Time is the whirlwind (part III: Short film, exhibition, publication)

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Is it sooner than you thought?

I’m following up my previous post with one containing actual things relating more to my output, considering the last entry reads more like a sort of travel log with a sprinkle of educational Jazz referencing.

 

New York, New York – Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head at the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival NY

The subheading for my previous newsletter/blog post was ‘New York, New York’. Initially that was because I was going to write about my trip to New York and showing my drawings at the Outsider Art Fair in January, and also mention that, to my bewilderment, my short film Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head has been selected to screen at the SR Socially Relevant Film Festival, also in New York, this March. There was plenty of New York in the previous post, so ‘New York, New York’ was still fitting, in my mind. But anyhow. For New York part II, should you be in the vicinity and interested, my short film (18 mins) will be showing with a couple of other short films as part of a programme considered under the theme ‘Freedom’. I only found out a couple of weeks ago and have since had to quickly put together a poster and a trailer..

note: click on images to enlarge

 

It will be an undeniably rare ‘opportunity’ to see this film in a real cinema, so if you can and are into it, please do, I wish I could! Having just come back from NYC, and needing to renew my passport right now, kind of puts the nail in the coffin for me. If you do go and have a further moment to spare, do let me know how it was?! Attendance, sound quality, etc.. photographic evidence would also be invaluable.

Now that it will be out in the world, perhaps I should demystify it somewhat. I have worked on this on and off for a few years physically.. The seed was planted in my mind about a decade and a half ago and very slowly grew from there, finding its form. A bit like my drawings, in a way. In fact, the name Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head comes from a ‘doodle’ I did in a sort of visual diary I was keeping in the mid to late ’90s. I mostly kept photographs and concert tickets in there, with associated stories written beside the documents. I also included terrible ‘poetry’ and some unconscious ‘doodling’. That’s where the title for this film was born. I had to rack my brain trying to recall it and thought for a long time that it was on some old schoolwork of mine but eventually found it in this book in January, 2018. In fact it reads ‘Tim Miller’ and not ‘Timmy’. I remembered it wrong for all those years. Not sure why I remembered it in the first place. I did start using it in a different context in the early 2000s and so it has lived on from there more so. Conveniently, there is a date at the top of the page, so I can see that it was drawn on Wednesday 1st of March, 1995. Just about 24 years ago by now. It was good to reconnect with the original drawing. I suppose at the time it was unconsciously referencing all the kids at my school, jacked up on Ritalin. Anyway, enough about me, where were YOU on Wednesday 1st of March, 1995?

 

I know none of that explains much about the contents of the film. I would prefer to leave all that a bit ambiguous at this point. This is the trailer though:

 

The screening takes place on Tuesday 19th of March at 5pm as detailed here. Various options available in regards to purchasing tickets but probably the best deal will be to get the early sales discount here. This is happening at one of the oldest continuously operated art cinemas in New York, Cinema Village. Well, I think that about covers it for now. I’ll be posting any updates on my Facebook artist page.

 

Fly Paws group exhibition in Lausanne, Switzerland

A couple of my small drawings are being shown in an exhibition with a title which translates as ‘Fly Paws’, referring to the insect rather than incorporating slang for ‘fly’ and ‘paws’, though I think the latter is more appealing. Both are amusing. In any case, this is currently on as of the 13th of February and will remain so until the 13th of April, 2019. The place to be is the Galerie du Marché and these are the coordinates.

 

Drawing/Writing/Drawing by David Maclagan

Recently, an academic journal found its way through my letter plate. The reason for this was that an article about the relationship between drawing and writing, written by David Maclagan, is included and my diary drawings get a mention in there, as well as a full page illustration. The article references a lot of artists and cross references various mark making disciplines, as practiced by artists and non-artists alike. If you’re a fiend for this kind of thing, there is a physical version (as was posted through my door) and an electronic version which I found here. The physical copy is pricey (as seems the way with these types of publications) but I can attest to the quality of my reproduced image. Maclagan’s article is interesting to consider and ponder on, and I would say an enjoyable read also. I haven’t gotten round to trying to read any of the other writings though but am curious..

 

25 years of Horse Hospital

I managed to get up to The Horse Hospital in its last days of exhibiting a show celebrating 25 years of its own existence, which is no small feat. I will forever be honoured to say that the first exhibition of my work was in a three person show at The Horse Hospital in 2008. I went along to see this current show thinking I’d be in there for twenty minutes or so but came out of there over an hour after entering. It was visually minimal in its presentation but the timeline of events they had printed out and plastered to the walls had me transfixed and I almost read the entire thing. If those walls could speak, eh? In my previous post I spoke of Joe Coleman‘s work and included some I’d photographed at the Outsider Art Fair in New York in January. One of the paintings contains a portrait dedication to visionary artist Norbert Kox who had passed away just weeks before. Both of these artists have shown at the Horse Hospital also. I forgot to mention in the previous post, that I first saw and learned of Norbert Kox’s work here, in an exhibition of his work and Cathy Ward‘s, whom I also hadn’t encountered before. Norb was present and did some speaking at a special event. I fondly recall his stories of escaping death when having to squeeze through suffocatingly tight passages in caves after water had risen and almost drowned him. He was there with his son. I think this was leading up to the exhibition I was in. So, at the celebratory exhibition, they projected images from all the shows they’d put on and I got to see my works on the walls, which by now feels like some time ago, partly due to seeing which works they were and how they were hung. That whole process of hanging large paintings, it’s been a while by now.. What really sealed the deal was a video compilation of footage from exhibitions that took place, on a screen with headphones for sound. There was a great video of Joe Coleman explaining the details in his paintings, in some detail, in the late ’90s. Fantastic. Such a special and unique place. Certainly singular.

video of Joe Coleman at his Horse Hospital exhibition, speaking about his work

 

Still image projection of my painting The Void II hung beside the door (when the gallery used to be upstairs) with painting The Void and a couple of smaller works in view on other wall behind. The Void II has been packed away for a while now. Would be good to get it out for some air soon..

 

Beginning of the Horse Hospital timeline

 

STUMP: Art From The Obsessive Mind exhibition from October 11th – November 1st (2008). Maurice Burns, Carlo Keshishian, Joe Wilson

 

The Horse Hospital timeline continues…

 

Flyers

 

That’s all for now folk dem. Most probably I won’t write another one of these for a while. Not much happens usually, I am mostly in a room drawing continuously and occasionally taking a break to put a radio show together. Hence my intense whirlwind-related trilogy of posts. The weather is likely to change for now.. Let the wind be my direction.. yadda yadda.. but give me a shout if you feel so inclined and in the meantime,

Peace,

C.

ps. For the sake of realtime chronology, I’m putting this here and not in the above section about Timmy Miller Has a Heavy Head. On my way to work today, to my bafflement, it appears I have been honed in on and retweeted on the topic of the Timmy Miller film by none other than co-creator of Troma EntertainmentThe Toxic Avenger, Class of Nuke’Em High and hundreds of other inventive comedic horror films that send a message (to paraphrase Marvel Comics creator, Stan Lee). That I very rarely use Twitter and barely understand how to use it, only begins to explain how confused I am by this strange occurrence! Shout out to the master of subversion Lloyd Kaufman!

Inside Out at Castlefield Gallery in Manchester, UK

‘Inside Out’ at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (UK) / 4th March – 24th April, 2016

As promised in the previous blog entry, I am expanding on the topic of a current exhibition which features some of my work. At the time of writing this, it has been open to the public for just under two weeks and will remain open for just over a further month. I highly recommend a visit after having attended the preview night. The space is impressive, and the combination of artists and works make for a rich experience which should have something to absorb you into and intrigue you. I think it is fair to say that there is enough potency in this show to captivate beyond the much too often case in my experience of entering gallery, perusing ’empty’ feeling ideas/art for a matter of a handful of minutes at most, and sometimes even forcing further attention in case time might do anything in me understanding/appreciating the work, but more often than not failing to accept there is any substance of real value. I am so tired of that, that I wanted to write that sloppy sentence as quickly as possible and move on.

