Wednesday 29 December 2010

Christmas Night

A slight sense of excitement as I look back at Christmas night. My two old friends a bottle of Jagermeister and a hand full of Psilocybin loaded treats. We had an epic journey that should have taken us 15 minutes but 3 hours later we were only half way there. There were castles, tobogganing, and  crying laughter till 3a.m. It was one of those nights that brought me right back but at the same time kept me positive about the future. Having a laugh like I did when growing up. Young, free and searching for adventure, I'm inspired once again.

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Christian Hot Dogs

Tiny sneak at my new show means there is allot of work to do and a massive commitment. Here goes 2011 and a race to the finish line. Ireland will energize me and give some health back to my heart and soul. Onwards to Tir na Nog, the land of eternal youth.

Monday 20 December 2010

Saturday 11 December 2010

North and South of the River.

These times, temperatures and raising heart beats always bring us home to a comfortable place. Where mother knows best and the landscapes are overwhelmingly familiar. Like an old friend we knew well, when nothing changes after years of distance. Older, wiser and having much more fun than we thought we were having in the past. Ill be staying South of the river this Christmas but exploring both sides.

Bobby Sands - The Peoples Own MP

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Thursday 2 December 2010

The Times They Are A-Changin

Dylan your keeping me enlightened today. All change, all gone upside down but it is a seasonal thing. Goodbye green hello white powder and warm clothes.

Sunday 28 November 2010

COFFEE AND CIGARETTES

Serious Delirium.

Power In Numbers

There is a beautiful concept in the idea of formation, and with the sound of good music and love. Keep it up and hold tight as the journey is a memorable one. Things can take a grasp of its own and take you somewhere... well, different. Dont be scared just latch on to your feelings. Fuck the external feedback, keep it internal and be happy. Anything goes.

Concrete Playground - How Strange

Inevitable. No matter what you say or do the worst things can come out of it. It is the best of these things we have to take note on. Don't worry, don't stress, just keep the fire burning and make it happen. Long live the aspect of duration, time passing and the fruit of our skills.

Friday 26 November 2010

Thanksgiving in Portland

Spending time with beautiful people in Portland. Ryann, Jona and Claire. Food and Drink frenzy followed by the soundest sleep ever. It is cold outside but cozy indoors. Portland your a friendly city.






http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/646/Thanksgiving_With_Yacht

Thursday 25 November 2010

Thanks - Thanksgiving

Burrows, you are a clever man.



William S. Burroughs - A Thanksgiving Prayer

Wednesday 24 November 2010

Lynne Ramsay

Lynne has been an infulance for a long time now and to know she is as inspiring in the flesh as she is trough her film gives me hope. Im waiting impatiently to see her new film and to see how she can translate her vision on the american narative she took on ths year.

Rat Catcher is a historic piece of work, and to have made it so young and so fresh with the sensibility of a fine artist makes me push harder and dig deeper into what I can achieve in my own work. It isn't easy that is for sure but pushing forward and sticking to your guns is the only way. Longevity is the goal.

Sunday 21 November 2010

Dead Kennedys

Nice to know something interesting was happening as I entered the world.

Friday 19 November 2010

Art Mosh

The good people at Art Mosh have kindly asked me to be a part of their European exhibition. Lovely chaps, they have decided to show 6 of my pictures that I took on a mental day with Bad Brains last year. Punk rock and Art, almost like salt and vinegar, a timeless flavor. Go to it on the 25th! Please.

31 Hours

31 hours of straight work has made me feel a little strange. Does that mean I need to regain the sleep lost or will I get used to it after time. None the less I feel like I'm in a dream. Tomorrow I get to go to my true love NYC and re ignite the passion I have deep inside for her.

Sunday 14 November 2010

Look Here! - Gallows

I don't give a fuck what you say but a band that have the presence that you can only hope for scores big points in my mind. Someone who gives it all onstage and lives and breathes it in every capacity hast to be celebrated again and again. Fuck you half ass internal egos as this is the way forward. Boxing ring full of people willing to fight, push and spit to show appreciation for what you make. Creating music because you don't like what you hear is a perfect reason to do it in my eyes. This mosh pit was full, good night tonight.



Gallows

Thursday 11 November 2010

We Are The Destroyers - Nike

The first trailer installment of a film iv been shooting with Nike has been released. To celebrate the new Destroyer jacket range and smashing the hell out of stuff. We got to drop a ridiculously heavy neon sculpture and and shoot it in high speed for the epic crescendo. A job I might have only dreamed of as a boy. The final film will be shown on the 18th of November, look out! Destroy, create and party hard.





