Raised 'n' Mightily Fused.

I have recorded character improvisations, watched the footage and considered improvements. I have generated more of Sprueman's lyrical script. I have been reading Acting Without Agony. I had a meeting with my VicBat contact and developed a lot of ideas, though the most important thing at present is preparing a presentation that presents the mascot's past/present/future.

For this project I have made a visual list of corporate/educational mascots:


Although VB already have a definite mascot, I was curious to see how others have been used. A wider variety of potential applications. The observations of these salesanimals are so obvious that even thinking them may cause a fire in the IT Drop-In Centre. Art is all illusion and that.

Scratch One Craft.

Back from the Craft Fair which was educational in as much as I have learnt that I need never visit Brighton ever again in my life. Pretty efficient really.

After a wash and dry at Chorlton's Soap Opera, I turned up here for some internet and the Monday Meeting. Later I will be working happily. There are presentations to experience. Words and money are all over the place. There is something funny about Manchester's new bus lane.

Rapper Menu.

All of these people are involved in RAP.

GarageBollocks.

Want to record words for Sprue song at University and was not able. Wasted time. Feel stupid and angry.



Going to make a CV to take the weight off of Education. Brighton Art Fair may cause new understanding of the ArtWorld.

Packerjin.

Here is the cover of an artist profile video. I will replicate and change it for the purposes of my [stupid, unfunny identity crisis of a] project. Later. Now I want to drink water until I am not around anymore.

Innard:


Shell:


The interview format has been on my mind. I watched the 'Blur' Rock Profile and realised how shit it was. Few laughs. Crap jokes. There is an IT Crowd moment where a lined Christopher Morris stares.

Turdaaa:

Face.

Face - front of head
Moving parts - muscles
Eyes, eyelids, lips, mouth, tongue
Eyebrows
Forehead
Head in relation to neck
Head in relation to body
Cheek muscles

We all refer to a dictionary of facial expressions...

Act+/ing/or.

I have new books including:

An Actor Prepares (Eyre Methuen Drama Books)
Author: Constantin Stanislavski
Publisher: Methuen Drama
Publication Date: 1980-01-10
ASIN / ISBN: 0413461904
List Price: £9.99
Paperback
318 Pages

One chapter has dealt a load of notes and new ideas. Dead Mr. Stanislavski's method of acting is not the only one, but I like how he describes it so far. It is very serious, for people who want to spend their lives acting, not me who doesn't. I picture the static interview of the conceptual pop maker behind Sprueman. Perhaps I will rethink Sprueman. He is crap and boring and not at all alive. I must make him and let him be real.

I have also been thinking about the visual elements of humans. If I separate them as objects into face and body [facial!/non-facial?] then I can isolate each element, think them still and live them moving.

Caune. CAHNT.

So this ugly/pretty photographer/model goes into a gay/straight bar, right?


Religion beware. Religion: beware. Religion? Beware. Deity games. Nod at ignorance. Nod at celebration. Who cares?


Man, woman or wanker? Brilliant or boring? Good act? Why?


Annie Lennox take note. Expression, face, mirror, evidence of behaviour, signal combinations, confusing then acceptable then forgotten.


Serious idiot wasting time, bald, beaky, asleep, meditating, artist dressed up, lighting, profile, silhouette, form, line, contrast, skill, effort, rewards, lasting image.



There's two of us now. Duality. Four bollocks or four ovaries? Two of each? None at all? What a strong version of possible reality Claude Caune may present. Not suitable for my study. All men are bastards. But she was not a man! She tricked everyone!

