itinerant studio No.33

NOTES ON THIS, NOW. AND THAT, THEN.

33328. I look for you in untidy places.

Wearing gloves has never been an option before

but now if I want to sustain the search

I may need a layer of protection.

I want life to be long,

longer, long enough

to sit comfortably again.

With you,

the Truth.

(Miami 2013)

2298. Systems of agility.

176.2. I do not want to be your ‘Judas Goat’. I don’t want to lead you down the garden path. I don’t want you to merely follow me here. Do you follow me? Do you understand. I want us to be in this together.

3319. The uneasy balance of maintaining / retaining something to be away from.

198.1. Retain a non-stance stance.

2289. Found time. It is through drawing that I have made and found the time to think unhindered. Alone time. Cycling and other common physical endeavours offer the same time. Thinking softly and consistently.

2231. Slowly, forcefully, repetitively. Massage the pigments in.

3388. by·prod·uct or

by-prod·uct (bprdkt)

1. Something produced in the making of something else.

2. A secondary result; a side effect.

3. the result of another action, often unforeseen or unintended.

3321. The life I have lead has been an uncomfortable one. I have tried various ways of living, from total openness to tunnel-vision dedication. Wonderful experiences.

3329. discomfort… where do these new drawings come from? Part of my therapy [self medication], they are byproducts of physical workouts which I do in order to clear my mind. The thing that I achieve whilst drawing is an uncluttered space, the works are vestiges.

3332. They are crammed with ‘tells’, if I were a gambler I would be easy to read. Anyone who has done this kind of work before will fly through my portfolio in one sitting.

3351. Coming out of nowhere.

2303. and only to return…

2211. Notes to you (those that I have worked with and learnt from). It is all about you. You will recognise us in these drawings. Not the technique nor the style. Embedded in these works is pace, approach and attempts to be finished. You know.

2213.1. iaoi

It is what it says it is. Integrity.

2213.2. ü

Emphasis on the confined space, definable edges, beginnings and endings with a unified middle. Unfolded all these middles, trajectories are redirected outwards. Towards the viewer.

2213.3. estc

The hidden areas talk of missing things, forgotten potentially superfluous experiences. Breaks, blackouts.

3362. Unthought- whilst I am leaving these marks, preoccupied, I am allowing the unthought to emerge.

2201. Like minds. Greg and Max (brothers).

2292. Being approached is not as an appealing an idea as one might think.

2254. The actions involved in physically folding paper.

It enjoys being folded.

A large sheet (1.5m x 3m) is almost unmanageable. To single handedly fold it down is almost as difficult to fold as it is to fasten to a wall. Once mastered the paper submits happily. Without a practiced hand and body it is futile.

The small sheets (writing paper) are immediately willing- their only hindrance is that they are begging for words and are usually only folded in preparation for being enveloped.

2209. “A blunt tool is a dangerous tool.” SCrouch

2287. A flipped plate on top of a plate = [].

2263. Blemish.

2207. Air - both thick and thin.

2288. Shadow fold- where forgotten things procreate

2229. Try to start on an up beat.

2285. Folds- hidden parts, forgotten parts.

The disruption breaks continuum resulting in a need to acknowledge the use of assumption.

2237. Not all games end with a winner let alone end.

2219. Drawing as a coping mechanism. I have always written notes- a repeatable daily task- no need to relearn unlearn ever time. Eating and shitting hold the same territory. Yes there are options- I recently changed my handwriting to a clearer style. Anyhow, drawing fits in here- a thing that gets done daily, a repeatable thing that is unique each time. It is not the alphabet that hinders us but our use of it?

3393. Solitary tasks- drawing and writing. The collaborative aspect has not been abandoned- the drawings act as a conduit, a point of departures and pauses.

3342. Et al And I… I was never any good at being anything other than myself. It got me into trouble as a youngster, holding a position that was not of my own making consciously. Working with extremely different types, learning to get along with others. Putting my self last. Literally - et al and I.

