#153: The Landscapes of Your Life

An exhibition of landscapes you have enjoyed during your lifetime.  

Each piece will have a title in which you could include a date, if you wish - especially if the landscape no longer exists (or has altered from the one you remember), or to give the landscape its position within your life.  It might be that you only experienced the landscape once, for example on holiday, or it might be one that you experienced regularly, perhaps while walking to work over a particular period in time.  

Its content, though, is merely the coordinates of the place to be to see the landscape and the direction to look in.  For example: 

Mote Park, Maidstone: View of Mote House and the North Downs beyond, 1998-2013. 51.26210676149764°N, 0.5480418031282992°W, Looking North. 

#152: The Portraits All Around Us

Look around.  In the gallery, at the station, on the street, in the shop, on the bus or train, in a traffic jam or queue... look around and see the portraits all around you.  

How are people portraying themselves?

In any given moment, how do they look?  

What impressions do they give and how do you see them?  

If you know them, try to imagine you do not, and try to see them with fresh eyes: do you recognise the person you know from a brief glance?

If no one is around, find a mirror and ask the same questions about yourself.

#151: It's MY body

Imagine an artwork to go with this title.

#150: Take What You Need (After Tom Phillips' A Humument)

Edit a book until you have the story you want or need; or until it is yours.

#149: Negative Space, or The art in the space between works of art

Look at the shadow, or shadows, created by a sculpture.  

If it is outside, watch how it moves and changes as the sun moves.  You could return at different times of the year and day.  

How is it different from the work of art, and how is it the same?  Which version of the shadow (if there is more than one) is your favourite?  

How does it work with framed art?  What patterns or shapes are created by the gallery light? 

What else can you find in the space between artworks?

#148: The Greatest Landscape

Reality.

#147: Relief

The sound of a really long piss.

#146: Windows (Self-portrait XIII)

A medium of your choice.

An artwork based on the colours and patterns in your eyes.

#145: A heart torn out vs A heart given to the world

A site-specific artwork removed from that site and sold off to the highest bidder.

vs

Allowing the world to see an unknown treasure.

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Note: Inspired by two articles about the sale of Keith Haring’s Radiant Baby.  See Jones (2022e) and Sherwood (2022) in the Online resources section of the Imaginary Art Resource List.

#144: A metaphor for our times

A pigeon lying dead in the middle of a high street.  Its head nowhere to be seen, blood spurts stain the ground where the head should be.  

There are no signs of a struggle, or any evidence to suggest how the pigeon came to be there in that state.  

Many of the shops on the high street have been shuttered or display closing down signs, no major chains can be seen. 

The skies are grey, as are the few people that trudge through the scene.

An outsider looks down, puzzled, and has an idea.

#143: Mabel's Puzzle

Join fragments of memories or ideas together to form one full story (or stories, or anything else you would like to create).  

Discuss with others if help is needed to fill any gaps.  Don't be afraid to raise your hand.

#142: Change is an ongoing project

Canvas with hair (that has been cut off in protest for, and in solidarity with, the women of Iran), the fabric of removed hijabs, and the ashes of those burned in protest, have been stuck on to form the words: 

See how things are now.  

They were not always so.  

They will not always be so.  

And there will always be more to fight for.  

Be brave, stand together, forever.

In all ways.  

Always.

On the frame are painted the words: ““We are not scared. We are outraged. People think that we are the previous generation – that if they do this we’re going to just stop. We are not going to stop. This is a one-way road for us. They will take even more people into custody, torture them, rape them. This is not the end.” (Unknown Protestor)” and ““O, you martyr, / hold my hands / With your hands / Cut from earthly means / Hold my hands, / I am your poet. / With an inflicted body. / I’ve come to be with you / and on the promised day, / We shall rise again.” (Tahereh Saffarzadeh).” The two quotes run alongside one another, rather than one before the other.

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See also:

Bromwich, Kathryn (2022) A vibrant celebration of Iranian rebel women – in pictures. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2022/sep/24/a-vibrant-celebration-of-iranian-rebel-women-in-pictures (Accessed: 10th October 2022).

Foumani, Maryam (2022) Two decades of Iranian women’s street protests – in pictures. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/gallery/2022/oct/07/two-decades-of-iranian-womens-street-protests-arash-ashourinia-in-pictures (Accessed: 10th October 2022).

Hessel, Katy (2022) Guns, veils, unflinching stares: the banned work about Iran’s female rebels. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/10/veils-banned-iran-mahsa-amini-shirin-neshat-rebellious-silence (Accessed: 10th October 2022).

Jones, Jonathan (2022) Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel review – vivacious paintings of liberated Iranian womanhood. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/07/soheila-sokhanvari-rebel-rebel-review-barbican-london (Accessed: 8th October 2022).

Neshat, Shirin (1994) Rebellious Silence [Photograph]. Available at: https://reinterpellations.web.unc.edu/about/neshats-rebellious-silence/neshats-rebellious-silence-essay/#:~:text=Rebellious%20Silence%20is%20a%20photograph,small%20opening%20for%20the%20eyes and https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/global-contemporary-apah/20th-century-apah/a/neshat-rebellious (Both accessed: 10th October 2022).

#141: Bedroom Walls

Your Teenage Bedroom Wall.

Recall it, recreate it in your mind.

How far from it have you strayed?

Your current wall.

How well does it represent you?

#140: Emotional Reflection (Self-portrait XII)

A mirror.

In it you see not your outer layer but the cloud of emotions within.

What does it look like?

#139: The gulfs between humans and the hopes for the future

Oil on canvas.  

A deep ravine, its sides high, rocky and steep. Across it has been built a bridge upon which people from either side of the ravine can meet.  

In the bridge are cracks but there are also people from both sides ready to plaster them, and scaffolders and builders ready in case it falls. 

At the bottom of the ravine is dynamite and at the sides of the bridge are people holding burning torches.  

From either side, people are making their first, tentative, steps to meet in the middle.

#137: A Child’s First Visit to a Gallery : An Imaginary Graphic Short Story (An imaginary entry for The Faber/Observer/Comica graphic short story prize 2022)

Four pieces of A3 paper each containing an area marked out to form a page that will scale down to 150mm wide x 260mm high. 

Page One

The page is divided into four sequences of equal size.  

The title, “A Child’s First Visit to a Gallery : An Imaginary Graphic Short Story” is written in block letters in a banner across the top of the page with full credits.

The rest of the page is divided into three sequences of equal sized boxes with square edges.  

The first sequence shows a child and their parents (or only one parent, or other grown-ups, if you would rather) walking up to and into an art gallery, one showing the child looking up at Maman with a mix of fear and awe.

The second shows them entering its entrance lobby, where artworks can be seen, before showing a close-up of the child looking around and smiling.

A third shows the parents looking at a map before leading the child toward a display.

Page Two

The page is divided into four sequences of four boxes.  The first three boxes have square corners, the fourth in each sequence has round corners.  Each box contains a picture as follows:

Sequence 1, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 1, Box 2: The child looking at the Venus di Milo.

Sequence 1, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 1, Box 4: The Venus di Milo is seen, with arms, a milkshake in one hand, its straw extending up to her mouth, the other giving a thumbs up.  The child is looking up at her, smiling, a milkshake in one hand and returning the thumbs up.

Sequence 2, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 2, Box 2: The child looking at A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.

Sequence 2, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 2, Box 4: A close-up of the painting, the child now in it and playing football with its occupants, who have removed their coats and are using them as goalposts.

Sequence 3, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 3, Box 2: The child looking at The Great Wave off Kanagawa.

Sequence 3, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 3, Box 4: A close-up of the print.  The wave in the painting is now a little smaller and the boat has moved to a safer position.  The child is riding the wave on an inflatable rainbow narwhal while the occupants of the boat watch with enthusiasm. 

