Lee Broughall

This time next week I’ll be a millionaire. Spiritually speaking.

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 08:26:26 +0100

This time next week I’ll be a millionaire. Spiritually speaking.

I keep wondering who this ‘Doctor Congo’ guy is. http://bit.ly/cAPZO9

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:42:31 +0100

I keep wondering who this ‘Doctor Congo’ guy is. http://bit.ly/cAPZO9

antipainter: Black Tail Deer, Mt. Rainier National Park,...

Thu, 02 Sep 2010 10:39:47 +0100

antipainter:

Black Tail Deer, Mt. Rainier National Park, Courtesy E.H. Pearson…

I believe it’s pronounced ‘TDEER’.

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one,...

Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:02:34 +0100

The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one, he said.

Rather more leftovers than I remember.

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:28:31 +0100

Rather more leftovers than I remember.

Lunchtime aimless wandering 2.3 mi, 5 mangled photos http://bit.ly/9ErgoX with #SportsTracker

Wed, 18 Aug 2010 06:36:35 +0100

Lunchtime aimless wandering 2.3 mi, 5 mangled photos http://bit.ly/9ErgoX with #SportsTracker

"Misled in the formulation."

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 10:00:00 +0100

“Misled in the formulation.”

- Martina, a German colleague, had trouble with the phrase ‘lost in translation’ after an entertaining conversation in which she described herself and belongings as ‘extended’.

Angels in the architecture

Thu, 05 Aug 2010 10:30:00 +0100

July Studio Work

Last week started quite well. I recently started using last.fm and listening to my library on the way to work via the magical medium of mobile phone. By way of an explanation, this library generally consists of music I’ve played in Spotify. However, last Tuesday began with an inexplicable steel drums rendition of Paul Simon’s ‘You Can Call Me Al’, which I had never heard before. This set a relaxed tone for the rest of the week and enabled much progress to be made on current paintings.

If you happen to use Spotify, here’s a link: Trinidad Cement Limited Skiffle Bunch – You Can Call Me Al

There are six or seven paintings in various stages of completion (along with two other mystery supports - as says the decaying sticky note that has been in my pocket for several weeks). Primarily, I had been working on one entitled 177 Bank and recording the process for a forthcoming video. Unfortunately, following a lengthy time-lapse capture of paint drying, the video camera now refuses to record anything. On a similar note, the video editing software I’m using appears not to allow a final video of more than one minute. Adjustments will be made, and I’ll produce a video of the process so far. Let me know if you happen to know someone with a Roald Dahl style voice who might like to offer minor voice-over services for free (or for a minor charge).

Around the time that the video camera broke, I changed direction with the painting. This has happened before. In 2006, I constructed a support with a Perspex surface for 177 Bank but then decided that it better suited a different idea. This time around, the support intended for 177 Bank has been reassigned to 203 Billets (pictured above). The word ‘billet’ had always been interpreted as ‘ticket’ in French for me, but has numerous other definitions such as barracks for soldiers, a bar of metal, something to do with a saddle and, in heraldry, a rectangular shape representing a folded note. This rectangle is reminiscent of the painting supports generally, being portrait in orientation. As always, I’m drawn toward ambiguity in the interpretation.

Once the end of the Billets painting is in sight, I’ll be returning to about three paintings that really only need finishing touches. Two more are barely started, and are therefore the ones that I’d most like to tackle thereafter. One involves some photography at Waterloo Station, where I’ll be looking for particularly sour expressions from a mixture of people. Any assistance with regards to models, or in relation to photo-shoots in public locations, is highly appreciated.

Also on the to-do list are responses to certain comments on previous posts to this blog. I have been a little slow in responding.

Left back in the changing room

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:48:00 +0100

Inspired by the recent World Cup (football) in South Africa, Dr. Matt asked a number of people for a written contribution to his TISAR website. As with most of these requests, I handed in my assignment several days late. As such, the football tournament in question, and its associated ‘buzz’, had long since finished.

My starting point was a memory of listening to the World Cup final in 1994, with my brother, on a white Sony radio/tape recorder, which I still have. This sparked off a montage of football-related childhood memories leading to and resulting from that moment. In no way does it relate to spectralogical audio research, as far as I’m aware.

The piece was published this morning, and can be read on the Institute Of Spectralogical Audio Research blog, entitled ‘Left back in the changing room’ in reference to my explosive football career (it ‘bombed’).

July in pictures

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:24:41 +0100

A Taschen brochure arrived at work. This page, promoting ‘Type. A Visual History of Typefaces & Graphic Styles, 1901-1938’ caught my eye. “Musical Chord Festive Hem” is an odd collection of words which summons thoughts of a 1930s social gathering in a wooden-floored village hall, with a piano and strange patterned curtains.

Something intrigues me about typography before the age of the all-pervasive sans-serifs. It’s as if the development of technology to automate printing processes is associated with the ‘modern’ sans-serifs and, therefore, the more decorative fonts (as pictured, left) are embodiments of the handmade.

A few typographical articles and references have sprung up recently. Notably, these seem to be satirically insulting Comic Sans users. I wonder whether this will backfire and actually increase the popularity of Comic Sans. Almost every school I deal with uses this font somewhere on their website.

The ambiguity (or is that ambivalence) between ‘Bear’ and ‘Bare’ floats my boat. It’s a visually attractive snack packet reminiscent of the forthcoming (September) UCA website relaunch.

I often find it difficult to articulate what prompts me to take photographs. Is it revealing enough to say that outdoor signage to advertise outdoor signage is amusing, or do I have to write about irony? The chair’s design is something I’d like to appropriate and construct, but then I later found the photograph to be amusing because it’s actually a picture of an arm and a chair.

