Tuesday 31 August 2010

Shackleton & Picasso



Last week I went to Liverpool for the day to see the Picasso exhibition and while there I popped into the Maritime Museum and there was a exhibition of photographs by James Francis Hurley of Shackleton's Endurance expedition. These were amazing and the story was brought to life, here's a quick summary of it: In 1914 Shackleton and his crew set out to be the first to cross the Antarctic continent but their ship got trapped in the ice and was stuck their for ten months, she was slowly crushed and sank, leaving them on the ice. Surviving in thin tents and shooting their dogs and even the ships cat 'Mrs Chippy' for food they had to wait for the ice to melt, and after two failed attempts to march to land, a group finally set off in the lifeboats to Elephant Island. Leaving most of the men here Shackleton and 5 of the best seamen went further on to South Georgia Island and marched over mountains to remote whaling stations where help was finally sought but couldn't reach the island until 4 months later when everyone was rescued! An incredible story of survival and incredibley recorded through beautiful photographs and film. Go see it it's on tilll January 2011.
(all images from Liverpool Museums)

The Picasso: Peace & Freedom exhibition on the other hand while having some great individual works, still lifes and vaeritas' and my favourite dove line drawings, the whole theme of the exhibition was very forced and not really relevant to a lot of the works.
(image from tate)

Friday 27 August 2010

No Women No Peace



'Women are a prime target in conflicts across the world. Yet when it comes to building peace, women are excluded from the table. That's not only bad for women it's bad for peace. You can't build peace leaving half the people out.'

So runs the situation for the poster competition for the new campaign 'No Women No Peace' which is being launched in October. The world in 2010 isn't so advanced as it's made out to be, we've still got a long way to go and I fear sometimes we'll never get there, I hope upon hope that peace will exist for everyone someday.

Wednesday 18 August 2010

New mail art piece for Cut-Click exhibition





The top piece is my new mail art work which I sent to the Cut-Click exhibition at the Milkwood Gallery in Cardiff. It goes with my other inside envelope piece (just below it) and I thought it'd be nice for it to go to Cardiff as that's where I went to Uni and lived for 4 years. Here's some photos of the exhibition and there's a cool time-lapse video showing the hanging of it. The exhibition is on until the 13th September, if you're down in South Wales go see it!

Saturday 14 August 2010

Art Moves Billboard Festival: Together or Apart?



Here's my entry into the Art Moves Billboard Festival which takes place in Torun, Poland. The theme is: Together or Apart? and I thought that there will always be the need for both. You can build something amazing together but it all comes from your strength and your existence which is fundamentally seperate and apart from anyone else.

Friday 6 August 2010

Ten Images for Ithaca Exhibition



Here's my 'Ten Images for Ithaca' poster in the Gallery of the Municipality of Ithaca, Greece! I got my catalogue in the post today with gorgeous greek stamps on it, it's great and I'm in it! The exhibition will also be shown at Ε.Δ.Ω., Keramikos, Athens on 22-26 September 2010.





I got the catalogue through the post and do you know what United Kingdom is in greek? Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο
and my greek name? ΛΟΥΑΪΣ NOPMAN
and what's for tea tonight? Kolokythokeftedes & Tzatziki!

(images from here)
 

Thursday 5 August 2010

Song Illustration: The Bronze Medal


One of my fave bands is Idlewild and I just had to do an illustration of 'The Bronze Medal'. I couldn't decide between black and white and colour so there's both. See larger versions on my flickr
Here's some of the lyrics:
'It felt cold inside so we threw the radio onto the fire, it felt good to watch it burn away to nothing'
'Nothing but your eyes looking down on the third place, you've got nothing but determination to come in third'
'You were always going to be like this, if it's somewhere that's as cold as this'
'You were always meant to be like this, in the cold'
'It felt warm inside so we threw the television on the fire'
'You were always meant to be like this'

Tuesday 3 August 2010

Map Drawings: Switzerland + Land & Ocean


I'm just starting another map drawing and thought I'd post these other's I finished a while ago. The top one is 'Mountain Shadows Map' and is the shadows of mountains on a map of Switzerland filled in with black. The other is 'Blue & White Map (Land & Ocean)' with the land filled in blue and the ocean depths and water channels in white.

I'm working on another contour map, paying attention to the grid and the filling in the green areas. I always come back to my maps and I'm not sure if they're becoming too much of a comfort zone and maybe I need to push them further, I do and with each one I complete it is pushed further and just like a drawing/painting/illustration I'm the only one who can know when to stop it or finish it or change it or start it.