the slacker

2, 3, 5 etc...

2012-01-18T01:29:00.000-08:00

Reading the 'latest release' from Italian Carol Vorderman Paolo Giordano. Let's look at the cover of 'The Solitude of Prime Numbers'

Brooding, indeed.

Paolo has written a very nice book. Some clunky cliche's aside, there's an emotionally sophisticated detail in the writing and a restraint to his tone. Nobody kills anybody and no hookers cry, but regardless of these glaring omissions I'm looking forward to Mr Giordano writing some more things possibly some time in the near or not-to-near future. Possibly.

Lets listen to Giordano say some interesting things about 'writing'.

Well, glad we got all that sorted out.

PS:

For handy reference, here's the first 1000 prime numbers. Highlights include '709', '2383' and the criminally underrated, '4909'.

        2      3      5      7     11     13     17     19     23     29 
      31     37     41     43     47     53     59     61     67     71 
     73     79     83     89     97    101    103    107    109    113 
    127    131    137    139    149    151    157    163    167    173 
    179    181    191    193    197    199    211    223    227    229 
    233    239    241    251    257    263    269    271    277    281 
    283    293    307    311    313    317    331    337    347    349 
    353    359    367    373    379    383    389    397    401    409 
    419    421    431    433    439    443    449    457    461    463 
    467    479    487    491    499    503    509    521    523    541 
    547    557    563    569    571    577    587    593    599    601 
    607    613    617    619    631    641    643    647    653    659 
    661    673    677    683    691    701    709    719    727    733 
    739    743    751    757    761    769    773    787    797    809 
    811    821    823    827    829    839    853    857    859    863 
    877    881    883    887    907    911    919    929    937    941 
    947    953    967    971    977    983    991    997   1009   1013 
   1019   1021   1031   1033   1039   1049   1051   1061   1063   1069 
   1087   1091   1093   1097   1103   1109   1117   1123   1129   1151 
   1153   1163   1171   1181   1187   1193   1201   1213   1217   1223 
   1229   1231   1237   1249   1259   1277   1279   1283   1289   1291 
   1297   1301   1303   1307   1319   1321   1327   1361   1367   1373 
   1381   1399   1409   1423   1427   1429   1433   1439   1447   1451 
   1453   1459   1471   1481   1483   1487   1489   1493   1499   1511 
   1523   1531   1543   1549   1553   1559   1567   1571   1579   1583 
   1597   1601   1607   1609   1613   1619   1621   1627   1637   1657 
   1663   1667   1669   1693   1697   1699   1709   1721   1723   1733 
   1741   1747   1753   1759   1777   1783   1787   1789   1801   1811 
   1823   1831   1847   1861   1867   1871   1873   1877   1879   1889 
   1901   1907   1913   1931   1933   1949   1951   1973   1979   1987 
   1993   1997   1999   2003   2011   2017   2027   2029   2039   2053 
   2063   2069   2081   2083   2087   2089   2099   2111   2113   2129 
   2131   2137   2141   2143   2153   2161   2179   2203   2207   2213 
   2221   2237   2239   2243   2251   2267   2269   2273   2281   2287 
   2293   2297   2309   2311   2333   2339   2341   2347   2351   2357 
   2371   2377   2381   2383   2389   2393   2399   2411   2417   2423 
   2437   2441   2447   2459   2467   2473   2477   2503   2521   2531 
   2539   2543   2549   2551   2557   2579   2591   2593   2609   2617 
   2621   2633   2647   2657   2659   2663   2671   2677   2683   2687 
   2689   2693   2699   2707   2711   2713   2719   2729   2731   2741 
   2749   2753   2767   2777   2789   2791   2797   2801   2803   2819 
   2833   2837   2843   2851   2857   2861   2879   2887   2897   2903 
   2909   2917   2927   2939   2953   2957   2963   2969   2971   2999 
   3001   3011   3019   3023   3037   3041   3049   3061   3067   3079 
   3083   3089   3109   3119   3121   3137   3163   3167   3169   3181 
   3187   3191   3203   3209   3217   3221   3229   3251   3253   3257 
   3259   3271   3299   3301   3307   3313   3319   3323   3329   3331 
   3343   3347   3359   3361   3371   3373   3389   3391   3407   3413 
   3433   3449   3457   3461   3463   3467   3469   3491   3499   3511 
   3517   3527   3529   3533   3539   3541   3547   3557   3559   3571 
   3581   3583   3593   3607   3613   3617   3623   3631   3637   3643 
   3659   3671   3673   3677   3691   3697   3701   3709   3719   3727 
   3733   3739   3761   3767   3769   3779   3793   3797   3803   3821 
   3823   3833   3847   3851   3853   3863   3877   3881   3889   3907 
   3911   3917   3919   3923   3929   3931   3943   3947   3967   3989 
   4001   4003   4007   4013   4019   4021   4027   4049   4051   4057 
   4073   4079   4091   4093   4099   4111   4127   4129   4133   4139 
   4153   4157   4159   4177   4201   4211   4217   4219   4229   4231 
   4241   4243   4253   4259   4261   4271   4273   4283   4289   4297 
   4327   4337   4339   4349   4357   4363   4373   4391   4397   4409 
   4421   4423   4441   4447   4451   4457   4463   4481   4483   4493 
   4507   4513   4517   4519   4523   4547   4549   4561   4567   4583 
   4591   4597   4603   4621   4637   4639   4643   4649   4651   4657 
   4663   4673   4679   4691   4703   4721   4723   4729   4733   4751 
   4759   4783   4787   4789   4793   4799   4801   4813   4817   4831 
   4861   4871   4877   4889   4903   4909   4919   4931   4933   4937 
   4943   4951   4957   4967   4969   4973   4987   4993   4999   5003 
   5009   5011   5021   5023   5039   5051   5059   5077   5081   5087 
   5099   5101   5107   5113   5119   5147   5153   5167   5171   5179 
   5189   5197   5209   5227   5231   5233   5237   5261   5273   5279 
   5281   5297   5303   5309   5323   5333   5347   5351   5381   5387 
   5393   5399   5407   5413   5417   5419   5431   5437   5441   5443 
   5449   5471   5477   5479   5483   5501   5503   5507   5519   5521 
   5527   5531   5557   5563   5569   5573   5581   5591   5623   5639 
   5641   5647   5651   5653   5657   5659   5669   5683   5689   5693 
   5701   5711   5717   5737   5741   5743   5749   5779   5783   5791 
   5801   5807   5813   5821   5827   5839   5843   5849   5851   5857 
   5861   5867   5869   5879   5881   5897   5903   5923   5927   5939 
   5953   5981   5987   6007   6011   6029   6037   6043   6047   6053 
   6067   6073   6079   6089   6091   6101   6113   6121   6131   6133 
   6143   6151   6163   6173   6197   6199   6203   6211   6217   6221 
   6229   6247   6257   6263   6269   6271   6277   6287   6299   6301 
   6311   6317   6323   6329   6337   6343   6353   6359   6361   6367 
   6373   6379   6389   6397   6421   6427   6449   6451   6469   6473 
   6481   6491   6521   6529   6547   6551   6553   6563   6569   6571 
   6577   6581   6599   6607   6619   6637   6653   6659   6661   6673 
   6679   6689   6691   6701   6703   6709   6719   6733   6737   6761 
   6763   6779   6781   6791   6793   6803   6823   6827   6829   6833 
   6841   6857   6863   6869   6871   6883   6899   6907   6911   6917 
   6947   6949   6959   6961   6967   6971   6977   6983   6991   6997 
   7001   7013   7019   7027   7039   7043   7057   7069   7079   7103 
   7109   7121   7127   7129   7151   7159   7177   7187   7193   7207
   7211   7213   7219   7229   7237   7243   7247   7253   7283   7297 
   7307   7309   7321   7331   7333   7349   7351   7369   7393   7411 
   7417   7433   7451   7457   7459   7477   7481   7487   7489   7499 
   7507   7517   7523   7529   7537   7541   7547   7549   7559   7561 
   7573   7577   7583   7589   7591   7603   7607   7621   7639   7643 
   7649   7669   7673   7681   7687   7691   7699   7703   7717   7723 
   7727   7741   7753   7757   7759   7789   7793   7817   7823   7829 
   7841   7853   7867   7873   7877   7879   7883   7901   7907   7919