Born Lucy Schwob in Nantes, she was the niece of writer Marcel Schwob. Her mother's mental problems meant that she was brought up by her maternal grandmother, Mathilde Cahun. Around 1919, she settled on the pseudonym Claude Cahun, intentionally selecting a sexually ambiguous name, after having previously used the names Claude Courlis and Daniel Douglas. During the early twenties, she settled in Paris with her life-long partner and step-sister Suzanne Malherbe. For the rest of their lives together, Cahun and Malherbe (who adopted the pseudonym Marcel Moore) collaborated on various written works, sculptures, and collages. She published articles and novels, notably in the periodical "Mercure de France", and befriended Henri Michaux, Pierre Morhange and Robert Desnos. Throughout her life, she worked on a series of monologues called "Heroines," which was based upon female fairy tale characters and intertwining them with witty comparisons to the contemporary image of women. In 1929, a photograph of hers was published in the journal Bifur. The following year, her autobiographical essay Aveux non avenus, illustrated with photomontages, was published by Carrefour.

In 1932 she joined the Association des Ecrivains et Artistes Révolutionnaires, where she met André Breton and René Crevel. Following this, she started associating with the surrealist group, and later participated in a number of surrealist exhibitions, including the London International Surrealist Exhibition (New Burlington Gallery) and Exposition surréaliste d'Objets (Charles Ratton Gallery, Paris), both in 1936. In 1934, she published a short polemic essay, Les Paris sont Ouverts, and in 1935 took part in the founding of the left-wing group Contre Attaque, alongside André Breton and Georges Bataille.

In 1937 Cahun and Malherbe settled in Jersey. Following the outbreak of World War 2 and the German invasion, they became active as resistance fighters and propagandists. Fervently against war, the two worked extensively in producing anti-German fliers. Many were snippets from English-to-German translations of BBC reports on the Nazi's crimes and insolence, which were pasted together to create rhythmic poems and harsh criticism. The couple then dressed up and attended many German military events in Jersey, strategically placing them in soldier's pockets, on their chairs, etc. Also, fliers were inconspicuously crumpled up and thrown into cars and windows. In many ways, Cahun and Malherbe's resistance efforts were not only political but artistic actions, using their creative talents to manipulate and undermine the authority which they dispised. In many ways, Cahun's life's work was focused on undermining a certain authority, however her specific resistance fighting targeted a physically dangerous threat. In 1944 they were arrested and sentenced to death, but the sentences were never carried out. However, Cahun's health never recovered from her treatment in jail, and she died in 1954.

In many ways, Cahun's life was marked by a sense of role reversal, and her public identity became a commentary upon not only her own, but the public's notions of sexuality, gender, beauty, and logic. Her adoption of a pseudonym, and her androgynous self-portraits display a revolutionay way of thinking and creating, experimenting with her audience's understanding of photography as a documentation of reality. Her poetry challenged gender roles and attacked the increasingly modern world's social and economic boundaries. Also Cahun's participation in the Parisian Surrealist movement diversified the group's artwork and ushered in new representations. Where most Surrealist artists were men, and their primary images were of women as isolated symbols of eroticism, Cahun epitomized the chameleonic and multiple possibilities of the female identity. Her photographs, writings, and general life as an artistic and political revolutionary continue to influence countless artists, namely Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldin.

Cahun's collected writings were published in 2002 as Claude Cahun - Écrits (ISBN 2-85893-616-1), edited by François Leperlier.

There, you read it hear first. I want to go away now so I will.

Wearing Half of Ten.

So, another person who fools with images then.


Gillian Wearing appears as her own father. This must've been fun. I wonder if she broke out into loud public flashbacks. Is the photography studio public? Is a controlled space public? Is private your mental life that no-one else knows? Can these photographs leak such a thing? Is privacy what you think you are hiding? Is there a limit to what a person can expose about themselves? Dad and daughter, HER dad, her collection of associations, my understanding of her and her dad, all approximations spyrographing the article like animations of atoms.


Getting strangers to say things to a camera, letting 'it' out, 'emotional' expression, uninhibited wording, like you might indirectly through singing along to a popular song [Dennis Potter] or directly, thinking it's better because it is 'your own', your own words, the myth of ownership and personality, the myth yet reality of individuality, the limits and unlimits of science, rationality, trust in ideas and social/contextual/historical positioning. A load of bollocks we made up after we invented boredom and made sex a problem. We are cleverly stupid are we?


