Van Gogh's painting (one of my favourites) Starry Night (De Sterrennacht) has been compared to an astronomical photograph of a star named V838 Monocerotis, taken by the Hubble in 2004. I'm not sure which I prefer anymore <3

the glint of the thousand eyes (the sea that never love me)

And I see the glint of the thousand eyes
from the sea that never loved me.
And on those waves that washed that wreck
(From crusted creases to smoother silver)
I rode the beckoning waves.

(Up and down
Up and down
From here to there
and back again)

And I see the glint of a thousand eyes
from the sea that never loved me.
And on those waves that wash this wreck
(from aged soul to youthful vigour)
I stared back at a thousand eyes.

And I see the glint of a thousand years.
To the sea that couldn’t grant me,
fell the stars from the heavens to sea.
On the fallen stars; I wished one day
that the sea would ever love me.

by Jonny

Vertical light - Horizontal darkness

Top: Forgotten Angle - Ancient 200 x 100 cm - this one really spoke to me. It made me catch my breath with sadness. Unforgiving burnt oranges and deep blues.

Below: Invisible Filter - Illusion 112 x 284 cm - conversely, this lit up the room, as its impressive scale dominated one wall at the end of the gallery. It glowed and radiated freshness and joy.


The Falle Fine Art Gallery, Jersey recently hosted an exhibition of the British Post-war Abstract painter Paul John Kilshaw.

my opinion.
Following the celebration of perspective in traditional realism of the >16th century, Modernism rejected perspective and progressed to flatten images into basic compositions across two dimensions, for example in the work of Mondrian's De Stijl and Matisse's abstracts and collage. Gaining experience from the post-war anxiety and cultural liberation of American Abstract Expressionism and British Expressionists such as Bacon, British abstract painters began to regain a more painterly fashion in order to eradicate the restrictions of pretentiously clinical avant-garde of the early 20th century.

And now, as a new dawn of British Abstraction draws, perspective is making an unexpected return to our anarchist abstract. Seen in Kilshaw's work, the abstract curves of Picasso and Hepworth slide past one another like transparent filters - creating a new dimension that can be reached into. Explored. This is new abstract. Where Classicism and Modernism collide. Juxtaposing rigidity with weightlessness; expressive marks with solid objectivity. Nothing, and everything, makes sense. Every element of Kilshaw's work is informed, and refined. This is the true British Abstract of the Postmodern age.

Holga

Above: a colour exposure from a plastic camera
Below: a double exposure using a Holga plastic camera
images from nonphotography.com

I'm in love with these ghostly retro images created with Holga plastic cameras (so called due to each camera being made almost entirely from plastic, including the lenses).

These cheap, retro cameras allow accidental light leaks and vignetting (darkening around edges) which give the photos a unique finish. I am tempted to buy myself one of these gems and get snapping, but I am going to make a pinhole camera first out of an old Werthers Original tin, to make some pretty surreal photographs inspired by work of the Surrealist Claude Cahun, who lived and dies in Jersey.

by Jonny 'Dzonki'

Postmodernism has progressed by recessing into the history it came from, selectively. This meant that Postmodern dramatists could take the rationality of realist drama and combine it with the rejection of standards that the Absurdists embraced in order to customise a dramatic movement in which there was a new sense of freedom, liberation and acceptance.

Worldwide Environmental Exchange IV

Top: Africa and Europe - Day One of my time-based biodegradable sculpture
Below: Destroyed Africa after a night of storms :(

Worldwide Environmental Exhange III

A mock-up for my time-based biodegradable sculpture

Worldwide Environmental Exchange II

RECEIVED VIDEOS
Norcross, GA, United States
Baradero, Argentina
Łeba, Poland
Bangkok, Thailand

FILMED VIDEOS
London, England
Jersey, Channel Islands
New South Wales, Australia
São José do Rio Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
New York City, New York

POSSIBLE VIDEOS
Denmark
Edinburgh, Scotland
India
Canada
Philippines

Worldwide Environmental Exchange I

On Thursday 11th November 2010 I decided to contact people from all over the world and ask them to record a one minute video of their environment.

My plan was to then exchange these videos through the wonder of the internet so that each participating cinematographer would receive a video of a contrasting environment.

More than being about people seeing the videos, it was about each environment 'viewing' another - a concept of transportation, transposition, connection, social networking and technology.

I hope to achieve: clarity of contrast by direct aesthetic and aural juxtaposition

Chinese Buddhist Temple UPDATE PART 2

A warm summer had left my Chinese Buddhist Temple piece sagging, as it was very delicately made of paper.

So I decided to interfere so as to not let it crumble away unnoticed and insignificantly.

Utilising the properties of the paper, rather than defying them as before, I littered the delicate structure with violent and spontaneous illustrations. Words such as West, East, Slaves, Destroy and Tower Block defaced the icon of traditional Eastern culture, as the Union Flag was splashed on its surface and decorative gold was scrawled randomly across its pristine details.

Then the burning began.

I managed to capture a poignant shot of the word 'Buddhism' slowly burning away, as I played a discordant manipulation of Chinese music.

I'd like to give the word a cup of tea

In 19th Century Russia, tea was drank with a white sugar cube held between the teeth.

In Poland, tea is commonly served black with lemon.

Early writings about tea in China date back 5,000 years. Here, a black tea remains black - milk is not added unless to a particularly strong type of specialist tea.

In India, a pot of black tea is often brewed for up to 15 minutes, as apposed to the British average of 3 minutes.

In Australia, coffee surpasses the amount of sales of tea. Iced tea, green tea or fruit infused tea is preferred.

More than half the tea drank in Denmark is brewed from loose leaves, as apposed to the British tea bag.

In the United Kingdom: 120,000,000 cups of tea were drank yesterday.

Everybody has there own way of drinking tea; Worldwide.