Brave New (Wave) World of Michael Moorcock / Collage: I Think It's Another Dimension

 

Sixty years ago Michael Moorcock took over as editor of New Worlds magazine. 

So began a giant leap for science fiction as published in the UK. 

Inner space was the place.

A time of the Acid Head War. 

This literary medium was the massage; Ballard, Moorcock, Disch, Burroughs, Aldiss etc, the masseurs.

When Humphrey Lyttelton dared to try something different in the 50s the (ex) fans raised a banner saying "Go Home Dirty Bopper".

When Bob Dylan first went electric on stage in '65 some people booed.

When Moorcock started to alter the course of science fiction he probably got letters asking where all the space ships and bug-eyed monsters had gone!

Here's his first editorial:

The first Moorcock issue features a story by Brian Aldiss (Never Let Go Of My Hand), part of which I used for this collage...

RTomens, 2024

New Worlds magazine had entered another dimension and science fiction would never be the same again. 

Vispo triple bill: Mind In Motion, Retune Your Brain & Last Words (version 1) / An art worker speaks!

RTomens, 2024

Now that I'm a full-time Art Worker (the pay's rubbish!) I can type or collage virtually every day, hence a triple bill of visual poetry, just to keep you up with what I've done, well most of what I've done...I mean, yes, of course, there's stuff I haven't shown the world, not because I didn't want to but because it ended up amongst all the other papers lying around. 

Yesterday we got chatting to the barman at the revitalised (rebuilt) Constitution pub. Turned out he had a Master's degree in Art! And he confessed to being a conceptual artist. I swore I wouldn't tell anyone. He even owns a typewriter, so he told me when I let him know I made concrete poetry on one. I called myself a 'Folk artist' but he misunderstood, thinking of the genre, not the way I meant it, so I explained I meant making art like the old Hillbilly guys would make music on the front porch of their shacks. In other words, I have nowt to do with the Fine Art world.

I've woken up my Tumblr account if you want to follow it. I'll be posting new stuff regularly. I only woke it up because someone suggested I should be on there and I thought 'Why not?' If it gets my work seen by a few more people, that's good. If a rich gallery-owner sees it and puts on a solo exhibition and I make money, even better (ha-ha!).

RTomens, 2024

RTomens, 2024

Vispo/Collage: Collaboration with Kenan Meral / Don't look back

RTomens, 2024

Kenan asked if I would be interested in doing something with his collection of short stories, A Rash Impulse. Why not? He sent me three copies so I was able to cut one up (below). I usually work impulsively, so it was an appropriate title. Hopefully I'm not too rash in my artistic choices, but who's to say? Yes, yes, one may look back and say 'That could have been done better' but...I rarely look back...no rear view mirror; you never know what's in it...such as regrets, doubts...or that ol' devil harsh retrospective criticism! But I never beat myself up about old work. What's done is done...move on! 

When I think about the boxes of work I have I sometimes wonder if burning the lot might be a good idea. Good as in KLF's burning a million quid (I'm not that mad). I mean, so I might get some attention if I filmed it....a few 'likes'...ha-ha! I also think of giving it all way, in batches...but whether the recipients would consider it a great gift or a burden is another matter. Yes, let them deal with all the paperwork!

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy the first three collaborative efforts with Kenan. I'll be doing more in the coming days/weeks, no doubt.

RTomens, 2024

RTomens, 2024

 

Collage: Survivors Of A Primitive Family

RTomens, 2024

 

Stranger In A Strange Land / Vispo: TDS

 

Yes, as L.P. Hartley said, 'the past is a foreign country'...and you are a stranger in a strange land there. So there I am circa 1987 in my first London digs which I'd been in for about a year, thinking to myself 'The streets aren't paved with gold!' An Ornette Coleman album in the alcove, ready to impress all the hip young chicks I would lure into my den - ha-ha!

Who was I? 

A younger person, before the wrinkles and blemishes grew; before grey hair replaced the brown. A painter, no less! But before the internet there was no-one to see my work, except friends and...those chicks (I probably hid the paintings away rather than proudly displayed them...or at least, I should have done if I wanted any 'success'!).

No emails. A communal phone on the wall outside on the landing above the stairs. A communal kitchen across the hall and a bath further down, shared by girls working, like me, for the NHS. I welcomed and pushed patients in wheelchairs around the hospital by day and went to Jazz clubs and gigs at night.

