Friday 31 October 2008

Counting down.

Hey all, you may or may not be aware that this show has been in the
works for some time and it's finally come to the point where it's
ready to open! The exhibition is at Salon 91 Contemporary Art
Colllection on 91 Kloof street, across the street from Arnold's and
takes place on 06 November, which is next thursday, from 19:00. Will
be great to see you guys there, so come pop in!

This also means we're a month away from the launch of my solo show!

Take care, and here's a link to the event on FB.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=42883939427

Tuesday 28 October 2008

D-Day Minus Nine.

Hey all, just for those of you who didn't get the update, the inaugural group show at Salon 91 in Kloof Street (CT) is kicking off on 06 November and NOT 30 October as initially scheduled, so I'll hopefully see you guys there next week!

I will send out reminders closer to the time for those of you with short term memory issues. Will be great to see you all there.

Thanks

H

Monday 20 October 2008

Stenciling 101

Hey all. I was asked for advice regarding stenciling by a mate and upon typing this up i figured this knowledge may be of help to others, so here goes, a little crash course in kicking Banksy's arse. Please do.




I'll give you what i know about stenciling,but the key is basically a lot of problem solving and fine cutting, which is going to drive you nuts, but if it works, then it's worth it.

Firstly, the material which works well for this kind of thing is acetate, you get big sheets at craft stores in rolls, like really thick transparencies. It's tough, so won't fall apart or sag like cardboard, but it's harder to cut. Also, even thought it's tough, keep it safe in a file with the rest of your stencils, because they will get damaged if they're lying around loose.

Second is the big problem solving issue which is going to require quite a bit of thought and planning. That is the fact that the picture you are trying to make work must be down to two solid colours, black and white, one which is cut out and one which is masked by the remaining parts of stencil. Now the tricky bit is cutting the relevant areas out whilst still keeping the remainder of the shapes intact and together. This can either be done through choosing which areas can be compomised and leave them out, or 'floating' bits can be kept in place with strips, although for the overall effect this should be avoided. I'd say it is better to do your planning well and thus not have to deal with the problem of 'floating' areas.

How to create an image that is heavily monochrome(meaning no grey) is simple enough of you have photoshop and a printer Convert your image to grayscale and select 'levels' (Ctrl+L). Then force the colour marks to the centre, this will get rid of the greys, basically mess about 'til you get the best balance of black and white, keeping an eye on the amount of fine detail that you're going to have to cut out later. Then you just print it out and tape it to the underside of the sheet of acetate and get cutting!

This is the extent of my practical knowledge, it's basically how you use it that varies and will determine the result. The stenciling i've done has been largely on t-shirts where i've done a crude stencil and worked the relevant fine detail in later when all the big elements were in place. Naturally if you're doing hit'n'run spraypainting in public space, then the idea of adding in detail afterwards is not really applicable!

Like i said, lots of problem solving. Also, keep and eye on your stencils in case they get clogged with paint after use, otherwise the image they produce will get less and less sharp.

Hope this helps, let me know, yeah?

Take care.

H

Thursday 16 October 2008

Whatever grist the mill requires.

Hey everybody. Apologies for the silence, but things are kinda rough this side, i'm in full production for my solo show, which will be happening soon enough at Salon91 in Kloof street Cape Town.

The gallery's inaugural group show launches on the 30th of October, so be there, cos it's gonna be good. After that it's my turn, so let's hope i don't kill myself in the process of getting everything done for the solo show. But it's looking good so far...

Also i'll be posting some new work(on my FB group...) once this particular storm has passed, so keep an eye out!

Take care and take it easy.

H

Friday 10 October 2008

Fits and starts.

But hopefully this time we can the damn thing to start playing!

I'm screening my short film Inevitability at Klein Libertas tonight and hopefully it won't fuck up again, but things are significantly more streamlined this time round. I have learned a lot in the process of producing this piece, which is always rewarding and does light the way forward, especially seeing as i had to delve back into my training as animator.
The vague notions of 3D animating did come back surprisingly clear(thanks to the fact that i didn't do away with my notes!) and made the whole process fairly painless if not entirely stress-free. This, coupled with having to edit the piece myself has helped me refresh a lot of buried knowledge and takes on a whole new guise when seen with the perspective of experience gained along the way from forgetting something to remembering it again.

So who knows how all this might be applied in the future...

And amid all this rediscovery I am still working furiously on my solo show which is coming up in little over a month, so things are ploughing forward full tilt, but the less said about that the better, I prefer to let my work do the talking.

Now back to work!

H