Looking Through

I don't even want to think about the amount of time I spend sitting at a desk, staring at a computer two feet from my face. But once in a while, my eyes beg to focus on something more than an arms length away. I often walk over to a window in the hall just outside the teachers' office and stare off into the distance. There's a hill with a new neighbourhood of houses all built in the last 5 years or so that are just behind where I used to live. The other day I seemed to notice for the first time how many different things I was looking through to look at this far of hillside. There must be five or six "layers" of varying distances that I have to look beyond to enjoy the view. I remember seeing a TV show when I was a kid (that Sunday night Disney show, whatever it was called) and they showed how they made the old Disney cartoons by painting the various parts of a scene on glass plates, arranging them according to location in space and filming through them, thus creating the illusion of depth. Everything I look at here is behind so many layers. It's so different from back home where things are spaced out and often stand alone and are not stacked one on top of the other.


Most of the looking I do in Nagasaki is through, beyond, over, and past something else. There are fences, buildings, trees and most of all electrical wires (which are not buried anywhere in Japan, for some unknown reason). I remember being surprised when I looked at some pictures I took on a trip to Kyoto. I hadn't noticed when I was standing looking at some historic temples that they were hidden behind jumbles of electrical wires. It wasn't until I got the photos developed that I saw every scene was marred with black lines. It's something that's been coming out in my paintings these days. First, rather accidentally but I've been more conscious of it recently.

(standard)INTERVIEW

There is a blog called (standard)INTERVIEW which I like to read from time to time. The blogger always asks the same set of questions. They are simple questions but strike me as what a painter would ask a fellow painter. All the artists chosen are abstract painters of varying degrees of renown. The answers are generally straight forward and stick to practical concerns. I especially like to hear about how other painters spend their time in their studio. Reading how many of them work around full time jobs and still produce good stuff is encouraging as well.

As I am completely unworthy of being selected as an interview subject but am dying to answer the questions, I thought I'd (standard) interview myself. Hey me, go easy on me.

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I make abstract paintings and drawings pulled from my everyday surroundings and put through a long digestive process. I mostly use acrylic paint on canvas but I've been doing a lot of watercolor paintings and ink drawings in the last year. I've also been combining paintings on paper with computer generated images printed using my home inkjet printer.

What drives you to make work?

I would say there are two main things that compel me to create. Since I was a child, I've always felt the need to externalize my reactions to my surroundings. I've found that visual art is the best and most satisfying way to express what I need to express. Also, the control it gives me is something I don't get in any other aspect of my life. In my studio, I am not only able to decide what the solutions should be I am also the one who decides what problems need solving.

Can you tell me something of your day-to-day working practices?

I teach full time so I am relegated to working nights and weekends. I try to go to my studio at least four times a week, mental and physical health permitting. I like to jump back and forth between works that are slower and necessitate pauses, reflection, and a lot of looking and (usually) smaller works that are more spontaneous and immediate so I can turn my brain off and just go. I have quite a bit of down time at my job so I spend time looking at, reading about, and sometimes writing about art via the internet. I live in a small city in Japan and am physically far removed from the contemporary art world so the internet is a viyal link for me. I find after spending all day think about what I'm going to do once I get into my studio it's best to get a few things out of my system as quickly as possible. Sometimes they end up being good works but often it's just a way to get some bad ideas out of the way.

How long have you been working in that way?

Since leaving school and having a workspace of my own. I have always tried to balance the more primal, intuitive work and the more contemplative work. Although, I must admit the results are often better when I don't think too much during the actual making. Maybe I should rethink my approach.

Which artists have had the greatest affect on your work?

I've always admired the playfulness of Paul Klee. Although it's hard to see in my work Ellswoth Kelly is an important influence on the way I think about turning mundane observations into deeper abstract meaning. I had a teacher when I first became interested in art named Michael Smith. He was a huge influence on the way I approach painting and still is. I think we share a lot of natural tendencies toward making art. I was very lucky to have had him as my first painting teacher.

What, outside of visual art, informs your practice?

The three main things, outside of visual art, that occupy my waking thoughts are music, clothes, and sports (boxing, hockey) in that order. They all come to bear on my work. Oh and sex, but that goes without saying, right?

How would you like people to engage with your work?

I would like them to recognize something familiar; something from their personal experience expressed in a surprising way. And to give me money.

Have you seen anything recently that has made an impression?

I went to Art Fair Tokyo and saw almost nothing memorable. Then I went to the Yamatane museum and saw drawings on paper of cherry trees in bloom by Hayami Gyoshu done in the 1920's. Stunning!

Do you have anything exciting on the horizon?

 I am going to Florida in May with my wife.

Hot Dog / Cold Dog

Hot Dog

Pheobe Unwin

I've been digging through the internet for sites devoted to contemporary painting. Seeing as I live somewhere with no art galleries, have no friends involved with or interested in art, and that all major art magazines (including my former favorite "Modern Painters") don't cover painting in any serious way, the internet has become my only outlet/ input. Like with everything on the internet, patience is key to wading through the mountains of garbage. In my searches I have come across a few artist that I was previously unaware of that I strongly identify with.

