Prime Objective Blog

Giuseppe Penone Documentary

2009-07-11T14:35:00+00:00

A few weeks ago I finished making a short video documentary on the works of Italian artist Giuseppe Penone for the Ikon Gallery. The Ikon are currently holding a major exhibition of his work which runs until 19th July.

Penone is an incredibly important and influential artist, his work linked to nature and how we interact with our environment, it raises many questions and often challenges conventional notions of art.

I recommend giving the documentary a watch and taking a trip to the Ikon before the show closes on 19th July.

Bewildered Bristol…

2009-07-08T09:59:00+00:00

I’ve been part of The Joyful Bewilderment exhibition since it started touring last October, with its first opening at Rough Trade in London.

The show consisting of illustration and photography from over 100 international artists has since graced the walls of Analogue in Edinburgh and opened for it’s third time last night at Here Gallery in Bristol.

The current show runs at Here till 8th August - so if your down in Bristol please give it a look and see if you can spot my Mardi Gras Elephant image in the show…

Art of Ideas 2 - Visual Exhibition

2009-07-01T11:09:00+00:00

Art of Ideas 2, an array of art events and debates in the city of Birmingham launches tonight with an exhibition of works curated by Stephen Snoddy, director The New Art Gallery Walsall and Curator of British Art.

Seventeen artists are exhibiting in a display which includes fine art painting, sculpture, photography and contemporary craft and I’m one of them!

Stephen chose works from the Visual Collection and picked out my Last Flight From Brighton and Franz Joseph Glacier images as they tied in with his chosen theme of nature.

Rockness Recovery…

2009-06-21T11:30:00+00:00

Last weekend I was working up in the highlands of Scotland, documenting Scottish ravers partying hard at the Rockness music festival, overlooking Loch Ness!

I was stationed at the SoCo Social tent which was rammed with wild audiences the entire weekend! A week later and I have just about recovered from the Rockness!

Below are a couple of my favourite moments from the festival…

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band as they walked through the tent onto the stage… Proper New Orleans style…

Dub Pistols font man Barry Ashworth amping up the crowd!

Followed by a bit of crowd surfing…

The crowd loving their glow sticks!

Took way more shots which I’m sure will be going up on the SoCo Social site over the next few days…

Beautiful Disasters

2009-06-08T23:02:00+00:00

The Photographers Gallery have put together another online public web gallery under the theme Beautiful Disasters! Where photographic blunders lend themselves to the outsider aesthetic!

Half of the shots I take using Holga cameras are covered in light leaks and this is what gives them their beautiful random quality which makes them so unique.

I decided to submit the Holga shot below..

What do you know it already has a four star rating!

Flak Photo

2009-06-01T08:02:00+00:00

I recently stumbled upon Flak Photo, an online photography blogzine… It’s beyond inspiring! Put together by Flak Magazine and Andy Adams...

Polaroid 665 Film! First Scans!

2009-05-28T18:08:00+00:00

A few weeks back I bought a batch of the rare Polaroid 665 film…

My early attempts with this positive / negative Polaroid film are now live on the site. The portrait of Log Roper below is probably my favourite out of the first outing with the film…

Vote for Prefab in JPG!

2009-05-26T00:20:00+00:00

That’s right folks! Your votes really do count and I need them quick to get my recent Prefab photograph into JPG magazine! Simply click below and go give me a ’Yeah Vote’!

Glacier for Good Cause!

2009-05-20T13:04:00+00:00

On Tuesday night I had the privelage of attending the Cure Leukaemia Art Auction with one of my works going under the hammer! An array of wonderful art and photography was full sale including my Franz Joseph Glacier image. It was also used as the key promo image on all marketing and ended up selling for the healthy sum of £375.00 in the live auction!

Below are the lucky couple who bought my work!

Prefab at SynthEastwood

2009-05-18T22:28:00+00:00

I spent last Friday night over in Dublin enjoying the delights of the latest Synth Eastwood show, under the theme ‘Homemade’.

I was delighted that my entry, image of a Birmingham Prefab house with owner Tom, was selected to be one of the A1 Posters in the exhibition.

This is the second time my work’s been shown at Synth Eastwood but my first visit over to experience the mega show they put together! I had some interesting chats with people about Prefab’s and the image genuinely received a lot of attention on the night!

Got to give huge props to the Synth Eastwood crew who work incredibly hard, pulling together what is a full on assault of the senses around the theme! They’ll have images up on their site soon enough.. I’ll put a link up here as and when…

Can’t wait for their next show!

Black Tonic at Mayfest in Bristol

2009-05-01T14:15:00+00:00

I’ve been working on CCTV video pieces this week for yet another installment of Black Tonic!

This time the acclaimed piece of theatre is in Bristol for Mayfest!

I’d recommend you go and get tickets but looks as though they’ve already sold out!

