Computer Love

Those of you who bought a copy of my book-D3ad/Ends last year, will know that I was very honored to have David Buckley write the introduction. Distinctions are rare enough for me, but when accolades such as Buckley's foreword come along, they far outweigh the complete disinterest I still endure from some quarters.

Which is one of the reasons I wanted to let you know that David has a new book out, about the electronic doyens of Krautrock - Kraftwerk. For those of us that wore out the grooves of Autobahn in our dingy bedrooms, It promises an extensive delve into the dark cybertronic heart of the band as well as a reminder of times when futurist avant garde pop was still being played on the radio.
It also boasts one of the most beautifully designed book covers ever.

You can get your copy on Amazon, from the link below:

Kraftwerk Publikation

Postcards from the Edge

Postcards for the show arrived today, and the shit suddenly felt real. Paint spattered in my studio headspace for eleven hour stretches, its easy to forget the endgame, which is no bad thing.

The City Beat interview that never was

I did an exclusive, comprehensive interview with San Diego City Beat some weeks ago for my book, with the view that it was scheduled for the following issue.

It never materialized.

Whither it ever finds it's way into print, is on the bewildering whims of that particular papers editorship and a continuing indication of the support (or lack there of) that I receive from the media here in my adopted home town.
Sad but true.

Here nether the less it is, in it's full unedited glory.

I must give credit to journo Michael Misselwitz for his great vainglorious attempts to get it in last/last/this/next weeks/years issues.


Upon moving from the UK to the US, why did you chose San Diego specifically?

I wish I could say it was arbitrary, except we moved here purely because it was my wife’s home-turf, and since she had roots here, we thought it would be easier to make that transition from anglophile to American. Of course the reverse proved to be true.
 
It says in your press release that you were effected by what you saw as “extreme fundamentalism” in the media. Can you tell me more about this? In your opinion, what is extreme fundamentalism and how is it affecting media?

Having gotten my news from the good old stoic BBC for most of my life, the shocking thing for me was to suddenly be confronted with news that was delivered as opinion. It wasn’t news relayed as factual, dry reportage-it felt filtered through some scary party rally cry, where the fires of nationalism are stoked through paranoia and the fears of McCarthyism. In some respects, I think a lot of if has a certain amount to do with recapitulating the news as a theater, a sort of aspiration to be the Peter Finch character in Network-”mad, and not going to take it anymore”, but certainly if you look at what’s happening with Murdoch and his crew, the sense is that there is an underlying corrupt agenda beneath the surface that goes beyond mere ratings.

What do you think compelled the San Diego Art Institute to label you their featured artist for 2010?
Firstly, I felt extremely honored when I was approached, although I must admit that when I was told that they felt my work had a certain youthful appeal, there was a small niggling doubt in the back of my mind that I might be recast as some ghastly Ed Hardy knock off. Of course, that’s not giving the faculty or the students enough credit, because as it turned out, the exhibit was received with a great deal of reverence, and in fact I was told that often the kids would come and sit in quiet contemplation through out the day, almost as if they were meditating in church, which I thought was a delicious irony.

When you transitioned the emphasis of your series from the themes of The Theothanatos to the themes of Dead/Ends, you shifted focus from themes of “human origin” to themes death, death’s aftermath, and post-apocalypse. Your book describes the transition as a natural evolution, part of art’s ever-changing intention.Tell me more about this. What inspired the 180 shift?
 
Particularly with this series, the questions seemed so intrinsically part of journey-both personally and conceptually-one question seemed the counterpoint of the other, so: “where do I come from?” would always segue into “how long have I got?”, and those questions became more emphatic, the more I considered loss and grieving-in this case three friends who had expired over a fifteen year period. Eventually one looks inward, and as I had just tured the cusp of 40, all the questions of my own mortality were brought to the fore.
In some ways the work was mercurial, the result of its own rational equation, although the emphasis for me was always more emotive than from a logical standpoint.

