Sunday 5 December 2010

Smartphones: Do Something Wrong

If you're a smartphone user and can't access the latest issue of 12-Pages: Wrong, then follow this link to TBC's online publication library:

www.issuu.com/tbcartcollectiv

Saturday 4 December 2010

Thursday 25 November 2010

Project News: 12-Pages Online Project Space

Charley Peters, Before the Wronging (2010)

As December approaches TBC artists are making new work for the 12-Pages Online Project Space. TBC members have been asked to 'Do Something Wrong', the results of which will be curated by this month's Blog Editor, Charley Peters, and will be online in early December. More news soon...

Monday 15 November 2010

Project News: Trace Elements - Press Release

Trace Elements

TBC Artists' Collective comprises four London-based artists – Beverley Bennett, Charley Peters, Laura Davidson and Paul Mendez – who work collectively to generate projects with a focus on drawing and its scope within contemporary art practice.

Established in 2009, their recent first show Delineation: Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing considered the presence of drawing beyond its traditional parameters and within such disciplines as writing, film, sculpture, painting and embroidery. Delineation began a series of projects that will engage the collective with other artists, writers and curators, who are invited to participate based on their individual perspectives on drawing.

Always keen to challenge creative identities and generate new ideas, the 12-Pages Online Project Space enables members and associates to regularly produce new work by means of short deadlines and notional themes, often instigating fresh lines of inquiry. 12-Pages Magazine seeks to document each key stage in the development of these and other of the collective’s investigations.

The collective’s latest exhibition project Trace Elements will continue to develop the initial themes first outlined in Delineation, exploring drawing through erasure, repetition, accumulation, trace, memory and the interruption of surfaces. 


Saturday 6 November 2010

Member News: The Show


TBC Artists Beverley Bennett, Charley Peters, Laura Davidson and Paul Mendez will be participating in The Show. Their exhibition of drawings, 'Trace Elements' selected by curator Eddie Otchere will open in January 2011 as part of The Show's cultural events programme on Millbank.  The Show presents 'the freshest concepts and objects amongst the spectacle of art, music and magic' (theshowlondon.com)

More information to follow...


Friday 5 November 2010

Walk On By

A TBC banner stands proudly before the caryatids of The Parish of St. Pancras
A year in planning and it was over a week of chills, breakdowns, walk-outs and artists' talks.

Delineation: Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing, the Collective's first show, was an exploration of contemporary drawing practice and the presence of drawing within different art forms, from video to embroidery to sculpture. Its venue was The Crypt, a cold, damp, earthy space that wouldn't at first - or indeed upon reflection - seem to lend itself to the displaying of works on paper, which made up the bulk of the show. Indeed, after only five days in the space, some of the artists involved observed slight decay in the pristine quality of their works, all of which were framed.

This was the only negative; the show was well received; it was generally accepted that TBC Artists' Collective had indeed subjected contemporary drawing practice to a rigorous interrogation, and  comments from the public largely expressed pleasure at the standard of work on show. My personal experience, however, was mixed.


For the rest of of this article, visit The Stillborn Jeune Homme.




Sunday 31 October 2010

Delineation, Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing Closes

Selected works from Delineation

After a successful five-day run, Delineation closed its doors to the public today. The Delineation project however, continues to develop. A post-exhibition catalogue, featuring critical responses to the exhibition and essays exploring contemporary drawing practices, will be edited by TBC over the forthcoming months.

Anyone interested in being kept up-to-date with the progress of this and other TBC projects should join the TBC mailing list by emailing with the subject heading 'Mailing List' to: info@tbcartistscollective.org.

Jim Mooney - Critical Responses to Delineation

Dr Jim Mooney in conversation with members of TBC Artists' Collective

Today TBC was joined in The Crypt Gallery by Dr Jim Mooney, Reader in the Theory and Practice of Fine Art at Middlesex University, who led a discussion based on his responses to the exhibition Delineation, Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing. During the afternoon Jim shared his critical observations of the curatorial policy of the show and led the artists through the gallery in order to give a close reading of each work and identify underlying shared concerns among the exhibiting artists.