One of these artist who I keep coming back to is Pheobe Unwin. As in my approach to music, I care very little about the biographical details of the creators of whatever art I enjoy.They rarely add anything to my appreciation and very often detract from it. Art they relies on an artist's back story for it's appeal is rarely the art that interests me. All I know about her is that she is British and depressingly young. The level of success she has achieved at such a young age would normally leave me torn, debating wether to hate her or just hate myself. That is if the attention she has received was not completely warranted (which is almost never the case).

After spending last weekend at Art Fair Tokyo, I was struck by how many young, and not so young, artists seem to be devoted to finding their "thing"; be it an impressive trick, a semi-clever take, or a broad, familiar and popular subject (such as pop culture, consumer culture, or in the case of Japan, endless artists inspired by manga and anime). Ms.Unwin seems less concerned with establishing a brand and a business model, so how she has found such success is intriguing.

What I like the most about her work is the impression I get that she has no preconceived destination when she begins a painting. She truly seems to let each one work itself out in whatever way seems best without trying to adhere to a style, theme, or point of view. She is not being purposefully eclectic, either, trying on different styles in a superficially showy way. She definitely has a clear voice but that voice is allowed to come out in each painting in in an unlaboured and natural way. A few motifs come up in multiple paintings but nothing ever seems forced or contrived. Some paintings are beautiful and some are not. Her application and approach to paint varies widely within each painting as wells from one to another. She seems completely open to the possibilities of each panting and willing to pursue them without hesitation.

I guess what draws me to this willingness to explore a painting to a sometimes unexpected end is that it is what I struggle with the most in my work. The tyranny of expectations, the overwhelming desire for consistency, and the tension I feel when a painting starts straying to far from what I thought it's original intent should be, are the things that hold me and my work back the most. She seems to have freed herself from, or never had, these pressures. I've gotten better, especially in drawings and smaller works, but the chance that a painting could fail (whatever that means) or worse that I will somehow make something that doesn't represent the artistic face that I think I want to present to the public is still my greatest fear. To be comfortable enough to make what I make and have the conviction to stand by it is something I'm striving for. In that pursuit, Pheobe Unwin is an inspiration.

Cold Dog

Serious Discussions of Pop Culture

This may just go to show that I spend too much time on the internet or listening to podcasts, but the trend of treating pop culture with an unwarranted seriousness has been getting to me recently. 

What do I mean? Well, talking about the latest Batman movie like it is a complex work of art of such significance that it can, and must, be dissected over hundreds of articles so that we can appreciate it's full glory. Or, Star Wars being talked about with the same respect that was previously reserved for classics of western civilization like The Odyssey.

Look, I know it's fun to talk with your friends about movies or TV  with a seriousness that is completely out of proportion with the work itself. It's what sports fans do. Assigning a life or death importance to a game is fun because you can experience that tension while deep down knowing that really there are absolutely no real world consequences. That's whole reason sports exist. 

I have a particular weakness for reading books about the music I love written with a depth and thoughtfulness that does not match that of the music itself. We all get a thrill from overly investing in something that, in the end, matters very little. Attachment without consequence. And that's fine. That's what "nerds" do.

My problem is when that's all you do. When you start to believe that Star Wars is a timeless classic that stands as a pillar of western culture because you have never actually read or are unaware of any actual works of serious merit which really are the basis for our culture. You can discuss Lost in a deep way all you want but when you actually start to believe that it is a deep work of art, it's time to hit the library to check out the dusty books in the back.

Hey, I'm no scholar. I don't sit around reading Paradise Lost, either. But I am not afraid to admit the deeply unpopular fact that there is a hierarchy of artistic creation out there. Popular culture surely has a wide reaching effect and that is not to be overlooked and I am not saying that it is all insignificant trash but I am suggesting that are many dedicated, serious-minded, brilliant creative thinkers creating powerful works of art and none of them are JJ Abrams.

So, reign it in a bit, please.

Partially Obstructed View

                                  Partially Obstructed View
                                  David Atwood. March 2012
                                  Watercolour on paper 19 X 15cm



By far the best feature of my dirty little studio is the view. From my fifth floor windows I can see an amazing view of Nagasaki harbor and and the 330 meter high Mount Inasa across the water. Down below are/ were a series of long, narrow, one story warehouses left over from when port was for unloading cargo rather than cruise ship passengers. Recently two of the buildings were torn down leaving a considerably large empty lot. Now my concern is what will be built in their place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a parking lot, which is more often than not, what becomes of empty spaces around here. Nagasaki can always use more parking and from a landowner's point of view, it's a minimal investment for a guaranteed return.

However, there has been a mini-boom of large condo buildings going up recently. If that's the case, it will certainly be well over 5 stories thus stealing my view from me. When I first came here almost ten years ago, the water front was a wasteland. You would barely guess that you were living on the ocean as you couldn't even walk along the seaside with out a great deal of effort. But since then a museum, huge park, several upscale condos, and a boardwalk have been built and people are more interested in enjoying the harbor rather than just treating as a place of industry (ship building) and commerce (fishing). A large condo building would make sense in that spot, unfortunately for me.

The one good thing is that they seem to be preparing whatever they are going to do (buildings generally have no basements here so you don't get the telltale giant hole that precedes all buildings back home) slightly off to the right so that only half my view will be spoiled. I've never wished so hard for a new parking lot.