People are strange, when you're a...

2012-01-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

Reading the 'latest release', from 'L'exil et le royaume' scribbler and little-known football hooligan Albert Camus.

'The Outsider' or, if you will, 'L'Étranger' is already winning for me by engaging 'us' with the most fantastic opening line of any book, ever.

Does make one wonder, however, why so many individuals plagued by existentialist angst go on to commit violent crimes for no apparent reason. surely a random act of extreme boredom would be more suitable, though what do i know ?

d'oh stoy effski

2012-01-11T02:56:00.000-08:00

I'm reading the 'latest effort' from 'Скверный анекдот' hitmaker Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It's called 'Notes from Underground' NOT 'Notes from THE Underground'. It is NOT CALLED THAT.

Anyway.

Notes from ~~The~~ Underground is about a man. In my head I have cast him as a young hollywood heartthrob. He generally appears to be suffering from a severe bout of not-doing-too-great-ery.

I particularly like his four page rant at a prostitute about the direction of her life. Methinks he is 'projecting' a little.

I would quite like to see Ryan Gosling play him in the movie adaption. Can't you just picture Gosling's sweetly lit face telling some young prepubescent i-D cover model that shes a whore who's going to die of consumption?

resolution 18, or something

2012-01-11T01:48:00.000-08:00

new years resolution 18 or 19 was to blog more. and i mean blog, like we used to blog. remember back in the days before tumblr made us communicate through sex gifs?

1994

2012-01-11T01:41:00.000-08:00

listening to:

got me thinking that 1994 was the year of READY TO DIE and ILLMATIC.
Then realised also:
Weezer - Blue Album
TLC - Crazysexycool
Hole - Live Through This
Veruca Salt - American Thighs
Nirvana - MTV Unplugged (posthumously, granted, but STILL)

and then think: Sonic Youth - Experimental Jet Set Trash and no star, Soundgarden - Superunknown. Tori Amos did something probably before she got, you know, PJ Harvey probably released something awesome....and Jeff Buckley released Grace, these things happened at this time!

And not forgetting:

Can we all just take a moment to live as if it's 1994. Off to listen to Ill Communication by The Beastie Boys. Also remember that in 1994, this hadn't happened yet.

1994.

Awwwww

-edit-

according to my records this was also released:

can we just start some sort of internet campaign to make it 1994 in 2013.

2011, 2012, 1994, 2014. makes much more sense really.

The Slacker Manifesto or The Loser Initiative.

2011-12-12T07:45:00.000-08:00

Doing is justification in and of itself.

Liking Things is justification for Doing.

Failure is impossible for The Loser.

Losing is impossible for The Loser.

Doing nothing is fine.

Reading is fine.

Reading is not a substitute for doing, although reading is doing.

Meaning means nothing. Nothing means something.

Drawing, writing, performing and making are fine.

Drawing, writing, performing and making solely for the purpose of drawing, writing, performing and making is fine.

Doing for the sake of doing is essentially useless.

Uselessness is fine.

Transcience, ephemerality, the loose, the tenuous, the rickety; these things are fine.

Do not use a typewriter if a word processor is more readily available (unless you like typewriters).

Do not use a Lomography or Polaroid camera where a digital/mobile phone camera is more readily available (unless you like Lomography and Polaroid).

Finding/Collecting/Displaying for the sake of Liking Things is fine.

Liking bad art is fine.

Making Bad Art is impossible for The Loser.

Some things are 'nice' just because.

The Slacker is not overly concerned with the 'nice' though more partial to the 'because'.

The Slacker embraces the bare minimum and the 'just enough'.

The Slacker may change his mind.

The Slacker may start and stop at any time.

This manifesto may change at any time.

Karl Arbuthnot

2011

untitled

2011-12-06T04:50:00.000-08:00

untitled action for camera/video installation

2011-11-28T06:19:00.000-08:00

ESPNLosAngeles BEYOND COMPARE: The USC-UCLA rivalry is the only rivalry between two major universities in the same city. es.pn/uKpzMN #usc #ucla 26 Nov Retweeted 56 timesjalexanderm J. Alexander Martin Job opportunity: Textile Designer at BCBG Max Azria - reaterLos Angeles Area #jobs lnkd.in/dd2qMp 37 minutes ago sfutterman Steve Futterman Los Angeles Police move in to clear streets near City Hallyfrog.com/h7lm0tnj

45 minutes ago MTVUK MTV UK .@CherylCole hit the 1 million followers mark over the weekend!bit.ly/rL1TxQ Congrats Cheryl!1 hour ago NewYorkology NewYorkology

Law and Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Pan Am, Person of Interest and The Longest Week filming in NYC today - @olv bit.ly/v0K2i2 1 hour ago AJELive AJELive

The #LAPD have announced that any protesters still at #OccupyLA site will be subject to arrest | aje.me/tnSVnT 2 hours ago AJELive AJELive Police tell #OccupyLA protesters to clear encampment within the hour | aje.me/tnSVnT 2 hours ago davidoreilly David OReilly City Hall, Los Angeles, right now. pic.twitter.com/VqQDqfou 3 hours ago

LightYoFireSeop miyachan11 DJ, HS, JH, YS, DW from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, then Seoul,then they will go to Singapore? I hope Kikwang will be there when they go to SG3 hours ago OccupyTogether Occupy Together Live footage of police standoff at Occupy Los Angeles. GlobalRev covering as well. fb.me/1tIf2TSVk 3 hours ago notavocal Nota Early up and headed to Los Angeles... Its about to get real! #TheSingOff