What I imagined was in my future I have no idea. What I could not have imagined, despite using a typewriter for letters and poems, is that decades on a typewriter would become my most-used tool for art. Here's my latest. Title: TDS

RTomens, 2024

Collage: People

 

RTomens, 2024

Vispo: Landmarks

RTomens, 2024

Watching a recent talk by Barrie Tullett when he briefly mentioned carbon paper as a technique used to create colour prompted me to buy some more and use it; I hadn't done so for years. Landmarks is the first creation of the new phase. 

As I said to my neighbour this morning when he commented on hearing me typing and how much he liked the sound, I'm not a precision typist. I'm sure those who create absolutely faultless, very neat shapes etc must be on the spectrum. That or they just think that way.

Does art always reflect something of the creator? I wonder. Much that is personal to me may go towards what I make, somehow...subtly. My 'chaotic' approach could reflect the 'blow-with-the-wind' way I've always lived, which is not to say I'm some kind of spontaneous free spirit but something of a drifter...unfocused, except on art which, ironically, more often than not is usually...ragged? I focus hard on being imprecise.

They way I'm using colour carbon paper is the way I always work, spontaneously improvising. I like how carbon creates (in my case) unintended marks from, say, the roll of the carriage, moving the paper, a finger nail etc. Other marks are sometimes intentional. 

That's all for now, folks. 

For Sale: Vispo: Seen And Heard

 

RTomens, 2024

A piece I made this morning - fresh off the Olympia typewriter!

On 80 g/m ivory paper.

Size: A4

Prices: Europe £105 - Worldwide £115 (postage included)

Prices

Europe £105.00 GBP Worldwide £115.00 GBP

Print: Gimme Action / Music: HAN LLEGADO LOS ROBOTS - H​é​ctor Hern​á​ndez & Miguel A​.​Ruiz

 

RTomens, 2024

Print I made today, mindful of the accusation that I may be 'objectifying' the female body...but...does that mean men are no longer able to present the female body in any art? Thus ending a tradition going back hundreds of years? 

Never mind that, what about the boiler?

Ours has been playing up for weeks but only got attended to this morning. A new part is needed. That's the domestic update, just to remind you that I don't spend a leisurely life of some privileged artist, you know, just making art all day, oh no; I vacuum the floor...I wash up...I cook...I'm a thoroughly modern man!

And I know what a woman is...(how controversial!!!).

Meanwhile, here's some music. I've had it burned to disc for years but only played it again this morning, then it occurred to me to see if it was available online and lo and behold, it was. Released, unbelievably, in 1989, this is the most authentic-sounding imaginary sci-fi soundtrack (circa 1958) I've ever heard. From the Bandcamp page: 

'Taking as a reference the book "Die Roboter sind unter uns" by Rolf Strehl, published in the late 1950s, Miguel A.Ruiz and Héctor Hernández, two electronic composers from Madrid, conceived the hypothetical soundtrack for a film dedicated to the advent of the "mechanical brains." In the summer of 1989 and after exhaustive multi-channel recording sessions, mixing was done at the Toracic Studios in Madrid.

Some of the machines used included, among others, the legendary British VCS3 synthesizer, the AEG modular system, the monstrous Korg PS3200 polyphonic synthesizer, compact synthesizers of the Korg MS series, analog sequencer, ring modulator, delay lines and archaic boxes of rhythm. The cassette of the same name was published at the end of that same year by the now defunct company IEP, directed by Luis Mesa, one of the most active Spanish audio creators in the 80s. At the beginning of 2003 the old tape reels were reviewed and remastered for this edition in digital format by Miguel A.Ruiz.'

Collecting old synths and setting out to sound like the BBC Radiophonic Workshop is nothing new, but H​é​ctor Hern​á​ndez & Miguel A​.​Ruiz created a masterpiece of the 'genre' with this 'soundtrack'. They exploit their armoury brilliantly. Mechanical brains taking control!

Typewriter Workshop at The People's Museum

 

I'm pleased to report that the workshop went well. I typed. They typed. It was great to see people take to the task with such enthusiasm. A few produced pieces so good that I could only wonder if they were after my job as The Best Typewriter Vispo Artist in NW1 - hah-hah.

Barrie Tullett gave a talk afterwards, accompanied by a slide show, that was illuminating and funny, skipping through histories of type, ribbons, machines and concrete poetry. I'm not one for talks, but this was excellent, entertaining and informative. The Museum had assembled a nice collection of typewriters too. The exhibition of Keith Armstrong's work and life is still on if you're in London. Best check with them for opening times before going.