Yes Man

Danny Wallace's Yes Man is possibly one of the best books Ive read in ages ( and not just because I haven't finished most of the books I've started recently!!!)
Simply, it was inspiring. Maybe I shouldn't have to read a book to learn to be more positive but it certainly helped. I'm looking forward to JUST SAYING YES!!!!!!!!

ps I've hear d the movie's no great...and the trailer barely resembles the book!

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"fucking amazing, life happened"
Couldnt put it better myself....Norway was great!!

Im working on...

Since starting college again Ive started making masks of my own face. Im not quite sure where Im going with it but Im very interested in the idea of 'my skin', and the relationship I have with 'my skin'. This piece, by Marc Quinn, kind of epitommises what Im trying to explain...but hopefully Ill come up with something completely different!!!

Im also intereted in wallpaper or making wallpaper for some reason and came across this... I really like it!!! The artists name is Ariana Page Russell!

Self portraiture

This is a photo I took during the summer. Its kind of been the basis for the way Ive been thinking ever since. Along with my ideas that the best reason to make art is for yourself and noone else, and that the kind of art I wanted to make was honest. So I moved on towards portraiture. Now it scares me too much and Im backtracking. In some ways Id love to continue just because it scares me....would be good to get through that fear, but in another Im just not going to risk it. My new plan is to just make work and see what happens (which is sort of the original idea anyway!). So I guess whats important is to make sure Im making work, and developing it. SO here goes!

Jin Young Yu

I recently discovered this Korean artist called Jin Young Yu! her work is fantastic! Im interested in her work because of her use of masks, but also her use of the full body. I love the wallpaper too!!!

Francesca Woodman

In edinburgh I stumbled upon Woodmans work in The Artists Rooms Exhibition. Unfortunately the internet doesnt do them justice!

The Fear

Im really disappointed in myself today as once again i seem to feel lost in what i might be doing in my work. Im diappointed because for a while id really been beginning to feel like i was actually going somewhere for the first time in quite a while! Tomorrow morning I have to meet my tutor...think this is probably the catalyst- I once again face scrutinty and have to explain myself as an artist. Id rather keep it all in my head or in my room where only I ever have to know about it.
Regardless, I still face the question of what exactly I turn up with tomorrow. All I know for sure is my work is about me. My identity and hidden identity. discovery. I guess I hope that my work will explain it better, but that requires me to actually make it. And then theres the fear that it'll explain me better than I can ever understand.

well this is meant to be an art blog so heres where im at with art. Over the summer I became very cinical about art. I saw very little art i liked. I culdnt remember what it was about art that i liked. I felt like i was beginning to see throught he commerciality of art and behind it there was nothing left. I now have a renewed, if fragile, fate, and a new outlook. Art for the artist. Not for anyone else. Its what I always believed but never had the courage to follow. Before college ended for the summer I became intrigued by Tracey Emin, her honesty, strength, vulnerability and power. Marina Abramovic has always been my favourite artist, probably because she possesses the same qualities. Their works reflects that, without necessarily dealing with it. What I mean is its not the themes or type of work that matters, its the artist that made it. art made for the artist must surely reflect the artist honestly. I guess these are the types of artists/people i identify with or admire maybe. my mission is to make art for me, not art for exhibition or sale. If its good, perhaps it will lend itself to that anyway, or perhaps good art doesnt lend itself to that, which is an idea i like even better!!!!

existentialism, my new interest!!

Ive recently started reading about existensial philosophies and have decided its about time I straightened out my ideas on it...so be prepared for some ramblings, hopefully with some sort of conclusion!
I like their ideas about the absurdity of life...life IS totally unpredictable, and I do like the idea of embracing that and taking life as it comes, not setting plans icn concrete but being adaptable and open!
I agree with their ideas of the death of god, as far as i understanf it. I have an idea that from whenever til the industrial revolution ish, god was almighty. Then 'god' (in all the broadest terms) began to take a back seat to technology. In effect im inclined to think that technology became our new god, a new way to understand the world. But i also think that we are beginning to move into a new era where even science cant provide all the answers, as it seems to create so many monsters (thinking specifically of the environmantal and health problems we seem to have produced-ozone problems and superbugs).
Anyway there are lots of things i like about existentialism, the only thing that I still question is way that it seems to push me towards the idea that nothing really matters. Existentialism incorporates ideas of meaninglessness, and although all existenialists have different ideas I have yet to hear a good way to help us understand death, and therefore the meaning of life! I have a lot more reading to do before i can begin to understand existentialism properly(its a bit like trying to understand postmodernism!) so maybe ill come back and finish this comment later!!!

A new question

following on from my last post 'the elusive question'(!) I have a new one...How do we seperate good art from bad, or rather how should we?
For anyone whos interested, theres some excellent replies to the elusive question that id reccommend reading!