we once were. I am fascinated by the fact that the order we experience things affects us as much as what we experience.

I am drawn to the way the memory can establish links between un-related objects and that these objects are then forever united in our mind. these connections form an armoury for battles throughout our lifetime.

recycling in itself reinforces the idea of memory in the work; as the books have been read they form a background for new encounters and experiences in the same way the piece of wood was an off-cut of an earlier creative act.
the books themselves are now objects, having been pierced and made unreadable. the weight of the books will stay with one until the memory of the story and the actions of its characters dissolve into the very core of ones being.

the idea of time constructing the artist constructing art about time.

2009-06-29T23:48:00.001+01:00

Could it be possible to avoid pop music, even if you wanted to? If you ignore it, it is still there. It's on the television; in programs unrelated to music, and between the programs; it’s in the adverts. You find it on mobile phones, computer games, and at the cinema. Walk into any shop and there will be music playing. Hear the bass thump from a passing car or a tinny tickle from that person next to you on the bus. The only way to avoid it would be to remove oneself from society and make yourself at home in the hills. But even then there is sure to be a festival pop up in the field next door, and there you go again. It follows us wherever we go like some abstract gene; part of us but also outside us. We almost become immune to it; no longer noticing as it plays incessantly, like the buzzing from a refrigerator that we fail to hear until we are shocked by the silence that is left when it suddenly stops. As soon as we become immune to it, pop music pounces. It strikes at our heart and gnaws at our memory. It defines our schooldays, our holidays and our first kiss. It reminds us of that drunken night in a town we wish to forget. It becomes a land marked map of our life that unfolds sideways and stretches back to our dawn of consciousness. It categorizes who we are; this is my music someone will say when they hear a style that they like. This is my music. But it isn’t, is it? Someone else has written it and someone else has published it and above all someone else has the copyright. It is theirs not yours. But this cannot be true can it? There is something incongruous about the ownership of music. It is created by musicians, certainly, but the musicians need an audience for it to exist. There is a requirement for music to fill firstly ears and then the brains of its suspecting (or otherwise) host. If no host is found; the music dies. For it to thrive it needs symbiotic parents; one to broadcast and one to receive. Male and female. Then like a swarm of nanobots the music is unleashed into the world, fixing and refining and then replicating itself. So sophisticated is it that it also sets about creating more parents; more musicians and more audiences. Its longevity is assured. In celebration of this phenomenon, LustrousChemistry has uploaded a sound installation to LustousChemistry.com. You are invited to spend a few moments contemplating the miracle of Pop Music’s natural history; its essence and its science.