Me Me Me
Not Jumping Jack Flash,
More
Trip the light fantastic
I am an artist, it is what I feel my life is about.
I am primarily a painter although I do get involved indeed am also trained in other forms of expression.
I was born a baby boomer in 1951. I grew up in Shepherds Bush, London surrounded by Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Psychadelia, this shaped me and has remained there ever since. My father had a cross cultural background, he was a prominent figure in the Indonesian Embassy which was formed in Grosvenor Square after the overthrow of the Dutch after the second world war. My desire to travel and meet people is a strong one - probably following on!
I lived in London until I was twenty seven, I then moved to Cardiff and met my wife, Anne. We lived there and also spent possibly more time during that period abroad than there: a couple of years in India and time in Thailand and Indonesia. Moving to an apartment in Istanbul for three years. We left a year after our son, Aydin was born and settled in Birmingham, England, with two dogs by a lake near Spaghetti Junction.
My family owns about 8 acres of bog-land in Pembrokeshire, a long way from anywhere. We bought it, and have lived on it since 1970. I have returned there constantly throughout the years
Following which, I took on a post degree M.A. course which changed my out look and my sociological life, interacting with a lot more people and participating in a lot more projects and events.
I am slightly maverick and can be a bit over sensitive.
Although at present I am home based, I do like to move about, I like to have my fingers in different pies. I am fairly gregarious and on occasions, I can "team lead" and organise events, shows and publications.
I like to be outside, I have a couple of dogs, I do a bit of gardening and a fair bit of cycling albeit not particularly for pleasure. I'm good at collecting and archiving, I was a finds assistant for a while. I like to play and work hard. I can get upset if a day goes by where I feel I haven't achieved anything.
All pertinent art must be about “ the times” – otherwise it's just an expression that may or may not hit the mark. Even statements about ” the perpetual nature of----“ must be seated from a contemporary perspective.
I consider myself to be very much a product of my time , which hopefully is reflected in my work and life as it passes through changing times Artistically I came into being on the cusp of post-war Britain. I contain the observations of a baby boomer, in fact one that is seeing that contemporary post war issue getting old – becoming what it was rebelling against Times of want instead of times of need. A chance for art for art’s sake all round.
I feel my work is partially about coping with rapid change in an old fashioned way. It falls between very different schools of thought, starting off in an old fashioned painterly note and then colliding with many elements of post modern thought. Although, I feel I could take post modernism back to the mid sixties where things were generally being changed and shaken up. A period in which you didn’t have to be part of the art establishment in order to have your say, produce art, just do it. Kind of Joe Public becomes Da Da.
I like working with my hands, building things, fitting into situations. I'm pretty prolific and don’t feel comfortable when I'm not producing things.
My work often comes out in a full-on eidetic fashion, part of that process that I grew up with. I wonder nowadays how necessary is it to even have skills: as an artist.
I like to scavenge and recycle – a sign of the times.
I like working with my hands, building things, fitting into situations. On the face of it, my work can seem to be “outsider art” – but, outside of what? Possibly outside of current ways of portraying stuff. I do feel that it is very much comment coming from the ground upwards what ever format it appears in.
Painting Bharmor Mills (link to Treehouse blog, 67-82
1960
Park central, 2017
Painting Bharmor Mills (link to Treehouse blog, 67-82
A reel of mug shots through the years.
Click on the arrows at the sides
Intro for
I engage in projects, helping to create and perform them. I paint pictures and murals. Build with wood glass and metal mainly. Often smallish architectural structures existing in the middle of art projects.
Sometimes I feel maybe I have too varied a skill base. Although after sticking at certain things, I do feel I master some and have a right to hold the title "Artist"
I have spent a lot of time abroad, mainly in the East and would like to spend more time there especially as I get older.
It was in Chamba, I added it as one of my favorite places, where the sketch-book art that I produced certainly heralded changes in my artistic outlook.
