Tag Archives: New

Centre Apple Tree

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Centre Apple Tree

Another New Studio

I just completed the Contemporary Art Academy PG1 course with a session where the participants delivered an ‘elevator pitch’ summing up our practice using the insight gained from the course. This is obviously really difficult because it is hard to articulate in the first place and remains hard in the final analysis.

I said something like “My name is Ian Latham and I build mixed reality installations. These involve physical sculptures alongside virtual environments (worlds). I use found and reclaimed materials, branches, scaffold planks, insulation foam etc., to build objects and structures based on my suburban garden. The virtual worlds that work alongside these explore the process of creation using LiDAR scans of the sculptures at various stages of their creation. The juxtaposition of these objects with representations of the garden IRL suggest the process of growth that I’m exploring.”

There were lots of hhms and aahs along the way, a few digressions and an element of self deprecation that was described to me as apologetic. All in all it was a great experience, it’s good to meet a group of peers and discuss the work rather than the life of being an artist.

I made this video for the presentation but in the end didn’t use it as we were trying to present ourselves as if we encountered someone while networking.

 

Centre Apple Tree

Red Garden Six

Since the last post I finished Red Garden Six with the addition of the red tree in the foreground.

Centre Apple Tree

Red Garden Seven 07 06 2024

Red Garden Seven 10 06 2024

I also took Red Garden Seven through two more stages. I’m not entirely convinced by either of them but I am persuaded there is nothing more I can do with either.

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple 17 06 2024

I continued to work on the “Three Trees version Two” but it morphed into the “Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple” that will sit at the entrance to the virtual exhibition, and the physical one come to that.

Centre Apple Tree

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple

The exhibition will have “Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple” at or just past the entrance, a new piece “Centre Apple Tree” in the centre of the quincunx and the first version of “Three Red Trees” at the top left and the “Dancing Partners” at top right. The various drawings may be displayed alongside although part of me thinks they’ll be separate.

Two Red Trees – Pear and Apple – Detail

Centre Apple Tree

Centre Apple Tree

Centre Apple Tree

I spent the back end of the month building the new “Centre Apple Tree”

And drawing it.

We had an unusual spell of good weather, for June, as well so I did some drawing in the garden.

Climbing rose 21 06 2024

Garden 26 06 2024

Hydrangea 26 06 2024

 

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The June drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day – June 24
    Draw Every Day - June 24 Continuing to draw every day, in book 17 using brush pens and a ...
    See photo »

…and the May images here

Draw Every Day - May 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished the 16th sketchbook on the 26th May,  after drawing with a set of watercolour pencils since the 12th April. The 16th sketchbook covered the fourth anniversary of daily drawing, on the 6th, and ends with the 1,481st consecutive drawing. Started book 17 using brush pens and a mixture of black, grey, sepia and sanguine ink. The drawings are made any time from 9:00 am at the breakfast table and occasionally later in the day if I'm away from home. The drawings have been posted since the beginning, 6th May 2020, on instagram https://www.instagram.com/latham_1959 You can see previous months through the galleries page https://www.ian-latham.com/blog/galleries or you can go straight to April's drawings here -
  • Draw Every Day – April 24
    Draw Every Day – April 24
    Draw Every Day - April 24 Continuing to draw every day, finished the 15th sketchbook on the ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

Tripod Tree

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Tripod Tree

Another New Studio

The whole month has been a bit of a let down for me as it has been broken up by time away and illness. I read an interview with Nicola Tyson  who talks of a practice defined through drawing and escaping the line. There is definitely something in the fact that Tyson was born in 1960 so she had the same kind of art education as I did. The desire to draw was instilled in people of this generation and it’s difficult not to start there. It also often becomes an entirely separate discipline to the painting or sculpture.

Tripod Tree

Dancing Partner 29 04 24

At the start of the month I solidified the ‘dancing partner’ structure by adding paper to the sides to turn it into a tall tent.

Tripod Tree

Dancing Partner 29 04 24

Dancing Partners 01 05 24

After this I painted it to lean against the original ‘dancing tree’. I’m not sure whether I’m going to match the surface finish yet.

Red Garden Six

I added the dancing tree to ‘red garden six’ but decided that it didn’t fit the space as well as I’d like. It seems too deliberate. Possibly not big enough.

Red Garden Six

On the 16th May, after a week away, I started to change the drawing.

Red Garden Six

Red Garden Six 16 05 24

Eventually simplifying the structures and darkening the trees.

Red Garden Seven

I also started a new drawing, ‘red garden seven’ using the paper I prepared with gesso.

Tripod Tree 22 05 24

After another few days off because I was ill I started to use the insulation foam c-view have given me to build another large tree sculpture. Tripod Tree.

 

April Showers

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April Showers

Another New Studio

On the 1st April I happened upon this review in the Guardian  Yhonnie Scarce is an indigenous artist who uses glass to explore the lingering effects of the nuclear weapons testing in Woomera in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I suspect I’ll never get to see it for real but it appears to be very striking, possessing that power that comes from ownership and quiet repetition.

It struck me enough to record it here and I find it challenging because it directly addresses a history that is generally unrecorded and, like so much of our history, speaks ill of us. I’ve obviously never had anything that motivates me as strongly and I’m once again at a bit of a loss. To address this I decided to do the 30works30days project on Artquest to see if it kickstarts anything.

This is ‘What brings you Joy’. Day 3 of the 30works30days project on Artquest. Daffodils, paper, cardboard, found wood, cable ties, 150cm tall

April Showers

The works I’m doing are all linked to video and 3d work and I’m collecting them together here

I decided to make ‘Tree Flower’ the same pattern as ‘Dancing Tree’ and to paint the flower red.

 

The drawing in the background of that sculpture, made by collaging the paper I used on the floor when painting it, has become the basis of ‘Red Garden 5’

This one is the biggest yet and I’m trying to get some of the same dynamic as the VR world into it. I’ve spent a lot of time working on the VR this month, using google maps and google earth as the base of the 3d world and building into it.

The bottom of the garden, lidar scanned with my iPhone and Polycam

As I progressed I took the yellow down to push the space back into the picture and then looked at adding more detail into the tree. The whole needed a lot more depth to the colours as well.

The image below shows an idea of the detail in the tree on 27th March.

The centre apple tree from the garden shows the view the drawing represents, this is from the VR ‘red’ world.

After fannying with the materials for the google model in Blender, and dodging the april showers, I bought some daffodils to give myself a break and started a new drawing.

The first drawing was done on the 2nd April and the second shows how it appeared on the 4th.

I also did some more work on the ‘Red Garden 5’ drawing which I think needs something else in the centre foreground.

I read this thoughtful Guardian article about ai in art. It centres on Pierre Huyghe’s  exhibition in Venice, asking a series of questions about the use of artificial intelligence in art making. It’s an interesting conundrum but the genie is out of the bottle now.

Drawing

I’ve continued to draw every day;

The March drawings can be seen here

  • Draw Every Day – March 24
    Draw Every Day – March 24
    Draw Every Day - March 24 Continuing to draw every day, in the 15th sketchbook since the ...
    See photo »

…and the February images here

  • Draw Every Day – February 24
    Draw Every Day – February 24
    Draw Every Day - February 24 Continuing to draw every day, in the 15th sketchbook since the ...
    See photo »

There is a link to the previous month’s Gallery on each page.

The drawings are posted to Threads and Instagram each day.

April Showers