“… to actively work… ”

Ideas surrounding the citation of the self in a work and an interest in concepts of empathy have lead to my present practice – the investigation into an experience shared by two individuals completely separate from one another who then somehow collide.

This is aptly expressed in a line from the Alan Bennett play The History Boys:

“… The best moments in reading are when you come across something--a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is along dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours… “

The objects I make, though now highly visual are grounded in this philosophical, maybe even emotional connection. This is played out through the use of quotation and reference. I would hope in viewing a piece of my work, be it written, performed or visual, that the viewer were to place themselves within the work, look to see what they know of the references used, do they indeed know any, or do they have a great amount of knowledge to something similar.

The citation of the self and the object in a wider cultural context is blatantly used on my YouTube channel. There; one is recommended to explore the ‘surround’ – the videos of other people favourited by me and the videos that YouTube believes to be similar in the sidebar and to use the site as a starting point, to actively work to better understand ones context.

A misquote can be more interesting than a quote because it reveals to you something about the context in which it is being used.

My practice relies heavily on the work of others. I write about my pears and take great pride in being asked to help them with their work. My practice uses blatant and obscure reference and quotation to build up a grammar and language of memes. All the images and quotes I use are my influence. One might ask how it is possible to make new work steeped in someone else’s visual form. But I would like to believe that through my mere use of the work something has changed, something has changed in this new work and the original. But I would not say that I knew what the change or influence is. This is where my practice takes on a role of investigation through experimentation; What is a quotation, what does it mean to quote? I do not look at find an answer, but to better understand the question.

“… Derek says it's always good to end a paper with a quote… “ (American History X)

To engage go to:

rbgrange.blogspot.com

youtube.com/RBGrange20x8

flickr.com/photos/25237425@N06/


R B Grange

"... obviously..."

WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS A MAN, HOW NOBLE IN REASON, HOW INFINITE IN FACULTIES, IN FORM AND MOVING HOW EXPRESS AND ADMIRABLE, IN ACTION HOW LIKE AN ANGEL, IN APPREHENSION HOW LIKE A GOD: THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD, THE PARAGON OF ANIMALS! AND YET TO ME WHAT IS THIS QUINTESSENCE OF DUST? MAN DELIGHTS NOT ME – NOR WOMAN NEITHER, THOUGH BY YOUR SMILING YOU SEEM TO SAY SO.

BLIND:
WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS A MAN. HOW NOBLE IN REASON, HOW EXPRESS AND ABRIBALE, HOW LIKE AN ANGEL IN ACTION HOW LIE AND ANGEL, IN APPREHENSION HOW LIKE A GOTHE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD. THE PARAGON OF ANIMALSD. AND YET TO ME WHAT IS THIS QUEUNINTESSENCE OF DUST? MAN DELIGHTS NOT ME. NOR WOMAN NOETHER, BUT BY YOUR SMILING YOU SEEM TO SAY SO.

WHAT A PIECE OF WORK IS A MAN, HOW NOBLE IN REASON, HOW INFINITE IN FACULTIES, IN FORM AND MOVING HOW EXPRESS AND ADMIRABLE, IN ACTION HOW LIKE AN ANGEL, IN APPREHENSION HOW LIKE A GOD: THE BEAUTY OF THE WORLD, THE PARAGON OF ANIMALS! AND YET TO ME WHAT IS THIS QUINTESSENCE OF DUST? MAN DELIGHTS NOT ME – NOR WOMAN NEITHER, THOUGH BY YOUR SMILING YOU SEEM TO SAY SO.

"... you've supposed to come down here..."

None of these are ready yet of course but will open with the basic you’re about to take. And the other will one online six or twelve months after that; – we spared no.

And we can charge anything we want; two-thousand a day ten-thousand a day and people will it. Then there’s the; now I can personally…

Donald, Donald; was not built only to for the everyone in the has the to these.

Sure they will… (what) we’ll have a day or something.

Ha har, yes.

Gee, the lack of before that’s being here, m, me.

Well thank you Doctor Malcolm, but I think things are a little bit different to what you and I had.

