Since I last posted I have become an 'old knitter of black wool'. My intention was to knit 23,000 odd stitches corresponding to the amount of days I've lived, influenced by the two women in Conrad's Heart of Darkness, but then, on consideration I decided that in order to maintain the integrity of the 'found' yarn I would only knit until the wool runs out. I began with 20 stiches and have knitted about 500 lines. The work is currently 140 cm long. I photographed the knitting on a white paper background on 17, 18 and 19 May and was delighted that the result was reminiscent of some of the dark, gestural paintings of Robert Motherwell (It was not only I who could see the resemblance). I imagine now that when the piece is finished I will do a 66 second video performance with the spoken words piece I did in 1980. Old and young body and voice will collide.
On the 15 May I saw Alien: Covenant, which was absolutely fantastic and a timely return to horror genre and welcome revival of the alien. I saw the Vincent Van Gough exhibition at NGV International on 19 May the night after I had a dream of a sea of white Dutch girl's hats. Although his renditions of the four seasons paintings were beautiful, I have to admit I preferred paintings in which he used a more sombre palette. One of my first attempts at painting when I was fourteen was to copy one of Van Gough's self portraits. And, speaking about my younger days, David Powell emailed me a digital copy of the spoken word and percussion piece called 'Down' I performed on tape in 1980, (He, myself and my three year old son were called 'The Grand Facade', a group of experimental music makers). Listening, I recalled the youthful me.
Yesterday I spoke briefly with Bernhard Sachs who was taking a photo of something in a shop window in Chapel Street, Windsor and this morning I photographed Venus in the dark, morning sky.