Sequence 4, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 4, Box 2: The child looking at Sunflowers.

Sequence 4, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 4, Box 4: The child is giving sunflowers to one of their parents as they walk away (the painting can be seen in the background but now only shows an empty vase).

Page Three

The page is divided into four sequences of four boxes.  The first three boxes have square corners, the fourth in each sequence has round corners.  Each box contains a picture as follows:

Sequence 1, Box 1: The parents not so much pointing out an artwork but rather putting out their palms face-up and looking around to show this is the artwork.

Sequence 1, Box 2: The child standing in a room covered in white polka dots on a red background.

Sequence 1, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 1, Box 4: Child is sitting and playing in a ball pit, next to which is a box of felt tip pens.  The walls of the room are now plain red.  

Sequence 2, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 2, Box 2: The child looking at The Treachery of Images.

Sequence 2, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 2, Box 4: The child with a pipe in their mouth, blowing bubbles.  The painting can still be seen in the background but the pipe is missing and it now says, “Cette toile est vierge” and has been renamed #138 The Treachery of Words.

Sequence 3, Box 1: The parents of the child point out an artwork.

Sequence 3, Box 2: The child looking at an artwork chosen by you.

Sequence 3, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 3, Box 4: The child doing something amusing or strange with, or within, your chosen artwork.

A fourth sequence of four boxes all with square corners.  Each box contains a picture as follows:

Sequence 4, Box 1: Front view of child looking up at a gallery wall.

Sequence 4, Box 2: Rear view of child looking at a large space in between two paintings.

Sequence 4, Box 3: The child thinking to themself.

Sequence 4, Box 4: The child smiling to themself.

Page Four

The page is divided into two parts.  

The top three quarters are empty.  

The last quarter is made up of four boxes of equal size with square edges.  

The first three show pictures of the family leaving the gallery and walking back along the street, the three of them talking animatedly.  

The last contains, “The End” in block letters.

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If I was brave enough*, this is what I would have entered [opens in a new window, published via Google Slides, showing for one minute per page but you can press the down and up arrows to navigate] (but printed out on paper).  

* and if I didn't have more doubts about actually entering this competition than I had about entering the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It seems fine to me to enter almost anything into what is a more general art competition (especially when paying for the privilege) but to enter a (free) graphic short story competition with no pictures feels too much of a waste of the judge's time.  Also, I didn't actually finish this in time.  Maybe next year...

#136: "For every ounce of light, there is darkness"

Oil on canvas.  

The canvas is taken up with a portrait of the subject’s head and shoulders.  Upon their forehead is painted a scene: A candle lighting up an otherwise dark place.  Within the candle’s flame can be seen an angel bearing the face of the subject.  In the dark at the edges can be seen many demons, also with the face of the subject, crawling towards the edge of the light - their hands, with long fingers and claws, reaching toward the light and the angel.

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After: Jones, Jonathan (2022) Interview: ‘An apparition came towards me’: Tracey Emin on seeing a ghost and building a new life in Margate. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/apr/25/tracey-emin-ghost-apparition-new-life-margate-cancer-nudes (Accessed 25/4/22).

#135: The meek will inherit

Oil on canvas.  

The canvas is divided into 64 equal, and square, parts.  32 of these feature a word, or two words, either painted black on a white background, or white on a black background, with the pattern alternating to form a chessboard (starting black on white in the top left hand corner).  

The words, written along the top two rows and the bottom two rows are: 

Row 1: confusion, pain, dread, dust, sand, fear, shame and mumbling.  

Row 2: low pay, low confidence, low spirit, low status, low hope, low light, low resilience and low ness.

In the central white four squares of the central two rows (4 and 5), alternating between those rows (ie, B4, C5, D4, E5, F4, G5), white on white, reads: living burial- life above their heads.

Row 7: loneliness, quietness, vicariousness, slowness, rudderlessness, listlessness, opaqueness and fecklessness.