TBC would like to extend their thanks to Jim for his insightful and generous contribution to the exhibition programme. A transcript of the discussion will constitute part of the catalogue for Delineation, Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing, which TBC will be writing over the forthcoming months. This publication will also contain a transcript of yesterday's panel discussion led by artist John Timberlake and featuring TBC members Beverley Bennett, Charley Peters, Laura Davidson and Paul Mendez, as well as a collection of critical essays addressing current concerns in artists' drawing practices.

Delineation Workshops

Drawing created in one of the Delineation workshops led by TBC Artists' Collective.

Over the last two months TBC Artists' Collective have been working with volunteers from the charity House of St Barnabus-in-Soho to run drawing workshops. Delineation artists Paul Mendez, Liz Oniri and Alex McIntyre have worked closely with a group of volunteers - all of which have experiences of homelessness - to create a drawing that was displayed as part of the exhibition at the Crypt Gallery.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Delineation: Three Days Left


There are three days of Delineation left, and on Saturday 31st October artist John Timberlake will lead a panel discussion about the nature of drawing amongst TBC members. The event is free and begins at 2pm in The Crypt Gallery, NW1 2BA.

12-Pages Issue One Available to Download


The first issue of 12-Pages is now available to download in PDF format from our website.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Delineation Private View Tomorrow




PRIVATE VIEW
Wednesday 27th October 6-9pm
The Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, London NW1 2BA

Monday 25 October 2010

Installation: Delineation, Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing



Installation is currently underway for the new TBC exhibition Delineation: Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing. The group are spending two days transforming the subterranean environment of the Crypt Gallery, NW1, into an exhibition of critical drawing practices, which reflects the breadth of 'drawing' within the working processes of individual group members and across collaborative projects amongst TBC members. Each TBC member will also contribute works to the 'Drawing Dialogues Corridor', an area of the exhibition that shows an interrogatory or diagnostic approach to drawing.

Delineation: Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing is open Wednesday 27th-Sunday 31st October, 10am-6pm. The Private View is Wednesday 27th October, 6-9pm. An artists' talk takes place on Saturday 30th October at 2pm led by artist John Timberlake and involving several TBC artists.

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Dialogues with Drawing: Trisha Brown


Untitled (2007), Charcoal on paper


Untitled (2007), Charcoal on paper


Revolution (2006) Charcoal on paper

American choreographer Trisha Brown is featured in  Move: Choreographing You at the Hayward Gallery. Her company are also performing at Tate Modern as part of Dance Umbrella in London.

Last year, her drawings were featured in a solo show at Sikkema Jenkins in New York. Her drawing practice informs and dictates her choreographic work with diagrams produced for works such as Locus (1975) and Glacial Decoy (1979). In conversation at the Hayward on October 16th, Brown stated that her major new piece would be based on sketches of small boxes containing marks, which move across the paper. Keeping to her choreographic approach Brown declined to be pinned down on what this new choreography might be. Known for choreographic works which pioneered everday movement and the transient nature of dance, it is curious that her piece It's a Draw (2003) aims to record bodily gesture. The untitled drawings above have been made during this perfomance.

Postioned above a sheet of white paper, with charcoal in hands and feet, Brown falls towards the paper, dragging dusty black marks along with her. It's a Draw  records her movements but also, engages the audience in a historical debate about how dance is archived. From the Greeks to the present, different methods of dance preservation have been explored, with drawing being one of the most useful tools. The most famous dance notation systems are Laban and Benesh, all of which Brown appears to be referencing in a more personal and archaic way in It's a Draw. Her position within this debate between dance and art was commended by her inclusion in Documenta 12 and also in the Hayward exhibition, which aims to fully mark out this discussion.

More information:


Tuesday 12 October 2010

Work in Progress: Charley Peters


Compositional sketch for Xerox Drawing series, cut tracing paper and light.

