Something in Palmerston North to go to

Clubhouse sign

Quote of the day

"Paintings sit there," Kitaj writes, "looking out at the world, which remains separate. I'm for an art into which the painter imports things from the world that he cares about"--imports them into the alternate world that is the work of art. "Painting," Kitaj explains, "is a great idea I carry from place to place. It is an idea full of ideas, like a refugee's suitcase, a portable Ark of the Covenant."

The artist's sense of place is the stranger's sense of place, the outsider's sense of place. Such a dispensation can feel expansive and inviting. It can also feel exclusionary, because its particularities push out other particularities. An art that pursues its own viewpoint, and does so unironically, can seem elitist, because it propounds a secret. "This is just for us," the work declares--but it is always the case that the "us" includes anybody who can imagine himself or herself into this particular place. Anybody can enter, but not without making an effort.
- Jed Perl, 'Postcards from nowhere'

Projects

Here are the projects I've got on:

1. painting – I've gessoed a panel we took off a door (to put a cat flap into), which will be my first painting in my new studio, and I've got several other things I want to do, including a couple of portraits and some collaborative abstract work
   
2. finishing my comic – this is a lot of work
   
3. a catalogue essay for a friend – this has quite a tight deadline, and I haven't even started thinking about it yet
4. an essay on my own account – this will be a conversation between Piero, Picabia, and me called 'The immortality machine'
5. the band – we're working towards a five-track cd-ep.

I haven't really had much time or inclination to get on the Internet recently, which is why I've been a bit slack on the blogging front. We'll see how that continues.

No talent

In a fit of drunken enthusiasm in amongst the moving madness last week, I got on to Prime’s website and applied for an audition for New Zealand’s Got Talent for Can’t Play Won’t Play.

When asked to describe our act, I said ‘The name of the band describes the band.’ When asked why I thought we had the talent to win, I said ‘Our magic intertemporal avant-garde art powers.’ When asked who I most wanted to be proud of us, I said ‘Ourselves. As common-sense nihilists, we create our own meaning and purpose.’

Sure enough, the first letter for me at the new place was something from them saying we have been selected for an audition on Saturday. This occasioned a bit of debate within the band. While it may be an opportunity to get common-sense nihilism, as a local intertemporal avant-garde art movement, in front of a large prime-time tv audience, they expect quite a lot.

Not only do they want copyright in the performance, but they want you to waive your moral rights – in particular, the right of integrity, which is the right of an author or performer to object to treatment of a work, film, or performance that demeans their reputation.

So, what they’re asking for is us to show up early on Saturday morning, stand around in queues outside for hours on end whatever the weather (without smoking!), bring and set everything up, and give up all rights to our work – all so low rent tv entertainers can make fun of us for five seconds.

The sad thing is that people will happily do all this, just because they want to be on the telly.

Studio

End in sight

The last few weeks have been completely nuts. At the moment, my books and materials are packed in boxes and stacked with the rest of my worldly belongings in the garage. However, the end is in sight. We move in on Friday the 13th.

Pipe Liberation Front