Post Christmas joy.

To pick up where I left off before Christmas, I've been continuing with the idea of distraction and using different processes and mediums to enable a form of mental escapism. I've slightly steered off course away from the pseudo automatic writing and dabbled lightly in the idea of using walking/running as a way of burning mental energy. I had a brief discussion with my tutor before the Christmas break on how I can bring this idea to fruition. We came to the conclusion that the work produced via this idea doesn't have to be literally represented by the action or during the real time of the activity. Hamish Fulton is an artist who has been described as a 'walking artist' although his hikes are more adventurous, walking across beautiful landscapes and mountains, more aesthetically stimulating then my shuffles to Tesco express.


I thought for a long time how I could manifest my manic scuttling into physical art and in the end I decided to cut pieces of paper and attach them to the soles of my shoes, in an attempt to record the walk. This idea wasn't great, I ended up with flapping pieces of lined paper dragging behind me clinging onto my heels for dear life. Also I discovered that although it did burn a small amount of stale and redundant thoughts, I am far too lazy to sustain the amount of walking required to absolve myself of erratic pondering.


My fresh approach to this concept was brought about by watching Edward scissorhands over the Christmas period. Edward, a man with scissors in place of hands. His scissor hands act as tools, he cuts hedges, peoples hair, creates ice sculptures. And then cuts some kids face. He expresses himself through the only way he can, he is reacting to something in which he has no control, his hands. So it snowballed a thought in my mind, I am able to pursue this idea I have because I do have limbs and the required tools needed to portray what I am trying to articulate. So I decided to create an Edward-esque type glove. Which as of now is a fuchsia pink glove with Biro pens taped to the fingers. As crude as it sounds this is partially about trying to challenge myself by obstructing myself. How do I continue with my thought process now that I have lost what allowed me to indulge in my own pity? Additionally it's another way for me to exude energy. I'm currently using it as a form of pen against paper, using a scratching motion to produce a series of marks. The paper is taking on the form of a cat scratching post in a way. 


It's a violent action, the scratching. Fighting with the paper, it's not far removed from my previous works with the holes in the books (which I still engage with). Although this idea is in it's infancy it's already providing problems...it's not as free as the other processes. I cannot take the glove with me everywhere nor can I take the abused paper. It needs much work!


As for the writing section of this idea, I'm still continuing with it but now it's isolated to one very small pad. In the past I have scattered these 'drawings' on all sorts of different papers and surfaces, mainly a4 size. I thought that if I scale down and restrict my irrational ramblings to a small square of paper that somehow it would cut down my over thinking to a normal and sustainable rate. I am yet to experience it's affect...

And finally my camera is currently out of order, I will toss up photographs of my progress as soon as its sorted. 

P.s. camera is in good working order so here are the images of the other abused notepads