Thailand

Here are a few photos from my time in Thailand. I will add a few more as I put more on my computer but as my disc drive is on it's way out it might be quite a slow process! The sunset was from Koh Phangan and the other photos are from Bangkok, the cat was taken at the weekend market which is a must for clothes and vintage bits and pieces for cheap prices!

Revok

Revok is creating some excellent art at the moment, both on the streets and in galleries. I love his use of acidic bright colours and layering. His website is full of photos including those of his most recent show Perseverance.

Tracey Moberly

Whilst reading the Daily Mirror yesterday I came across a story about Tracey Moberly who has kept every text message she has ever received since 1999. Text messages are so disposable as a form or communication that there is something nice and old fashioned about actually recording them properly. I also like some of the other projects that Moberly has undertaken as like Michael Landy's Sydney project they encourage random acts of kindness.

Mad Liz

I saw this in Newport just before I left the UK.

Del Kathryn Barton

I have recently been in Sydney, a city which has a thriving arts scene. One of my favourite places to visit whilst there was the Sydney Art Gallery which houses a very clever changing set of collections. I particularly liked the modern art on the lower floor of the gallery and the work of Del Kathryn Barton really stood out to me. Her pieces are highly labour intensive and detailed and due to this they are wonderful to look at. I really liked the multi layered style in which she works.

Michael Landy

Michael Landy is an artist that has interested me for some time as he concentrates on possessions and the material worth of objects. In 2001 for example he gathered together literally every single thing that he owned and set up a production line to systematically destroy everything. This included photos, his passport and his car. Most recently Landy has collaborated with the city of Sydney in order to collect random acts of kindness. He is collecting stories of kindness between the 20th of July and 20th of August.

Update

Apologies for the long delay in posting to those who read the blog on a regular basis, not sure how many just stumble in from Miss Van! Just thought I would update to say that I am now in Sydney living in a place called Darlington which is right by a very cool suburb called Newtown. I think in the past Newtown was a bit run down (much like Stokes Croft in Bristol for example) but is now an area which reeks of redevelopment and promise. Australian people by nature are very friendly and curious and seemingly in Newtown this is even more so. Today for example I went with my new housemate to a free life drawing class in The Sando (Sandringham Hotel) it was packed to the rafters and some of the work produced was amazing so despite a man standing on my piece of paper and me accidentally spilling half my pint of cider on another unfortunate mans sketchpad I will be going again next week but this time with my own paper and drawing equipment so I don't have what appears to be a fully joined up 10 breasted woman! I will hopefully put some photos up soon too as the area I live in is very cool!