4 hours ago AP The Associated Press Occupy Los Angeles protesters don't budge from City Hall lawn as deadline passes: #OWS apne.ws/uskJOf -JM4 hours ago nancycasanova Nancy Casanova Also, in case you missed it... #OccupyLA organizers say they plan to occupy the Ports of Los Angeles on Dec. 12.5 hours ago Occupy_USA OccupyUSA #Houston NATIONAL NEWS: The largest 24 hour Occupation, Occupy Los Angeles, is about to g... on.fb.me/umImyP #usrevolution5 hours ago DavidBegnaud David Begnaud Los Angeles is now on a city wide tactical alert. Resources being brought in from all areas of city yfrog.com/nvyxspej5 hours ago alanbaltes Alan Baltes #KRISTENSTEWART Casting underway for Leo DiCaprio produced "Akira" starring Kristen Stewart - examiner.com/acting-auditio…6 hours ago CBSLA CBS Los Angeles Occupy LA leaders say they will occupy the Ports of Los Angeleson Dec. 12 in light of Mayor Villaraigosa's City Hall Park eviction notice.6 hours ago

xeni Xeni Jardin KPFK in Los Angeles also has a liveblog going for #OccupyLAcoverage tonight. kpfk.org/kpfknews/1-lat…7 hours ago THR Hollywood Reporter Occupy Los Angeles: Hundreds of Protesters Planning to Defy Midnight Eviction j.mp/sKQLrj7 hours ago Bree_Real Briana Monet ATTENTION CITIZENS of Los Angeles: if you feel the ground shaking tomorrow do not be alarmed!! It is only@TheRealMattKemp goin #BEASTMODE11 hours ago Quakeprediction Earthquake Forecasts Earthquake risk is extremely high Mammoth Lakes to LosAngeles. Strong quake should hit Mammoth Lakes & then watch forecasts in LA.11 hours ago JETSETextra Jetset Extra The best things in life are free at the #GoldenGlobes Gifting Lounge with @vanitygirl @MDVtequila & bit.ly/eFoYYX2 hours agoCulturizando Culturizando ® David Beckham podría dejar el Galaxy de Los Ángeles para mudarse al Paris Saint-Germain, donde ganará $1MM al mes /via@BallantinesVE12 hours ago USATODAY USA TODAY Top News Occupy protesters wear out welcome in L.A., Philadelphiausat.ly/vjpUHn2 hours ago USRealityCheck US Reality Check As Los Angeles Prepares To Evict Occupy Los Angeles, 51,000 People Remain Homeless There: Los Angeles Pol... bit.ly/uLlP1ttp #US

13 hours ago FishbowlLA FishbowlLA As @villaraigosa eviction deadline nears, @OccupyLA is inviting supporters to join them for midnight "Block Party." mbist.ro/tYYoq813 hours ago ESPNlosangeles ESPNLosAngelesUSC Trojans' Robert Woods to have offseason ankle surgery - ESPN Los Angeles es.pn/sYbnoj13 hours ago AndyMilonakis Andy Milonakis NYC Christmas Time fenichel.com/NYC/cp-white03… LosAngeles Christmas laist.com/attachments/la… - NYC Wins - Flawless Victory13 hours ago ESPN_US_Soccer ESPN US Soccer

GALAXY: L.A. answered the challenges - es.pn/uTP0Qm14 hours ago OccupyOlympia OccupyOlympia Occupy Los Angeles Plans To Stay At City Hall, Ignore City Deadline To Vacate ffingtonpost.com/2011/11/26/occ…

14 hours ago CHPsouthern CHP Southern Div. Hollywood Christmas Parade is tonight. Expect heavy traffic on 101 fwy into area. @LAFDtalk has street closure mapbit.ly/in-Los-Angeles14 hours ago Einstein4gadget Einstein

Twitter account of cheerleader tackled by Jason Witten disappears - Los Angeles Times: Twitter followers are thr... adf.ly/3ugqC14 hours ago ESPNlosangeles ESPNLosAngeles NBA season to run Dec. 25-April 26, source says - es.pn/uLaZvz15 hours ago NeilHamburger Neil Hamburger At The Satellite in Los Angeles tonight, with James Quall, David Liebe Hart, @Clownvis, and @JohnnyPemberton. 8:30 pm. #Laughs #AXE15 hours ago

arah_sprague sarah sprague Since we all forget every year. MT @LAFDtalk Map and list of street closures for tonight's #HollywoodChristmasParadebit.ly/in-Los-Angeles15 hours ago CURIOSlDADES CURIOSIDADES

O nome completo de Los Angeles é: El Pueblo la Nuestra Senora de Reina de los Angeles de la Porciuncula. #Curiosidades16 hours ago bobbyhundreds BOBBY HUNDREDSIt's 138 degrees in Los Angeles today.16 hours ago

ambeeeeeezy Amber Gilmore Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Vegas, Chicago, Philly, & Houston. All places I wanna go. Or have been.16 hours ago CBSLA CBS Los Angeles Here are today's street closures, some currently in effect, for the Hollywood Christmas Parade. « CBS Los Angeles:cbsloc.al/scv8bK18 hours ago

GOOD GOOD Infographic: how does Los Angeles move? bit.ly/sfOqzp20 hours ago»ariannahuff Arianna Huffington Occupy LA'ers standing firm at City Hall, despite an eviction order, now less than 24hrs away. Follow our live blog huff.to/u0UhNH21 hours ago ESPNLosAngeles BEYOND COMPARE: The USC-UCLA rivalry is the only rivalry between two major universities in the same city. es.pn/uKpzMN #usc #ucla 26 Nov Retweeted 56 timesjalexanderm J. Alexander Martin Job opportunity: Textile Designer at BCBG Max Azria - reaterLos Angeles Area #jobs lnkd.in/dd2qMp 37 minutes ago sfutterman Steve Futterman Los Angeles Police move in to clear streets near City Hallyfrog.com/h7lm0tnj

45 minutes ago MTVUK MTV UK .@CherylCole hit the 1 million followers mark over the weekend!bit.ly/rL1TxQ Congrats Cheryl!1 hour ago NewYorkology NewYorkology

Law and Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Pan Am, Person of Interest and The Longest Week filming in NYC today - @olv bit.ly/v0K2i2 1 hour ago AJELive AJELive

2011-10-31T05:45:00.000-07:00

It is only natural that sometimes we fall sick. But we must see that sickness as a sickness that originally exists in life, based on the principle of the Mystic Law. In other words, there is no reason to allow yourself to be controlled by illness, for it to fill your life with suffering and distress. From the standpoint of eternal life through the three existences, your fundamentally happy self is incontrovertibly established.

Daisaku Ikeda

bali collapse

2011-10-25T08:19:00.001-07:00

bali collapse

nice to be thought of

2011-10-25T02:04:00.001-07:00

thinking

2011-10-11T04:41:00.000-07:00

STUDIO/ROOM/HOMEBASED activity. painting. palm trees. THIS IS NOT LOS ANGELES. The Hills, California. LA or Lack Of. Just working things through. Needs some coherence. Need to keep going. Don't quite know what's going on.

This is about making things.Definitely.

some things:

i watched The Hills.

i photographed The Hills

I googled:

dramarama. a word found when researching 'the hills.'