Did you abandon the work from The Theothanatos Series completely? If not, what elements were carried on into Dead/Ends, and why?
The series actually culminated in the Ghost pieces, once I’d painted “Is there life after death?” the question seemed to be about decay and legacy. Dead/Ends was the thread-tying them together, plus with the book in mind, there was the connotation that it sounded like dead friends. I suppose if there is one residual element to it, it’s that there was an arc because with an end there is always a beginning that follows, so were back to some framework of origin.

Do you truly believe that God is dead, as implied by the Theothanatos titling? Why or why not?
 
In less the Nietzschian view that implies-for me it was, do I believe in a God at all-an omnipotent figurehead-and sadly I would have to say no. Faced with that realization,the question for me became how does one mourn the passing of something that never existed? The series and the book then I suppose is a reconciliation, but also in doing so makes the assertion that one has an abiding need to supplant one God -or spiritual epicenter-for another.

How long have you been working on The Theothanatos Series and Dead/Ends?






The pieces themselves were produced over a three year period,the book was a year, although I like to think I’d been working towards this series my whole life.
 
If you had to title yourself professionally, what would your title be? How would you describe yourself as an artist?

Titles sound a little too groomed for the nine to five, I’m just a working man trying to survive by doing something I love.


Can you give me a list of your most popular past works?
That’s tough-I don’t know that one could ever label my work as populist, since popularity in any contemporary sense feels like the antithesis of what I do. People have a soft spot for “Incarceration”-I think that piece really speaks of the human condition. Before that, it was probably “Killing Time” (2006) or “Gods and Monsters” (2004). I don’t really know.

When is the exact date for the expected release of Dead/Ends

 Currently its available online from the link below as a limited signed edition until September 30th, after which it shall be available from October through Amazon and various specialist outlets. http://davidgoughart.com/Dead_Ends.html
Any news on the book tour? When will it begin? 

No venues confirmed as yet, but books will be available at the Momento Mori show at Oceanside Museum of Art, where I am showing Oct 15th. Just to say that there will be three or four appearances in the fall here and possibly in LA. I’ll be posting regular updates through my site.

What do you see yourself doing in future with your professional artwork?
Aspiration will be my undoing- the disappointment can be so crushing. I know the work i am doing right now has no agenda beyond the journey, which is utterly fulfilling and enough to me for now. Beyond that-its as unknowable as an afterlife.

Our Father-excerpt from Dead/Ends

Further to it's recent release, here is another exclusive excerpt from my book-of Dead/Ends:

My dad Joseph, was a demolition man. Liverpool was a dereliction of extinct tenements, waiting to be razed to a landfill.

Caked in the muck of a days toil, he would often return with some relic—a yellow paged book or a faded tin toy.
The empty buildings were embellished with a forgotten era -cornices or metal fireplaces, wooden doors or roof slates could be stripped and sold for extra subsidy.

That’s the way it was during the searing summer of 77, when my Dad had clamored through a window onto a two- story building to retrieve the slate. Except the slate wasn’t secure, and as it slipped from its battens, my father lost his footing, falling thirty feet to the pavement below.
His body was shattered, his back broken and he spent the next eight months in a hospital healing, forcing himself to walk again, though he never truly recovered.

My Dad was a demolished man.

Years later, he would recount that there had been no slideshow of life flashing before him, only the presence of mind to land on his feet.

People would thank God, and say it was a miracle my Dad survived.
At the time I wondered why any merciful God would set him on a path to fall in the first place. To my mind, my dads suffering made the almighty fallible, a brat petulantly toying with lives on a whim, all for the sake of being afforded some graciousness for abstaining his hand from an untimely end.

It wasn’t any God I wanted to revere.

Two fathers fell that day.


Dead/Ends is available to order from HERE

Upon a Midnight Dreary book review

Written by the delectable Dahlia Jane for her blog of all things macabre-Upon a midnight dreary-the first review of Dead/Ends is in, and its really rather wonderful.

You can read it in full from the following:

Dead Ends Review

Momentum Mori

Now that the book is out, and we are two weeks into the release, I can report with a resonant sigh of relief that sales of the first edition have been steady, and nobody has demanded their money back-yet.