I have to send a big shout out to co-curator of the show show, David Maclagan, for his support over the last few years and for bringing me into this show. The work on display was co-curated with the Castlefield Gallery and I saw some interesting work that I was unfamiliar with until that point. Darren Brian Adcock‘s interactive pieces had a wondrous and original way of engaging with me. I had the honour or being in this group show with an artist I have admired for over half my lifetime thus far, Nick Blinko. This strangely put some sort of perspective on things, for me. In fact, and I hadn’t thought of this until now, but Nick Blinko’s original drawing used for the insert of his band Rudimentary Penis first album ‘Death Church‘ from the early 1980s, being exhibited in this exhibition, is a result of some cosmic vibrations if ever there were any. A friend of mine in school made a compilation cassette for me, containing hardcore punk recordings from his record collection. It took him months to finally get round to finishing it and giving it to me. A song from ‘Death Church’ was on this tape, and I went to seek out the album after that. Purchasing it was my first exposure to Nick Blinko’s art, and right now you can see the original art for that album on show in an exhibition along with some of my work. I’m not quite sure what to make of it, but something happened there!

I was going to write more, but I think I’ll leave it at that! I hope you can make it along to see some interesting work that doesn’t often get an outing. Vibrations courtesy of: Darren Brian Adcock, Nick Blinko, Peter Darach, Andrea Joyce Heimer, Carlo Keshishian, Joel Lorand, David Maclagan, Richard Nie, Mehrdad Rashidi, Mit Senoj, Marlene Steyn, Jenna Kayleigh Wilkinson.

Below are some photos from the opening.

David Maclagan introducing the exhibition

David Maclagan introducing the exhibition

 

Manchester is awash with youth

Manchester is awash with youth

 

Man steps into my realm

Man steps into my realm

 

Crowd congregate with fascination and intrigue in regards to a stranger's diary

Crowd congregate with fascination and intrigue in regards to a stranger’s diary

Further attempts are made to decode my rantings

Further attempts are made to decode my rantings

 

Diary Drawing, Sept. 2015 – March 2016

Another diary drawing has reached its natural ending point. On this occasion, without filling the entire page. I’ve covered most of it though. There are a handful of reasons that I am aware of relating to why, one of which is how difficult I found using the pen that I chose. It was not very fluid and did not flow so well. This, in part, delayed the process by months. Anyhow, that’s the way it goes. It was not the sole reason, in any case.. Unfortunately, my scanner is not scanning the page straight, regardless of how straight the page is placed into the scanner, so I hope this temporary scan should do for now.. I guess you won’t notice too much either way though..

diary-sept-2015-to-Mar-2016_temporary_scan

Lastly, I must mention I have been on some inspiring adventures lately. In contrast to the behemoths I normally post as blogs, and rather sparsely, I hope to submit somewhat more frequent and digestible posts, in which I’d like to focus on these adventures, for example. Until then,

Peace

Carlo

Raw Vision#86 

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..

Diary, April 2011 – November 2013, ink on card, 11.7 x 8.3 ins., 29.7 x 21 cm

Diary, April 2011 – November 2013, ink on card, 11.7 x 8.3 ins., 29.7 x 21 cm

Diary, October 2010 – March 2011, ink on card, 11.7 x 8.3 ins., 29.7 x 21 cm

Diary, October 2010 – March 2011, ink on card, 11.7 x 8.3 ins., 29.7 x 21 cm

Right, that’s all for now folks! I’ll keep you posted on any more developments soon.. Peace out for now..

Carlo.

 

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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:

11/3/14 - 26/8/14

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.

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!

Carlo with Line Let Loose

 

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..

 

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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.

 

Entering the Spiral 5th World…

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2013..

