New typeface

Creating my own typeface

At the moment I am experimenting with creating my own typeface. I am working on a wall drawing, part of which will be text, and I want the font to be something I have designed to be integrated into the image as a whole.

Sally Madge - How Can I Tell What I Think Till I See What I Say - Customs House, South Shields

It was a week ago that I was stood in the Main Gallery at Customs House listening to Nick Kennedy talk about his latest work. 

It is hard to imagine that the current exhibition, How Can I Tell What I Think Till I See What I Say by Sally Madge was assembled in less than a week. Included in the exhibition was a process-driven wall drawing in which the artist covered the entire wall in charcoal, turning the wall from white to black. This was then washed with cleaning fluid so as to turn the wall an inconsistent light grey. During the installation of the other artworks in the gallery, Sally realised that the wall drawing was too dominant, and therefore decided to use white emulsion paint to cover part of wall. 

The press release reads:

"Not so much an exhibition of drawings, more an installation about drawing. Sally takes her inspiration from a child's picture of a house and asks questions concerning the nature and significance of drawing as activity and event. The installation might be interpreted partly as a personal archive but also a 'design for living', and aims for a playful yet serious approach to the subject.

The title for this exhibition is taken from Aspects of the Novel (1927), a treatise on writing by the English novelist EM Forster – Sally came across it when reading Marion Milner's 1950s classic study of the nature of creativity and the forces which prevent its expression, On Not Being Able To Paint. The quotation has been used as part of a discussion of Milner's ideas about the interplay of inner and outer reality in art and everyday life. 

Taking her inspiration from a child's drawing of a house, her aim is to weave a series of visual narratives through the space of the gallery, and so this is less an exhibition of her drawings or an exercise in drawing virtuosity than an installation about drawing. The intention is to explore the nature and potential of the medium, the way being able to do it or not being able to do it is indicative of received cultural norms and practices (as in "I can't draw a straight line", and the notion of 'genius'), as well as how the defining principles of drawing might be reformulated to fit a range of creative needs and aims.

So, the main gallery becomes the site for an experiment in 'interior design', and the walls are marked, papered and hung with a selection of artist-produced, found and collected drawings. A large, sculptural piece which takes centre stage engages with the child's drawing and references various art historical precedents. 'How To Draw' manuals spanning several decades are laid out for reference, and the small anteroom off the gallery operates as a more intimate and unformulated 'studio' space. The installation might thus be interpreted as part museum, part personal archive and part 'design for living'."

This exhibition is part of:

drawing?

Exploring the Creative process in Art, Culture and the Everyday

Launched from the end June 2015 to January 2016, drawing? an extensive region-wide programme of exhibitions, events and activities which aims to celebrate, explore and consider the role of drawing in art and design, science, technology and the everyday.

drawing? is curated by Esen Kaya (The Customs House) and Mike Collier (University of Sunderland) in partnership with mima (Teesside University), Newcastle University and Northumbria University. The project is a unique collaboration between some of the North East’s universities, galleries (both public and private), museums, archives, artist-led groups, artists and makers.

http://www.customshouse.co.uk/whats-on/Gallery/2071/how-can-i-tell-what-i-think-till-i-see-what-i-say#

Fiona Banner, WP WP WP at Longside Gallery, Yorkshire Sculpture Park

The title of the exhibition, WP WP WP derives the sound of helicopter blades in motion. In the current exhibition at Longside Gallery, Fiona Banner has suspended two sets of Chinook helicopter blades from the ceiling which rotate in opposite directions to each other and vary in speed. Although the top speed is not enough to produce real vibrations in the space, the presence of these structures moving is powerful and mesmerising. Despite the absence of the rest of the Chinook aircraft, one gets an impression of the weight and size of these flying machines. The elegance and precision with which they spin, carefully programmed to skim past each other without touching, can be likened to the wings of a beautiful creature such as a dragonfly, so it seems wrong that these blades are the force behind these potentially dangerous vehicles.

The grace with which the Chinook aircrafts can move is demonstrated in the film Chinook (2013) in which Banner documents the dance-like quality of Chinook flight at military air shows. Removed from their military function, the Chinook follows an acrobatic and beautiful routine intended to impress viewers and show off its agile possibilities. As the tannoy announces the end of the performance, the audience applaud and the Chinook dips its front and raises its back, its own way of taking a bow. This emphasises the notion of the Chinook as an entertainer.

The windows of the gallery space in which the Chinook blades are installed are covered in UV reductive vinyl which obscure the view out of the gallery onto the picturesque scenery of the Bretton Estate. At seemingly random points within the vinyl, small parts of the vinyl have been revealed to create shapes of 'full stops' in a variety of fonts. Only when peering through the full stops can one see the view properly. This rather subtle intervention focuses ones attention on Chinook, but also links in to Banner's ongoing preoccupation with language, and the title, Ha-ha,(2014) links to her interest in the way walls or other boundary markers are set in a ditch so as not to interrupt the landscape.

Wp Wp Wp (2014) is a wall drawing that establishes its own rhythm and flow through the repetition of this simple word.

Another video, Tete a Tete, (2014) documents two motorised windsocks interacting with each other, reminding me of the precision with which the Chinook blades relate to each other. Outside the gallery, a single motorised windsock moves in isolation; a lonely cry for companionship.

For more information please visit http://www.ysp.co.uk/exhibitions/fiona-banner-wp-wp-wp