Of course, I have to tip my hat to my regulars-you know who you are-from antipodean to anglophile-thanks for keeping the Dead alive.
So far reviews amongst my coterie have been positive, and having done a couple of interviews with local press this week, it seems to be gathering some momentum.

We'll see.

Momento Mori show at OMA is October 15th-both the "Valley" and "Legend" shall be exhibited, and I'll be on hand to sign books which shall also be available.

Meanwhile, work in the studio continues, even if it does feel sporadic for the moment, so between tickling "the wall" piece-today I began a new painting, which you can see taking shape in the studio shot below.

Dead/Ends-The Beginning of the End-art book by David Gough

DEAD/ENDS ART BOOK



Here it finally is-A project literally three years in the making-Dead/Ends...as it were.



The order page is up and running, and I'm making a special limited edition signed (soft) release available for just 30 days.



There after, the book will be available through Amazon, Indie Store finder etc, with full ISBN.



Those who would still like a signed copy after that date, can come and purchase one in person, as I shall be doing a short tour here in San Diego.

Whilst venues are still to be announced- suffice to say that I can confirm that one of the dates coincides with my Momento Mori showing at the Oceanside Museum of Art on October 15th.



Exciting times ahead.



Below is the full official press release:



Enjoy.



==============================================================================

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

1/8/2011

San Diego

DEAD/ENDS words and pictures by David Gough

In 2005 artist David Gough left his English roots to live and work in America.

Affected by what he saw as extreme fundamentalism in the media, he began a series entitled The Theothanatos Series, which would deal with broad questions of religious dogma and human origin.

However, as the series developed, he began to confront more existential questions of his own mortality, bringing to the forefront memories of personal loss, and an obsession with both the human skull and the number three.

Dead/Ends presents twenty-five works as well as the annotations and recollections that shaped the series.

A special limited signed edition is available for a thirty days online from the following link:

http://davidgoughart.com/Dead_Ends.html

In October, the Book shall be available on Amazon, followed by a short book tour in San Diego. Venues to be announced.

FOREWORD BY DAVID BUCKLEY

Author of Strange Fascination: David Bowie — the Definitive Story, No Mercy: the Authorised and Uncensored Biography of the Stranglers, R.E.M. Fiction: an Alternative Biography, David Buckley,reflects on parallels between the lyrics of David Bowie and Gough's Art, as well as growing up in their mutual home town of Liverpool.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Raised in Liverpool, England, David Gough has been working as a professional artist for over twenty years.A former commercial illustrator, now living in the U.S, his work has been collected and licensed worldwide, as well as being exhibited and collected both in prominent exhibitions in the U.K, as well as being a regular addition to shows on both the West and East coasts of the U.S. Recently he was honored with the distinction of featured artist of 2010 at the San Diego Art Institute, as well as being featured at gallery’s in LA and Monterrey.

In the coming months, his work shall be included at the Oceanside Museum of Art as part of the 'Momeneto Mori' show

###

Dead/Ends Announcement : David Buckley

For those who have been inquiring about my book-'Dead/Ends' which was originally scheduled for online release today, there has been a small delay of a month or so.

One of the reasons is because we are now going to be fortunate enough to have a contribution by none other than David Buckley, who shall be writing the foreword.

For the uninitiated, David is a tremendous writer and biographer, whose credits include 'R.E.M. - Fiction: an Alternative Biography', 'The Thrill Of It All: the Biography of Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music', 'No Mercy: the Authorised and Uncensored Biography of the Stranglers' and the wonderful 'Strange Fascination: David Bowie-the definitive story'-the latter being what I consider the uncontested authoritative work on the Thin White Duke. As if that isn't enough he is also a regular contributor to Mojo magazine as well as writing the official sleeve notes on major Bowie reissues such as 'Ziggy Stardust', 'Diamond Dogs' and 'Young Americans', and currently he is working on a bio "Electric Dreams- the Human League, Heaven 17 and the Sound Of The Steel City", scheduled around the time of the 30th anniversary of "Dare"

A full bibliography is available to read and purchase here:

David Buckley Amazon List

As well as sharing a mutual regard for all things Bowie related, we also both grew up in Liverpool in the Seventies and so this is very exciting and something we are hugely appreciative of.