I did a lot of trekking out to remote places in the Himalayas and came close to death on more than one occasion. It was great, but didn’t teach me how to spell.
"The Anti Ego"
Part of a show inside St Martins Church in the Bullring, Birmingham 2002
An intro for
ART_3000.
link to
http://www.art-3000.com/artist/Martin.Humphries/?s=101
I am an artist, it is what I feel my life is about.I am primarily a painter although I do get involved indeed am also trained in other forms of expression.
I was born a baby boomer in 1951. I grew up in Shepherds Bush, London surrounded by Bob Dylan, the Beatles and Psychedelia, this shaped me and has remained there ever since. My father had a cross cultural background, he was a prominent figure in the Indonesian Embassy which was formed in Grosvenor Square after the overthrow of the Dutch after the second world war. My desire to travel and meet people is a strong one - probably following on!
I lived in London until I was, I then moved to Cardiff and met my wife, Anne. We lived there and also spent possibly more time during that period abroad: a couple of years in India and time in Thailand and Indonesia. Moving to an apartment in Istanbul for three years.
With the birth of our son, Aydin we settled in Birmingham, England, with two dogs by a lake near Spaghetti Junction. My family owns about 8 acres of bog-land in Pembrokeshire, a long way from anywhere. We bought it, and have lived on it since 1970. I have returned there constantly throughout the years
Following which, I took on a post degree M.A. course which changed my outlook and my sociological life, interacting with a lot more people and participating in a lot more projects and events.
I am slightly maverick and can be a bit over sensitive. Although at present I am home based, I do like to move about, I like to have my fingers in different pies. I am fairly gregarious and on occasions, I can "team lead" and organise events, shows and publications.
I like to be outside, I have a couple of dogs, I do a bit of gardening and a fair bit of cycling albeit not particularly for pleasure. I'm good at collecting and archiving, I was a finds assistant for a while. I like to play and work hard. I can get upset if a day goes by where I feel I haven't achieved anything.
All pertinent art must be about “ the times” – otherwise it's just an expression that may or may not hit the mark. Even statements about ” the perpetual nature of----“ must be seated from a contemporary perspective. I consider myself to be very much a product of my time, which hopefully is reflected in my work and life as it passes through changing times. Artistically I came into being on the cusp of post-war Britain. I contain the observations of a baby boomer, in fact one that is seeing that contemporary post war issue getting old – becoming what it was rebelling against times of want instead of times of need. A chance for art for art’s sake all round.
I feel my work is partially about coping with rapid change in an old fashioned way. It falls between very different schools of thought, starting off in an old fashioned painterly note and then colliding with many elements of postmodern thought. Although, I feel I could take post modernism back to the mid-sixties where things were generally being changed and shaken up. A period in which you didn’t have to be part of the art establishment in order to have your say, produce art, just do it.
Kind of Joe Public becomes Da Da. I like working with my hands, building things, fitting into situations. I'm pretty prolific and don’t feel comfortable when I'm not producing things. My work often comes out in a full-on eidetic fashion, part of that process that I grew up with. I wonder nowadays how necessary is it to even have skills: as an artist. I like to scavenge and recycle – a sign of the times. I like working with my hands, building things, fitting into situations. On the face of it, my work can seem to be “outsider art” – but, outside of what? Possibly outside of current ways of portraying stuff. I do feel that it is very much comment coming from the ground upwards what ever format it appears in.
20/20 State of Play.
Recent & Unexpurgated
recent & unexpunged ~ (of a text) complete and containing all the original material; uncensored. ~ expunged: Obliterate or remove completely (something unwanted or unpleasant)
expurgated ~ having had objectionable or unsuitable matter removed.
22-01-2020.
There was part of me that wanted to be a potter ~ make an honest living
& part of me that wanted to be a poet ~ comments on a lifetime of experience, travelling light.
I must have plumbed for the middle ground.
14-1-20.
