Travelling around the world with me :)

Minggu, 19 Juni 2016

07.02

THE TRAVELLING GALLERY | THE ARK CAMPS MURALS

by , in

The artworks imagine and illustrate new Scottish rural (feral) communities who are engaged in the construction of giant Ark structures from the debris of old boats and wooden structures which no one imagined would ever be used again. These Ark structures are not intended to be religious although the Ark story is referenced in almost every culture on the planet. These structures are to be seen as cypher for positive rebuilding and it might be imagined that the bus itself in some ways is an cultural ark which travels the byways of Scotland.

 The artwork for this project seeks to examine contemporary Scottish culture and its fractured relationship with the past through an exploration of identity which pulls together diverse strands and influences such as outsider artist Angus McPhee in the grass woven costumes worn by the workers in the encampments as well as fragments of highland fishing boats and architectural oddities. 

This work provides a bridge between our ancient past and an unknown but optimistic future for Scotland. These tiny fragments are all we have left of our ancient Scottish nation, of a past we can barely imagine when we were culturally whole and are seen in the context of a narrative of rebuilding. The artworks show eccentric ad-hocist constructions being built, great Ark structures. Arks constructed from the debris of old boat hulls and deconstructed allotment sheds which are drawn from images collected all over Scotland; from the outer Hebrides and Orkney to the central belt. The background textures and colours are an abstracted study of the orange Lykens found by the coast in the Hebrides and explore both geology and mapping. It is a delightful notion that these fragments from which the artworks are created will circle the country and at some points shall pass the sites where they actually lie awaiting recycling. 

rebecca's excellent fringe | photo credit travelling gallery

alex frost meet mike inglis | photo credit alison chisholm

 art camp | photo credit alison chisholm


 art camp | photo credit alison chisholm

 art camp | photo credit alison chisholm

 mike inglis and morvern cunningham | photo credit leith late

 art camp travelling | photo credit alison chisholm

 art camp travelling | photo credit alison chisholm


 art camp travelling | photo credit alison chisholm















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Selasa, 16 Juni 2015

10.27

SNH ARTIST RESIDENCY | TREE CHURCH FILM

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image marco scerri
the artist studio process of collecting and making is a 3D extension of the sketchbook process and this is where the real intuitive connections are made. this brilliant short film by Catherine Weir gives an overview of the whole residency and the collecting that went on in the name of research. a snapshot in time of the most excellent year spent with members of staff at Battleby, particularly Jim Carruthers who became a huge part of my process. 

as well as the adhocist recycled structure I was also working with texts and with new printmaking techniques – all the prints were made on site with spray paint and bootlace fungus on found materials in my spray shed. working very fast and completely intuitively I produced the aurora prints which are far looser than I normally work when I draw or screen print. initially I set myself one strict condition, that the work must be created within the natural boundaries of battleby with the creative tools at hand. It changed the work and my process and was a great experiment for me personally completely altering my approach and the control I normally have in my working process. 

its hard to believe a year has gone by since this life affirming residency produced tree church but having just returned from a research trip to the forests of finland it makes me realise how strongly biophilia still has me in its grip and quite how much this residency changed me as an artist.

image marco scerri

Mike Inglis - Artist in residence at SNH Battleby Conference Centre from cthrn wr on Vimeo.




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Rabu, 25 Maret 2015

04.48

DARK MATTERS : HIGHER THAN ICARUS

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higher than icarus - gallery installation shot
foreign bodies triptych and the primitives



What I am exploring is completely inspired by the creative response of Ann Druyan (the wife of Carl Sagan) who made recordings of her brainwaves and heart rates in an attempt to define what it felt like to be in love for the cultural time capsule the golden records which Voyager 1 now carries as it leaves our galaxy travelling into deep space on a journey that began in 1977. Carl Sagan died in 1996 but the recordings of their love still flow out into the void on an eternal voyage through the cosmos. This beautiful sentiment is meant more as a symbol of our species’ altruistic potential than a conscious attempt to communicate with alien societies and re-enforces my own humanity.

HIGHER THAN ICARUS – a love song to earth -– 19 golden hexagons in a screen printed wall mounted installation (based on the base of a fluorescence air telescope and sized to be equal to the Hubble) exploring the visual language of science and art – combining vector and hand driven drawings, scientific diagrams and notation to produce a synthesis of images which explore the idea of the higher emotions.

higher than icarus - mid production on the screenprint beds

hexagonal heaven - studio shot

SUNSONG ONE AND SUNSONG TWO :  a sound installation which combines the sound of the suns radiation with human heartbeats and a 3D print of the “singing” Rosetta comet (supplied by UKATC) ultimately help explore these concepts based around universal love. The sun emitting radiation at the highest frequency in our universe and the law of vibration, a law which states that nothing rests means that the sun offers an emotional high beyond any human understanding of the concept of love or the higher emotional states. It provides a physical love song to humanity.


sunsong#2 - 3D printed comet / gold / volcanic sand



THE FOREIGN BODIES EDITIONS – these editions at first appear to be asteroids or space debris but are in fact corals, rocks formed by living earth based organisms. They assist in decoding HIGHER THAN ICARUS and examine the same concepts in a triptych format


foreign bodies #1


foreign bodies #2
foreign bodies #3
foreign bodies triptych


THE PRIMITIVES –wooden painted geometric shapes and patterns that govern our understanding of the world whether artistically or scientifically and examine the relationships between the circle and the hexagon that underpin much of the image building. These shapes are derived from the Metatron cube a geometrical concept that helps examine the links between science with metaphysics.

