Category Archives: Influences

Easter Flowers

It is Good Friday and a time to doubt

It is ingrained into our psyche from an early age that failure is a bad thing. From birth to death we are compared, or we compare ourselves, with people that have failed or succeeded. To be successful is to appear to our peers as socially, financially and intellectually superior. To fail is the complete opposite, to be ostracized by this successful society. Our preoccupation with success and its consequent obsession creates within us a crisis of identity. ‘Am I successful?’ ‘Do I appear to be successful?’ ‘Do my friends think I’m successful?’ Is it all just a facade, we have been taken in by what we see and what we are being told.

Stop funding the Arts it is a waste of money

How arrogant are The Arts Council

How dare the British government and The Arts Council waste my money on propping up outdated institutions. Theatres, galleries, community projects. How dare they tell the tax payer what is ‘good for them’ and then deliver shit.

What is this middle class obsession with Art being good for society?

The frontiers of creativity are in creating video games, smarter bombs and creating more audio and visual ways of distracting us from the reality of the real world.

I want the money wasted on Arts Council Grants to be spent on the NHS, Netflix and a stronger more powerful and destructive armed forces and weaponry.

Art is dead – close Art Colleges

The constant questioning and declassification of what art is and what the content is has lead to this so called crisis in painting and art (there as always been a crisis in painting) – Painting is dead – the exponents of Conceptual Art tried to destroy the art object but failed – thought and the idea is the object. The primary aims of Conceptual Art in the 1960’s was to carry out a theoretical examination of ‘art’ and through understanding propose ‘concepts as art’. Two and three-dimensional art was in the doldrums, the essence of creating was the new Holy Grail. This was considered to be a bold step – proposing an idea as a work of art left the Artist with very little to exhibit or sell, the written word was usually all that was physically evident.

It has taken me nearly 35 years to realize that what I do isn’t pointless and that my unwavering trust in the conceptual philosophies (of artists and writers from Duchamp to Art and Language) has been misplaced. I’m enjoying my painting – for the first time. The ‘world of art’ and the ‘world of everyday life’ had already been discussed in Dada. “Life and art are one,” proclaimed Tzara. Ultimately Dada reduced itself to vandalism, drawing mustaches on the Mona Lisa, instead of destroying the Louvre and genuinely starting again, something a real revolutionary movement would consider as its first option. It increased the status of the most banal object or event into something that ultimately provoked nervous laughter, a childish prank that has been taken seriously ever since. Conceptual Art attempted to be more serious in its approach. Unfortunately the original aims became diffused and the quality of thought became diluted and suffered a similar fate to Dada.

This is a Disclaimer
This text is subject to prescriptive/predictive rules of a system aesthetic. This text has been written on several devices and computers, three of which are on a network and two of which are stand-alone systems. Four computers are running different versions of a Windows operating systems, (Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 10 ) – Mac OS, iPad and iPhone. The text is written in Microsoft Word, three are using version 2003 and one is version Windows for Mac. Three versions are operating with an English dictionary and one is using an American/English dictionary. The iMac is also using OpenOffice.org. This text has been written in several locations including, Bromsgrove, Wolverhampton and South Molton.
This text has been subject to 100’s of system protocols, however the structure of the text is predictable; each computer has its own subtle nuances and offers syntax and grammatical recommendations. I am not completely responsible for this text. The finished text was then pasted into WordPress. My main contribution is editing and using the cut and paste facility. If I had attempted to write this in its finished running order, it would have taken me longer to write…my spelling is appalling and my grasp of grammar is minimal…the written word is not my preferred method of expression. This text would not exist without the existence a system. The aesthetics of the system is responsible for the proliferation of the written word; this is a double-edged sword.

At last the complete BATMAN A&BC Gum Cards 1966. PINK BACK #batman #A&BC

55 Batman Cards…

It has only taken me 48 years to get the complete set of f Batman 1966  A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd cards but I am a happy man… I acquired the missing one today.

Each card is a full colour, hand-painted image by one of several contributing (comic book) artists including: Norm Saunders and Bob Powell.

batman_bubble_gum_cards

Set of 55 Batman cards (British variant of Topps Batman set – Front is the same as US set, reverse has pink background with text.) Commonly known as “Pink Back Series” or “Black Bats”. UK cards smaller in size compared to the US Topps sets

The Beatles A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd (first series) 7 loose cards #beatles

Faded Beatles – my life has faded with them

I unearthed a box of old stuff which was crammed with bits and pieces from my childhood. Photographs of the Beatles printed on cardboard, faded and going the colour of straw – I looked in the mirror and there was the same reflection.

Below are a few of the Beatles black & white cards. Numbers 7, 37, 45, 48, 51, 57, 60 from a series of 60. A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd cards showing John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney with printed signatures in blue.

beatles_series_1

The #Beatles – trading cards better than the real thing

I understand the joys of collecting things like stamps, trading crds etc. there is alway the pleasure of finding, buying that elusive one that will make the set. Chewing gum cards were my thing when I was small – I loved the chance element, the hope of getting what I wanted. I no longer collect things but I still love chance, which is why I now do the lottery.

The Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960. Manager Brian Epstein moulded them into a professional act and producer George Martin enhanced their musical potential. They gained popularity in the United Kingdom after their first hit, “Love Me Do”, in late 1962. They acquired the nickname “the Fab Four” as Beatlemania grew in Britain over the following year, and by early 1964 they had become international stars, leading the “British Invasion” of the United States pop market.

In 1962 / 63 Douglas Coakley of A & BC Chewing Gum Ltd, approached Brian Epstein, The Beatles manager, and his lawyer David Jacobs, to obtain the rights to produce trading cards featuring photographs and autographs of the Beatles. A set of 60 cards was produced and issued in 1964. The photographs were provided to A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd courtesy of Nems Enterprises Ltd, Brian Epstein’s company, and appear to be mostly taken in 1963 and maybe 1962. A second series quickly followed.

I love Beatles ephemera – I hate their annoying music

As far as I am concerned they are not the massive influence on popular music they are claimed to be – mediocrity comes to mind.

beatles_series_1_backs

The backs are clean on 7, 37, 48, 51, 57(obviously age faded) and corners and edges fairly crisp and sharp.

The backs of 45 and 60 are glue damaged and age faded. Corners and edges are fairly crisp and sharp.

WHO-Z-AT STAR Chewing Gum Cards – Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE

Going through the attic I have founds loads of complete Chewing Gum Card sets including two from 1959(?) in the series Who-z-at Star. Stars from Arthur Askey to Patrick McGoohan, Adam Faith to Noel Gordon etc. Great nostalgic excursion.

Who-z-at Star Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE

who-z-at star Shirley Bassey

who-z-at star 42

SHIRLEY BASSEY A.& B.C. GUM CARD-WHO-Z-AT STAR? No.42

Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE (born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer with a career spanning more than 60 years. Originally finding fame in the mid-1950s, Bassey has gone on to be dubbed “one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century” and has sold an estimated 135 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful British music acts in history. In the US, in particular, she is best known for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979).

Shirley Bassey. (2014, November 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:48, November 19, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Shirley_Bassey&oldid=634386202

Great nostalgia. Shirley Bassey A.& B.C. GUM Card: WHO-Z-AT STAR? No.42