If you don’t know about Black Tonic then have a quick watch of the trailer below. Put together after last years Manchester performance, it gives a tiny taste of this unique theatre performance experience!

My role has been to create video pieces that fill you in on the characters, such as the ethereal Super 8 sequence at the start of the trailer and the CCTV sections showing a maid ransacking one of the hotel rooms! These elements spring into action on TV sets inside the hotel rooms when you least expect it. The audience really are receiving information from all directions in this experience. I also shot the Paparazzi style photo’s of a couple having an affair! Uncovered by the audience after entering the ransacked room! Exciting stuff!

Keep an eye on the Black Tonic page for more info on upcoming shows!

Prefab Excursions

2009-04-25T21:35:00+00:00

I’m currently working on some images for submission to the next Synth Eastwood exhibition over in Dublin, in a couple of weeks time…

The theme for the show is ‘Home Made’. I had various reactions to this theme, but the one that jumped out most was to capture images or video of Prefab houses.

Prefab’s for those who don’t know, were originally built after World War 2 as temporary homes to house those whose homes had been destroyed by bombs. However English Prefab’s are now cherished by many as part of our heritage and as such have gained listed status over recent years. They often have a seaside holiday cabin feel to them and although basic I think they’re wonderful homes that should be celebrated.

There are a row of Prefab houses in Moseley, Birmingham, just a short walk from where I live. These were amongst the first Prefab’s to gain listed status and I thought given the Synth Eastwood brief I’d take a visit to the last row of Prefab’s in Birmingham…

Bibio Sampler…

2009-04-22T15:25:00+00:00

West Midlands musician / producer Bibio has been putting together beautiful sounds for some time now on Mush records. However in their wisdom Warp records have recently snapped up this young genius! You can now download a sampler of his new offerings from Warp! Good stuff!

I remember seeing him perform a year or two back under the Artists Valley banner with the film below showing. Can’t quite remember but I think it may have been part of one of the early Flatpack Festivals…

Ice Dream Van

Thomas Bewick - Tale Pieces

2009-04-18T10:27:00+00:00

The Ikon Gallery in Birmingham currently has two fantastic exhibitions running. With genius work from the playful and inventive Wood & Harrison and in contrast a selection of prints by wood engraver Thomas Bewick (1753 - 1828).

About a month ago I went to visit and create the current Ikon documentary with Iain Bain, art historian and authority on Bewick.

Iain discusses his connection with Bewick and the tools used to create such detailed wood engravings and how these are then turned into prints using a hand press.

The video is now live on the Ikon site. Watch to get an insight into the talent of Bewick and what went into creating such magnificent prints....

Polaroid Portraits

2009-04-17T20:55:00+00:00

Just added a few more Polaroid 600SE portraits to the collection… Shot on the awesome Polaroid 664 film… Still getting around to scanning my shots on the super rare Polaroid 665 film.

SoCo Belfast

2009-04-09T09:41:00+00:00

Still recovering from photographing Friday night’s SoCo Social in Belfast! One of the best events I’ve shot for Southern Comfort yet! The energy of the crowd was more like a music festival than a nightclub!

The images I’ve captured from Belfast and all this years UK SoCo events are up on their site for you to get a taste of the party action!

Out of Babel Online!

2009-04-09T08:14:00+00:00

The Destroyers music video I shot with director John Humphreys is now up online on the Prime Objective site! Was a hell of a shoot way back last May - there are some posts about it in related posts to the right.... Go take a watch!

Death on Drag City

2009-04-02T21:37:00+00:00

Record Label Drag City have released an old 1974 demo by the incredible Detroit power trio / Punk band ‘Death’! Great piece in the New York Times on them… Loving their music - listen below!

Black Tonic in Birmingham

2009-04-01T22:59:00+00:00

Over the last few days I’ve been shooting and editing various video elements for the third outing of the interactive hotel performance piece ‘Black Tonic’, devised by The Other Way Works.

I’ve been collaborating on Black Tonic since its starting point over a year ago and it’s great to see how it has evolved during that time!

So far it’s piloted in London, had an incredible run in Manchester and over the next couple of weeks will take place at the Raddisson hotel in Birmingham. It’s also picked up a ton of good reviews such as this one in the Independent.

Recommend you get yourself booked in quick for this weekend or next! See flyer below…

Joyful Bewilderment in Edinburgh!

2009-04-01T17:07:00+00:00

Last October saw the first outing of The Joyful Bewilderment - a group exhibition of over 90 artists down at Rough Trade in London…

Six months on, the second installment is now on display at the wonderful Analogue gallery in Edinburgh!

From the pics on the Analogue flickr page the opening of the show last Saturday looked like a real fun night! You’ll also find a great review of the night by Lee Basford on Mumble...

Also stoked to receive an email today telling me that my Mardi Gras Elephant photograph actually sold on the opening night! You can see it below - 2nd row from top and 2nd in from left!