Artist's talk at Reading station saturday feb 24th

I'll begin this by mentionning the talk at reading station next saturday in one of the waiting rooms. Drinks afterwards as per normal for an opening. Be warned there will be no art, or maybe just a bit here and there. Performance anyone? It starts at 2 o'clock and should be signed for wandering souls.
I read recently about the death of Emmett Williams the american poet and fluxus editor extraordinaire of Something Else Press. The man has published and helped publish many great books and will be remembered for it, at least by me.
Last friday was spent running around like a headless frenchman (something on the guillotine at a later date) with my daughter in tow. First to meet Erica the organiser and curator of this transient project to catch up on things and talk for a while. When you have things to say, half an hour is not enough, even less when constantly interrupted by an attention grabing four and a half years old human being. Then it was on to being interviewed by William English on his Resonnce FM show, his slot is Friday afternoon so that was live from Paddington. I haven't heard it yet but I believe it is archived. The show is called Wavelength, tune in to Resonance on 104.4 fm or visit www.resonance.com
This radio station is the best aural experience you'll ever have on the FM. Other worldly and truly fantastic.
Then it was on to the opening of a group show in which I have some works. The show is called Salon, it s on Old Bethnal Green road, london E2 at the 1000000mph. project space (read a million miles per hour). Art, Fashion, say no more except it is of course worth a visit.

Nadja

I was reading Andre Breton s novel Nadja on the train today. It is a vaguely autobiographical account of his encounter with a beautiful and fascinating stranger who has in effect lost her mind. The descriptions of their wandering around in 1920 s Paris is quite vivid. Interested that he was in all things circumstancial and the nature of reality as a lived-in dream Breton finds his match in this woman who seem to have develloped an extra sensory capacity for dealing with a world that does not make sense any more. Surrealism was originaly concerned with the transformation of everyday reality (the revolution) through the encovering of the veneer that calls itself normal reality. The novel was considered scandalous at the time, mainly for the intimation that he had had a relationship with a mad woman for the sake of her madness or something along those lines.
One can think of the distance travelled since then by considering how surrealism has merely turned into an advertising technique in visual puns.
Today I recorded the sound of Paddington and the beautiful snowy landscape outside. Hopefully the images will load up on the blog otherwise I will have to go onto plan B for the images and sound to be accessible.

Second Hand Bookshops in Reading.

I have a book habit, this is first my confession for the day. Upon arriving at reading I couldn t help but seek the second hand bookshops in town. As far as I could gather there seem to be only three, two of which are charity shops specialising in books. The Oxfam bookshop had a good selection of fiction. The art section was pretty thin and somewhat overpriced. I found a French comic book that I use to really like as a child, its called Idée Noire or Dark Thoughts by Franquin and relates some dark fantasies of a twisted mind. The cartoon I included speaks for itself. Another bookshop is the British Heart Foundation that didn’t seem to have any art, when I asked for the art shelve someone lead me to the back of the shop where voluntary staff was clearly struggling to manage with the mountain of books that were arriving at the shop and accumulating at the back. The second confession for the day would be to say what book I got there but I will leave that sensitive information for later.
Patrick the French book is for you.
Sally I am sorry I missed the 10.54 from Reading yesterday I was engrossed in an intense browsing session in reading bookshop. Let s make it same time next week or send me a mail to let me know when you re travelling.