'this is not los angeles'

i 'painted'?

i filmed myself 'painting'.

i filmed myself being bored tying up a piece of foam in blue tape. i was intending on making a monument to jayne mansfield but then i decided to do a monument for all the stars who died in LA in the 1990's. jayne didn't do either of those things.

these people, however, did:

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Died/90s.shtml

2011-10-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

there's something about an artist saying 'there's a dynamic contradiction at the heart of the work' when talking about his own work, that makes my flesh creep a bit. but regardless....liam gillick talks (and talks).

2011-10-10T02:52:00.000-07:00

so what do you do when you're at a low ebb?

chant a bit? drink tea?

i just want to smoke. what is it about the human condition that makes us want to destroy ourselves. i'll light a candle and chant my heart out and drink some white tea or some earl grey with jasmine but god i could really do with a cigarette instead.

jayne mansfield

2011-10-10T02:49:00.000-07:00

and then you decide that the art object is superfluous, but that frustrates you even more because all you want to do is make this giant foam packing tape statue for jayne mansfield and YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHY but you avoid it avoid it like the plague becuase otherwise you'll have to pick it apart and talk about formal elements and rightness and why why why and you just want to sit there and go BECAUSE I FELT LIKE IT FOR GODS SAKE. but that doesn't count

2011-10-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

It doesn't matter in what area, just keep working on your personal revolution to transform and improve yourself in the way most natural for you. The important thing is that you change in some positive way. There is surely no more exhilarating a life than one in which we write our own unique history of human revolution each day. And the growth and transformation we achieve in this way can convince people of the greatness of Nichiren Buddhism more eloquently than anything else.

proposal for doing things

2011-10-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

TRANSIENT ARRANGEMENTS:

EXPLORING THE SPACE BETWEEN WORK, IDEAS AND ACTIONS

My practise is concerned with emotional responses to contemporary issues such as violence, cynicism, romance, pornography, loss, regret, anxiety, insecurity or boredom. With photography, drawing, painting, text and installation, my work attempts to steer conversations that navigate the spaces between these ideas.

With my Contextual Enquiry Project (CEP), I intend to expand on a number of themes addressed within my work up to now, focussing specifically on the aspects of site, narrative, exhibition and modes of viewing. Parallel to this, I would like to investigate further themes that have previously threaded through the work, specifically the concepts of boredom and failure, and more recently the access of information and text available on the internet and the appropriation of these texts, images, videos and other media within art. I would like to understand how our culture responds to the mass of information that is now available to it and address these themes within ongoing projects involving text, installation, video, performance, the object, drawing and painting. Through a series of self-directed ‘mini-briefs’, I intend to work towards developing a fully realised project that will fluently address how art is viewed and experienced across a range of platforms, and how work can exist in multiple forms in order to illustrate, critique and experiment with modes of viewing including but not limited to the gallery, public space, the internet or the home with a view to develop work that can exist on a multitude of platforms and mediums whilst still maintaining a coherent message.

Central to this is the idea of work that continues to be made, the on-going enquiry, work that may not be ‘finished’, and notions of what ‘finished’ means or projects that consist of numerous pieces of work orbiting a central recurring theme or idea or may straddle medium or resist explicit definition. The concept of resistance in art as outlined by writer and curator Yasmil Raymind in her essay, ‘Contending With Comfort: The Possibility of an Abstract Resistance’ is useful to become familiar with at this point as a work that ‘constructs a force field of tensions between what is revealed and what is withheld, between what lures and stuns us and what we permit to confront us.’ This is not to claim that the work may excuse itself for being deliberately misleading or evasive, however. I believe in this instance that this tension and this resistance will be the central core of my research, and to do so I will employ a number of devices.

With theoretical and practical elements running alongside each other within, throughout and around my art, it would be necessary first to address research points with a series of stand-alone projects conducted either alone or collaboratively. These may be small works, essays, installations or actions. Beginning with home-based installations and actions for camera, elements of all work will be documented openly online at www.karlarbuthnot.com with the intention of building an online catalogue of all work completed within the project brief. It will be important that various methods of working are explored, and to this end studio based practice, home-based work, work in a site-specific or public context and online will also be investigated. It is my hope that each of these works will begin to address the themes I am primarily concerned with. The mini-brief practice will also enable works to be completed in a variety of settings that will be central to exploring multi-disciplinary approaches.

A key part of this process will be the viewing of other work, and specifically discussion with artists and individuals practicing today whose artwork specifically deals with the gallery/public space, but who may also successfully bridge the gap formed by the rise of the internet/blog space. Although Net.Art will be an area of interest, I feel it necessary to clarify that it is the multi-media aspects of artists work and the open-ended nature of work that may appear online as well as within a public or private space that, at this point, will be of primary interest to me. Public and Products Liability Insurance Cover (PPL) has been taken out with Artists Interaction and Representation Scheme (AIR) that will cover any work undertaken in a public context including the making, preparing and exhibiting of art in a residence, workshop, community project etc. Full paperwork can be provided on request for further information regarding this policy.

dramarama

2011-10-05T08:20:00.000-07:00

Dramarama-work in progress.

hard lines

2011-08-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

new project being mulled over. title:

hard lines

we used to say this to each other at school. you could hear it bellowed across the football pitch or shouted out as someone was ushered out of a classroom for calling the teacher a twat. hard lines

tough shit

bad luck

better luck next time.

hard lines.

installation

scattered

broken

falling

fail.

why does my heart go on beating

2011-08-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

a trial run for a short piece entitled: 'why does my heart go on beating'

about things like:

the internet/the image/video/animation/the tv screen/the computetr screen etc

thinking maybe installations-projections-video screens. thinking about that cool pipilotti rist installation on the stairs that i forget the name of.

thinking thematically about the end of the world love/destruction/loops/cycles/imploding/crying/collapsing/destruction/devastation/eruption/rubble/dust/wrecks/

paper airplane

2011-08-16T03:20:00.000-07:00

make a paper airplane

draw a paper airplane

make a paper airplane

draw a paper airplane

make a paper airplane

draw a paper airplane

make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane

make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane make a paper airplane draw a paper airplane...

matt lifson

2011-08-14T05:35:00.001-07:00

in love with the work of this guy.

mattlifsonmattlifsonmattlifsonMATTLIFSONmattlifsonmattlifson

everybody loves his paintings, but i prefer his sculptures/installations.

why i hate morrissey

2011-08-14T03:32:00.000-07:00

message boards are pretty amazing places to wile away the hours...and this is a recently stumbled upon favourite exchange from the mensa-minds of a morrissey fansite:

March 17, 2003 08:37 PM#1
ENGLAND FOR THE ENGLISH
Guest
WHY I HATE MORRISSEY
1 HE IS FAT

2 HE HAS WAITED AN INORDINATE AMOUNT OF TIME
TO RELEASE A NEW ALBUM

3 HIS LAST TWO ALBUMS HAVE BEEN ABSOLUTE SHITE

4 HE IS IS OBVIOUSLY ON MOOD STABILIZERS AND HAS
TURNED INTO AN IDIOT MUPPET WHO RIGHTS SHITE
LYRICS AND SHITE SONGS.

5 HE HAS THAT TAMPON BOZ BOOER IN HIS BAND,
I REALLY HATE THAT FUCKER.

6 HE FRENCH KISSED GEORGE MICHEAL ON TOP OF THE POPS AND SAID " IF TWO MEN LIKE US CAN SNOG THEN BLOODY HELL PEOPLE, MUMBLE MUMBLE LETS GET THATCHER OUT OF OFFICE NOW" ???????

