I love a good commission, and this one was a cracker. It came through my 'Artfinder' site from a customer in Australia, looking for a present for his sister's birthday. She lives in Scotland.
The chance to collaborate with someone on the other side of the world, on a piece for someone else back in this hemisphere is a lovely challenge. I really do like commissions to be tailored for the people that buy them. I feel strongly that it should be a collaboration - that the punter should be part of the creative process, and that it enhances their connection with the work. Commissions should be personal and should tell you a story, not just say "Can you just do me one of your faces?", or "You choose, you're the artist", or "This is Janet. Janet likes fog".
[*This one wasn't for Janet...]
The buyer had just missed out on buying one of the larger pieces, but wanted something birdy because his sister was into Ornithology - (which is the 'ology' of Orniths, - I looked it up). So, I directed him to archives of my own previous ornithological activity on Flickr and 500px. He liked the 'Tape Heads' but his sister's not especially musical... Further brief discussion - by email between Aus/Uk - honed the thought process and involved the books of Roald Dahl, and working at the BBC...
Despite my own predilection for book-making and sculpture (*see previous blog posts), I have as yet to find a satisfying aesthetic resolution to the use of 'found' books within a sculptural context that has not been done, at least with some originality. Bird books were not the answer, but might still provide a platform...
A quick scan of charity shops and eBay showed that audio cassettes of Roald Dahl narrating his own books were all upwards of eight quid a shot! Eeeshh! That's 10% of the budget! What about some of those old David Attenborough or National Geographic VHS's? - Rarer than the mythological hen's teeth...
And then my friend suggested 8mm cine film... *Ting-a-ling! Back to that there eBay and bingo! A thoroughly delightful old fellow by the fantastic moniker of Arthur Zarb, rendered an 'as new' slice of 8mm cinemagic - Close-up Of An Owl - three quid! One of a series of 16 second classic film 'inserts' for the amateur home movie maker to splice into and spice up his or her own home movies. [Others in the series include such favourites as 'Lion runs towards camera and jumps over it', 'Steam train at full speed enters a tunnel' and 'Airplane flying into clouds, filmed from the cockpit'. - Exciting eh? Hang on to your knicker elastic!]
Thus was born the 'Film Head Crow'. A last minute sweep of the local charity shops brought home a 1980's book on birdwatching to replace the granite pebble in the photos here, (literally last minute - the rest was already packed up for shipping) - and Robert is a sibling of your mother or father. ;)
Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment