Boy shows you his... Uncategorized: AACM Adamson Collection Trust Adolf Wolfli African Skies Aloise Corbaz Amelie Ravalec Art & Mind Artistic Heritage Ensemble Augustin Lesage David O Flynn Derk Reklaw diary drawings Earth Wind and Fire Edmund Monsiel Edvard Munch Francisco Goya frankiphone Hieronymus Bosch ICA John Maizels Josefe Marie Verna Kelan Phil Cohran and Legacy Mad Pride Mad Pride All-dayer Madge Gill Nick Blinko NTS Radio Outsider Art Fair Outsider Art Fair Paris 2019 Phil Cohran Raw Vision Magazine Sun Ra Arkestra Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head William Blake
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End of summer updates (exhibitions, film screenings, art fairs, radio shows…)
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It has been half a year or so since my last blog post.. Some updates as we transition into the climax of an unknown winter…
Manchester Mad Pride All-Dayer, Sunday September 8th
This subversive celebration is coming up very soon, at the end of this very week in fact. I was invited to partake and have contributed a couple of prints to the visual art exhibition, as well as my film Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head which will be screened in a programme of short films throughout the day. It is a rare showing of the film and no other showings are currently planned to take place. The event will showcase various artists spanning a vast spectrum of dynamic media for all your senses to glean. These are the co-ordinates:
Niamos, Chichester Road, Hulme, Manchester, M15 5EU
You can find further info here (where if you scroll down to a post from August 3rd, you can read my answers to a few questions that were put to me) or here.
Outsider Art Fair Paris 2019, Thursday 17th – Sunday 20th October
I’m proud to announce that some of my work will be on show again with the Galerie du Marche (Lausanne, Switzerland) at the seventh edition of the annual Outsider Art Fair in Paris this October. It has been surreal to be included among highly potent artists such as Aloise Corbaz, Edmund Monsiel, Adolf Wolfli and Madge Gill on what I have always considered to be one of, if not the, strongest stands at the fair.
The most recently completed diary drawing is on an A5 format (21 x 14.8cm). In some sort of unexplainable phenomena, it has resulted in several thousand more words than the previous diary of the same size, and contains more words than eight out of the ten A4 diary pages that exist, at almost 11,000 words in ‘bubble text’. Usually the word difference, especially in such close succession (months, not years), can be a few hundred more or less. This diary page will be on show at the fair. See here for further details.
Art & Mind film
I should mention the manifestation of this truly ambitious documentary film, Art & Mind, which attempts to chart evolving opinions, views and research regarding the convergence of mental health and visual art whilst considering a period of give or take 500 years. I was present at the premiere which took place at the ICA in April (where it will be shown as part of a double bill on Sunday September 8th again). There are dozens of further screenings scheduled globally, which you can find here along with the trailer and further information. The film is narrated by the unparalleled John Maizels, editor of Raw Vision Magazine, who was on the Q & A panel at the premiere alongside chair of the Adamson Collection Trust, David O Flynn and director of the film itself, Amelie Ravalec. From having viewed the film once, I recall my immediate response was a feeling of inundation. There were 350 or so images shown in the film (including one of mine), in a sort of suspended montage sequence. The film was divided into an array of sub-chapters, giving a short time to highlight each. It would not go amiss to re-edit this film and the extensive omitted footage, into a series of episodes, allowing more time for the information to flow. The sequence of images is beautiful and to see it on a big screen was fantastic. With such an amount to be tackled within the time frame of a feature film, and to summarise the centuries explored, naturally there is a lot left unsaid and, for example, failing to include non-Western art and non-Western interpretations of mental health assessment and behaviour, is significantly detrimental. I found the relentlessness of the on-going music under the interviewees words contributed to a somewhat suffocating viewing process, but paradoxically find the alignment of that to the subject, an interesting choice of formatting and that perhaps it in some way can work to the film’s advantage. Needless to say, I can’t wait to re-watch this film, probably several times. To see works by Bosch, Goya, Blake, and Munch contextualised with Lesage, Wolfli, Blinko, and an endless list of incredible artists, and practitioners active in various aspects of the field pondering on these works and how they were viewed in their time and since, is incredibly fascinating.
See’s To Exist Show, edition 179 – The Sphereology of Phil Cohran
I recently put a pre-recorded radio show together focussing on the extraordinary music of self-proclaimed ‘sphereologist’, Phil Cohran. A difficult task to fit what I can into two hours, especially after a very rich hour and twenty minute conversation recorded between myself and harpist Josefe Marie Verna (who’s majestic opening notes on White Nile, from the African Skies LP recorded in 1993 were my introduction to Phil Cohran’s music) , which I edited parts of into the show, as well as fragments of a phone conversation I had with Derf Reklaw who was involved in Phil Cohran’s Artistic Heritage Ensemble in the late 1960s. Cohran played in Sun Ra’s Arkestra for a couple of years as the 1950s turned into the 1960s, and is known for being co-founder of the legendary AACM. He invented the Frankiphone, a sort of electrified thumb piano, which was popularised by disciples of his who went on to form Earth, Wind and Fire. I get into details about all of that and much more. Most importantly, you can hear some of this great music in the show here.
