Saturday 19 September 2009

1299 BLack and White Acrylic and Goal 2

Today Thursday 28th of February has been a day of pure self indulgence about food starting with Baxter's Minestrone soup with two thick slices of Brown bread, for tea, a cup of coffee and a chocolate wafer biscuit and for evening meal a prawn from shell sandwich with a large glass of Open Basket Australian Shiraz Cabernet as a starter, half an uncooked red pepper as a second course, then a plate of Heinz baked beans followed by two grilled Lochmuir Salmon fishcakes. The two should have been eaten together but I mistimed the cooking, and the meal ended with four buttered crackers two thin slices of mild uncoloured Cheddar cheese, and a dozen red and white grapes with a large cup of percolated Columbian Supremo ground coffee without sugar.

I broke off from the writing to watch the 10pm news, primarily to learn if there had been any progress in the investigations in Jersey, only to find that for 10 weeks the third in line to British monarchy, Prince Harry, the second son of Prince Charles and his former wife, Diana, has been fighting in Afghanistan, and that an agreement had been reached with the British and significant other foreign press to keep the information secret in order to protect the Prince and his military colleagues from becoming the primary target for Taliban and other forces. Since his disappointment at being pulled out of going to Iraq I guessed that something like this might happen and for once it is to the credit of the Media that the agreement was kept and that it is on the internet that the story was broken. As a consequence it was previously agreed that film of the Prince serving on the front line would be released and my reaction on viewing is that it will enhance the Prince's standing with everyone except the entrenched anti Royalist and those opposed to our original and on going involvement in Afghanistan. I followed on this news with Question Time and the political magazine programme this week and my mood until the news changed and I had to reappraise my day. Three cheers for Harry and King George.

It has commenced after a good sleep and some dreaming, and another clear blue sky morning, with later the information that this has been the sunniest February since records commenced another indication that the weather has changed, whether from human activities in one form or another or from changes the consequence of extra terrestrial events. I completed set work for the month, some 120 additions, bringing me close to the average since August 2003 of 125 a month, approximately 4 a day.

This afternoon was devoted to a visit to Sunderland which included a leisurely cup of coffee and a wafer biscuit looking through various brochures obtained from the Sunderland City Information centre which is truly the best I have seen anywhere in the UK. I was interested in three types of information. There was bus information for those going to Durham City, Middlesbrough and Carlisle as well as into parts of Northumberland. These are long hall day trip although the trip to Durham City from Sunderland is forty five minutes and there should be a similar time taking trip direct from South Shields. Some of the trips were from Sunderland Newcastle and onward so it will be possible for me to take the short in time route by Metro to Newcastle central bus station and from their or from other metro stops to Northumbrian towns such as Alnwick and Warwick. One issue is that with people like me travelling outward from 9.30 there could be homeward congestion so it might be risky to leave departures until the last buses. The second kind of information was on places further field where I have booked accommodation this summer, including Oxfordshire and Yorkshire. There was also some local event information although from previous experience the city library across the way has the more comprehensive range of cultural event programmes.

I rarely give way to day dreaming about situations which are unlikely such as what would I do if I won the European Lottery in a week where the fund had accumulated, but today as I set off to buy some canvasses, I indulged and continued with the concept when I returned home.

My priority would be family interests followed by supporting charitable and cultural interests as I am only able to do now on a very modest scale. But then everything else would be used to build and equip a black monolith building on Tyneside, hopefully planning permission would be given here in South Shields. A six floor structure clad in black polished stone with black glass. Thus recreating the black monoliths in which the main confidential component of the work will be housed. (Not everything treated as confidential will be secured beyond human curiosity, I have decided with red display units full of boring stuff house receipts and household communications suggest bank statements, income tax accounts gas and electricity accounts which could be displayed and become public access after a period of years after the security information contained in them no longer mattered and the names of employees identified no longer mattered.)

The argument being that only some material is never released to the public by the state such as on the workings and activities of the security services, especially those involving covert operations. I was amused by the outbursts of righteous indignation about the collusion of the media between the media, the Government and the Palace over the deployment on the front line of Prince Harry, although George Galloway on Question Time was consistent in his true colours defending the actions of Castro who imposed censorship and curtailed human rights because he regarded his country as being under constant attack by the United States, which it was of course, and where in 1939 we had to impose similar restrictions while we waited for the German onslaught on our people and their shores. The suspicion I have about George and others on the far left and right is that for them the control of the media would not be a short term expedient born of necessity but become a permanent way of government. This has been the evidence of all previous situations. Was Mr Galloway also beings serious when he appeared to be giving support for the way of life of the Taliban, while in the same breadth defending the high expenses spending life of those dependent upon public funds, on the grounds that those part of capitalist enterprises were able to use used business funds for lavish expenses approved lifestyle. This is class war hypocrisy George and the sin of all those prepared to misuse public funds. Mind you there is also just as much hypocrisy on the part of the unfettered capitalist who exploit the poor and uneducated.

