A small attempt to combine my love of Eduardo Chillida drawings, Magdalene Odundo ceramics and Cycladic figurines in a series of two-part works, culminating in this piece – Figure 8. Continue reading “Double Figures”
Double Figures
The Depth Of Air
This is intriguing. It’s a trailer for a film about Eduardo Chillida, titled Chillida: The Depth of Air & Chillida: Lo Profundo es el Aire, but I can’t tell if the complete film has been made available. I can’t find it anywhere. Maybe it’s not released yet. There’s another version of this trailer on Vimeo – Documentary: Chillida The Depth of Air – an alternative edit. Both of them look great and I’d love to see the whole thing. Memories of San Sebastian and Hernani and Museo Chillida-Leku.
Chillida In Barcelona
We’d been here before, but last time was such a wonderful surprise we had to come back and show Maura. This is her beautiful photograph of Eduardo Chillida’s Topos V, hidden away in Plaça del Rei in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. It seems perfectly positioned, forming a corner of the square, its semi-circular openings echo the medieval arches and suggest a B for Barcelona. Continue reading “Chillida In Barcelona”
Half-Timbered
Last summer, travelling through France, I wish I could remember where this was, the first of many half-timbered buildings encountered en route. I love this style of vernacular architecture. They seem so obviously hand-made, constructed from local materials, a natural part of the landscape. More analogue than digital, I started to think of them almost as organic sculptures. Continue reading “Half-Timbered”
The House That Jack Built
Another book from the wonderful and sorely missed Notting Hill Books. This one was perhaps not so beloved as the last but it was one of my favourites. I always liked its folksy illustrations and the way one thing leads to another and life just inevitably gets more and more complicated. Continue reading “The House That Jack Built”
A House Of Leaves
Of all the many books I found at Notting Hill Books this one stands out as a special favourite. Our children loved it. But now it’s out of print and hard to find. Continue reading “A House Of Leaves”
Holloway The Movie
A short trailer for the forthcoming Holloway film by Adam Scovell, inspired by the book of the same name by Robert Macfarlane, Stanley Donwood & Dan Richards, in which they go in search of an ancient Dorset holloway – previously visited by Macfarlane with Roger Deakin. They were looking for the hide where the hero of Geoffrey Household’s novel ‘Rogue Male’ went to ground.
Read more about the project on Adam Scovell’s website – Celluloid Wicker Man – and there’s another link on Frames Of Reference – Holloway.
La Grotte Chauvet
The Chauvet Cave in the Ardèche region of southern France was discovered in 1994. It contains the most perfect examples of Paleolithic paintings ever found. But they are considered so fragile they must remain hidden from view. Copies of the paintings have been recreated and they can now be seen in a full-scale replica cave above the town of Vallon-Pont-d’Arc. A gallery of simulacra of some of the most authentic paintings in the world; it’s an unsettling idea. Continue reading “La Grotte Chauvet”
Flying To Barcelona
Over the Pyrenees a week before Easter, en route to Barcelona, the spectacular view a heartbreaking reminder of the suicidal plane crash five days earlier. A flight from Barcelona to Düsseldorf had fallen from the sky onto similar mountains near Barcelonnette in the French Alps. It was impossible not to think of it, to imagine its kamikaze descent, to remember its helpless victims. Continue reading “Flying To Barcelona”
Roger Ackling: Between The Lines
Roger Ackling made artworks like small miracles. He turned driftwood into diamonds. He died last year, his obituary is here. I never met him but I knew people who were taught by him and exhibited with him. I saw many of his exhibitions and loved his work. I think I even once walked by his house on the crumbling north Norfolk coast at Weybourne. There are presently exhibitions of his work at Annely Juda and Kestle Barton, and Occasional Papers are hoping to publish a crowdfunded book about him, Roger Ackling: Between the Lines. I’m looking forward to reading it. Continue reading “Roger Ackling: Between The Lines”