#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.”