More news about the official release date for Dead/Ends coming soon.

Dead / Ends by David Gough-a taster part two

Continuing with preparations for the forthcoming release of my book-Dead/Ends-here is another exclusive excerpt for you to read.
I shall also be making an announcement in the coming weeks with regards to a special contribution from an esteemed writer. More to follow soon.

FINDING / DOG

"When I was 16 I became all consumed with getting high-anything to elevate myself from the gray dirge of provinciality, anything to get me closer to knock, knocking on heavens door, and finding God in a ring of fire or the Garden of Earthly delights.

Sitting in a circle sparking a spliff did nothing for me, it had to be the total mindgasm of hallucinogenic submission.

I’d tried unsuccessfully with a girl I was fond of on my Art course, after we’d convinced ourselves some fungus in the adjoining field held promise. Unfortunately, it provoked nothing more than a puking session in the adjoining toilets.

Finally, at a party in some ghastly council house backwater, magic mushrooms were procured at which point without prompting, I chomped the little black headed veggies like candy, before swilling the gritty remnants from a cheap beer can.

An hour later, and I’m in the midst of a spastic freak out, convinced that the Cyprus trees across the road, are involved in a brutal fight to the death. I am consumed by mortal terror at the sight of this, & take flight, avoiding the valley chasms that are opening between gaps in the pavement, and marveling at my ability to traverse them.
Somehow, and it felt like days but could have been hours, I find my way home, and am met by the neighborhood mutt who stands between myself and my front door.

The little dogs head inflates like a balloon and I dwarf beneath its bulbous magnificence.

No ring of fire, no God, just a little sausage dog with a fifty foot head."

Dead / Ends by David Gough-a taster part one

All being well, my book-Dead/Ends shall be receiving it's premier release on April 30th, and so in the intervening weeks, I shall be posting exclusive excerpts from it. Please note that the following is as yet unedited and may differ slightly in it's final incarnation.

Death/Mask

"We moved three times when I was young.

The first time, was to a Victorian Terrace in Toxteth, Liverpool.

It had an outside toilet, a coal-bunker and rooms you could still refer to as a parlor and vestibule. Of course it was pretty dilapidated, and as more of the neighborhood tenants moved out, leaving the adjacent houses vacant, the rodents moved in.

My hysterical, irrational fear of rats began there.

I would have been five when upon investigating a tapping noise in the electric meter cupboard, a large brown rat fell as unceremoniously, as only a rat can, into my lap.
Its pink worm like tail twitched, as a bubble of spittle and blood formed on its greasy, gray lips, from the poison it had ingested.

In that moment I felt an epiphany, as all of my understanding of what it meant to die, seemed crystalline in the revulsion and horror I felt from that point, because in those black beaded eyes that rolled to yellow white, I realized that death had a face."

Dead / Ends book by David Gough

So here we have it-thirty two pages, filled with twenty five color plates and complimented by annotations and anecdotes, and self published on my own Darq Matter imprint-I am finally able to reveal the cover for my upcoming Dead/Ends book, along with the blurbage that accompanies it:

"In 2005 artist David Gough left his English roots to live and work in America. Affected by what he saw as extreme fundamentalism in the media, he began a body of works entitled the Theothanatos series which would deal with broad questions of religious dogma and human origin.

However as the series developed, he began to confront more existential questions of his own mortality, bringing to the fore memories of personal loss and an obsession with the human skull and the number three.

This volume collects together twenty five works as well as the annotations and recollections that shaped the series."

At this stage and if all goes according to plan, I am aiming for a full release April 30th, which will be available through my site as well as several online outlets, as well as a possible show to accompany it sometime in May. I'll also be publishing small excerpts in the run up to release here, so you know drill by now, stay tuned as there are more details to follow.