3347. A dilemma with play is being a toy. Being toyed with.

3398. A time and a place.

3365. I used the word opulence several times regarding the wastage in studio. What is it that I am frustrated by?

133.2.

“they acted together and alone” Police Chief Edward Deveau referring to the Boston Marathon Bombers, 2013

165.2. I write. You read. This is a kind of collaboration. Not ideal though. It would be ideal if we both thought thoughts and put the words down and read them.

6.2. Recently I was asked what I bring to a collaboration and I responded that I bring nothing. Let me elaborate: to bring nothing allows for anything to happen, something unpredictable perhaps, versus an outcome anticipated by virtue of the combined skills of the participants. This is imperative as I attempt to find, engage with and expose that which dwells in the blind spots. (2012-05-09)

123.9.

Advantages and disadvantages of collaboration.

We learn to become carefree

We learn to play

We learn to forget what we know

We learn to forgive

We learn to fill ourselves

We learn to succeed

We learn to empty ourselves

We learn to unlearn

We learn to relinquish ownership

We learn to accept

We learn to make choices

We learn to change

We learn to lose ourselves

We learn to give in

We learn to take responsibility

We learn to care

We learn to hate what we loved

We learn to feel

We learn to love what we hated

We learn to fail

176.2. I want to stop working with you.

I want to stop.

Not working with you is working [with you].

387.2. hammer + nail = sound

188.1. Be a smudge, become a gas, refuse to be defined, find your way into crevasses. Become a crevasse even?

119.2. Try draw with your ‘other’ hand. Try draw simultaneously. Try teach your naïve hand. Try learn from it.

287.1. The disadvantage is at once also the advantage.

188.5. ____________ and other.

293. In 1934 Ayn Rand did a play in which the audience determined the ending [Penthouse Legend aka Woman on Trial aka Night of January 16th].

139.2. Why do you work with others? Are you afraid to work alone?

139.7. Why do you work alone? Are you afraid to work with others?

3354. If you can’t look forward then stop looking.

4182. BYPRODUCT-

Français (French)

n. - dérivé, sous-produit, (fig) conséquence

Deutsch (German)

n. - Nebenprodukt, Nebenerscheinung

Ελληνική (Greek)

n. - υποπροϊόν, παραπροϊόν

Italiano (Italian)

sottoprodotto

Português (Portuguese)

n. - subproduto (m)

Русский (Russian)

побочный продукт

Español (Spanish)

n. - derivado, subproducto, consecuencia

Svenska (Swedish)

n. - biprodukt, sidoeffekt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))

副产品

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))

n. - 副產品

한국어 (Korean)

n. - 부산물

日本語 (Japanese)

n. - 副産物

עברית (Hebrew)

n. - ‮תוצר לוואי, תוצאת-לוואי‬

139.2. There was a time that I was a body carrying a head.

117.2. Switch off your eyes.

Christian Nerf

Christian Nerf at GALLERY AOP Johannesburg

Having spent the better part of a year on the move and working out of various ‘itinerant studios’ here in South Africa, in the United Kingdom and the United States, Christian Nerf returns with drawings that also bear a close relationship to the processes of printmaking and sculpture. Having embraced the restrictions offered by drawing and ‘challenging its ability to be a lawless territory’, he has produced a body of works on paper, which he refers to as ‘by-products’, with titles like working with obstacles, in and of itself and überrest.

Kathryn Smith writes “An artist’s artist, his innately experimental and 'otherwise' position is clearly evident in the work of younger artists like Anthea Moys, Francis Burger, and Josh and Jared Ginsburg, and senior figures like Barend de Wet, Penny Siopis and Willem Boshoff have also recognised and acknowledged Nerf's quiet but incontrovertible demand for ‘uncalled-for newness' and ‘unnecessary solutions’.”

Nerf is known for his conceptual investigations associated with collective action. As he puts it “I have also come to know the value of what can come from relinquishing myself to the relationship knowing that our combination would conjure up a third voice, an original voice”.

Over the past 15 years these endeavours resulted in multimedia installations, texts, interventions and the odd boat ride.