7 HE LIKES AMERICAN IDOL

8 HE LIVES IN LA

9 HE HAS A TAN NOW

10 I INTERCEPTED HIM BEFORE A SOUND CHECK AND ASKED
FOR AN AUTOGRAPH AND HE SPAT A GOB OF WIGGLY SNOT
IN MY FACE.
March 17, 2003 08:43 PM#2
Jo
Guest
Re: WHY I HATE MORRISSEY
11 He refused you anal sex
which has obviously had an emotional effect on you.

boredom is rage spread thin

2011-08-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

Boredom is rage spread thin

Paul Tillich

dramarama

2011-08-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

at work on 'dramarama'

making art with THE HILLS....andy warhol would be so proud

note to self

2011-08-12T09:44:00.000-07:00

don't use a fucking TYPEWRITER

2011-08-12T09:43:00.000-07:00

ghav decided i hate the term 'conceptual art'.

i dnt understanbd

RESPONSES

2011-08-10T12:43:00.000-07:00

As an initial 'mini brief', a response to the information collected via research so far was to create a series of 'films', of which this is an example. inspired by videos and images collected online.

thinking about:

video

youtube

music videos

punk

lo-fi

distortion

animation

popculturenewssexviolencepornwarhumourparodyanimationarttextpoetrybabblenonsense

2011-08-10T11:55:00.000-07:00

really attracted to archive pages of tumblr websites.

thinking about:

curation

selection

collection

boredom

fandom

coveting

admiring''''

displaying

exhibiting

showing

sprawling online art galleries of

popculturenewssexviolencepornwarhumourparodyanimationarttextpoetrybabblenonsense

fan

2011-08-09T12:01:00.001-07:00

below: images of fans collections/memorabilia/hoardings/altars

2011-08-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

sliver

2011-08-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

i love this image of kurt cobains demo cassettes, used for the cover of the compilation album 'sliver'.

this archiving/collecting/storing/recording/cherishing/coveting....

something about it makes me nostalgic.

2011-08-09T07:57:00.000-07:00

ikeephearingabout:

THEROMANCE OF BEING AN ARTIST

and i have no idea what the fuck theyre on abt

AIRGUITAR

2011-08-09T07:31:00.000-07:00

trawling through tumblr today, wading through blogs, made me miss the days we used our hands to make things.

thinkingABOUTcassettesANDmixtapes.

myFRIENDmadeMEaMIXTAPEthatINCLUDED:

NIRVANA

PIXIES

FOO FIGHTERS

SONIC YOUTH

BREEDERS? MAYBE

SOME OTHER STUFF(big sexy rock etc) wasnt all my thing totally to be honest.

cant remember.

i made him one.

he played guitar. i DIDNTbut and would strum along to RAVEONETTES/BLACKREBELMOTORCYCLECLUB/HOLE/VELVETUNDERGROUND/BLONDIE/PSYCHADELIC FURS/(THxsmiths...onesongicantremember which one.) i got OK but then quit cos i discovered beer and fucking.

FROM BRAZIL WITH LOVE

2011-07-30T02:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.frombrazilwithlovestudio.com/http://www.frombrazilwithlovestudio.com/http://www.frombrazilwithlovestudio.com/

http://www.frombrazilwithlovestudio.com/

from brazil with love......................................

THE ART OF PEREZ HILTON

2011-07-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/http://perezhilton.com/

2011-07-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

DONK: UNCUT AND UNCENSORED

donkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonk

donkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonkdonk

2011-07-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

mugtug

http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/

mugtug

http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/

http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@http://mugtug.com/sketchpad/@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

mug

TUG

2011-07-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

look@coreYARCANGEL&gt>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>;>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>corey

2011-07-29T03:33:00.000-07:00

imperialbedroomsbreteastonellis

davidhenrysterry'CHICKEN'

2011-07-08T06:22:00.000-07:00

We must make steady and persistent efforts firmly grounded in daily life. If we travel in the orbit of "faith equals daily life," all our prayers will definitely be answered. We can then lead lives in which all our desires will be fulfilled. Should all our prayers be answered without our having to make any effort, we would grow lazy. Should all our desires be achieved without our ever having to experience suffering or hardship, we could not understand the pain and struggles of others, and our compassion would gradually wane.

Daisaku Ikeda

taslk taslk taslk

2011-07-07T07:22:00.000-07:00

taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk as this blog takes on a more documentation/note taking format for a while, visual work will appear on www.karlarbuthnot.com and i need to taslk to you taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk taslk

Loading, please wait...

2011-07-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

three thousand things

2011-06-30T10:43:00.000-07:00

vuk cosic

2011-06-29T09:23:00.001-07:00

vuk cosic: war map

.....................................................................................vuk cosic

vukcosic...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Hungry

2011-06-22T11:22:00.000-07:00

My short story 'Hungry' will be included in the forthcoming horror anthology 'Obsession'.

Many thanks to editor Dorothy Davies

Transient Arrangements: How the Gallery and the Internet Serve the Artist

2011-06-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

“WHEN YOU SHOW ONLINE STUFF IN A GALLERY SPACE, WHICH IS NOT ONLINE, YOU ESSENTIALLY PUT IT IN THE WRONG PLACE”

Vuk Cosic

Throughout Stage 2, my practice has developed concerns with questions of site, narrative and context. Isolated images and objects may reference pop culture, loss, regret, poetry, pornography or boredom yet the curating of various images, the themes of error and meta-narrative that work above and through them, as well as the process of exhibiting work that may not technically ‘exist’ physically, have become pivotal points within my practice.

With my Contextual Enquiry Project (CEP), I intend to expand on a number of themes addressed within my work up to now, focussing specifically on the aspects of site, narrative, exhibition and modes of viewing. Through a series of self-directed ‘mini-briefs’, I intend to work towards developing a fully realised project that will fluently address how art is viewed and experienced across a range of platforms, and how work can exist in multiple forms in order to illustrate, critique and experiment with modes of viewing and the functions of the gallery space and the internet, with a view to develop work that can exist on a multitude of platforms and mediums whilst still maintaining a coherent message.

An initial line of enquiry will deal with two topics that will be researched and explored parallel to each other. Prime avenues of research will focus firstly on curating, the curating of work, images and ideas, and current methods of viewing art. Also, a focus on the internet and Network Art will run alongside this, exploring the way the internet facilitates the making, viewing and sharing of art, and how this links with new ideas of curating. These two lines of enquiry will form the backbone of a practise taking in a wide variety of mediums and methods (already comprising of video, sculpture, installation, text and drawing), with an aim towards expanding into new fields and new methods including net art, multi-media installation and multi-platform projects.