#wearethedestroyers
 Dir: Niall O'Brien
Dop: Shane Daly
Editor:  Roman Rappak
Sound Design:  Breton Labs
Production: Spun Films
Agency: AKQA
Client: Nike

Dubsteptastic

I now think a set of 1220's (turntables) are in order for a spontaneous purchase. I sold my first set to buy a camera about 12years ago. Career change? Who knows but being introduced to some dirty genre of music I feel inclined to go out on a mad night and come home to re live the experience in my bedroom on a makeshift table and serious monitor speakers. Dirty Dirty Dubstep.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

Rife with Talent - Breton Labs

Working late tonight with the master Roman Rappak. The guy is text book genius and has talent oozing from his soul. Musically him and his band are killing it and cinematically much the same. It is rare to meet someone who exceeds in many mediums and gives 100 percent effortlessly. Look out for him, look out for them as all ready people are picking up their ears in amazement.


The Well from BretonLABS on Vimeo.

http://bretonbretonbreton.blogspot.com/

BB5




Friday 5 November 2010

Justice Stress

Ok, I'm pretty sure this is how I saw my self as a kid. I was tough, didn't care and spat allot.  In reality these young fellows would have me and my friends for dinner though we might have put up a fight for a few seconds. I'm all for releasing built up tension but common, did they have to smash a perfectly good bongo?



http://www.dailymotion.com

Thursday 4 November 2010

At Peace At Home

Finding a piece of art that sums up the way you feel there and then has to be purchased. Buying art hasn't ever been my forte but when something speaks to you and confirms the way you feel it has to be done. Heretic are a pretty impressive bunch of good, good timers and make incredible screen prints, buy from them, learn from them, drink with them.


Showing at Bare Bones 5
http://hereticprintmakers.blogspot.com/
www.ourbarebones.com

Wednesday 3 November 2010

IAM - L'Americano / Bad Boys de Marseille

Having a  French producer helps in certain situations but I cant help find that richness in attitude is a gift. To be able to offend and endear at the same time is almost a Celtic ritual. Eagerness and drive gets the daily task done every time. Making money and not compromising is the way forward if you have the skill to do it. Just do it...

 

Saturday 30 October 2010

Bare Bones no 5

The takeover continues. Click on the link for all details of the massive opening the dirty little feckers are organising.

Thursday 28 October 2010

Love and Death




Enter the Void

Coming down after a heavy one of nigh of 3 parties and good people, I need to reboot with the  memory of Gaspar Noe's Enter the void. Probably not the right flick to watch when the head is in a spin but you must marvel at his capability to cause wonder in his technique. How does he do it? How is it shot? and how the hell does he get away with it? Enter the void is history, it is a film I'm not sure I love but I respect.


ENTER THE VOID trailer from Trinity Films on Vimeo.

Sunday 24 October 2010

7.22am, God Damn it!

A sort of juddery feeling in my bones from the night just gone but the morning sun peeping from behind the city makes me feel confident the new day is on its way. Sleeping is not an option until the fear kicks in. London you are the bane and love of my life.


"Return to the Circus-Circus...Looking for the Ape...to Hell with the American Dream" -
Hunter S. Thompson

 

Friday 22 October 2010

Silent Shout

I know what that feels like, only last night after a good feed, bottle of wine and fine company I had the strangest dream that I needed to escape from something and my only means was to shout for help, nothing, nothing came out and the frustration ensued. Pretty dark place, pretty frightening at times but making it out of it and waking up was somehow liberating and the bed was still warm.

Thursday 21 October 2010

Staring at the Sun

Staring at the sun and I cant see any more. But my mind is fresh and I don't think I need my peepers to realise the greatness in the small things I come across these days. It takes a great night in doors with good people to bring things back to reality and puts an almighty smile on my face. The neighbors are annoyed but there is solace in the fresh smell of mixed cleaning goods and hover work I'm about to embark on. Mr Muscle, you are a good guy, spontaneity you are a legend.

Beautiful Day

Too good to be stuck indoors today that's for sure. To create and invent situations in life can be a wonderful opportunity. Getting the time and money to show people what is going on in your mind is a rare thing, if you are there embrace it and don't wander from your true aesthetic. Stick to yer guns!


Tuesday 19 October 2010

King of the Castle

Not one speck of dust and an amazing smell of mixed cleaning products. Fit for visitors. Open house as always. Things can be really exciting even in the most sporadic of English weather, I'm 10 flights up and the shoreline can almost be made out from my kitchen window, I'm sure it is there, I can almost smell the sea... Now for a massive feed and a new music video treatment.

Nike

Bending over once again in the form of a film for Nike. 3 days filming smashing lights, boxers, basketball players and a massive party scene.Tones of smoke, glass and destruction is the order of the day. Bring it!