My show is monthly and you can hear the next show in its usual format of me playing some of my records live and talking about them on September 22nd, 3-5pm (UK time) over at NTS Radio.
That’s All Folks!
I have some exciting news simmering and hope to report back soon. Meanwhile, back to your lives.
Take care,
Carlo.
Boy shows you his... Uncategorized: Carlo Keshishian David MacLagan Line Let Loose Raw Vision Magazine
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Raw Vision#86
Greetings, folks. Things have gotten significant in the last week so I’m bringing you the news. My favourite quarterly magazine, Raw Vision, has just published a 6 page feature article on my work, written by David Maclagan. One of my drawings was used to illustrate his book Line Let Loose: Scribbling, Doodling and Automatic Drawing almost a couple of years ago now. He also included the same image as part of a great article he wrote for Raw Vision #82. Raw Vision can be bought in its physical form as has been consistently the way since the late 1980s, or now you also have the option to purchase issues as digital (PDF) files.
You can get the current issue with the feature length article about me and my work here: Raw Vision #86, but let me fill you in on some details first.. The printed edition has beautiful professional quality/resolution images but there were two images that were imperative to include and due to a mix up they were replaced by an additional two spiral-based images, on top of already having two spiral-based images accompanying the article. In the version I proof-read, the correct images were present. The article refers to text-based drawings/paintings and diary drawings, but there are none now accompanying the article, and to confuse matters more the titles of the intended diary drawings (‘Diary, April 2011– November 2013′ and ‘Diary, October 2010– March 2011′) have remained in the description and accompany the spiral-based images. This has all been corrected on the digital version of the magazine and the diary drawing images are now included there, but the image compression used in order to keep the file size manageable compromises the quality of the image to a degree that you cannot quite see what the detail in the diary images depict due to pixelation. Ideally there should be a correction in the next physical issue with a page containing a paragraph explaining the diary images should have been included and rectifying the matter of the wrong titles/sizes attributed to the spiral-based images that were used to replace the diary-based images, along with the necessary high resolution images of the diaries so that those buying the physical magazine will understand what the article was addressing. I am not sure if they are considering doing this, I think I would if I was publishing a magazine and something like this happened, but then I don’t know what goes on and what limitations and challenges they have, so will have to wait and see.. I will provide the images here in any case, so if you buy the magazine you can reference the blog entry for the additional imagery that is necessary in achieving the full potential of harmonious realisation! Just click on these below, and then zoom in when they appear in the new window..
Right, that’s all for now folks! I’ll keep you posted on any more developments soon.. Peace out for now..
Carlo.
Boy shows you his... Boy talks Boy travels: abcd collection Carlo Keshishian Chomo Circus Terminal David MacLagan diary drawings Halle Saint Pierre La Maison Rouge Outside In Outsider Art Fair Outsider Art Fair Paris Raw Vision Raw Vision Magazine Stephanie Lucas Uncooked Culture
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What’s new and still old…
In this entry of my seemingly biannual blog I have little to say that isn’t said elsewhere but I have a couple of links to throw at you containing masses of information, should you be interested. Firstly, I’ll draw attention to the latest diary page completed a couple of months ago. Click on it to see it in more detail. It may take a moment to load. And click on it again to see it in more detail:
I’m currently working on the next diary drawing, which unlike previous diary drawings which have more of a stream of consciousness based approach in terms of structure, even though there are in depth and thorough explorations into ideas, topics and experiences, the new diary is a continuation of the one illustrated here, focussing on just one topic, an in depth analysis which I feel will most likely even carry through onto a third page.
In other news, I’ve recently gotten back from a trip to France. Mainly Paris. I was there for the Outsider Art Fair. Quite an indulgent affair. There was a lot going on in terms of exhibitions and I saw more art than I would usually see in at least half a year. I documented some of my experience of being there for the Outside In blog which you can read here: click here
Ah yes, also, a well rendered image of mine is used in the David Maclagan article Beyond the Doodle, printed in Raw Vision magazine issue #82. You can read an extract from the article here and/or buy the magazine which features the full article with the glorious accompanying images and rest of magazine full of fascinating art to ponder on, HERE.
Finally, something that I received a few days back, which terrified me (fittingly, for Halloween), was an eleven minute video interview that I did for Uncooked Culture TV. I’d almost forgotten about it and then it just appeared out of nowhere. I still don’t understand how it spans eleven minutes but it does. Should you be interested in viewing this, you can find it below and it may be an idea to view it full screen if you want to see more clearly. That’s all for now.
Until next time..
Carlo.