Carl Gent proudly shows a photograph of his ‘Welcome to the Holocene’ work in the UCA prospectus, alongside a mystery photograph I took from the train on the way into London. On looking over the London skyline, approaching Waterloo, I realised that it had been so long since I had visited the city that a new skyscraper had been built. Presumably the Heron Building. Attempts to photograph it clearly failed.

There appears to be a similarity in the visual compositions of these two images. Carl’s expression is reflected in the large windows of the ‘DER’ building, which directs the gaze towards the background houses in place of the prospectus. The desk’s gubbins are replicated by a foreground tree. The striped shirt akin to the dirty pattern of the ‘DER’ building.

On a final note, the ‘Milo Is Lost’ poster reminded me of the David Thorne missing cat poster design debacle. I have chosen not to comment on Charlie’s substandard quality of grammar on this occasion.

This post was quite a bumper issue in light of a recent lack of blogging. Very shortly (later in the week) there will be an additional post on the topic of painting and studio work. By that time, there will also likely be a short football based article that I wrote in response to a request from Dr Matt - appearing on The Institute Of Spectralogical Audio Research (TISAR) blog.

I've painted a white line on the street - way over there. That's where you start from.

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 12:49:26 +0100

It’s so humid that I’ve just had to pay for lunch with a damp tenner.

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:20:48 +0100

It’s so humid that I’ve just had to pay for lunch with a damp tenner.

Train departs 15 minutes late, but arrives on time. Still 15 minutes early for a meeting. Now with...

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:20:48 +0100

Train departs 15 minutes late, but arrives on time. Still 15 minutes early for a meeting. Now with Limp Bizkit in my head @crstokes83

OMG!!!111! The Original Marble and Granite Company Ltd.

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:42:32 +0100

OMG!!!111! The Original Marble and Granite Company Ltd.

Exhibition attendance figures 2009

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:15:00 +0100

Back in March, the April 2010 Art Newspaper’s informative section on worldwide exhibition attendance statistics caught my eye. I thought it might be useful to compare some exhibitions - one from Tate Modern and a couple from the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries, where I am Galleries Administrator - to hopefully find out whether visitor numbers are reasonable compared with respective local populations.

The Data

Tate Modern
Roni Horn aka Roni Horn, 25 Feb - 25 May 2009:
47,328 (526 per day)

London population: 7.55 million (2007 estimate)

James Hockey & Foyer Galleries, UCA Farnham
Claire Morgan: Periphery, 10 Nov 2008 - 10 Jan 2009 (screen capture from a film by Sarah Wakely pictured above):
3,262 (67 per day)

VJ Moreton: The Theatre of the Naked Eye, 7 Oct - 12 Dec 2009:
4,088 (70 per day)

Farnham population: 38,000 (2009 estimate)

The Analysis

I have used the Coefficient for Respective Areas of Population (CRAP) to analyse these figures.

Since London’s population is 199 times greater than that of Farnham, Tate Modern should receive 199 times more visitors than the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries. Or approximately 13,900 per day. Roni Horn aka Roni Horn was some 13,300 off this target.

Or, perhaps the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries should receive 1/199th of the visitors that Tate Modern receives. This equates to about 3 people per day. Both Farnham exhibitions mentioned above received more than 22 times this number. Therefore, the James Hockey & Foyer Galleries are 2200% better than Tate Modern.

In Summary

Most of the above can be ignored. I merely wished to point out that the Roni Horn exhibition seemed to have a low number of visitors for such a major institution, especially when compared with something of similar stature like Isa Genzken at the Whitechapel (129,000 in total, 1,600 daily). I didn’t see either.

Current paintings, June 2010

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 23:23:28 +0100

Recent weeks have been spent on the reorganisation of studio debris. A variety of leftover items have accrued in the last three years, primarily as a result of constructing paintings - sawdust, pieces of wood, metal, and plastic, old electrical equipment, fabrics, and cookware. Now sorted into about 17 categories based on type and size, I can now return to focussing on painting.

Pictured above are the very initial stages for two of the six paintings I’m concurrently working on. On the left, 199 Fat and Grease, and on the right, 177 Bank. More images to follow throughout the construction process. I’m also planning to create a video attempting to outline the painting process in more detail.

Paltry salad

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:29:06 +0100

Paltry salad

Last night’s attendance at the Barnfield College end of...

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 15:53:17 +0100

Last night’s attendance at the Barnfield College end of year art and design exhibitions (surprisingly good, since you ask) was punctuated with a ‘metal’ band that generated such nostalgia that I almost felt like I was back at Sixth Form.

The video snippet above focusses on the drummer, an intriguing cross between Rowan Atkinson and Freddie Mercury.

Meanwhile and elsewhere the work of George W. was on display (pictured below). A paradoxically cohesive piece on the topic of confusion - based on the destruction of copies of ‘Lord of the Rings’, “… a book I have attempted to read but repeatedly failed to enjoy.” Effectively, the destruction of the books acts as a kind of analysis, separating selected elements and reinterpreting the resulting artefacts through a variety of processes. The books are redacted to a handful of words, the words crafted into ceramic print-blocks which are printed onto the wall, and the individual ceramic letters isolated in compartments of a Type Drawer to be examined in great detail.

Goodbye car

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 14:46:30 +0100

Some men from the Fire Department (I had temporarily forgotten the word ‘brigade’) came to take away my lifeless car, which will be cut into pieces and set on fire for ‘training’. A ghostly after-image remains in the car park, in which no one has dared park for several days.

#WorldCup I’m enjoying the cameo role of James Earl Jones on the PA system at the...

Thu, 17 Jun 2010 22:28:21 +0100

#WorldCup I’m enjoying the cameo role of James Earl Jones on the PA system at the France/Mexico game.