I realise I’ve been on a different “bent” over the last couple of months or so. Whilst doing art I’ve also been doing sleeve notes. I can think of a couple of profundities that have cropped up as I sit here (before starting)
(Where old fashioned digital art meets old fashioned painting)
I dunno Bob,
Recently I have felt myself to be, maybe at the height of my “artistic powers” – as far as a lifetime runs.
Maybe it’s time to get something out ~ that is good ~ maybe not massive or even big
but
sound.
At the moment, there is no-one else I feel I could do this with.
It’s not a final show,
but
we could keep John firmly in mind.
Making Spirits come Alive
~ What is my work about!?
start with the premise that it’s about telling stories ~
maybe putting people into a storyscape,
but more so: it’s an attempt to create a new life
~~~ I was caught off guard-so I told the truth: two experiences
Aztec Jaguar
Miro’s simplicity with “other life”
BUT!
Are these images really alive?
What is it to be alive?
Mid 70s I was looking at “different” cultures & decided to “investigate”
~ a jaguar: it looked like a carpet, but I followed it through in oil paint. At the point where I felt I had finished, I looked (again) and a yellow paw shot out to claw me, it was alive.
With Miro, I was in a lecture that involved a good slide of one of his more simplistic creatures. Again, that was alive! It was existing on the screen for me. It’s where I compare him to Dali ~ who, for me was simply describing a “surreal” existence whereas Miro had made one.
Sometimes “passive/aggressive” is a very good way of making a point. Of course, if used too often it becomes snidey. If you are looking at P/A as a way of scoring points- you are moving into bigot territory. Also, why has P/A been used in the first place? To counter an aggressive situation hoping it won’t get worse? --- The fear of an all-out brawl?
(28Dec)
I don’t know, but in someways/times ~
I feel I’m working better than I have done in my life. It’s hard to explain-but I feel I have the tools for the job in hand
and I have the job for the (mental) tools that I posess.
It doesn’t seem to be one painting, they merge together ~ but one problem, which at the moment I am comfortably after.
At college, Richard and I used to poke at each other and our perceived destinations. He would state America & I India (forcefully with humour!)
Sitting, eating in a earth floored café (in India), a traveller pulled a mixed cassette out of his pocket with this in it and persuaded them to play it.
I had never heard it before and nearly fell off my bloody stool.
Mohsen:
First you think
I am the only one in the world
Then you think there is a world inside me
Then at last you realise there is no me and no world
& call it one day.
From India
77 to 99
Humour & Art
How important is humour in the creative process?
How powerful is humour as a creative force?
Should a serious approach mean a more valid statement? Even if it is encasing the funny part in parenthesis?
In many ways ~ you’ve got to be able to take mick out of yourself. I’ve had small problems with this in the past ~ as in, if it’s comic, does it somehow degrading its self? I wax hot & cold on the whole issue.
I don’t know how relevant it is, but I remember Pete Townsend when I was about fifteen, on black & white T.V. talking about his band with the comment: “they come from Shepherds Bush – of course they like a laugh!”
I associate music while I work immediately with washing the dishes. & that is mainly the inclusion of a radio playing presentation that is not too unbearably happy or opinionated – even if it’s an angle that I agree with.
Sometimes a song or tune will stick in my brain when I’m making things. Sometimes it has to do with what I’m working on, sometimes it’s unavoidable and often it is whilst I’m on a computer. If that is the case, I tend to share it, which takes a fair bit of pressure off intruding thoughts & gives me something I can return to.
Maybe I find songs nowadays that can somewhat explain how that “thing” came about. Or even explain what it was about ~ maybe touching a nerve or providing some sort of stimulus.
Although, with painting I don’t see it too much as stimulus as it can be distracting. MIND, if I have a large canvas on the go – I’ve actually done a lot of the immediate thinking and find myself with quite a big job in hand, maybe at this point, it shares the same status as dishwashing and requires a dose of rock n’roll!
An Answer to a question on Facebook from Alan Morris