People say with signs what they cannot with their faces? People are honest written? It is all manipulation of a method of communication, there are only accepted ideas and not facts. Freedom from faith and belief, at least, fixed ones. Allow fiction, believe the myth you make, portray with conviction. Art the magnifier. Hello world, it's me, Anything. Gillian Wearing's sign-holders say it without flowers.


A mummified stranger, oh the nerve of the social-defiance, the taboo-smashing monster, what a brave act, ripe for discussion. What ideas and questions does this piece raise? Boring ones? Clever ones? Deep ones? Our beautiful constructs crumble in your presence, oh image. We cannot compete with your insight. We are humble and dying in your shadow. It's a good trick innit.


She is being her mum. We all end up turning into our mums. Daddy saw to that.

Sherman's Quintet.

Here, five instances where artist Cindy Sherman has changed her outside to create a new truth. An image is a truth of its own, undeniable in its existance. It has nothing to do with the living Cindy Sherman, apart from the fact [or is it?] that Cindy Sherman invented the image and used her own face and body in its construction. Why is the face not a part of the body? Because we use it so much in communication? Is the whole body not a tool for communication? The subject, location, composition, method and style of the photographs are all factors in the success of the image. Since there is no universal success and these images could be anyone, they rely upon the name and other work of the artist for part of their strength. Playing and manipulating are two labels for this method of self-portrayal. The self is another label, a whole debate, a load of questions with answers only persuasive, we made language an idea, we made lies in the process.







Cindy Sherman relies upon existing styles in order to create a new illusion. She is a she by biological/legal standards. She is not a she by artistic standards. In art, anything can be true. What a wonderful thing to remember. Imagination and creativity. Cindy Sherman is good at not being Cindy Sherman in photographs. She will be reincarnated into which form? Perhaps it is the nature of some people to experiment with persona/personalities. Bowie, Madonna, etc. Not interested. Want living frauds what are funny. Want Borat do I?

5 Lots of Lee.

Since my library offers no books on or by Nikki S. Lee besides the images in the Disguise catalogue, I have turned to the internet for images.


The Exotic Dancers Project (34), 2000
Fujiflex print
28 1/4 x 21 1/2 or 40 x 30 inches


The Schoolgirls Project (3), 2000
Fujiflex print
21 1/2 x 28 1/4 or 30 x 40 inches


The Skateboarders Project (29), 2000
Fujiflex print
21 1/2 x 28 1/4 or 30 x 40 inches


The Hip Hop Project (13), 2001
Fujiflex print
21 1/2 x 28 1/4 or 30 x 40 inches


The Hispanic Project (25), 1998
Fujiflex print
21 1/2 x 28 1/4 or 30 x 40 inches


The Seniors Project (15), 1999
Fujiflex print
21 1/2 x 28 1/4 x 48 or 30 x 40 inches

So make-up, clothing, company, attitude, reading behaviour, speaking behaviour, being something, being a plausible something, successful mimicry or credible adoption of identity, awareness and control of visual identity, elements of visual whole and factors of limitation, strength of replication, symbols of character behaviour, the face and body, the exterior revealing the interior, the connection between the two, the falsification of either, the impossibility to avoid falsification, the trap of finity, the scales within finity, the regular and recognised, abuse of the understanding of others, careful use of loans, clever use of seemingly factual information.

Books 'n' Movies.

These two books have been helping to light my hypothetical decision path. I have discovered that a flood of fast reference options beats slow seriousness. The breadth is better, there is more to consider and each thing matters less amongst it because there are more things, but you choose the things you find useful and chuck the rest down the crapper [except that they stay as little icons and you can pass them on in the future]. Books then.