Yeah I know; they’re a lot.

Now wait a second – we haven’t even seen yet (I)

Now Donald, Donald – let him talk, there’s no reason, no no, I want to hear every viewpoint, I really do.

H’, yeah; don’t you see the, er John, in what you’re doing here; is the most the ever seen. But you it like a whose his.

It’s hardly appropriate to start (hurling)

(Just let me say something) If I may, em, I’ll tell you the with the that you’re, that you’re, using here; ah, it didn’t require any to it. You know, you what had done and you. You didn’t the for yourselves so you don’t take any for it. You stood on the shoulders of er, to something as as you could; and before you even what you had, you it and it and it on a plastic. And now you’re it, you wanna it, well…

I don’t think you’re giving us our due. Our have done things which has.

Yeah, yeah, but your were so with weather or not they, they if they.

! are on the verge of, if I were… no, if I were to a of on this. You wouldn’t have

No, hold on. This isn’t some that was by or the, er had their shot and them for.

… I simply don’t understand this. Especially from a. I mean; how can we in the of and not?

Oh what’s so great about; it’s a,., that what it. What you call– I call the of the.

Well the question is how can you anything about an; and therefore how could you you can it.
You have in this building that are; you them because they, but these are that will, if necessary.

Doctor Grant. If there’s one person here who can what …

The has so and were all to. I don’t want to to any but look; and–by - - of have just been into the. How can have the slightest what to.

I don’t believe it. Ha… I don’t believe it. You’re to come down here and me against these and the only one I’ve got on my side is the.

Thank you

Well – they’re here.

"... then there's the merchandise... "

Hammond: None of these attractions are ready yet of course but the park will open with the basic tour you’re about to take. And the other rides will come online six or twelve months after that; absolutely spectacular designs – we spared no expense.

Gennaro: And we can charge anything we want; two-thousand a day ten-thousand a day and people will pay it. Then there’s the merchandise; now I can personally…

Hammond: Donald, Donald; this park was not built only to cater for the super-rich, everyone in the world has the right to enjoy these animals.

Gennaro: Sure they will… (what) we’ll have a coupon day or something.

Hammond: Ha har, yes.

Malcolm: Gee, the lack of humility before nature that’s being displayed here, m, staggers me.

Gennaro: Well thank you Doctor Malcolm, but I think things are a little bit different to what you and I had feared.

Malcolm Yeah I know; they’re a lot worse.

Gennaro: Now wait a second – we haven’t even seen the park yet (I feel)

Hammond: Now Donald, Donald – let him talk, there’s no reason, no no, I want to hear every viewpoint, I really do.

Malcolm: H’, yeah; don’t you see the danger, er John, inherent in what you’re doing here; genetic power is the most awesome force the planet’s ever seen. But you wield it like a kid whose found his dad’s gun.

Gennaro: It’s hardly appropriate to start (hurling)

Malcolm: (Just let me say something) If I may, em, I’ll tell you the problem with the scientific power that you’re, that you’re, using here; ah, it didn’t require any discipline to attain it. You know, you read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn’t earn the knowledge for yourselves so you don’t take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses er, to accomplish something as fast as you could; and before you even knew what you had, you patented it and packaged it and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox. And now you’re selling it, you wanna sell it, well…

Hammond: I don’t think you’re giving us our due credit. Our scientists have done things which no one has ever done before.

Malcolm: Yeah, yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.

Hammond: Condors! Condors are on the verge of extinction, if I were… no, if I were to create a flock of condors on this island. You wouldn’t have anything to say.

Malcolm: No, hold on. This isn’t some species that was obliterated by deforestation or the building of a dam, dinosaurs er had their shot and nature selected them for extinction.

Hammond: … I simply don’t understand this Luddite attitude. Especially from a scientist. I mean; how can we stand in the light of discovery and not act?

Malcolm: Oh what’s so great about discovery; it’s a violent, penetrative act., that scars what it explores. What you call discovery – I call the rape of the natural world.

Sattler: Well the question is how can you know anything about an extinct eco system; and therefore how could you assume you can control it.
You have plants in this building that are poisonous; you pick them because they look good, but these are aggressive living things who don’t know what century they’re in and will defend themselves, violently if necessary.

Hammond: Doctor Grant. If there’s one person here who can appreciate what I’m trying to do…

Grant: The world has changed so radically and we’re all running to catch up. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions but look; dinosaurs and man – two species separated by sixty-five-million years of evolution have just been suddenly thrown back into the mix together. How can we have the slightest idea what to expect.

Hammond: I don’t believe it. Ha… I don’t believe it. You’re supposed to come down here and defend me against these characters and the only one I’ve got on my side is the blood sucking lawyer.

Gennaro: Thank you

Hammond: Well – they’re here.

Williams (for Viv) - 500 word extract

... and set a thing to work with;
“I’m really affected by the environment I work in, who I’m with, small things that might have happened to me. I’m affect by that very moment, that’s where my interest lies.”
In less capable hands this method of working could end up as a skittish mess of tired and overdone themes, but Viv deals aptly with the amount of freedom that his practice allows him.
“I’ve always though that an artist is someone who works without context or reference and a critic is someone who works with.”
Viv is at ease with in work space which at the moment is is two white walls and a white fall. The studio floor is re-painted grey every year, but I’m sure something of Viv’s highly active work will remain. The small space has been constantly changing throughout the year, gaining and losing semi-permanent frames and backdrops. These have been made from such varied materials as wood, parcel-tape, and paper to name three; but none of these have worked as add-ons or backdrops, within Viv’s later work there is less of a distinction between body and surround – something he is quick to note,
“There used to be some form of camouflage in my work… but in moving away from this I am able to loose the body to a better effect in the objects around it…there is no presidency of one object.”
Figures are used throughout Viv’s work and I touch on the idea of the personal being universal. “I see myself as a prop.” he says and I take this to mean not only as a figure in the work, but as a practitioner as well. He uses himself, his skills and the material with which he works as symbiotic aids. He seems like the kind of artist who would be able to surprise himself, to learn from merely doing. His comes across when he talks about a recent foray of his.
Several large wooden frames were constructed in his space to make a corridor like shape in which one was able to move. On each of the frames was placed a mesh of tape in a random grid. Viv then walked naked through the passage collecting lays of tape on his body has he went.
Now the wrapping of the body is nothing new in his work, but the rediscover of it is, to my mind, key to Viv practice. There is a beautiful production still of some work of his from maybe a year ago, where someone is wrapping the artist. He is stood still as someone else applies a long coloured bandage to him. Only part of Viv’s head can be seen, a sideways glance as he looses his individuality to become a body. This new form of wrapping, this active, striding wrapping finishes with a similar ‘end’ but is so vastly different in its production to him being stationary and passive that one engages wholly with the process and not...

Displaced Air (for Amy)

Action without consequence seems like an interesting concept, a lot of writing could be done on it, a lot of writing has been done on it. But what makes for an interesting concept also makes for a boring universe. Imagine that, something happens, and then nothing happens in reaction to it. Boring. If it were the nineteen nineties I might write something here about a butterfly flapping its wings and you would all be impressed, but I don’t think that that’s going to work now, so I’ll cut to the chase. There is some air missing from this box. The box below this writing. The air once occupied the box in the passive sort of way nitrogen and oxygen does, but was then displaced. You place anything anywhere and it knocks the air out of that space. I think, if memory serves, that the air displaced air from the box amounts to the tune of a child’s jumpsuit, a green t-shirt and some silk like cloth – I might be wrong. This air flooded out the box in the same way water did out of Archimedes bath two hundred years before God stepped into a river. So what has happened to the air? It left is cuboid to find a home elsewhere; it might be in another box, or trapped in a radiator or in the lung of someone famous, but I’m sure it’s doing alright. Some kind of reaction to help someone. Or not.

R B Grange

Some image

R B Grange

"...that a man's name is his fate."

This a translation I've been working on of Walter Benjamin's On Language As Such and the Language of Man

Everything has a system, a language that might be read; but not necessarily understood. Every facet of life, science and comprehension has a language. We understand these languages within our own context, our understanding remains particular to the human race. All inherent understanding within one’s self and exterior objects is organised in the brain as a language. Because we cannot leave the context of humanity we understand everything through language. Exterior objects do not speak, obviously, but they are comprehended by humans in language. We cannot imagine a complete lack of consciousness, so we continue to inflict meaning of action and intent onto objects with none. To understand an exterior object we would have to create some form of exterior consciousness and even then language would still be employed to understand it, even if no language had been used to understand itself.

This text itself is a form of language that will obviously be understood by someone’s reading of it. The single words express themselves, bar any punnage, and them reveal more within their context.

Creativity through language does note escape its bonds of grammar; but grammar itself may transcend language and be applied to other endeavours, such as science, mathematics, and art. This means that English does not have words for ‘everything’ but has the ability – the system, by which things might be understood; but again - in language. Spoken and written language is therefore a mean that exists separately from a true understanding. Anything expressed in language is not the true form itself, but the best we have for the moment. The thing is not the word.

The understanding of exterior object through language, its name and that meaning, becomes bunk when we consider that these are merely held ideas that have the majority of people believing in them. If a man did not behave as one would expect, then one would question whether calling him a man was correct; when surely it should be more productive to attribute his behaviour to the word, so that the meaning changes to a progressively more accurate description. But this would not happen – people place more importance on their perceived understanding, than on encountering things afresh.

What does language communicate? It communicates the perceived idea of something already existent. Language can only function with an assumed knowledge; if this is absent it is nigh impossible to communicate. The signifier is not the signified, nor is the signified the signifier. Thought works similarly to language but is freer, not relying on an exterior consciousness with shared experience of perceptions. Do not be fooled by the idea that we think in words, gew articulate in words, we think in thoughts. The names we give to objects relate to how ewe use or have used them, as language has eveolved as a means of passing on information we cannot help but relate the world back to ourselves. (…)

R B Grange

(0,0)

In a recent interview I conducted with Viv he mentioned how any point of the process of his practice could be exhibited. A production still from a video, a drawing or re-edited image, or a more sculptrual piece - all these have the capability to stand alone as objects.

This has influenced me to make more of a visual approach to my own work. I have started creating what I have called SpaceStations and Crafts, blocky collections of images placed around a point of origin (0,0). I can easily make these on Word and take a screen dump of them, then post them on my Flickr account. I can then delete the Word file and keep the image, as an image - something I can come back to without the influence of how it was made.

All this stems from my want to engage, to try and reach out to people - this, for me, comes from points of reference, little third objects that are neither one person nor another, but are able to link people.

Viv has also talked about how, even though his work is a fluid process, he acknowledges all the steps he takes to image production and the production itself as seperate and immidately usable tools. He has taken to using a small digital camera (not digital LSR) to quickly grab his work so that it might be freshly seen.

R B Grange

Birl Interrupted

There's a line, or phrase that goes "Life would be nothing without interruptions", or something like that. Digory expresses the sentiment in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. With this in mind I have positioned myself in the main living area.

Sod that; Libby's just come in and asked me if I want to go to the canteen.

R B Grange

YT

This evening I found a function on my laptop which shall probably became as valuable a tool to my practice as my webcam. It seems that my MacBook downloads film trailers for me. I don't remember filling in anything about whether I wanted this or not, but it happens.

As a growing YouTube user most of my 'watching' is done there at the moment. I do watch Doctor Who on the telly and Battlestar Galactica on DVD, but my main source of visual engagement comes from YT (no one calls it that). Hayley, Clare and Libby went to a talk by Douglas Gordon last night and the site was mentioned. The drift of visual intake has gone from the cinema, to the television, to the internet - was the consensus. But do not be fooled - YouTube is not a passive site - it is not there to be watched, you cannot "turn on, tune in, drop out'. You can hardly even sit back when on the site.

I am making lots of work now

R B Grange