Row 8: shadow, insularity, inability, rocks, stones, invisibility, cells and cold.

On the reverse of the canvas is written, in black pencil, “Or they will be happy with their lot; quite possibly happy with everything they have got.”

#134: Self-portrait XI

Remember yourself in a time when you did not look like everybody else.

#133: Out of time and place

Someone from a particular time and place but not looking as you would expect them to. 

Perhaps they are ahead of their time, or behind.  But there is something about them that does not ring true.  

Perhaps something out of step with their surroundings, perhaps just something unusual for the time.  

Have a think and see.

#132: People

A series of paintings of people looking how you would expect them to look.

#131: The Vibrancy of Colour

Imagine an array of colours and then go find those colours.  

Alternatively, think about an object in your head that you know to be colourful and then go find, and look at, that object.

Where are the colours brightest?  In your mind’s eye or your physical eye?

#130: It is what it is and it is beautiful for it

 An object.

#129: Raymond Briggs

Walk with a Snowman, a Bogeyman, Father Christmas, and/or an elderly couple, even the man himself, and remember.

#128: Nothing is Lost

Memories of all that has been lost along the way, in the place you go to keep everything alive.

#127: The Moon

Observe the moon.

#126: Stars

Watch the night sky.

#125: Winter

Watch the frost melt.

#124: Waterfall

Listen to the water fall.

#123: Autumn

Watch the leaves fall.

#122: Sunset

Watch the sunset.  Compare with the sunrise.

#121: Creatures

Watch wildlife.

#120: Plant

Watch a plant grow.

#119: Flower

Watch a flower open.

#118: Tree

Watch a tree sway.

#117: Sky

Lie on the ground and watch the sky.

#116: Summer

Follow the sun.

#115: River

Watch a river flow.

#114: Tides II

Build a sandcastle with a moat, or just dig a hole, and watch the tide’s reaction.

#113: Spring

Watch the blossom fall.

#112: Tides

Watch the tide go out, and/or come in.

#111: Bees

Watch bees at work in your garden, a park or on a street.

#110: Sunrise

Watch the sun rise.  

#109: That moment will always exist

 That moment.

#108: This moment will always exist

#107: The Art of Living Forever

All day, every day, imagine your own death in as many ways as possible.  

Nothing that you imagine will ever come true, therefore if you imagine your death in enough ways, you will never die.

Good luck.

(You can also use this method to ensure loved ones live forever with you).

#106: Having the same idea over and over again

A rubber stamp stamping on your forehead for ever. 

#105: A Deal With God

A machine, in a building at the end of the road at the top of a hill, that allows two people to exchange places for a period of time.

And you're using it.

#104: Imagine ‘Imagine’

Sit and listen to Imagine by John Lennon and Yoko Ono and truly imagine everything he sings about.  Really take your time to think about each line and visualise each thing.

What do you see?

summer 2022

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After Menand, Louis (2022) Yoko Ono’s Art of Defiance. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/06/20/yoko-onos-art-of-defiance (Accessed: 14th June 2022).

#103: Whatever else you see here, this is the future to avoid

 

Click here for background twitter thread.

#102: Feedback (Self-portrait X)

A mirror.

Wait for the feedback.

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After Creature Comfort by Arcade Fire.

#101: The Imaginary Art Manifesto

If conceptual art does not need to be seen to be understood, then does the artwork need to even exist? 

Can literally anything be art so long as it has been given a clever, or creative, title? 

How much of conceptual art is in the title, or idea, alone?

From these questions the idea of Imaginary Art was born and we asked - 

Can we create art that is only in the imagination, offering each and every viewer their own unique experience?

Can we have art without a sellable end product?  An art that is more democratic, that potentially exists entirely outside the Art World? 

In answer we created Imaginary Art and say -

Imaginary Art is a creative writing exercise and experiment.

Imaginary Art seeks to create individual experiences and one of a kind artworks in the mind.