Friday 15 October 2010

Getting the Best Form Mother Earth

Look at what we have become, a world of desperate anxiety and money matters. If we could all look at the chi of Mickey Smith the surf maverick of the Atlantic Ocean, we would understand how to live life to its fullest. His mantra is to explore and excite and his job is to show us how it is done. Too bring our tiny little souls closer to a more humbling experience. Please watch this. The cliffs are epic and the water is fucking freezing.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS

Thursday 14 October 2010

Nuit Blanche by Arev Manoukian

Drums of Death.

On a day where I feel my coordination has left me due to a mid week heavy but fun night. I turn to my admiration of a real musical instrument. The kind that takes a long time to master and perfect. Only a few people go down as the great drummers of all time and what they make is pure musical genius. Some times unrecognized, lets take our hats of to the boys and girls who practice hard and become a backbone of any decent band. No posing here, just a good bit of face pulling and sweating with in trance like state.


Wednesday 13 October 2010

Miners - Richard Avedon - Method Man

With current events in Chile where Of a total of 33 miners trapped almost 700 meters underground on Aug. 5 2010, I cant help turn to the man him self Avedon. Another person I find relevant is Method Man and the Prodigy's remix of the perfectly named "Release Yo Delf". Yes miners and rescue people, release dem and make them happy, its dark down there and probably pretty smelly. Listen to the words of Johnny Blaze.
 


 

Monday 11 October 2010

Flasbacks of a Fool

Timeless scene from a good friend who knows how to create fine cinema.

 


Director: Baillie Walsh
DP: John Mathieson

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1037218/




Kate Moss in 3D - Jeazus!

You could probably take an eye out with a diamond, but that doesn't matter to Kate Moss as she will happily throw a hand full right at your face. Sound woman but gets a little feisty when given the opportunity to fire things at people, and £70,000 cameras.

Baillie, your a legend!

http://www.nowness.com/day/2010/9/14/965/kate-moss-in-3d

Sunday 10 October 2010

Freedom

Philosophy in a Scum Bag.

Solace in a film on a sunny day. Indian summer but a duvet is more appealing and more inviting that I ever knew. Good times followed by mellow times, maybe tomorrow it will rain? Either way, all good. The Irish film board do produce classic cinema and epic performances, except for the token few. Why cant people do a good accent, Jon Voight aside.


Team America, Carson was a martyr. Have you seen an ant eat its own head? Well you haven't seen everything.

Friday 8 October 2010

Customellow and the Devil.

Oh yes, I do bend over now and again. Floppy hair and sunshine, the perfect elements to a good day out and the brown envelope. Heads down lads.




Singapore International Photography Festival 2010

If you happen to be passing Singapore as you do, pop in to take a look at the shows. Especially the Lim Hak Tai Gallery. Good Aul stuff!



5 - 24 October 2010 at Galleries 1 & 2
15 October - 7 November 2010 at Lim Hak Tai Gallery
 
The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA) is proud to present two exhibitions from the second Singapore International Photography Festival (SIPF). Organized every two years, the festival is a platform for regional artists to showcase their works alongside their international peers. There are two distinct categories with an open-ended theme of “Human: Nature” in the open call for submissions. The works will be showcased at various venues across Singapore, including Galleries 1 & 2 and Lim Hak Tai Gallery at NAFA Campus 1.
 
The galleries at NAFA will be showcasing a variety of photographic styles from 13 selected artists. With over 160 images to wow the senses, the works come from as near as Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar and further afield as Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Sweden and the USA and are being exhibited for the first time in Singapore.
 
The photographers were handpicked by Ms Bridget Tracy Tan, Director, Institute of Southeast Asian Arts & Art Galleries, NAFA, who is one of the four curators for the 2010 festival. She says, “The partnership with SIPF demonstrates our desire to engage in and cultivate exchange in wider platforms of contemporary art and its discourse. Photography encompasses many genres including that which resides in Fine Art and Design & Media. As a contemporary medium it is continually evolving, and a broad showcase such as the SIPF provides both content and context for furthering our discourse and appreciation of this discipline regionally, as well as around the world.”
 
We cordially invite the media to attend and cover the event: 
 
Exhibition Details
    
At Galleries 1 & 2    
Dates & Time : 5 - 24 October 2010
    11am - 7pm, Tuesday - Sunday.
    Closed on Monday and public holiday.
    
Venue : Galleries 1 & 2, NAFA Campus 1
    80 Bencoolen Street, S(189655)
    
Artists: : Alejandro Cartagena ‘Lost Rivers from the Suburbia Mexican Project’ (Mexico)
    Grace Kim ‘Love Hotel’ (USA)
    Chadwick & Spector ‘Museum Anatomy’ (USA)
    Jan Lemitz ‘Fields of Supply’ (Germany)
    Subi Le ‘Ethereal Visage’ (Vietnam)
    Tristan Cai ‘Physical Realities of Death, A memoir of Toivo Laukkanen’ (Singapore)
    Vincent Lim ‘Hands/Holding’ (Singapore)
    
At Lim Hak Tai Gallery    
Dates & Time : 15 October - 7 November 2010
    11am - 7pm, Tuesday - Sunday.
    Closed on Monday and public holiday.
    