Artist Vuk Cosic boldly claimed that ‘curatorial decisions are usually made in such a way that they are there to justify the hardware investment and are not the reflection of any understanding.’ Cosic, working with Network art and ‘new media’ has experienced first-hand the problematic logistics of exhibiting work that may not be designed or intended to be experienced in a gallery space. Art on the internet, as with much site-specific or installation art, can be transient in nature. It may disappear or vanish. Much like the temporal nature of Andy Goldsworthy’s site-specific sculptures, work on the internet may too be erased or eroded, broken and rebuilt, redesigned and re-situated. It is this replacing, this transient nature and the re-contextualising and errant nature of meaning attached to this medium that I intend to open up. My approach, however, will focus on how the gallery and new media can be brought together, how each platform's befits and limitations can be expanded, exploited and negotiated in order to not only compliment the work exhibited, but shift the perspective on all of the aspects concerned within and around it.

Processes of curating art, curating ideas and discussions around this will also be crucial in initial research undertaken. In Curating Subjects, Paul O’Neill explains, ‘It is important to find curatorial devices to activate work that by virtue of its critical difference is resistant to easy translation.’ It is this resistance that I will be looking to isolate and expand on. The curating of art and themes will be critical in the implementation of my final project and therefore it is crucial that these ideas are explored during my initial research phase.

This initial research will ideally take place between July and October 2011. Throughout this period a number of experiments will take place, however it is probably important at this stage to note the vague outline that I intend to trace during this process of documentation. As multi-media and interdisciplinary practices are so relevant to this project, documentation itself will take numerous forms. The internet being so key at this point, it will be necessary to explore the basic form and structure of the internet, html, JavaScript, websites and networking platforms. Starting from a limited technical knowledge of these areas, and making work and documenting my processes with that basic knowledge in mind, I intend to then develop a fuller knowledge towards the end of this research period. This will more than likely involve external tutoring in basic web design, and work with web designers and IT practitioners with a view to working towards collaboration that addresses the ideas outlined earlier.

It will also be essential at this stage to work with a number of individuals from a variety of areas not necessarily consciously concerned with artistic practices. At this stage these particular areas are not specified. The identification of these areas will also form a basic part of the early stages of my research period. A number of individuals and organisations have already been contacted however, and a series of projects will hopefully be developed with the assistance of these areas.

It is my intention that these collaborations, while addressing the themes explored in my own artwork, will demonstrate an ability to flexibly adhere to criteria outside of my self-directed practise, whilst simultaneously addressing the core elements of my CEP project. Also relevant will be the gallery and the curating of gallery based art work. It is my intention to explore this process more fully through contact and discussion with a number of individuals both locally and nationally.

As these projects will be pursued throughout the earlier months of my research project, I envisage that further collaborations and contacts will be collected organically from these initial points of departure.

The CEP serves two particularly important points for my own personal artist development. Initially, I hope that exploring interdisciplinary approaches to creating art will compliment my current practise and introduce a practical process that will continue

REFERENCES & BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blais, J. and Ippolito, J. Eds., 2006. At The Edge of Art. London: Thames & Hudson

Corby, T. Ed., 2006. Network Art. Oxford: Routledge

Cook, S., Graham, B. and Martin, S. eds., 2001. Curating New Media. Gateshead: BALTIC

O’Neill, P. ed., 2007. Curating Subjects. Amsterdam: De Appel

.erased essay

2011-06-16T05:50:00.000-07:00

.introspection

As an artist with a textual practice, the appearance of text and its basic functions as a mode of communication have been fundamental to my artwork over the course of the last two years. With the introduction of text with image the written element of my work has been, until now, a minimal one. With the creation of .erased, I have expanded on themes previously hinted at in former work and elaborated on a number of themes that I have been concerned with, themes that were previously flirted with have now been opened up in order to be investigated further. With an artistic practice concerned with, among other things, ideas of meta-narrative and the relationships between images and texts, as well as interests based around how a work exists within its physical location, my textual practise has in turn come to embody these themes, as well as introducing themes of meta-fiction, fiction vs. lying, questions of legitimacy, honesty and autobiography.

.conception

My artistic practise has been, for the last year, complimented by a professional practise as a writer. With the online magazine Gaydarnation.com, I am employed as a freelance writer to contribute book reviews and a weekly column entitled A Boy Out Of Town. I am asked to document my activities on a weekly basis, lending the column a more introspective, personal outlook. Everything from my relationships with my partner, family and friends, as well as personal accounts and glimpses into my personal history are documented for public consumption every Friday.

With my visual art, personal aspects have featured less and less as the years have progressed. I have been fully aware that, with the development of Boy Out Of Town, my visual art has been free to focus on larger themes away from the self. Recently, however, I was tempted to question the purpose of Boy Out Of Town, and was eager to combine all aspects of my work , visual and written, into one coherent body of work. For too long it felt as though Boy Out Of Town existed as an anomaly within my catalogue of creative work, and I was interested to add elements of my practise into my writing, and vice versa. I decided to take a proactive step with this project to address this issue, and investigate Boy Out Of Town and Gaydarnation’s online presence as a potential ’site’.

With my work being concerned with notions of interruption and intervention, I was clear at the beginning that any work I produced would stay close to this idea. Interventions were previously minimal, with the intention being that even small interruptions can make big impacts. With this, I was conscious that it was an opportunity to leave my comfort zones, and I decided that the work would be entirely textual, with little or no visual elements attached. The white cube space, the floor, the wall, the image were all ’safe’ areas that I felt comfortable operating in, and the project would be an ideal space to open up the questions I had previously been concerned with.

I decided to focus on the idea of narrative and attempt to explore its potential to disrupt or disturb. I wanted to temporarily move away from my usual forms of fragmented sentences and isolated words to create an ’essay’, albeit an essay that would question the very notion of what an essay might be, and how narrative might work within that. As the idea developed, it became clear that a short story format would be the ideal way to explore the mechanics of narrative and fiction, and questions of fiction vs. lying, how lying was separate to fiction, if at all, and how and why fiction operates in a general sense.

.inception

A number of artists had come to my attention when considering the idea of the short story. Primarily, however, I was enamoured with Bret Easton Ellis’ ‘faux-autobiography’ Lunar Park (2005). In it, the protagonist is named Bret Easton Ellis, a character who, initially at least, is identical to the author. For all intents and purposes, the early pages of Lunar Park read like the brief autobiography of the author who shares his name with the lead character. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes clear that the work is, in fact, fiction, or fiction of sorts.

The novel sets out to disrupt the readers preconceptions of the writers life and public persona, and swiftly mutates into a twisted study of celebrity with elements of a modern ghost story. The authors own characters from previous novels, including the yuppie psychopathic killer Patrick Bateman of American Psycho, become ‘real’ figures in the main protagonists own life, and other characters come to resemble other creations of the author, such as Clay, the disaffected, glacial teenager who served as the narrator of Less Than Zero. Real people also make appearances, as many have done in previous work such as the supermodel-turned-terrorist chaos of Glamorama. With characters from the real world and fictional universes all inhabiting the same page, it is clear that a meta-fictional tool is being utilized in some way.

