From Spring to summer has been a heavy time with work, at last I’m gaining a little breathing space to write some of it down before I take my annual trip to France in July.
Art Jazzed Up album
Art Jazzed Up
The album, CD and booklet has now been released!
On the 11th November 2013 the Art Jazzed Up exhibition was opened to the public along with a unique performance that combined live art and music. The audience sat facing 3 blank paper canvases while Mike DiRubbo (alto saxophone), Duncan Eagles (tenor/soprano saxophone), Bill Mudge (piano), Max Luthert (Bass) and Dave Storey (drums) were hidden behind the white screens. Between the audience and musicians I was drawing in spirit ink on the canvases. My black lines slowly seeped through to the audience’s side and the images started to magically appear.
As well as filming the event (WATCH HERE) the sound was also recorded by engineer Nick Pugh of Session Corner and we’ve produced an 8 page booklet with a CD that includes 6 tracks from these talented musicians from London and New York. The booklet includes all the artwork from the performance as well as written pieces about all the performers and myself.
You can buy the CD/Booklet on AMAZON or order from your local library.
Vortex Dome LA
Ping Pong Paranoia at MORPOS Los Angeles
My first film, ‘Ping Pong Paranoia’, from the simulated mental health ward residency at Kingston University and St George’s University London will be receiving its international premiere in Los Angeles, California later this month. It will be shown as part of MORPHOS Immersive Video Dome Art festival on the 27th June 2014. MORPHOS is a one night immersive video experience featuring the world premiere of new experimental immersive and interactive video art in the Vortex LA Dome.
This current crop of films use sound recordings taken from the simulated mental health ward itself as its inspiration. The first film features both the voice of role-player Lindsay Shepherd and a soundtrack by experimental improvisation trio Toy Rokit. The film, Ping Pong Paranoia, explores the ever increasing anxiety and feeling of claustrophobia felt by the paranoid patient ‘Sandra’ as she voices her concerns about being stuck on the ward.
Link here to the Morphos website and information.
Filmpoem poster
‘What’s real is home’ film at Filmpoem Festival Antwerp
I was delighted and surprised to learn that another film from the residency ‘What’s real is home’ is going to screened at the Filmpoem Festival, held this year in the Felix Archief in Antwerp in partnership with Felix Poetry Festival and in association with The Poetry Society. It will be screened on the 14th June as part of the Open Programme between 3-3.45pm.
The film was made in collaboration with poet Robin Vaughan-Williams who I met a few months ago when we worked together on the Jawspring exhibition together. Robin took the original transcription I made on the simulated mental ward to create a new literary work. You know me, I couldn’t resist a jazz inspired score and this time it was courtesy of Leo Appleyard and his quartet. They are just about to release their debut album, Pembroke Road, on the F-IRE label in September 2014.
FAB Fridge crowd 2014
FAB Fridge 2014 at Fringe Arts Bath
We had fantastic day out in Bath in May at the Fringe Arts Bath Festival. We placed 320 magnets on the streets for eager art collectors to pick up from 124 artists. It was a little bit wet but we didn’t let that dampen our enthusiasm.
See more pictures and read about the exhibition – LINK HERE
Album Art
Apart from our very own Art Jazzed Up, I have been busy with Max Luthert new release ‘Orbital’ (Whirlwind Recordings) and Leo Appleyard’s debut ‘Pembroke Road’ (F-IRE). I have just heard the first track from Partikel’s new album which has a string quartet at its heart, Sounds AMAZING! Lets hope the artwork lives up to the music, the pressure will be on.
Books
Thomas Yocum’s 148 page guide to the Lingala language of Kinshasa and the Democratic Republic of Congo is all finished. I drew 45 illustrations for it as well the cover design. In the near future we’ll be releasing at as a free resource through Tom’s Loba Lingala website.
Bernie Family Commission
Private Commissions
Now some of these are secret but I have just finished a picture for The Madden Family and I have another which I must keep under my hat. I am revisiting a conceptual eye portrait for the Harwood-Matthews clan and finally a portrait of Ben Starkie is waiting to be started.
Jazz Sheet Music
In the past month I have started working for Sheet music specialist at Kevin Bell Music on their Big Jazz Face website. The paintings of Jazz’s great and good will adorn their sheet music hopefully for years to come.
Art Of Jazz
Life on the circuit is varied and exciting at the moment and it’s not all jazz. London is such a rich melting pot of music styles and creative energies.
Last week I had the fortune of sketching B-Movie beauty Jane Badler at the Groucho Club. You never know what’s going to pop in your inbox from one week to the next.
ART OF JAZZ Website
Future
I would appreciate a quieter period to get a bit of creative energy back into these bones. I have an eye on a collaboration with improvisation trio Toy Rokit for some films and album later in the year, and am visiting the Isle of Wight for the first time to scout out an inspirational location.
and finally……
Twickenham Alive Film Festival – Special Mention
Special Mention at the Twickenham Film Festival 2014
The first ever film we made, The River has been awarded a Special Mention at the Twickenham Alive Film Festival this week. Now in its second year the Festival celebrates the ingenuity and originality that is bubbling up in the local area as well as internationally.
10 films were screened on the night with 3 major awards presented for Original Cinematography, Young Filmmaker and International Drama. There were a further 7 Special Mentions, of which we were the proud recipients of one.
The River is one long continuous drawing of the River Crane in Twickenham. The soundtrack is by Partikel (Eric Ford, Duncan Eagles and Max Luthert) and was inspired by the River Thames at Kingston where two of the trio used to live.
alban low 