Oslo-bound

On Wednesday I shall be part of the group of speakers talking about collecting photography in conjunction with the exhibition, 'HIGH SPEED iNSANITY' which is a collaboration between PUG, Mr. Jack Helgesencalled & FOTOGALLERIET in Oslo, called 'Who Holds the Power to Collect?'

PUG (Pop up gallery) is headed up Ellen-K Syverstad & Anette Skuggedal. I first met Ellen K at Paris Photo 2010 & am looking forward to working with her briefly this week.

Established in 1977 Fotogalleriet is unique in Oslo as the only Norwegian institution devoted to camera-based art. They show Norwegian as well as international contemporary artists.

HIGH SPEED iNSANITY:
Slow down. Be present. – Run away. Escape. – These solutions describe opposite extremes of what most people have to deal with every day. We are supposed to be both normal and special at the same time. How do we cope? The selection photographs chosen are curated to navigate through the obstacles of life in a visual cacophony of imagery made by some of the worlds leading photographers. The show includes the following work:

Roger BALLEN The Asylum
Martin DENKER High Speed Insanity
Sally MANN At Twelve
Vik MUNIZ Pictures of Chocolate & Erotica
Andres SERRANO Early work
Joel Peter WITKIN Master-works

I am not sure yet exactly all of images which will be included in the show, but can't wait to see as it will be a wonderful surprise. More on my return...

(TSATTF) There's something about things that fly... Part 1

So as many of you already know I collect (amongst other things) things that fly, birds, planes, helicopters.... These come in many forms, mostly photographic prints but also other things.

It has come to my attention recently that I was in fashion (OH NO) as it seems birds are all the rage at the moment. I'm sure this will pass as with all trends, but it is great to see birds everywhere so I have decided to start a flying series of blogs as I have taken so many pictures and come across so many related flying things it seems a shame not to share them.

The first is from Melbourne at Port Melbourne to be precise. I spent the day on the beach with my better half Mat, & observed the seagulls. Seagulls are always taken for granted, but if you really look at them closely they are so beautiful. It always amazes me how white their white feathers are, the way they hover & circle, what fun it must be to see the world from those angles.

They came very close and also settled down in the sand & seaweed on the beach. I made a few quick drawings of them as you can see here. Note the colour of the paper I draw on. As with many arty endeavours it can be intimidating facing the blank white page. I avoid this by drawing on paper of varying colours when travelling & I can clip several colours together to sift through on location. Using the traditional sketch book (hate the word 'sketch' it implies something trivial) is a nice way to keep it all together but if you want to separate one drawing or more from the rest it ruins the book. A nice archival box labelled by date, subject etc is much easier to keep track of.

Like people they move in their own way, it is hard not to anthropomorphise them. When I was much younger (16) my GCSE thesis was on Leonardo Da Vinci's studies of bird flight. His drawings are still in my humble opinion the best studies ever made, as the number & detail alone is hard to argue with.

Beginning this blog series with the simple birds we are familiar with & venturing into graphic design, art, painting, objects, jewellery, illustration & more it is a haze of feathers as far as the eye can see....

Each post will have a different title but numbered for my reference should I loose track. I will expand to include great photographic examples also, so for the photographer's amongst you dear readers do not despair...