I love these Ed Ruscha photos, I find them really sensual. I think he has a genuine understanding of architecture by showing its form in a photograph and also what the myth represents- the dream (the building may represent). When you go inside some Los Angeles buildings they make you feel different, like all good architecture should. I am drawn to modernism, like Ruscha was.
These are a reference for me when I finally get out to Los Angeles and film some real black & white film with a cinematographer.
I like this Katy Grannon photo (above) because it reminds me of a film still (it might be one as she has recently made an amazing film). I like the colour in the black & white tone and the golden light, even though this has silver in it (looks like a silver gelatine print). I think this is analogue because digital alone still finds it hard get that metallic quality film has- it has’t got the materials or the chemicals.
Not sure what I’ll do with this yet but like the map/ chart nature of the illustration. I like the perspective.
(Nita played Jaqueline at the Coliseum Charing Cross in Me and my Girl. (Undated-1941) So she would have stood on that stage and performed for weeks with a different audience every time.
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I once sang in a choir at the Royal Festival Hall and I was so terrified that my knees almost gave way. I would not be able to get on stage in front of an audience that big and sing solo- maybe I could talk but I couldn’t sing because I would be too terrified. I was surprised at the feeling I experienced on stage and I remember making a note of it in pencil on my copy of Handels Messiah and getting a curt once over from my Alto neighbour.
Beginning to make a fan prototype.
Untitled (Red fan) Kazuo Shiraga
I like the size of this and the fact its a sculpture. I’d like to see it in real life. I think it looks quite erotic as an object. It makes you want to reach out and touch it. I wonder what its made from?
I’m making a fan out of one or more of the photographs. It’s more difficult than it sounds but I’ve made a start with it. I went to a fan making workshop and will experiment before I go back there. You have to have strong hands for it- towards the end of the 3 hours I could feel the muscles in my hands aching. I usually only get sore hands when I’m in the darkroom because I don’t like wearing gloves. I will be using the arch shaped collage I made of Nita sunbathing below. The shape suits the fan template:
I love Helen Chadwicks work (above). This is liquid emulsion on vinyl. I have some liquid light to try out on wood. First I need to find an old Silver Cross Pram or similar and photograph it against black velvet in the studio. I plan to put a painted photograph of Dorith in the pram. Pram in the hallway. It might not work though, won’t know until I try it. Will photograph the empty pram too as it might work on its own.
I need to find a pram to photograph that looks like the one below: