Kelly Puissegur

In Kelly's world, the animals are hanging out with each other, proper chilled. They form relationships. They are living a western lifestyle. They are compassionate. They don't take life too seriously though!

Paper Making

A fantastic job advertised on the Northumbria university website triggered my skills gun to learning how to make paper. I thought, if I can learn how to do this then I could apply for this position of Senior Technician (Paper Making) at the uni. Yes, I was excited, I was focused. I could be a May Babcock! (She is an excellent papermaker from whose wordpress blog I learnt a lot about the paper making process!)

I began by using some of the scrap paper spewed out daily by the work printer where the people continue to keep pressing print until their work comes out, disregarding the fact that there is a queuing system. However the dye from the ink made for a very murky paper that I thought when I have more time, I will look into ways of making this look fantastic. I then moved on to scrap bits of corrugated card left over from packaging from our deliveries. This was fun, but again it wasn't pretty enough to wow the people at Northumbria. So then I focused on making pretty white paper by using the tiny scraps of copier and cartridge paper left over by the guillotine. This was better, the consistency of the mulch was fine and was much prettier. I layered in some selected pieces of newspaper and coloued tissue and I had lots of fun. I was very pleased with my results, now I was ready to apply for the beasty job! Yeah!
I decided now was a good time to read the spec, and realised that the list of essential skills, was a lot longer than simply being able to make pretty paper. I had to have...

'Excellent working knowledge and understanding of papermaking equipment including  Hollander and laboratory beaters, heavy duty press, and their maintenance'. 

Ok I am out of my depth now. Maybe next time! For now though, please have a peruse through the papers I made, then did give me a lot of joy! 

 

Sean Landers

Ah man, i love these! Visually like a Cy Twombly of text with the pallete choice sophistication of Luc Tuymans. Such a beautiful intricate execution of a font that would sit right in a David Shrigley satire. Someone buy me one please!

Julie Mehretu

First glance. An explosion, shrapnel, delicate. Then there are layers, organic versus manmade, visually working together with fierce power, their journeys parallel yet not necessarily in the same direction. Elements of control and order are evident within small geometric blocks of colour. These fantastic artworks evoke feelings of panic and amazement in equal measures, highlighting the speed in which our world is moving, how fast our cities develop architecturally, the speed in which we reshape our natural landscapes to accommodate our new infrastructures and communities. The paintings are wild and beautiful, as easy to get lost in as our very own concrete jungles.


See more here

Anna Pliss

I admire the artist who can have fun and infantilise their painting style. It takes a lot of guts to put it out there, where critics may love you, but the everyday spectator may grumble, complaining that their children could do better aged 3. Pliss combines this celebration of paint with the subject matter its self. Loud, active people, making the most of their voice, creating excitement and party time. I want to be in these paintings, I would feel tribalistic, hedonistic, colourful and vibrant, full of youth and fight. The text in the paintings are not precise and stylised, but fast and furious. The raw primary pallete of colour lends well to direct its energy to the viewer. A more complex array of colour may have diluted and disguised the powerful force behind the paintings acting as an oppressor. 

There is no escaping that the work is evocative of the Neo-Expressionist style that Basquiat was famous for. I feel blessed that there are contemporaries that can execute this style so well, long may it live!

Anna Pliss was born in Soviet Russia and is currently based in Moscow. She studied design and contemporary art in school and works as both an artist and an interior designer.

Jannick Deslauriers - Fragile sculptures

Ghost like sculptures. Beautiful and haunting. Helping us remember the fragility of everything in our world.

'Jack' by Breach- Amazing Video!

I am so in love with this music video. It totally weirded me out when I was watching it and yet I could not stop watching it. The guys in this video catapult between singing/speaking/miming the lyrics with the most deadpan of expressions harbouring intent, to full blown scary shit dancing. I love that sort of dancing, it is animalistic and euphoric. Their surroundings are safe and muted, but they are dancing hard whilst their hair suffers full inversion triggered by the beats. The tune it self is also very catchy, but I especially love the sound that I can only describe as a drunken cello. It dips in and out of the the chorus like it is groaning, struggling to keep up with the Jack fest. I am mesmerised by the whole experience and I have now watched it a few more times than I care to admit. COME ON LETS JACK! Watch Video Here