So, it appears this is my first post of 2013?! Where does the time go?!! Well, I guess all the 12 hour days of painting I’ve been doing is where. It’s not too out of control though, or ‘too in control’ should I say. I don’t need to put reminders in my phone about eating and showering, at least.. anyhow, art. Yes.. I am normally backed up 2-3 years as it takes time to execute projects and when I have an idea I want to do, I am uncompromisingly stubborn about doing it, regardless of when it will be, and I do things in order, so if I have an idea and it takes 3 years to reach an available time, that’s when I start. One such project is my next solo exhibition which is set for the end of this year. I’ve been wanting to do it for almost 5 years I think. It is focussed on a series of spiral-based works. Incidentally, this mix up about the end of the world/December 2012/the supposed Mayan prophecies that were actually a misconstrued version of Sumerian ideologies, brought to light something that the Mayans do have in one of their calendars, and that is the Spiral 5th World, what we are entering in 2013. I’ve been drawing spirals since I was an early teen or further back than that. That this Spiral 5th World is meant to be this year and it coincides with my solo exhibition of spiral based works is at the very least amusing to me, or maybe there is something to it, who knows!? Anyhow, as I’ve not written in this news blog for some time, I should address a few current on-goings…

My Website, Updated!

Thanks to sleepless Noel putting the time in (I owe him some fine dining), my website now contains a few additional images for you to peruse, so please go and zoom your hearts out! Also, the bio has been brought up to date. www.carlokeshishian.com

DRAWING NOW PARIS at the Carrousel du Louvre

From 11th-14th of April (next week!), the Drawing Now Paris art fair will take place, and I’ve got something showing with The Running Horse Contemporary Arts Space. Very happy to be shown alongside the wonderful work of Emi Miyashita.  I’m very excited about this as I love Paris, and I love that there is a whole art fair dedicated to drawings with galleries from around the world showing. There’s a couple of other galleries/organisations showing that I admire a lot also, so looking forward to seeing their stands especially too.. The Parisian gallery Christian Berst, and the Creative Growth group from California are of note. I don’t believe in coincidence but for lack of a better word, one is occurring in the form of the Hey! Part 2 exhibition at the Halle Saint Pierre‘s coinciding with my being in Paris due to being shown in an art fair. I was there for the Hey! exhibition in late 2011 and absolutely loved the show and the gallery/museum, and somehow the stars have aligned or something.. looking forward!

Books

Yes, people still read these things, and people still publish them. I am in a couple that are both available to buy! Well, one is out and the other is available for pre-order.. hmmm.. Maybe I will give them both individual attention, look:

Eight Arms of Inspiration: The Octopus Art Project

This is a big hardback book by Jinxi Caddel with the works of over 440 artists paying hommage to that cephalopod I am especially fond of, the octopus. Naturally, I have an image in there. Page 147, I believe. There’s a section for tattoos, a section for fine art, digital art, jewellery, any art form you can think of. Unfortunately it is difficult to get this book outside of the U.S.A. so I’m gonna have to wait a while before getting my hands on one, but if you can’t live without it or live in the USA, you can order it here or here. Here’s a photo of the book, and a short video:

Eight Arms of Inspiration

 

 

Line Let Loose: Scribbling, Doodling and Automatic Drawing

I’m super excited about this book. I’d read David MacLagan’s Outsider Art: From the Margins to the Marketplace  book a few years back, and so to be contacted by him asking if he could include a couple of images of mine in his new book was a pleasant surprise considering I’d never met him or anything. Eventually, it also came to be that one of my images is being used for the cover of the book as can be seen in the image below. This one isn’t quite out yet but can be pre-ordered from here or here or here or various other book stockists that your search engine will lead you to, if you are in other parts of the world etc… below the image of the book, I’ve put a lengthy video of Mr.MacLagan speaking with James Brett of target=”_blank”>The Museum of Everything and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, on the topic of Outsider Art at the ICA in London.

Line Let Loose

 

Circus Terminal in Amsterdam

Well, that’s enough for you to chew on for now.. Next update will most likely be about the Circus Terminal exhibition that will take place in Amsterdam in July. I’ll be showing with them, and hopefully taking part in some live art action. It should be a lot of fun, so if you are in Amsterdam, please come and join! More details to follow..

Take care,

Carlo

 
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