I am presently set on my building having six floors to create a separate areas for guests which would be excluded from the 24 hour on line surveillance, recording and broadcasting system of everywhere else, except for bodily function areas. Within the edifice the rooms would be similar to those I have experienced during my life, in terms of size including height and recreating how the presentation of the work has developed as well as the work itself combining the routine daily living experience with the ongoing working activity. Retirement is only a concept for those who do not like or enjoy their work or wish to have greater financial.

If the amount was truly huge I would incorporate into the adjacent land area of the site, a restaurant cum bar, with facilities for music and song performances restricted to jazz, especially traditional jazz and the blues and a small complex of art studios and accommodation units to enable individuals to work and live while they attempted to establish their work. Dream on Dream on.

The second purpose of the trip was to purchase of four double primed, medium grain and hand made canvasses 16'' x 16'' to become part of the Black and White project which so far includes 101 copies of my 400 page autobiographical creative statement with 101 photos, which have been separately framed full size in Black and White and the first edition of 101 selected statements which are to be framed for display when the final version have been decided edition.

There will be 104 of the canvasses created, 101 for display with three reserves to complete four sets of 24 plus the 4 artman glitter and artman 100,75 project registration cards. Each Canvass will include an actual black or white A 4 size card, although I am yet to decide on the proportion where the card or photo card will be viewable or where it will have been submerged by acrylic, including acrylic representations of black and white cards. Pastel, crayon, pencil and watercolour will also be among the material used in addition to photographic montages, but while there will be a black and white A 4 size space, the surround will be worked in other colours.

Each canvass will be numbered within the creative sets where the range is 4001-8999, cards 96024-215976 as they will contain an actual card, and in some instances the painted representation of the card, or the additional photograph of the card which it covers. Although I am not a numerologist, the work will commence on the 69th anniversary of 9.3.39. I wonder what are the odds of a lottery ticket comprising 3. 9.12 36 39 42 or 3.9.12.15.18. 3 .6..9 12, 15 etc?

My evening meal was shared with a second viewing of the first film in series of three Goal 1 where I recently I Goal 2 for the first time. I saw the first film in theatre at its North East Preview having attended the two games at St James Park, against Chelsea and against Liverpool which are included in the film and interestingly only recently stood waiting for a bus opposite the Tynemouth terraced housing overlong the beach included in the film after my visit to the Church of St George at Cullercoats. The order of viewing the two films on DVD was set by the service supplier and it was consequently interesting to find what I had forgotten and to learn that the three film scenario had been agreed with FIFA and FA from the outset, concentrating on a British Premiership club in Goal 1, the European Club competition in Goal 2 and the World Cup in Goal 3, although getting Mexico, the USA or Spain to be the World Cup winners for which the star could be shown to have become eligible will be interesting. Newcastle was selected not just because the club had become internationally known with the first Keegan era, but because the ground is located on a peak of the hill which forms the greater part of the city, if filled to capacity with 52000 supporters and has the greatest night life on par with any other city in the world in a concentrated area from the Bigg Market in Grangertown down to the quayside and where between the High and Low Level Swing Bridges and the Millennium swing Bridge there is the Contemporary Art centre and the Sage Concert Halls and other developments on the Gateshead riverside.

Although the intention was to show modern football and its impact on cities, Newcastle and Madrid so far, the film is also about the impact of the rocketing economic and social status of becoming a international football star with the family (the Mexican father grandmother and brother of Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker) becoming USA illegal economic migrants in California where he is discovered by a former Geordie players and scout on holiday is given a Newcastle Trial where the International sounding Manager reminds of the new English Manager, and he hooks up with the goal scoring aging playboy Gavin Harris played by Alessandro Nivola and meets his future live in girl friend, who has the film name of Nurse Roz Harmison, (Anna Friel) which interestingly is the same surname as Durham and England Cricketer and Newcastle fanatical fan Steve Harmison. I had also missed the first time round the segment of the film on what it is like to play in the cold with driving snow and gale which is a features of playing and watching football in this region, and elsewhere of course but where here some male fans strip to the waist. I enjoyed the film even more than the first occasion.

I was disappointed with the second round of male performers in American Idol except for 17 year old David Archuleta who brought floods of tears to just about everyone from Paula Abdul, to his mom, and me, even Simon looked moved with his performance of Imagine, with Paula saying he was about to become a superstar. Simon's comments that there were now 19 other depressed contestants was not the kiss of death with the public as only David himself can prevent his otherwise inevitable success.

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