the primitives




the primitives - studio shot

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Rabu, 28 Januari 2015

17.03

SNH ARTIST RESIDENCY | TREE CHURCH INSTALLATION

by , in

image marco scerri
image lorne gill SNH



image marco scerri

image marco scerri





image marco scerri


image marco scerri
image mike inglis

image mike inglis

The final piece of work that was created for the grounds in Battleby can be thought of as a place as much as a structure. “TREE CHURCH” is composed of an adhocist twin structure and a bell tower. The “Adhocist”   structure provides a contemplative holistic space that reinforces our absolute need to create an instinctive bond with other living systems as explored by Edward O Wilson the American scientist and social biologist in his theory of “Biophilia”. It is not intended to be a religious space but questions what a religious space actually is. Tree Church provides a sense of spirituality drawn from a scientific understanding of the world and the shrine inside the building seeks further to examine the beauty that can be found in decay and the understanding born from this cycle of life.

The concept also seeks to re-establish the relationship between the house and the grounds by reinstating the essence of some of the “lost structures” of Battleby, the wooden summerhouse and the Victorian glasshouses. The combined theories of adhocism (see footnote) and biophilia informed the building of the structure, the contents of which further examine the relationship between science and art. The structure emphasizes the opportunity for exploration and fascination in a small tended woodland garden that might also encourage us to explore the untended wildernesses beyond.

A rough Caithness stone floor helps to draw our natural Scottish environment into the structure and remind us of the timeless nature of its origin 400 million years ago. This reinforces the geological timeline contrasting the immediate idea of “old” materials in the recycled wooden window frames with the ancient stone of the floor upon which we stand.


The living roof allows further reflection and connections; the mosses, lichens and fungi tying into the fungus prints and helping to extend with the buildings actual fabric ideas surrounding decay and the cycle of life.


A rowan tree planted in the structure was chosen for a number of reason but in Scotland in particular it was considered a very magical tree offering protection as well as sharpening intuition. It was often planted close to new building to offer the structure protection. When time has its way with the structure it is hoped that all that will remain will be the Kashmiri Rowan planted by Jim Carruthers and myself.

A seperate blog exists that documents my research and experiences there should you wish to know more -


image marco scerri

image marco scerri

image marco scerri
image marco scerri

image marco scerri
image marco scerri

image marco scerri
image marco scerri

image marco scerri
image marco scerri






Adhocist theory follows Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver’s 1972 manifesto for a generation that took pleasure in doing things ad hoc, using materials at hand to solve real-world problems. The implications were subversive. turned-off citizens of the 1970s immediately adopted the book as a DIY guide. Adhocism has always been around. (Robinson Crusoe,making a raft and then a shelter from the wreck of his ship). However it is also an undeveloped force within the way we approach almost every activity, from play to architecture to city planning to political revolution. JENCKS SILVER 1972

image mike inglis





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Kamis, 06 Maret 2014

03.31

songs from the beginning of the world

by , in



The first part of my research based arts project "Chasing the Ghost of Angus Mcphee" a bespoke hand made and very limited edition grey cloth box containing a set of six new screenprints. The prints examine contemporary Scottish culture and its fractured relationship with the past through an exploration of identity which pulls together many diverse strands and influences such as outsider artist Angus McPhee in the grass woven costumes worn by the children as well as tribal fetishes and outsider art versions of everyday cultural icons that the children of the grass choose to worship.

This work provides a bridge between an ancient past and an unknown future for a hebridean culture and the broader Scottish culture. These tiny fragments are all we have left of our ancient Scottish nation and who we once were when we were culturally whole. Are the children ghosts from the past haunting our present or are they confused cultural warriors fighting to create a new future?

The ruins of old caravans, desolate vessels representing family and a transient relationship with memory and home lurk in the backgrounds of some of the images. In other more hopeful images we see new Ark structures built, Arks constructed from the debris of old boat hulls and deconstructed allotment sheds.

The texts reference political systems, ideologies, collective memories and calls for unity and are intentionally ambiguous, some ominous, some celebratory, some even threatening.

The background textures are an abstracted study of the orange lichens found by the coast in the Hebrides and explore both geology and mapping.




BOX SIZE : 51CM x 36 CM x 3CM
BOX EDITION – 8
BOX GREY CLOTH BOUND BOX WITH INSET SCREENPRINT ON COVER
PRINT SIZES : 6 IMAGES : EACH 50 CM x 35CM

5 colour screenprints on fabriano white paper

Produced in September 2013
 
 











The editions were produced at Highland Print Studio and the hand made boxed produced in collaboration with Sollas Books in North Uist with funding support from Creative Scotland and University of Edinburgh. 

The second part of the new body will be a series of large-scale mixed media pieces created from salvage collected on my travels in the Hebrides and be ready in the New Year after I complete my current creative Scotland residency for Year of Natural Scotland with SNH to be followed by a large scale sculptural Public art installation.








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