Mark McGowan

One thing I have to admit is, Mark McGowans lecture was by far the most interesting Transmission I've been to over the last two years. I'd heard of his work before in the news, but I hadn't remembered the name, just the controversial art itself. It was only the second time I'd heard of the artist before the lecture.

As you can see from the clips above, Mark McGowan's practice uses the media and controversy to make a statement, whether about British summer towns, the Royal family, war or vandalism. His work wouldn't exist without a reaction so he effectively manipulates the press to get attention and to get that reaction that he needs. Some of his performance pieces include; eating swan meat, running a tap constantly for two weeks, pulling a bus with his big toe, key scratching on cars and posing as a dead soldier on the street. He describes his work as "heartless art"and he knows if it's a good piece of art if it gets on the TV, just because he knows it's provoked a reaction.

One thing that surprised me was when McGowan said the the majority of the artists he knows hate his work, and that they feel he goes too far with some of his performances, such as the reconstruction of the 7/7 bombings in London. It was quite impressive that he didn't let negative critiques affect him or his practice but carried on being controversial.

McGowan uses the internet for his own gain, as well as the media, by using sites such as Facebook and Youtube to interact with the public as well as producing a huge amount of work that is always provocative. I was very surprised at how many performances he'd done in such a short time.

In something of a twist, McGowan also paints, although these are relatively unseen due to his performance work dominating his practice. The paintings were shown to us with a slight hesitation (whether for effect or genuine I'm not sure) and because of that, there was a ripple of laughter as his pieces were very naively "fun", there bright poster colours hit you to hide the quite disturbing content. For example, one showed a man on fire, stood in a street. The painting wasn't very technical, it looked like an child's attempt to draw a dream. But I quite liked the whimsical style, it was "cute" and endearing, quite a contrast to his angry performance style.

Sara Newman - The Independent (Interview)

A common misperception of me is ...

That I'm an idiot. Within the art world they definitely think I'm an idiot. I'm not sure if it's a misconception. I am interested in the idea of shame. A teacher told me at school, "you're an idiot. You're stupid". I wasn't very good at exams. Part of my art is to be portrayed as an idiot and to be seen as a fool. One of the things about shame is that when you do it in public it has a certain amount of power attached to it and you can use that power.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-5minute-interview-mark-mcgowan-artist-449867.html

 The above interview shows McGowan's "character" that he projects into the media. He is clearly not an idiot, but he plays up to the role of the fool, using humour and over-the-top reactions and statements to again gage a reaction and give a lasting impression with the public, which, despite many artists criticising his methods, works.

After the Transmission lecture, I added Mark McGowan on Facebook as he had mentioned he used his profile to upload video pieces. On his profile there was also a link to his new blog website so I was able to look at his video diary blogs from his job as a taxi driver, where he rants about anything and everything that annoys him. I quite liked the raw quality that a video diary captures; it is a piece that is completely in the moment it's made. As McGowan says "The power of performance lies in it not really being there".

Tony White

Tony White appeared to me to be an artist whose method of practice was completely alien to my own. Language based, his art work is in the form of books, which I must admit, I haven't come across often before.
He read aloud an extract from his book "Foxy T", where the language he uses is stereotypically "chav"-like, with swearing and phrases such as "innit" and "whatever", you could tell the language was modern young colloquialism that was written like dialogue. There were definite themes of tagging and graffiti that you tend to find more of in urban areas. The characters of Foxy T and Rougey Babe were both likeable and repulsive, as I tend to avoid characters like them in real life. When discussing his short story, White divulged that the catalyst for his book was a mini cab office closing down on the street where he lived. White felt that he couldn't tell what the office would become; he guessed a modern convenience point, such as an Internet cafe. Across from the office he spotted two girls hanging out, smoking and tagging, and he wondered: what would they become? He made a point and it made me start to think about my own upbringing, and who I am now, and who I could possibly become. It was a frightening prospect and White had definitely provoked more than one day dream. Especially in today's climate, Britain is in a state of confusion and rupture; where many can't or won't find a job, more and more shops close down everyday and life long dreams seem like a joke.
White also described his process of writing another book "Road Rage". He had three rules to stick by; 1) no research, 2) some act of sex or violence in each chapter and 3) write one chapter a day. This book focused on the subculture of "crusties", a fusion of punk and grebo, and was finished in two weeks.
On discussing his practice, White said he was looking for "rupture. My short fiction is my way of practicing visual arts" and also stated he wants to make his work free for all when possible, which is something I loved about his practice as I feel art should be available to everyone.

Juneau Project

Introduced by Allie Carr, the Juneau Project kicked off the beginning of this years Transmission lecture series "Provocation", a theme that promises a certain level of controversy and excitement, or at the very least inspiration. The Juneau Project are duo artists collaboration Phil Duckworth and Ben Sadler, working together since 2001. They choose a combination of sound, music, video, projection and installation as mediums for their pieces.


One of their first collaborations was the short film "Born in '82", commissioned in 2002 to mark the Queen's Jubilee. Instead of deciding on a conventional approach, "JP" picked a commemoration of the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1977, when the Sex Pistols released their infamous punk single "God Save The Queen". This in itself is quite a provocative moment in history, where the furious backlash of the government ensured a hasty boycott of the single, despite it's number 1 spot in the music chart.
 The film itself comprised of a record playing on an outdoor patio table, with the camera focusing in and out as the record plays "God Save The Queen". The use of the camera roving around makes the film aesthetically beautiful - something I will come back to later. Dripped fuel on the record enforces the idea of aesthetic, particularly when the fuel is set on fire. As the record burns, a combination of image and sound (music distortion and crackling roar of the fire) becomes the epitome of destruction. The aesthetic of the flames, the distorted screeching song and the record player itself become intense and almost too much, saved only by the use of the handheld camera to ensure the film retains raw energy. As the record buckles from the fire it spins suddenly and the player begins to fall apart as the fire takes over. The artists step in at this point and blast the player with a fire extinguisher, which blows the record completely apart with a gunshot-like sound. This marks the end of the act of rebellion. I quite like how rough and unprofessional the video is, it makes the process of destruction aesthetically beautiful without being too cliche. Don't get me wrong, the music on the record player makes it appear like a music video, but I oddly like how naive the video seems, whilst carrying the message of aggression.

The link between music and art is continued in their work as "JP" themselves say they relate to artists as bands, which is best shown in their exhibition "Moving Average" at Flowers Gallery, a one day exhibition using performance art to imitate a band, blurring the lines between installation art and performance. The instruments are all invented and customised, giving them an industrial yet folksy aesthetic that adds to the theatricality of the performance.

The above video is a clip from the installation and film piece that consisted of squirrels being manipulated on film to look like they're playing intruments. JP made tiny squirrel sized instruments and put peanut butter inside them in locations that meant when filmed, the squirrels appeared to be playing them. They then scaled up the instruments to human size so that when someone plays the human size ones, a motion sensor played the film of the corresponding squirrel. This interactive art piece is not only hilarious to watch, but also discusses the power relationships between animals and people.

Another exhibition that plays with the idea of interaction between art and the public is"Cardboard Wars", a concept JP came up with where they ask members of the public to fashion themselves a costume and a weapon made out of cardboard, then to meet up and do battle. What intrigued me about the work more than the battle was how well JP documented the process and also the imagination of the public as the cardboard costumes were random and crazy but brilliant because of that. 

The Juneau Project use the style of folk art within their work, whether it's installation or sculpture, which i do appreciate as I like art work having a style that links it to the artist. However I'm not sure folk art is really my thing, the installation pieces by JP connect to me more.