David Bowie Is…Universal

On Sunday I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to go the V&A here in London to see the exhibition, “David Bowie Is”. The tickets came by way of Twitter and the friend of a friend who was unable to attend but had the grace to offer the tickets to anybody who was available to go.

I would have more pictures to show if I was allowed but there was a “No photography” and this is new one to me “No Sketching” policy inside. Throughout the exhibition and in the advertising for the exhibition the sentence “David Bowie Is” completed in various forms.

I didn’t see my version which is “universal” and this comes really from my observation of the people who were at the exhibition. I had tickets for 7.15 p.m on a Sunday evening and it was packed. It was rather bizarre in that you are given a headset to wear as you go through the exhibition, the downside of this technology is that you’re all in your aural bubble as you go from exhibit to exhibit and not interacting with the people you came with. There was also the odd sensation of the wireless sound technology cutting out and replaying the track from the other side of the wall in certain areas.

I saw people from all ages, shapes and sizes, colours and creeds, there were the rock star wannabees who could do with aging gracefully and might want to consider age appropriate clothing and sunglasses in a darkened exhibition space just looks terrible, there were the fashion students making their mental notes, there were the V&A members who will go to everything because they’re members, there were kids who were engaged with this figure for whom this might be their first exposure.

The exhibition tried as best as it could to cover as much of what it could and boy has David Bowie been busy. There was a lot to take in but I think everybody can’t not have been impressed by the attention to detail that Bowie puts into the involvement and invention for each period that he chooses to investigate and expand upon at a given time. It was a real privilege in a way to see behind the curtain as hand written lyrics and methodolgies were revealed as well as Bowie’s own sketches from album covers to costume or set designs were shown.

It is a big show and you’ll be there longer than you think but its been put together well enough that until towards the end you will be immersed to such a degree that you lose track of time.

Would I recommend this show? Yes because ultimately there is enough to interest the casual observer to the die hard fan and also for those who might not think that Bowie is relevant to them.

I also think those across all of the arts would find some source of inspiration amongst the diversity of exhibits on view here.

I almost feel as if I should try to write more but also know that too much text is sometimes off-putting so I’ll leave it at that.

Tokyo 2013

Back in February and into March I found myself in Tokyo on family matters. When I remembered to I would shoot footage on my mobile phone, using the iMovie on my Mac I made an edit of sorts.

Affection

I feel a certain sense of disconnect from the world, in part this might be partly geographical but also mental.

We can feel affection for places and despite people taking the higher ground of claiming not be attached to material things, we cannot help but me driven towards or feeling affection to ‘things’.

But is it as simple as being around or having access to the people that you meet in your lifetime with whom you have a genuine sense of affection for that makes certain places worthwhile?

Perhaps the musings on here are becoming increasingly philosophical in their musings.

When really readers are just looking for a travelblog. Let me know what you think.

Thanks.

2013

Of the three ways in which we try to make sense of the world via the Internet this is the one that seems to get the least attention from me.It is a particular investment of time and one that is not so easy to do. I rarely plan blog posts and so make them up as I go along.

I use Twitter increasingly as a method to put thoughts and ideas out there in a more quickly and somewhat random method. If read all together those thoughts and ideas rarely carry a narrative.

The other is Facebook which it seems like many I fall in and out of ‘like’ with. It serves to validate our lives in a strange way or that is my opinion of the need to share everything from the banal to a strange form of bragging although that may not be the intent. Nobody really posts the bad stuff on there, think about it.

Has the blog replaced the diary? Or is it an online method of graffiti? We all strive to make our mark on the world in some way.

 

How much!?

Money.

Whether we like it or not and whether or not you believe that it makes the world go round or not, it’s a part of our lives.

Making artwork with the intent to sell it raises the question of how much should I charge?

Do you ask yourself how much would you pay? Do you try to imagine yourself as a potential buyer?

Why is one piece of work so much more than another? Is it the size? Is it the precious materials that may or may not have used?

What price creativity?

What price the artists time and labour?

What price was the frame if you’re looking to purchase framed work?

If you’re buying from an exhibition or gallery bear in mind that the gallery will be taking commission up to 50% of the selling price.

So if you half the selling price that will be what the artist will getting and we haven’t mentioned the cost of their materials yet.

If you’re an artist and reading this ask yourself how much would you like to be paid an hour?

Art about Art about Art.

I have, I guess what you could call a skill in that I am very good at seeing or linking images that look alike or may have been influenced by another. This quality has be pointed out to me recently by others in that I can see a work and then recommend another avenue to follow in the same vein.

This works against me at times in that I might start a work and realize that it is my take on a work or a style of work that I have just seen or read about it. Am I trying to gain a better understanding by emulating the work?
Classical academy tuition in art was to produce copies of the art considered to be masterpieces that was hanging museums.

Do we wear our influences in some shape or form in the work that we produce? Are we inspired by and then pushed to reinterpret the work that impresses us? Do the works of others trigger or start the process for you?

Does art become art about art which in itself was about art?

Does this happen across the arts be it music, literature, film?

London

It occurs to me that I don’t write about London despite spending a fair bit of time there contrary to what people think I don’t live there. Its always one of the first questions people ask when they find out you’re from Great Britain, England or the U.K:

“Do you live in London?”

I have in the past but the older and grouchier I get I find cities especially the larger ones to be places where life seems to be dominated by the pursuit of money and only enjoyable with money to burn. While that’s a somewhat broad and sweeping generalization, my London is pretty much limited to certain areas where I have favourite bookshops, museums or restaurants. To me my London is not that interesting but it might be to others. Which gives me the idea to one day take pictures of the facades of places I go in London and put those into another post.

I do wonder if I would be happier in any other city or would be it as simple as being happier if I had access to friends more often rather than travelling across the city to see people.

Also I have started to wonder if people only make the effort to see each other when you’re visiting their country because they know that they have a limited window of time to see you?

Or perhaps I need better friends that said I do like to go at my own pace for the most part. I am definitely marching to the beat of my own drummer and it’s not always in time.