Disguise: Artists Who Use Disguise to Explore How We Create and Change Our Personal Image
Publisher: Cornerhouse Publications
Publication Date: 2004-04
ASIN / ISBN: 090167365X
List Price: £4.00
Paperback
32 Pages


Private
Author: Alison Jackson
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Publication Date: 2004-10-28
ASIN / ISBN: 0141019182
List Price: £7.99
Paperback
128 Pages

I caught the Disguise exhibition in its original reality setting, much like someone might catch a bus full of cold germs. From the catalogue I have selected to pursue the work of the following people:

Nikki S. Lee - she is great at wearing cultures
Cindy Sherman - the Chili Peppers would say 'photobodyfaceinvension'
Gillian Wearing - where strangers confess in masked anonymity on video
Claude Cahun - neutral gender characters


Alison Jackson's Private was possibility-building, and notes came:

person-identifiable-famous-recognisable-celebrity
who? why famous? role/occupation?
Super intruder - authentic/solid replication
Control overridden
Contradicting popular understanding of an image
breaking parameters
defying logic
freedom from control/
human image [& person at centre]
media profile [mass of opinions]
very well executed with props and locations
character-specific behaviour/making and breaking connections
constructing an image

Small Time Crooks was not the best Woody Allen film I have seen. It felt gentle, perhaps the Dreamworks logo was enough of a warning. It didn't feel relevant to my study, so it is binned. Returned to the library. I think I am seeking solo performances.


As a duo on a collapse drive, Pete and Dud's Derek and Clive was a nasty mess of good swearing, not the best example of Peter Cook's character monologues really. I should get Why Bother? instead coz there ain't so much strange love involved. It's vocal consistency. Peter Cook was very good at it, but threw in 'everyday clichés' seemlessly. Still a cunt, mind. I am not aiming to copy his style. Chris Morris's observations and execution are also precise. But there are more people doing these things who are rarely mentioned. No Avid Merrion today thank you. English language people who have been great at keeping a character both 'true' and entertaining.


This art racket. It's a gas.

T9 built my predictive text.

The Wednesday Shall Provide.

No need for pointless opinions...just personal memories and consumed media in one simple line. Unified.









More comes the next day. But faster and more educated.

Today's Reference Map.

Here is the latest in a long line of reference maps. It features all the names that have been pushed to 'unlock' my ideas, zif they were mobile phones and University was a hidden market stall with a handwritten sign.

Socheckemout.



I can imagine a crammed history of art emerging from a load of these. Reference Maps: The works and faces of the common favourite names to leave in the air during dialogues concerning the visual arts of the fairly recent era, since painting was swapped for video etc. Isn't it odd that so many inspirational figures have skin and gender like mine? Do you think it's genetic? I want breakfast now.

Theory on the Cards.

I like these:

I wonder if Santa Claus is reading this...

HHD#7.

So, what need I do to/for my phantom people?

Scripting [mass/trim/refine]
Camera tests [testing lifelong non-verbal personality studies]
Clothing [per personality]
Their Work [more than just words]
Their Working Environments

I watched all of:


And some of:


And now I have:


Some of W.Allen's jokes cracked my mouth open. I like his characters. His mind and lined forrid remind me of Robert Crumb. There are no women that I have met or seen on a video that remind me of either of these men. Am I uncultured?

A fair load of the books promised to me by the Met library's TalisPrism search machines were not in their correct places. Some may have been stolen or hidden. It upsets me that computers are tricked by human error. I feel so guilty that I may just log off and hang myself.

Going Home to Eat.

After some time in the studium, I evacuated to the [cue elevation machine voice] THIRD FLOOR. I was told to consider the work of Augusto Boal, a large name in the world of Invisible Theatre. And I will. But tonight is a night without any formal study, for we will be dining with Woody Allen.

Then, tomorrow, 11:00:


There are other things to do. At 13:30 there is a meeting about an opportunity to work with Tate Liverpool. I am going for that, and will be passive all the way to the end of it. Doesn't Ireland makes a lot of architects?