The journalist Adam Mars-Jones (2005) noted in his review of Lunar Park that ’much of the appeal for writers of the hall-of-mirrors routine is its essential safety. Any confession can be made without consequences.’ It is these ’consequences’ that I was particularly interested in at this point. Any perceived consequences for a high profile writer such as Ellis would surely be more poignant and high-risk than those for an artist. With Ellis‘ entire career depending on sales and his readership no doubt expecting a certain degree of controversy, it would seem that the ’consequences’ for Ellis’ own skewered autobiography would only be to further muddy the waters of his own questionable public reputation up until the point of Lunar Parks publication. Mars-Jones claim that such illusion adds an element of safety is one that I would question also, in that for a writer, even one who works within the confines of fiction, an agreement of trust is entered into between him and the reader from the outset. A reader trusts that what is being presented is either historical fact, opinion, or fiction. With Lunar Park Ellis provides the reader with all three and more, forcing the reader to question the legitimacy of what is surely assumed to be complete fiction anyway.

The questions of identity that are raised in Lunar Park are explored to a greater degree in another work of contemporary art that served as a point of reference for .erased, a piece that pushes the boundaries of identity and celebrity, and a work that also incorporated elements of meta-narrative with its larger content. In ’Erased James Franco’, the American artist Carter presents the young Hollywood actor James Franco to an audience via a film. Throughout its entire 63 minute duration, Franco is asked to perform a script written by Carter that incorporates all of Franco’s previous roles. A script is created of appropriated fragments of other scripts, and then requested by the artist to be performed by the actor at ’50%’, a directorial device where the actor appears to operate at a slightly less-than-lucid state.

Although the film serves to ignite questions of identity, celebrity and authorship, it is not this piece alone that served as a jumping off point for my own work. The title borrows from Robert Rauschenberg’s Erased De Kooning (1953), in which the artist erased a drawing donated by Willem De Kooning to leave only the trace of De Kooning’s previous image, Rauschenberg’s own signature and the frame in which it was presented. Much like Rauschenberg’s own conceptual exploration of ownership and appropriation, Carters Erased James Franco reassembles Franco’s own body of work to leave only a trace of the material that it attempts to represent. This piece is loosely accompanied by Franco’s appearance in the iconic American soap opera General Hospital, where the actor currently appears in a two month story arc as eccentric performance artist and serial killer Franco.

Franco the actor vs. Franco the character echoes the constructs of Bret Easton Ellis’ own fictional Bret Easton Ellis, and the soft borders of fiction blur with the sharper edges of reality. Until recently, Franco’s appearance on General Hospital was seen as yet another unexpected career turn for an actor who is keen to twist the public perception of himself, adding to a CV that included the publication of Palo Alto, the actors collection of fictional short stories that itself garnered comparisons to Ellis’ own early fiction and the art exhibition ‘The Dangerous Book Four Boys’ at Peres Projects Berlin and Los Angeles, a multimedia art installation that took in drawing, sculpture and video.

Carter (2009) only recently hinted that the actors appearance on the soap opera was tied in with his ongoing collaboration with Franco, and is reluctant to go into depth regarding the detail of Franco’s General Hospital alter-ego. In a recent interview, when asked if the characters obsession with another actor on the show was ‘another level of meta’ Carter claimed that ‘the idea did originally come from James and I…and I’m sure that coloured the development of the character.’

Only time will reveal how the full scope of Franco and Carters vision for their collaboration will pan out, in the meantime, however, the shadows that are cast in their ever expanding experiments, as well as Lunar Parks own gradual development from glib satire into full blown monster-movie fantasy, have been key works when sculpting the finer details of my own ’Erased’ experiment.

.deception

In the first part of .erased, I was conscious to make the development of my own fictional intervention a gradual one. Details were key and, in the writing, I chose to make a departure from the truth into fiction with a hypothetical question of ‘what would happen if…’. The journey from Leeds to Cornwall, the rest stop outside of Exeter and the appearance of the dog at the service station were all facts, and it was this physical resting point that would operate as the departure point for the following three weeks entries.

The near-miss with the animal in the road and the meeting of the hitchhiker were completely fictional, and it was at this point where myself and my boyfriend ceased to exist as ‘real’ people in a factual account of what happened and transformed into semi-fictional characters in a semi-fictional universe.

It would be redundant at this point to dig into the work in order to pick apart which elements of the subsequent three parts of .erased are true and which are not. Needless to say, the entire piece operates in a realm of complete fiction, albeit fiction in which glimmers of truth exist. My boyfriend and I did, for example, adopt a puppy as I claimed in the piece, however certain aspects would benefit from being looked at more closely, as the fiction in .erased itself functions on a number of levels individually.

.erased progresses in four stages, and each stage gradually hints at another layer of ‘fiction’, each part adding another layer on top of the previous claims until the final result descends from fiction to become complete mythology. It was important for me that the lie introduced in the first part (in this case, the picking up of the hitchhiker) developed enough to become not only questionable but highly unbelievable. It was also important, however, that any aspects of fantasy were only alluded to, thereby keeping the ‘deception’ intact. It is here that certain elements must be bought out in order to be discussed further.

The characters name Fen is taken from the wolf Fenrir, a mythological giant wolf in Norse mythology who, it is said, is prophesised to break free from his chains and devour the world. In Scandinavian mythology the wolf is said to ‘devour the stars’ (Durand, 1963 cited in Chevalier and Gheerbrant, 1969, p.1121) and, in his examination of Norse mythology, the author Kevin Crossley-Holland (1980, p.193) claimed that ‘no other monster so embodied destruction (and maybe self destruction).’ The description of the characters mouth, also, is important in its reference to the claims that ‘this devourer symbolism is that of the mouth…connected with the phenomena of the alternations of day and night and of life and death…the wolfs mouth is night, the cavern, the Underworld…’ (Chevalier and Gheerbrant, 1969).

The thread that the character Fen wears on his wrist also alludes to the rope that bound the giant Fenrir, and the destruction of this thread in the final moments of .erased trigger a shudder, a deafening scream and subsequent blackout that, without explicitly referring to it, allude to the myth of the apocalypse that is bought about by the freeing of the wolf.

Other references are more ambiguous and playful. The ’devouring of the stars’ is illustrated fleetingly with the depiction of Fen eating Milky Way Chocolate Stars, and the red hooded top that I wear is a nod toward the story of Little Red Riding hood, another literary allusion to a potentially catastrophic encounter with a wolf.

.reception

When reflecting on how .erased functions, it is important to take into consideration a number of observations in terms of where it is situated or ‘exhibited’, and a number of bigger questions must also be considered.

Presented here, .erased exists as a stand alone piece of short fiction. It is its presence online, however, that shifts the perspective and transforms it on a number of levels. Over the course of four weeks, each part will be published under the title ‘A Boy Out Of Town’, the title .erased may be a nod to the dot com domain name format of the internet as well as the Erased De Kooning and Erased James Franco pieces referred to earlier, but even that becomes a transient detail that is absent in its online form. Titles and their purpose in art are another theme that I have explored in other works and it is again questioned within this experiment.

