Graham Dolphin 27.01.2015

Lecture Notes:

• Alternative titles 
• Everyone knows this is nowhere 
• day dream nation 
• life goes off 
• please note our failure 
• waiting on a dream 

Originally from Stafford born 1972

Art Foundation 1990 - 1991 

BA Fine Art Painting - Bath University 1991 - 1994 

One art gallery along with two cinemas nearby when growing up, art to him was boring black and white text books with poorly produced photographs. This was his culture. 

Rented a VHS player and watched a lot go unmoderated movies as a child; Dr. Killer, Cannibal Holocaust, Experimental Camp for example.

Also interested in music and music magazines and their cover art. 

Used to record music on cassette tapes then draw and make album covers from magazine cuttings 

inspired by koyaansqatsi - film, recordings of cityscapes and members of public within the city. Trilogy series. no narrative, no words, just clips from everyday life in cities.

Visual Drone and Resolve: 

Stockholm Music and arts festival - August 2014 

7 Screen video piece 

got musician to play 7 different droning sounds 

Damien Hirsts’ ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of a Someone Living’ 1991 - Couldn’t relate to the work, production costs were expensive - off putting etc.

final show at university - drilled through a Vogue Magazine. wanted to use something graphic, something that would stand out. 

First solo show came from his final piece. made 30 pieces from vogue and other fashion magazines, burning into the front covers, drilling screws into them, sticking hair to them, sticking vacuum waste to them. 

Made first publication from these works called ‘Everything from Vogue’ Solidified the work in the book and brought an end to the series. was creating other work at the time. 

wanted to make a video but didn't have the knowledge on how to. 

made a video piece called 1500 images of Kate Moss in 60 Seconds. played at 30 frames per second. Kate Moss still remains omnipresent. 

Moved away from fashion and started making front covers of album art. 

scratched song lyrics into vinyl records. used an etching scribe to scratch into the records. About owing the objects and things, personalising items. Liked the shift from buying them from a mass market then making his mark on them and them become precious, or one of a kind. also interested in the economy of this. 

Bench. recreated a bench outside kurt cobaines house. people write messages to cobaine on the wood of the bench like a memorial as he was cremated so no grave. 

Jim Morrissons grave in France, person made a crude bust of morrison which stood for 6  years which people defaced. eventually stolen. Grave now protected. Interested in the power these celebrities have over these people for them to come and write. 

redraws suicide note of elliot - famously left his note on post it note on a mirror. 

Recreated a rock that bob marley used to rest his head on while he smoked. people visit the rock much like the bench previously mentioned. 

recreates celebrity shrines… detail is about making them look old and weathered, finding the right and appropriate objects to add to them. 

made a series of fan - drawings…redrawn fan drawings he has found online. 

Frida Khalo’s Last diary entry.

ink drawings featuring lines repeated over and over again, interested in when they start to wobble and deconstruct. 

Started creating text pieces. wrote out every album and song he has in his iTunes. did a similar piece but writing down every human emotion. 

Are you a fan? do you have an obsession with celebrities? 

Only in the same way that a painter has the same obsession with painting or painting a certain theme. 

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Gravity Andrew Burton 27.11.14

Lecture Notes:

Fine Art professor at the University of Newcastle

   - Likes to recycle and reuse materials in sculpture.

Interested in landscape and the way people interact with the land.

Likes to make connections across the land; Northumberland Dales - Korean Burial Mounds (similar in shapes and structure)

   - Also interested in grand buildings

   - Inspired by general life in Delhi, finds sculpture in stacks of hay piled on trailers, clays mounds used to protect fuel (wood)

   - Inspired by the informality of architecture in Delhi

   - Intrigued with brick manufacturing in India, Delhi

   - Using a small wooden mould  and packing it with clay.

Explored different methods of brick making, chimney, stacked.

Interested in how bricks correspond to human scale.

Appeal in the natural way bricks crack and discolour.

   - Bricks are recycled lots in India, some still have paint on them form previous structure e.g. Blue bricks represent Brahman houses.

   - Worked with Delhi based brick masons - excellent craftsmanship - to build commission vessel.

   - India - vivid, vibrant but untouchable - found bees nest - reflected in this theme.

   - Found chilis in spice market which reflected this as well.

   - Worked with bamboo to build structure. Hung nest of red chilis from bamboo structure.

Looked at how bricks are made in Holland - agricultural.

   - Made brick tyre inspired by bust of Sheba.

   - Made reconstructions of grand buildings, interesting juxtaposition of grand building made of cheap materials. contradiction.

   - Constructed a miniature Adrians wall.

   - Graffiti artists worked on it.

   - Knocked down at the end of the exhibition.

Also uses life size bricks to make sculpture. Korea knocking down old brick buildings. Wanted to stay looking at a narrative with the bricks. Built circular structure.

Made structure in Canada.

Used vibrant graffiti bricks to build a buttress against an institutional building - interesting concept of the graffiti supporting the institution.

Went back to India - Interested in the use of cow dung to make these small pancake pieces.

   - Built monuments out of pats.

   - Brought in different materials to see how they would use it and react - used mirrors and had burst of creativity with patterns and designs pressed into them.

   - Found it hard to get structures into museum because of the material used an the social status of the women who built them.

China:

  Most of Chinas old architecture had been knocked down. Used rubble to build new miniature cities out of it. Lots of empty waste land across China made miniature copies of these abandoned structure out of bamboo.

Commissioned piece for airspace gallery - mini structures on stone surrounded by vibrant purple budlias changed into a dark brown over time but didn't shrink.

Questions:

Was the prejudice encountered by the women who worked on the dung structure part of the artwork.

   - Was about their structures gaining recognition for their work.

Was he (Andrew Burton) allowed to touch and work with the dung because he was a man?

   - He was. Normally men wouldn't work with dung because it was the lowest of materials.

   - May have seemed weird to the women because of traditional values.

Did displaying the structures open up the viewers and different audiences?

   - Yes, lots of tourists and higher class visit the museum.

   - Interesting how structures are made all across India but they all vary in style.

   - Still stigma between museum curator and women who made them  - still different class divides.

   - People still aware of this heritage however with the disappearance of traditional methods with the new modern materials and techniques people more interested in their heritage.

Did you speak to the women about the meanings of the designs and patterns?

Yes, they immediately took to using the mirrors I brought with me. No worry or self- conscience about using new materials. It was their creative outlet, the women wouldn't do art without these structures - this was the material and medium of their choice.

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