Transition-Pulling Back the Veil (2004) 12" x 16" Acrylic on Panel "Transition-pulling back the veil", explored the notion of transient fourth walls that exist in society,between this life and the next-that existence is merely a construct, a set piece of performance art.From the deaths head Harlequin calling the shots, to the fallen, battle scarred muse, the hybrid fish man who longs to return to the azure sea, to the boy staring between the torn curtain and his monochromatic life, it revealed an undercurrent sense of being immobilized in a no mans land filled with lies and artifice.It's still one of my favorite things I've ever done, and is a pivotal work, because I'd found my feet as well as a set of symbols and subtexts that would inform my work indefinitely from that point.
Fractured Vision: Art exhibition featuring the work of Simon Sherry& art work from Wirral Met College and Ashville Lodge At the gallery, Birkenhead Park, Wirral CH41 4HY Opening Tuesday 23rd November 2010- Tuesday 30th November to be opened by Mike McCartney, The Eye Fund Patron. ............................................................................................................................................................
As one might imagine, I am hugely proud and excited for her, and wish I could be there to see the works in person, because the pieces she is displaying are very strong.
The exhibit is in aid of the Eye Fund charity, so if you are part of my English contingent and happen to be on my old stomping ground, then please go and attend and support some great up and coming talent and a great cause.
"Artists to my mind are the real architects of change, and not the political legislators who implement change after the fact" William S Burroughs
The Poe piece I produced around Halloween was so well received, that between completing the sculpture and working on my book, I thought I'd continue the theme in a few spare hours this afternoon.
So Bill Burroughs-agent provocateur extraordinaire-the minds eye projecting a living corpse,dandy in the underworld, smacked up and shacked up in some seedy insectoid-alien infected apartment, writing virulent, insane prose and re assembling it in a wild turkey fever.
The myth of the man is all the more compelling in that he left the kind of exquisite indelible stain on literature that even the sterility of a shiny new Kindle could not erase. And then there is Naked Lunch- a murky descent into the grotesques of the mind and the psycho sexual horror of a homophobes, crab infested nightmare, more in keeping with a Surrealists manifesto than any Beat generations wanderlust.
Of course I went on to read Nova Express, Wild Boys, The Soft machine and all the others, but the mercurial oddness of that book has stayed with me, which is why Mr Mugwump is the subject of this latest portrait.
It's also notable in that he has always reminded me of my old friend-John Liddy.
My recent outing at Oceanside museum made the local press there.
Unfortunately I must apologize in advance,since the article features a photo of what must be my most unflattering mugging to date, so I'm posting a better angle where you can barely see my face to compensate.
Below are some of the highlights,but you can read the full write up Here:
"David Gough painted live in the second floor gallery. Gough said his images of medieval scenes, skulls and human figures are inspired by televised extremist idealism and fear bating. “I moved from Ireland to the U.S. and was confronted with Fox News’ terrifying revolutionism,” Gough said. “It’s unlike the BBC that televises rational news in a nonpersonal way.”
Gough said his work also reflects his thoughts about his own mortality after three of his close friends died within 15 years of each other. His work on the theme includes 24 paintings, including three that were on display. “I’ve been working towards this for 25 years trying to find the rationale of why I’m doing it,” Gough said. “You’re always revisiting what you did previously.”
Here are the full details for Friday-I'll be live painting on a new Steampunk themed piece, as well as showcasing some of my art .
A carnival of wonders awaits you at the next Art After Dark where industrial meets Victorian in a circus of oddities and artistic inventions. Oceanside Museum of Art will create an alternative world at Dr. Steampunk’s Art Extravaganzaon Friday, November 5, 2010 from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction where steam power and Victorian era Britain collide in fantastical inventions, ironic sculpture, and technological developments.
Enigma Fashions will present a Steampunk Fashion Show with the latest designs by Diana Drake. Kim Moody and Lisa Hutton will display site specific Steampunk inspired videos, and artist David Joseph Gough will be painting live.
Be the first to see the Steampunk Art Exhibition featuring new work by Greg Brotherton and other local artists. DJ's, Robin Roth & Danny Massure, will be spinning steampunk inspired tunes to fire up our engines. Get creative in the activity room where you can design your own Steampunk sculpture. Enjoy handcrafted beer from the Lost Abbey Brewing Company, specialty wines, and tasty hors d’oeuvres from The Fish Joint with specialty chef's Loren Waite and James Montejano!
Admission to Art After Dark is $25, or $20 for OMA members and includes admission to the exhibitions, Steampunk Fashion show, live music, art activities, video art and complimentary refreshments. Make your ticketless reservation by calling the museum at 760.435.3720, or pay admission at the door the night of the event. Oceanside Museum of Art welcomes guests 21+ to Art After Dark
Usually at this time of year, I am like the Crypt Keeper incarnate, thumbing through Vault of Horror back issues, or reliving my adolescence, ogling generous bosomed, lesbo-vamps from my Hammer DVD collections.This year, it's felt a bit stale if I'm honest.Lani has been busy conjuring a cornucopia of creepiness however, and so I've gotten off my act, and painted this yesterday.
Poe, of course is the master of mystery and macabre, the Raven alone would secure his permanence way beyond the footnotes of cultural obsolescence, except he also wrote amongst others, Pitt and the Pendulum, Murders in the Rue Morgue, Masque of the Red Death, the Black Cat and my personal favorite-The Tell Tale Heart.Perhaps syphilitic and loaded when he died, its hard not to caste him as the archetypal alcoholic scribe, sneering at the tragic barbs of life, and stumbling through muddy puddles in Maryland, but I daresay the reality is not as colorful.
It never is.
Here is Chuck Jones animated version of Tell Tale Heart, with the voice talents of James Mason-it's a fascinating, weird, little, piece, which has always had a huge influence on me-the art in cartoon certainly.
Spent most of the day at Borders for research, flicking through the arts and culture sections,either immersed in magazines or trying to convince myself I don't need another sketchbook.
I think I may have a serious problem in that regard, since I caved and bought myself a pocket sized Moleskine-they were on sale.
I have around a dozen sketchbooks on my studio shelf already, at various stages of completion, much to my wife's bemusement.
Its an odd quirk I have, the need to start a new one before I've completed the last, as if I were having some sort of external reboot on my creativity, or capping a certain point in time.
The research was for my book, which is coming along nicely. It features around twenty of my most recent works, complimented by biographical anecdotes and annotations, and all being well, I'll have it done in time for Christmas. I wish I could post the cover, because it's awesome, but I'm wanting to keep it under wraps until it's available. Writing biography is oddly disconcerting, a counterpoint to what I do with painting, using metaphor as camouflage-and I so don't want it to be down, more laden with irony, so I'm taking my cues from my dog eared stalwart-Salvador Dali, the unspeakable confessions of. I've read the book once a year, ever since discovering it when I was sixteen-it's eminently quotable, completely batty and salacious in the way every good biog should be, although my own shall probably have closer allusions to the parochial Alan Bennett. I'm also working on rearranging my studio to maximize the space, lugging the monster office table that was here when we inherited the property and removing the massive closet doors that never worked. I realize its the wrong month for a spring clean, but as you can tell, I'm feeling like a fresh start.