The durational nature of the publishing of each part of the story is also crucial, as it is only its presence in relation to my other columns where the surreal details emerge as being slightly odd. I have attempted to adhere to the basic criteria that the columns require. All of my previous columns adopted a casual tone, with a light fictional intonation that hinted towards the work being factual. It was important that .erased followed this standard format so that it did not look entirely out of place in relation to previous additions. The first person, present tense format, as well as the approximate 500 word limit are all elements that have existed before the conception of .erased.

Over time, as my regular column returns to its regular formatthe four articles that .erased is comprised of will be gradually buried within the online archive of my writing for the magazine. This automatic process, although completely out of my control in this instance, only adds to the quality of disguise, illusion and destruction that are hinted at in the content of the story.

With .erased, themes only previously briefly touched upon have been opened up and excavated to a more fully realised conceptual idea. It is my hope that this piece will serve as a departure point for further work, and that by gradually erasing my own truth within the arc of the story, a more ambiguous and adventurous route has been revealed.

.notation

.erased is included here in print for reference. .erased will be published at www.gaydarnation.co.uk every Friday from 29/04/11 under the title A Boy Out Of Town. Publication dates for each part are as follows.

Part one: 29/04/11

Part two: 06/05/11

Part three: 13/05/11

.citation

Mars-Jones, A. , 2005. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis, The Observer, [online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/oct/09/fiction.breteastonellis?INTCMP=SRCH

Buchanan, K. 2009. The Real Story (and the Mastermind) Behind James Franco’s Soap Opera Career Move, Movieline, [online] Available at: http://www.movieline.com/2009/11/the-real-story-and-the-artist-behind-james-franco-soap-star.php?page=all

Chevalier, J. and Gheerbrant, A. eds., 1969. Dictionary of Symbols. London, Penguin

Crossley-Holland, K., 1980. The Norse Myths: Gods of the Vikings. Middlesex; Penguin

.correction

The above text refers to four chapters of .erased. In the period between completion and publication, due to circumstances beyond my control, it was only possible to publish three chapters. The original part three was therefore removed to allow the entire project to be published.

.erased

2011-06-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

.erased part one

.erased part two

.erased part three

010611

2011-06-01T02:29:00.000-07:00

010611010611010611010611010611

DEPARTMENT OF EGOS

2011-05-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

linklinklinklinklinklinklink

2011-05-12T04:03:00.000-07:00

IREALLYFUCKINGLOVEYOU

2011-04-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

ITAI DORON

2011-04-19T01:11:00.000-07:00

ITAI DORON

Martina Vermorel

2011-04-18T09:44:00.000-07:00

Martina Vermorel

A worrying picture of me viewing the work of artist/friend Martina Vermorel !

You're A Heartbreaker

2011-04-18T08:00:00.001-07:00

you're a heartbreaker you're a heartbreaker you're a heartbreaker you're a heart you're a heart

LINK KILN

2011-04-05T12:49:00.001-07:00

LINKLINKLINKLINKLINKKLINKINLKIKNKKILKINKKLIKNKKILILKNNNNKILKILNKILNKILN

2011-03-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

KAREN KILIMNIK

rachel goodyear

2011-03-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

rachelGOODYEAR

JAROSLAV KYSA

2011-03-24T12:36:00.000-07:00

JAROSLAV KYSA

interviewinterviewINTERVIEWinterviewinterview

HEARTBREAKER

2011-03-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

HEARTBREAKER

LAM4M

2011-03-16T14:17:00.000-07:00

Cheryl Donegan

2011-03-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

Head - 1993

CHERYLDONEGAN

deanimation

2011-03-16T13:47:00.000-07:00

VIDEO ARRANGEMENTS

2011-03-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

2011-03-04T07:19:00.000-08:00

2011-02-16T08:46:00.001-08:00

COMING UP:

Deborah Levy

2011-02-16T08:44:00.001-08:00

LONE TWIN

2011-02-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

LONETWINIWTENOL

Resource Photographs

2011-02-01T09:22:00.001-08:00

2011-01-22T05:54:00.000-08:00

2011-01-22T05:48:00.000-08:00

m a r t i n c r e e d

MY MATE MARK

2011-01-06T05:19:00.000-08:00

2011-01-03T02:29:00.000-08:00

weird hair

2011-01-03T02:27:00.000-08:00

2011-01-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

2011-01-02T02:19:00.000-08:00

HNY

2011-01-01T01:49:00.000-08:00

2010-12-19T01:24:00.001-08:00

2010-12-19T01:05:00.000-08:00

2010-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

almost 2000 years

2010-12-08T04:42:00.000-08:00

nico

2010-12-07T07:06:00.000-08:00

2010-12-04T03:51:00.000-08:00

duggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefields
duggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefieldsduggiefields

2010-12-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

CATHERINE BREILLAT ON INTIMACY

2010-12-03T07:53:00.000-08:00

david hockney answers questions from twitter

2010-12-02T08:57:00.000-08:00

tace care x

VIDEO ARRANGEMENT

2010-12-02T07:24:00.000-08:00

2010-12-02T04:16:00.000-08:00

2010-12-02T04:11:00.000-08:00

2010-12-02T02:35:00.000-08:00

Charles Caselton's 'Meanwhile Gardens' reviewed here.

2010-11-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

Thom Nickels' 'Spore' is reviewed here.

2010-11-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

.................................................................................................................................................................
.................................................................................................................................................................

simon patterson

2010-11-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

DOUGLAS GORDON DOUGLAS GORDON

2010-11-11T02:31:00.001-08:00

Armistead Maupin's latest installment of Tales of The City, Mary Ann In Autumn, reviewed here.

2010-11-10T08:41:00.000-08:00

THE OBJECT OF SYMBOLISM IS THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT IS SYMBOLISED

-Alfred North Whitehead

2010-10-29T03:25:00.000-07:00

A Boy Out Of Town

the slacker

2, 3, 5 etc...

People are strange, when you're a...

d'oh stoy effski

resolution 18, or something

1994

The Slacker Manifesto or The Loser Initiative.

untitled

bali collapse

nice to be thought of

thinking

jayne mansfield

proposal for doing things

dramarama

hard lines

why does my heart go on beating

paper airplane

matt lifson

why i hate morrissey

WHY I HATE MORRISSEY

Re: WHY I HATE MORRISSEY

boredom is rage spread thin

Paul Tillich

dramarama

note to self

RESPONSES

popculturenewssexviolencepornwarhumourparodyanimationarttextpoetrybabblenonsense

fan

sliver

AIRGUITAR

FROM BRAZIL WITH LOVE

THE ART OF PEREZ HILTON

taslk taslk taslk

Loading, please wait...

three thousand things

vuk cosic

Hungry

Transient Arrangements: How the Gallery and the Internet Serve the Artist

.erased essay

.erased

010611

DEPARTMENT OF EGOS

ITAI DORON

Martina Vermorel

You're A Heartbreaker

LINK KILN

rachel goodyear

JAROSLAV KYSA

HEARTBREAKER

LAM4M

Cheryl Donegan

deanimation

VIDEO ARRANGEMENTS

Deborah Levy

LONE TWIN

Resource Photographs

MY MATE MARK

HNY

almost 2000 years

VIDEO ARRANGEMENT