For more current work from TBC artist Charley Peters, check out her blog, Carbon Particles: charleypeters.blogspot.com

Monday 11 October 2010

Studio Views: Beverley Bennett


by filmmaker Timothy Knights


The film documents Bennett in her studio in London creating work for Scratch Black Light. The film accompanies her solo exhibition entitled 'Process' currently showing at Arena Gallery, Liverpool as part of this year Biennal programme.

Friday 8 October 2010

12-PAGES Online Project Space: October 2010

CHARLEY PETERS


Displacement (2010)
    Graphite square (erased) and accrued erasings.


12-PAGES introduces the Online Project Space, a monthly project set to create specially-prepared works for the 12-PAGES blog, that interrogates individual theory and presents works on a digital wall space.

The theme for October was notions of the home, incorporating the importance of having a home, and perhaps experiences of not having a home. Contributing artists were asked to spend a short time applying this theme to the process of their current practices.




SUSANNAH KING

Home and my Camera Obscura (2010)


I am a Key Worker (I teach) and  live in Key Worker rented accommodation (intermediate housing, they call it). I don’t get to choose whom I live with; it could be any other eligible key worker. Someone, I don’t know who, has decided that Key Workers are all young and single and don’t mind sharing with strangers. I live there, as it is just about all I can afford and is easy to get to work from.

I’m priced out of buying or renting a place of my own as it’s London and this city is affordable to but a few. But I like where I live, I like the area and I love my balcony. It is a shared balcony but few others use it. In June this year I transformed an unoccupied room near the balcony into a temporary camera obscura. I spent the month watching in full colour, the world upside down, from traffic jams on the A40, to airplanes and birds flying across clouds or observing windows from neighboring flats anonymously opening and closing.  The environment surrounding me is projected directly into my own camera space.
I might not own the space I inhabit, but I can certainly lay claim to a month-long period where this space and the territory surrounding us belonged to my camera obscura and I.


ELIZABETH ONIRI

Moving Slowly with Collar Pulled High (2010)





JAMES TUITT

Run Away (2010)
This drawing aims to tell us that sometimes, we need to run away from home. Home is often referred to as a place of comfort, warmth, security, familiarity and so on. although this is very true, these ideas can also be the things that hold us back. sometimes, one needs to get away from the security and the familiarity and the constraints of home in order to be achieve physical, mental, emotional and creative freedom. this is home in the physical walls, windows and doors sense, but also in the mental sense.




BEVERLEY BENNETT

Untitled (2010)



PAUL MENDEZ


Dear Jonathan,

How are you? It has been a long time, indeed. I’m touched that you thought of me and took the time to write such a heartfelt message. Only you and my brother have ever done so.

So what’s going on? Are you married? Kids? How are your family? What do you do for a job? Are you baptised now?

I’m struggling along in London as an artist and writer. I have my first exhibition at the end of this month and a second following quickly after, so I’m very busy – and stressed – at the moment. I’ve had small pieces of writing published here and there but, like most people, I’m still waiting for something real to happen. I’ve been here for six years now and can’t imagine living in another city.

I live with, amongst others, a girl from my year at high school, who is also an artist. We produce a magazine of contemporary art, for which I am the editor. Busy, busy, busy.

I have been through some bad times since I left the truth ten years ago, and wallowed in dreadful emotions that I still feel twinges of now and then, even today. Nobody’s life is perfect, or totally happy, but I do genuinely feel that I am being true to myself and leading the only possible life I can lead. Of course I can see the world for what it is – the very streets of London manifest the declining apocalyptic world painted in prophecy – and I’m sure that something will happen soon. Trust that I am not simply pretending that nothing is happening; I just feel that my time now is best spent outside of Jehovah’s organisation, knowing both good and bad, just as Christ did.

I know that you will think I'm just brushing you off and making excuses. Jehovah's people gave me my education, which has gone on to inform and ask questions of everything I have subsequently thought or acted upon. Thank you for reminding me of what I should be thinking about, however. ‘You are still my brother, and I love you’ is what my sister Sarah said to me once, and I repeat that to you now.

Best wishes,

Paul



Look out for more news from the 12-PAGES Online Project Space next month.