Uncategorized: Cathy Ward Christian Berst Christine Sefolosha David MacLagan Eugene von Burenchenhein Halle Saint Pierre John Maizels Julia Elmore Laurent Danchin Line Let Loose Ody Saban Outside In Outsider Art Fair Raphael Lonne Raw Vision Magazine The Running Horse Contemporary Art Space
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Whirlwinds and Portals
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‘Line Let Loose’ by David Maclagan
It has happened again. Things Have accumulated and I have not blogged them. I will try to keep it concise! Firstly, as I mentioned earlier in the year, a book called ‘Line Let Loose‘ featuring some of my creations on the cover and pages within, exists and is pretty exciting for me. It was meant to come out quite a few months back but there were some delays. As you can see in the photo below though, it actually exists now. I have this advance copy, and the rest should be out in November. I have finished reading it and while it is relentlessly on topic, exploring all sorts of angles, I like that and it certainly makes for an interesting account in regards to the history of scribbling, doodling, mediumistic/automatic-drawing, and examines crossovers and various aspects of these forms of expression. target=”_blank”>David Maclagan has written a fair bit over the decades, as well as being an artist in his own right, having given lectures and is also a retired art therapist. It’s an honour to have my drawing on the wraparound cover of this book!
Parisian Whirlwind
I’m in Beirut right now, counting the hours until the opening of my solo exhibition ‘Portals‘. More about that later. On my way to Beirut, I came through Paris and stayed there for four nights so that I could check out the first ever edition of the Outsider Art Fair to be hosted in Paris (after something like 20 years of it taking place in New York). I had a great time and while I don’t really ever speak to anyone during these things, or if I do it tends to be in somewhat of a subdued manner, but this time even just being myself and acting natural, there was a fluidity at times which was really pleasant. I met some interesting people and had an altogether different experience. There was still strange stuff in the air, sure, but that’s to be expected. But anyhow, I arrived on the Eurostar (£34 ticket!) at 6pm and then had just an hour to go drop off my luggage and find my way to a 2 hour conference on Art Brut from America.. It was a great way to start the trip, going head on into re-configuring my mindset to listening and trying to understand French. I got at least half of it. Having a French eduction until the age of 9 or so, my vocabulary is limited but I do ok. I spotted two people in the audience that my eye returned to a few times. One I was quite sure is Ody Saban, an artist I have admired for many years and have had a little correspondence with over the years. The other, I felt was Christine Sefolosha, though I’d only seen a couple of photos of her before and so couldn’t be sure, but she did glance over at me a couple of times, and we had also corresponded a little bit. I love Christine’s work also. Magical stuff. It felt funny to start the trip in the presence of two such ‘heroines’, neither of which I’d never met before. I chatted with Christine a bit and we took the train.. The following day was the opening of the fair, which interestingly took place at a hotel that had been hired in its entirety. Each guest room was used by a different gallery, with art works propped up in bathtubs and folders of drawings spread out on beds, stuff hung on the walls, etc.. Some of the gallerists even slept in the beds (at night)! I liked it in theory, but it wasn’t very practical at the opening with the narrow corridors etc.. Naturally some great works were on show. I was particularly pleased to see this small Raphael Lonne drawing kind of hidden at the bottom of a wall.. I showed John Maizels from Raw Vision magazine the advance copy of David Maclagan’s Line Let Loose that I had with me, and he agreed that it was beautifully printed and proceeded to show it to a few people in the surrounding area. I also showed it to Ody as she had an image in the book also, and of course hadn’t seen it yet. I went from there with my friend Julia Elmore to another gallery where a group exhibition was taking place, featuring works by Christine Sefolosha and it was an absolute joy to have Christine give us a tour of the show and to talk about her work. It meant a lot to me that Christine liked my work when I showed some of it to her. To get a genuine positive reaction from someone you look up to, there’s nothing quite like it. Both Christine and Ody were very friendly and supportive. I had a nice time chatting with Ody over a coffee the following day and then we went for some lunch with Laurent Danchin, which was very pleasant indeed. We spoke on various topics and it was a rather insightful experience. The following night my friend Anne-Cecile and I checked out the party at the Halle st.Pierre celebrating the Raw Vision exhibition which was spectacular (and will be on until next August I believe!), and then on my last night I went to the party at the Christian Berst gallery and caught up with artist Cathy Ward and Jennie from Outside In while the Eugene von Burenchenhein photography show was in effect. I’ve got to send a special shout out to Rebecca Hoffman for making this great trip possible! Here’s a photo of Ody Saban and I.. and one I took of her with Laurent Danchin..
Portals
My solo exhibition at The Running Horse in Beirut. I’ve been working on spiral-based paintings for this show since last year, and I’ve been painting spirals for long enough to forget when that all began. I’ve been jotting down a lot of reflections on how this show came to be, what making spirals means to me, various observations about the spiral in nature, life, ‘art’, and in history in general. So, I really don’t feel like writing more about it right now! I could copy my notes into here.. it might make for excruciating reading. I will spare you for now I think. So the show opens very soon, what I’ll do is, I’ll write a next post all about it then..
Cashew soon..
Carlo.