"I have of late,--wherefore I know not,--lost all my mirth, and indeed, it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory"
Hamlet
And a plague on both our houses-Lani and I are still sick, head colds having now relocated to the southern hemisphere of Chesterton, as we nestle like two bags of old washing around a barely adequate air heater.
A good a time as any to crack open my annual New Year double bill-'Withnail and I' and the 'The Man who fell to Earth' then.
Perhaps I should cover myself in deep heat and protest dramatically that 'My head is numb'
In fact, any number of eminently quotable soundbites from the former could sum up the years end.
"The greatest decade in the history of mankind is coming to an end and as Presuming Ed here has so consistently pointed out, we have failed to paint it black."
"Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day."
"Look at my tongue; it's wearing a yellow sock."
So-2010-what a year...fifteen shows-four featured.
Eighty six paintings-twenty of which are some of the best things I've ever done.
A veritable year in paint then.
And the best of it? Visiting England in the Spring, holding my grandchild for the first time. Standing by a waterfall in Yosemite and watching fireworks from a boat on the 4th July with my wife. Spending time with friends and meeting people who came to my shows.
Peering through the fog of Benedryl, I'd rather not recall the worst, but the Raw show, almost cutting off my hand with a hedge trimmer, the entire month of August and losing our beloved cat Pepper are particular low-lights.
Looking forward then-I'm a couple of weeks from putting my book 'Dead Ends' to bed.
And whilst I shalln't be doing anywhere near as many showings in the coming twelve months, my appearances shall be more prestigious.
Then there are the new works which I am beside myself with excitement about.
So Happy New Year to you all, and In the final words-this time from 'The Man who Fell to Earth'...
"I think perhaps Mr. Newton has had enough, don't you?"
May it be Bacchanalian and exquisite, stocking stuffed and lap landed,sequin filled and ribbon wrapped, doe eyed and mince pied, turkey stuffed and paper hat, mistletoed and irish cremed.
Every Happiness this Christmas to all.
Several years back, I hit upon the brilliant notion that I was going to do my own interpretation of Dickens classic-A Christmas Carol.
Of course, there have been a multitude of interpretation's over the years, perhaps to the point of obsolescence, but mine was a sort of mixture of Kafka meets Roald Dahl, in that it looked like a 1920's Expressionist horror movie told in rhyme. I also called mine X-mas Carol.
I must have sent it out to a hundred publishers without receiving a single response-it could have been because of its cultural ubiquity or that it was probably just crap, but whatever it was the unfinished manuscript sits collecting dust with all the other projects that have been ignored through the years.
Maybe one day I'll have the time to self publish it, or just put them out one year as Christmas cards or something, but it being the season, I thought now would be as good a time as any to post some images, along with a sample of the script here for all to see.
Happy Holidays.
"Beckoned-behold this winters tale,
and peer beneath deaths darkest veil,
to chronicle mans wretched plight,
through tribulations-one bitter night.
Unfolding upon bedlams tenements below,
from the thoroughfares to the festering row.
Amongst the specter of lugubrious throng,
the avaricious gentry, to the wretches song.
From the plying harlot, to the back street butcher,
and the shabby urchins, without a future.
Meander through these squalid streets,
and find a vestige more deplete,
than the cavern of the impoverished soul,
An empty hollow in a fathomless hole.
From Byzantium to the Moulin Rouge ,
there’s none so nefarious as Ebenezer Scrooge..."
Bob Cratchett 
Tiny Tim
Marley's Ghost
Ghost of Christmas PastAll Art and content copyright David Gough Art ©. No image can be reproduced in any form without express permission of the artist. All rights reserved. All art created by David Gough and is the property of the author and artist of its origination.
I finally got around to seeing 'Exit through the gift shop.' I've always felt like Banksy's work was a little too polished, a little too contrived as if it had been designed by some committee in a Canary Wharf agency boardroom.
Anyway, The film is supposedly a clever, clever, mockumentary that turns the tables, in that as opposed to being about Banksy, it is instead a biopic about the French filmmaker who follows our eponymous hero from guerrilla graffitist, to contemporary cult.
Except the documentary maker is nothing more than a hobbyist, and though I shalln't reveal the gag, (oh how I laughed) at the eleventh hour, the whole thing tries to cack-handedly make some high brow statement about the nature of contemporary art.
That Modern art is a con and any charlatan can make it-really? What a revelation.I had no idea.
It's a sort of Spinal Tap for artists if you like.
I didn't. I mean, even as parody, is there anything more depressing than seeing a rich collector ebulliently talk about adding a Banksy to their Picasso's and Klee's? Some would argue the point-that the joke is on the collector, that it's holding up some sort of distorted mirror, but I believe in fact that the joke is on the artist, because ultimately what you get isn't smart, just the equivalent of a dumbed-down Twitter sound byte, about the sorry state of it all.
I rather hope the ghastly street scene returns to where it belongs, defacing the gutters as opposed to any legacy future artists can hope to aspire to.
Crazy busy again, and so between commissions and online Xmas shopping, I managed to bust out this new Ghost piece today, for the fundraiser tomorrow.
It struck me I could call these works a kind of 'Goughic Darkitechture'.
Priced at a $100, all proceeds go towards the San Diego Art link, which is a splendid little organization with its sights on promoting the arts here. Details from the link.
Recently, I was sent a photo by a fan, of a tattoo they are having done, featuring the ubiquitous 'Fairies do it better'.
I'm always genuinely blown away when anyone considers my work worthy enough to have permanently engraved on there skin, but I'm genuinely humbled by the re imagining of this one-I know it couldn't have been easy-thank you dude.
Caught up with my Netlix list and saw Beautiful Losers the other day. Aaron Rose's post script to the artistic underground circling the Alleged Gallery of the 90's.
Much back slappery ensues throughout from all the usual suspects, indie darlings and Shepard Fairy-a veritable gloss then without any real center-a reality show for kiddy craft hipsters.
Little wonder the art scene is in the dire state it finds itself.
Someone who is a volte face to the current dirge, and a breath of fresh air at that, is my friend Christopher Ulrich.
I had the pleasure of showing with this young master a few years back,and predicted great things for him then.
Quite rightly he has gone on to become a fixture at the La Luz De Jesus, where he recently showcased his second series, the 'Illuminator'- the successor to his 'Demoneater's'.
Suffice to say that the gentleman's mastery of singular vision is astonishing in scale and detail, and had I not been sequestered through October on my own 'journey' as he calls it, I would have had my nose pressed at every one of his canvas's to unravel his secret.
Having barely stopped for breath, he is already deep in dark study, projecting the third in the series for an eventual showcase in 2012 at La Luz.
Anyone who is an artist knows that envisioning a show costs a huge amount money-materials, frames and hours in artistic contemplation-all an investment of faith from the artist towards bringing a vision to fruition. To that end, Chris is requesting a similar investment of faith from anyone who wants to donate a sum towards helping the realization of his next project, through Kickstarter.com.
http://kck.st/dJxx7i
This young man is the next big thing, and deserves to be,so,you know-support living artists.
