pals pals pals

Hey pals. I'm posting new work all the time over the internet, check out my tumblr page (http://www.robhodgson.tumblr.com) for the most part. I thought I'd post up some newer stuff here too, so here we go-

  

Also I started a blog to post up some of the images I've collected over the years. Hopefully some folks will get something out of it. http://milkroute.tumblr.com

 

milk maketh the man

City (after Klee)

Boop

 

Card designs

Woodchopper

from a book I'm working on

francais

 

Hi folks.

This spring I've been in France. I went to Paris which was fantastique. I'd never been before. I stayed round the corner from Picasso's old studio in Montmartre.

There was this big Matisse exhibition at the Pompidou, which was amazing. His paintings are always smaller than I imagined, and the paper cuts were a lot bigger. There were a series of photos showing the progress of one painting over a year- what a worrier! I love Matisse, but the vibe of the exhibition was that of an old master, someone becoming antiquated. I'm excited for new pictures more than ever.

 

Then I travelled south and saw some real mind blowing stuff. Real out in the wop-wops France. I was in the Lot valley, which is the home of the truffle pig. My basic philosophy in life is that of the truffle pig, so I felt I was in good company.

It's where a lot of cavemen used to live. I saw some real cave paintings from 20 thousand years ago. There aren't many caves you can go and see anymore because they're trying to preserve the art. Across two walls were drawn in reds and blacks, mainly line, but some shapes, mammoths and horned animals layered on top of each other. Very spontaneous and vivid. Not stylised in any way, except in some drawings the contours of the cave depicted line and shape.

Also mind blowing was an 11 Century mural I saw in a church showing the 7 deadly sinners being led into the mouth of hell. I don't know how it's still there because it's just painted right there on the wall at head height. Really earthy palette. It was a beautiful thing, almost childlike, but the church was the ballast to keep it serious. Architecture has a lot to do with how you look at pictures.

Something else that really struck a chord with me were the textures of the buildings down there. I took a lot of photos of doors and wooden buildings. Lots of weathered materials. Really amazing colours.

Anyway, lots of fun was had. Ate a lot of nice food. Listened to a lot of Johnny Cash. Lots to do now. Moving house.

Stumps, mixed media on paper, 16"X20"

when the springtime comes again

When the springtime comes again, cut paper collage

Venturing down some new roads blog pals. When I'm back on track in the UK this summer I'm going to take some ceramic classes and see about furniture building too. My grandad was a furniture maker, and his dad built printing presses. I want to get a bit more hands on. 

I sometimes have nightmares about losing my hands. Once I had this nightmare about being on a gameshow where when I lost (naturally I did) they cut my hands off and all the audience were cheering. Then the gameshow packed up and all the cameras went and I was left in the studio.

I want to do more collaborations too, try some fabric printing. Generally branch out, it all feeds back into making pictures. I've also got the hankering to do some more studious drawing again too. See where it all goes. This is a cut paper collage.

the green man/newness of the new

the Green Man

The computer is an interesting print making machine, there are things it can and cannot do. What the computer is especially good for (apart from this) is sucking in shapes and lines and textures and letting you change the composition, scale and colour. Combine an a3 monoprint with a 1 inch painting, if you like. You could not do this 20 years ago, not even 10 really. Potential with processes I think is really inspiring. Here is a quote from John Lasseter, from Pixar,

the art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art

 Some recent things

Rumpel

I read Rumpelstiltskin a couple days ago and I've been thinking about it since. The imagery is so weird. I was really into the last scene where Rumpel rides off out of a window on a ladle! But then I remembered Hockney's etchings and found them all in a book. He already nailed it so hard! But these are a couple I did, there is Rumpelstiltskin and the gold thread he weaves.

Tin jug

Tin Jug, 2012, acrylic on paper, 204X107mm

Seek and Ye Shall Seek

 

 Hey all, here is a new pamphlet I have out. It's called Seek and Ye Shall Seek and features 21 line drawings (mostly new) from my sketchbooks. They are all drawings where the hand and the idea are working together. I included this Picasso quote in the intro,
 

“Matisse makes a drawing, then he makes a copy of it. He copies it five times, ten times, always clarifying the line. He’s convinced that the last, the most stripped down, is the best, the purest, the definitive one; and in fact, most of the time, it was the first. In drawing, nothing is better than the first attempt.”

Available for a short time over here before I go away.

infinity

List for 14/3/12

-sun
-numbers can be space
-infinite hotel
-skulls (real ones)
-obtain real skull from dartmoor
-wild swimming (back on yak)
-framing devices (curtains, perspective, stages, sets, boxes in boxes)
-slide paintings
-botanical part 2
-have exhibition in a greenhouse