In October 2008 I had to give a one hour presentation of the ideas and themes within my work. This was in conjunction with the exhibition at the Museum of Classical Archeology, Cambridge University.  Attached, below, are the notes for the talk. I have to give a few more later this year and it will be interesting to see how they evolve from this one.  Talk notes- Oct 2008 background  LMU Fine Art Ba Hons  - abstraction  Cambridge- History of Art  Titian, Cubism and French Painting 1780-1860 1) Need for subject matter- specifically figural2) Centrality of paintNo so singular- now see it as a linguistic tool- a sign with a multiplicity of referents- paint as paint, light, flesh, 3) Fit and respond to a history of painterly painters   Be informed- (www.whalecrow.co.uk) Widening of the position of contemporary figurative painting Doig, Rausch, Weischer, Innes, Hodgkin, Daniel Richter, O’donohugh  The work:  Start: analytical bastardisation, deconstruction of pre-existing stories and images Ie Danae and Icarus Removals and reversals:  Tarquin removed Adonis removed from Venus’ grasp- the isolation of the form, a process of discovery.  Endymion- eternel youth/moment      interruption- moment in flux Adonis mirrors Venus’ pose- addition of a post narrative (tragic inevitability) Problem : elitist and restrictive-prior knowledge  New start:  From: Analytical deconstruction To: Synthetic construction:  series of detritus no logical links process to guide no preconceived end point “The deed comes before the idea.”  Avoid language: Image to speak to youNot limited by language  Expansion of ideas and motifs-  Bike, Horse, Swimmer, found photographs, maps, receipts, newspaper cuttings- nothing to be of limits.   Destabilising of the sign: Original context not importantCause a fracture Linguistic theory/semiotics- signs are unstable, defined by context   Wayne Rooney/Nani- tragic faller  Horse: from a quite cold celebratory, sports journalism image to an image imbued with melancholy. Something is triggered to make me first select the horse to draw, then to convert the drawing into a study then the study into a larger work. I need not know exactly why. Shift from specific referents to more generalised metaphors.   The original source is not important. To much written. Right figural dynamics  Predominate themes emerge: Single male figureProtagonistsStages/gridsFalling.floating.swimmingSeems to deal with the history of the heroic male figure  Single figure as a metaphor Non specific- those traits removedShift from narrative too allegoryPoetic not philosophical allegory- not a doctrine Deal with man in general- free of specific time and place- human condition   Protagonists  Figures not always alone  Types: the crow from Ted Hughes- a figure of tragic inevitability.  READ Daumiers drummer boy - denies communication  wandering past- unknowing protagonist- spectacle ignored Statues- lifeless, static but has some kind of magical impact. unseen protagonist- reference to another- anxiety  Not always a specific causal link    Vertical and horizontalPlay on coordinates of the pictureFormal content to denote underlying meaning   Repetitive histories and associations- (generalisations) Vertical- male, with the active, the heroic, the muscular. Horizontal: Female- reclining, submissive, the victim, the subject of the masculine attention Subverting the type: Female protagonistMale subjected to her presenceNot an academic commentary, more personal   Playing with the type- excessive, verging on the comic. ‘Tragedy- dancing to the bee gees on the disco floor.‘ THE GRIDFormal content with underlying meaning Maps: Provide ordering systemsDenote specific place  Removals: erase the specific indicators.  coordinates it becomes an indicator of space and place in general  gridReduction of the map to a gridThe grid indicates space on the most generalised level.  An ordering systemLinear design vs painterly application Further than formalism:  The gird as a metaphor of idealism-  idealism being a constructed belief, an organised systemHistory is idealism- artificially presented as linear and logical Playing against grid: the construction and deconstruction of a system, a belief, a form of idealism.  The death of the hero Two types:  1) Classical hero- seeks the ideal  2) Romantic hero- romanticised tragedy/the fall- descent from idealism   Necessitate a rise, and a narrative  Figures who want to have fallen: pathetic desires the fall, but actually hasn’t even fallen. Spasm- look sto dramatise and aggrandise the mundaneLooks to deny the singular nature of the moment locked in one place and time  That constant painterly battle- different to a literary one.  The hero is the figure of idealism Melodrama vs melancholy Melancholic- emerge from found imagesphotograph to painting -melancholy. what has been lost, of nostalgia. Poetic.  An image like the horse which suddenly seems to have a sense of nostalgia, moving between two realms.  Melodramatic- stagedthe polar oppositeexcesstheatre not poetry.   Desire desire is for something which is not there, Painting is always about that- about the moment never being reached. Keats= forever about to kiss Empty desire Barthes-a lovers discourse- what its about  Post Bacchanlian- after the decadenceafter the greed and excess a total collapse- my multi figure works tends to be about collapse space too flatVerticals/horizontals- addition of diagonalscomplex dialogue- a two foldness History of painting-Depicted as a two way journey- vasari and greenberg In reality always been spatial tension  Tension Something on the verge of collapse- artificiality vs illusion dialogue Correction/idealism made- Lines straightenLook to correct them Binary oppositions Light and darkheavy gloss/mattdesign and paintsurface and depthcontrol and disorder conversations:   Space vertical vs horizontal semantics of space- two halvesfigures centre of gravity the fall- resting so the centre of gravity  Surface talks of a fallThree dimensional spaces tells us of a stage Spatial contradiction- implication vs denial Tragedy in painting Art forms relate to the tragedy of life- transcience Literature   narrative  plotLine and space- causalTragic inevitability Photography- realismMoment- has beenInevitability of that moment deathOld photo of a young man- forever young but actually deadPainting- idealismMoment lasts forever- no before or afterBut its artificial- crumblesForm in flux- hughie The moment - a repeat cycle of tragedy- T and LAcrobatic figures  New workThe spectacle of the collapse