Venue : Lim Hak Tai Gallery, NAFA Campus 1
    80 Bencoolen Street, S(189655)
    
Artists: : Eric White ‘War Games’ (USA)
    Erica Lai ‘The Observatory’ (Singapore)
    Jenny Nordquist ‘The Shoreditch Triangle’ (Sweden)
    Kurt Tong ‘People’s Park’ (UK)
    Niall O’Brien ‘Good Rats’ (Ireland)
    Phyu Mun ‘Hope & Dream’ (Myanmar)
    
Admission : Free

http://www.sipf.com.sg/web/

Monday 4 October 2010

The Pogues - If I Should Fall from Grace with God

Gaeltacht College - Memories in a Can

A smell evoking memories of when we were young and free to roam the country side, smoking cigarettes and firing catapults at tractors was re introduced to me over this weekend thanks to the beautiful Claireban. All all these amazing reminders from my summer in Irish College in the Gaeltacht. Memories of my first kiss and what drama was created with the smallest of problems, all came flooding back. Teaching each other how to faint and running down to the chipper after the Bean An Ti (lady of the house) cooked us a standard dinner of Chicken, baked beans, veg and potatoes, I think the Gaeltacht was where I first got punched too. We were Ferrel and excited to be amongst new people. I fell in love and quickly forgot. Until now, Thank you Claireban for my can of Linx Africa, who would have known all that was in there.


They Are Us - Maser and Damien Dempsey

They Are Us is a tribute to Dublin, a tribute to the city: northside and southside, the visible and the secret, the good and the bad. They Are Us was initially conceived by Maser, and grew out of a previous art project, 'Maser Loves You', which involved a series of positive messages being placed around the city. His work is directly inspired by a passion for his hometown: 'Dublin is a central theme in my work. I spent some time traveling and painting when I was younger. The more I traveled, the more I realised how great this city is. I loved it more from being away.'
Spending more time painting on the streets, Maser became increasingly aware of the parallel city: the partly-hidden world that exists in the spaces away from signs inviting you to 'register your interest now' or places with 'upward only rent reviews'. 'When I'd be painting, I used to meet a lot of homeless people and addicts, they would end up hangin' out with me for the day. I ended up seeing a lot of strange things, some good, some bad, but all things that make up this part of the city.
'Around the time, a lot of the work I was doing was with quite rounded, inviting typefaces. A lot street artists works are very negative, focusing on the negative elements of society or anti-establishments. I don't want to do that - I don't see the point, it's us on the ground level who have to see this everyday. After a while, I found myself writing almost hopeful messages to them... things like 'Urban Achievers' instead of 'Underachievers'.
This theme of hope led to a connection with musician Damian Dempsey. 'With my work, I want to portray a positive message, but still address what I encountered on the street. And that is what Damien Dempsey does with his music. I think my work is reflective of what's in Damien's music. He's a local hero to me. His words have weight behind them, people listen to them. And I thought it would be interesting to intertwine what we were doing.'
The pair began collaborating - Maser selecting sites, and Damien supplying words, some old, mostly new. 'I think 99% of his words are ones that from his notebooks. A few are lyrics that I love, and thought would be ideal for a certain sites.
The link between the project and the city is furthered by Maser's chosen style for They Are Us: primarily known as a graffiti artist, this project sees him present his take on Dublin sign-writing styles of the 1930s to the 1960s. 'I chose sign-writing (as a style) because I wanted it to appeal to as many people as possible, not just graffiti writers. So I started researching Dublin sign writing from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s: that was an artform in itself: the typefaces they used, the leading and layouts. It's a homage to certain people like Kevin Freeney, the sign writer, who back in the 1930's, rambled through Dublin's streets on a bike or with a pushcart carrying his paints and brushes. He painted over 700 pieces around Dublin town. So, I thought this was an ideal medium because, in a way, it relates to Damien's music: the concept, the content.'
The project covers a variety of sites across the capital city, and includes works in St Patrick's Institution. 'I'm not sure why I wanted to work there,'says Maser, 'I just know that I wanted to interact with people in a different environment - just like the Dublin I see painting at night is a different environment, so is the institution. I wanted to experience it, to see what it was like. I wanted to stay there also - but I'm not sure if they would allow that!' As part of the collaborative process, Damian Dempsey performed a gig for the inmates at Mountjoy. In addition, Maser also hosted sign writing workshops for the inmates.
All proceeds raised by the sale of artwork from this project will go to the Simon Community. The aim of the project is to raise funds to purchase a medical van to provide assistance to people affected by homelessness.





http://www.theyareus.ie
http://www.damiendempsey.com/