Wednesday 6 October 2010

Work in Progress: Paul Mendez



The presence of drawing in Mendez’ work centres around, firstly, the opportunistic entrapment of floating words and phrases onto paper, that exist individually as statements or coagulate to form prose, and secondly, the exploration of thoughts and ideas that may be expressed in a manner liminal to both words and images. In the former, Mendez’ biographical writings form the basis of a ‘word bin’ from which various phrases and scenes are extracted and spliced together, adapting William Burroughs’ ‘cut-up’ technique, and in the latter, statements are reduced to lines on a grid, that question how beauty translates across art forms.

Saturday 2 October 2010

TBC Member News: 100 the Highway featuring Beverley Bennett and James Jeff Lindley


100 The Highway is a one-night exhibition of new works, works-in-progress and site-specific works by a selection of artists, self-publishers and past collaborators, at the former location of Maritime Printing Co.

The exhibition features works by Aishan Yu, Alexander Bates, Alexandra Hughes, Andrew Ra...nville, Beverley Bennett, Catalina Niculescu, Charlie Coffey, David Lilley, Hiromi Kawasaki, James Jeff Lindley, Kala Newman, Kathryn Faulkner, Margarita Myrogianni, Marie Roux, Pernille Leggat Ramfelt, Rachel Ichniowski, Richard Bevan, Rona Smith, and Sarah Andrew.

Impulsive Random Platform will produce a free publication especially for the exhibition, in response to the works and site.

Thursday 30 September 2010

A Means To An End

Credit: ESA / V. Beckmann (NASA-GSFC)

A track that really sounds, for at least a few bars, like you are disappearing through a black hole in which nothing exists except you, it and the aggregate visuals of your past lives, is the soundcheck of Joy Division’s 'A Means To An End' from Disc Two of the 2007 reissue of Still.

Soundtracking the nauseous lurchings of the solar plexus as the body skirts closer to death, it is the music of Dante's Divine Comedy, and Rodin's The Gates of Hell, but can only be heard in The Thinker's area of the sublime. Hence, I don’t know whether I am ascending or descending. It feels like those nervous moments on a plane where the sound of the engines suddenly ceases and the plane itself seems to drift. The instruments themselves fade in and out of the track. At the beginning of the first chorus, there is no bass or much of a lead guitar; only drums, heavy and bassy themselves, and yet there is still an exquisitely restrained atmosphere as if all the instruments but the ever-destructive drums are being thrashed with great intensity, but with headphones plugged in.  The atmosphere is black, like the dead-air-space coined by Radiohead, but nacreous gases in pink, blue and purple are rising, slowly, with only the merest hints of pale yellow and green. And then bang!  The descending bassline crashes through the ground with the drums in perfect harmony like two malign lovers skydiving; the lead guitar follows like the ephemera from the mid-air collision, the blast illuminating the night sky as I tumble irredeemably through the booming black hole, fearless and ecstatic, with the chemistry between the instruments, just drums, lead guitar and bass, the bass pervasive like nothing else in Joy Division, and slightly off-key, manifesting the beauty and power of that which I had never understood. Here, sound is superior to vision; I can only see the sinews of strumming forearms in hell as they almost burst.  I knew I shouldn’t bother to try critiquing anything so sacred, but it’s not a critique, merely a visualisation.

An artist's depiction of the accretion of a thick ring of dust into a supermassive black hole. The accretion produces jets of gamma rays and X-rays.

For more writing, visit The Stillborn Jeune Homme.

Saturday 25 September 2010

Delineation Installation Preparation: Charley Peters


Above: Artist's impression of the installation of Viral II in the Crypt Gallery, London.

TBC artist Charley Peters will be exhibiting two works from her new Viral series of drawings at Delineation: Contemporary Dialogues with Drawing in October 2010. In addition to Viral, Peters will also show a collection of diagnostic works that explore the role of drawing in her practice in the Drawing Dialogues area on the exhibition. This important part of the Delineation exhibition will interrogate how TBC artists use drawing processes in preparatory, research and collaborative works.

For more information about the Viral series and Peters' current work see: charleypeters.blogspot.com