Imaginary Art is online, in blog posts advertised on social media.  It could exist in galleries, on canvas and other mediums, on posters, on mugs and on t-shirts.  But it might be best online.  As such, it could be displayed in every gallery in the world at one time.  But, more importantly, in every home with the world wide web.  

Imaginary Art can be the description of an artwork that does not exist.  Perhaps it should, perhaps it could.  But in many cases it should not.  And does not need to.

Imaginary Art can be an idea for a group activity.

Imaginary Art can be an exercise for the mind, a form of mindfulness.  

Imaginary Art is often homage.  A way to point you to real art, to celebrate art that is loved.

Imaginary Art is not anti-art.  It is a way to make you feel and think; to create.  

Imaginary Art is democratising, it allows everyone to be an artist - however much they wish to participate.  

Imaginary Art is not original or unique, and does not claim to be.

Imaginary Art is Conceptual Art.  Without the art.  Imaginary Art is conceptual.

Imaginary Art can be loose or very precise.  Expansive, or very concise.

Imaginary Art is quite possibly the most naive art.

Imaginary Art is not the future.  

Imaginary Art will not sweep the old art aside.

Imaginary Art is a nonsense.  Imaginary Art should be, and hopefully is, fun(ny).

The Imaginary Art Manifesto is a definition and a call to like-minded souls who would like to write, participate, or both.  

Let us bring this experience to the world.

Let us imagine together and apart.

Let us create and help others to create their own unique works of imaginary art.

#100: Life without any Life

A blank canvas.

#099: Melancholy (after Munch and Los Campesinos!) [Self-portrait IX]

Oil on canvas.  You, sitting by the sea and looking out across it after something has happened and you are seeking the space to think about it, but also to start to find a way forward while life carries on around you.

#098: Bringing out the light to dispel the dark

Oil on canvas.  At the centre of the canvas a woman can be seen taking an orb of light from an open box and is in the process of giving this orb to a group of people on the right of the picture who are waiting patiently to receive it.  Behind the woman at the centre is another version of herself, but naked and sitting with her head on her knees, hugging her legs and with her back to the rest of the scene.

The scene as a whole is very dark with the orb of light providing almost the only source of light, lighting the front of the woman and the crowd well/brightly and leaving the woman on the left, and the left hand edges of the painting, mostly in the dark.  The scene takes place inside a stone building with one small window and a door visible on the right behind the waiting crowd.  These allow a little more light on the right hand side of the painting behind the crowd.

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After: Jones, Jonathan (2022) Interview: ‘An apparition came towards me’: Tracey Emin on seeing a ghost and building a new life in Margate. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/apr/25/tracey-emin-ghost-apparition-new-life-margate-cancer-nudes (Accessed 25/4/22).

#097: A lowering of confidence leading to a sort of writer's block

Cartoon sketch.  

Huge letters carved from rock spelling ART loom over a figure who stares up in trepidation.

Next to the figure is a cloud labelled, “full of unfinished ideas”.

#096: Having the same idea over and over again

A rubber stamp repeated over and over again in lines across and down a large piece of paper.

#095: An idea I will never have

[Insert your idea below]

#094: Retirement (As some family members would have me believe; with a little addition of my own)

Oil on canvas.  A far-reaching landscape of sunshine, fields and trees.  On the horizon, though, are dark clouds, and darker lands

#093: Preserving and Pickling Time

Imagine shelves lined with pickling jars - the sort you get in medical museums containing animals preserved for all time.  But inside is a moment in time - a single, completely unique moment that, to you, was one worthy of remembrance and storage.  

Or perhaps these could be special memory balls, with different colours meaning different types of memories, floating around and above you, waiting to be plucked from the air and viewed.  Or film clips, photographs, paintings, sculptures, writing or another artistic response.  Physical items to help recall a moment or memory.

If you were to stop and remember this moment forever, what would you remember about what you can see, smell, feel… and how would you preserve it?

And what moments in your life would you like to remember and record?  Take a moment to recall a few - remember each one - the sights, smells, sounds, feelings - and think about how you would preserve it.  Even if only in your own mind.

Now try and think about this every day so that you are better placed to remember and record special and key events.  And, of course, to get the most out of them at the time - in the moment - to make them all the more memorable.  

To preserve and pickle moments in time.  

An imaginary art response to learning about Ichigo Ichie [ 期一会].

#092: Waiting for life in liminal times, or "And my life is coming/But I don't know when"

Oil on canvas.  A train station scene showing the station building flat on from the opposite platform in a two-platform station.  Only one person can be seen and they are inside the Waiting Room, sitting on a bench and staring straight ahead out of the painting.  A sign shows that the station is called Liminal Halt.

#091: Whole life portrait

A series of pictures of someone throughout their life printed on transparencies of the same size, laid on top of one another, framed, and backlit.

#090: Always different, always the same.

A mirror.

#089: Self and Other

A portrait of you created at, or from, a point of time chosen by you.  Alongside it is a mirror.

#088: What do you see?

A mirror.

#085: Study

Read (or read about) Grapefruit by Yoko Ono.

2022 winter

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See also: #086: Imaginary Art Resource List (A Work Ever in Progress)

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After: Ono, Yoko (2000) Grapefruit : a book of instructions + drawings. New York, Simon & Schuster. and Johnson, Danielle (2020) Artist Instructions. Available at: https://www.moma.org/magazine/articles/407 (Accessed: 26th August 2020).

#087: Solidarity

An image of a pedestrian giving a thumbs up to a passing car flying a Ukrainian flag.

#084: Search for artists unknown

Perform a web image search that will find artists and art you are unaware of.  

You could search for artists of a particular nationality, gender or sexuality, for example “artists from Gabon” or “transsexual artists in Denmark”; or for subjects you have not seen in art so much, for example, “geese in art” or “paintings of timbuktu”; or throw in an era of time, for example “16th century female artists” (searching for any art movement plus women will probably show you something new, something largely hidden by histories); or a medium of art you are less familiar like “sculpture.”  Any search term, or combination of terms, you can think of that will find you something new.

Even if you need to change your search terms a few times to get at what you want, you will probably still find art you haven’t seen before on the way.

Find the work you like, learn more about the artists, follow them (or an account about them) on social media, find galleries or websites that show their art.

And why not share your findings on social media using the hashtag #artijustfound - share photos, links, information, spread the word.

#083: Self-portrait VIII / Joint self-portrait IV

Cover a wall large enough for the task with corkboard and place on this maps of every country you have lived in or visited.  In these place a pin or other marker in every town you have been to.  Depending on space and detail you want, you could use regional maps for some, or all, countries.  If you have less space, you could try this with a world map and mark each country and major city.

You could form a joint-self-portrait with others by placing different colour markers for each person.  

#082: The Silence of the Image: An Exhibition

An exhibition of famous works of art spanning all eras and regions of the world.  None of the works are present at the exhibition.  Instead, each is replaced by a digital screen upon which is written details of the work and a description of it.  The descriptions vary in detail, from long descriptions to basic information, and even nothing at all.  Everything can also be heard read aloud by pressing a button, using headphones or accessing the exhibition through an app.

After: Alexander, H. (2020) The silence of the image.  Available at: https://www.typefi.com/silence-of-the-image/ (Accessed: 30th November 2021)

#081: The Filter

Ink on paper.  Drawing of my face on the left side of the paper and someone else’s on the right.  The following text is written down the middle, in between the two faces:

Sometimes it feels as if there is a filter between me and other people that alters the way I have said things and distorts my face into the wrong shape for the words or the feelings.  It works the other way too, somehow.  I must work hard to remove it.

Several chains of coloured balls are moving from each side to the other (from the mouths to the ears), making their way through different paths created by the text.  In each chain the balls slowly fade from one colour to another (for example from red to yellow; blue to green; or black to white).