A Ghost Artist

I went back home to be taken care of and pump up my completely ruined immune system, but while combating with all type of “demons” I have decided that nothing could be better than an art therapy. The news about an upcoming workshop Art in Print by omnipresent Yarat! was just in time pennies from heaven.

Since I knew the owner of the Natavan gallery I was granted after-the-deadline access to the workshop, the privilege I decided to exploit since I had all the time in the world and needed to have some joggling.

While at the beginning I was more interested and excited about helping my friend with preparing the space for the exhibition, especially since I have just completed a NODE course on Exhibition Design, on the second day of the workshop I decided to stop by the premise and try to make my own cut asking Paul Coldwell, the British artist who hold that workshop, to add my pieces to the final show only if there will be space.

The process of printmaking turned out to be a lot of fun and despite me being quite dressy (just because I was planning to meet my primary school sweetheart that I have not seen for over 20 years), I was not afraid to get numerous cuts, dip my hands into black and red ink to paint with fingers, ruining my manicure and afterwards rubbing my skin for few minutes to get back my natural skin color.   

I guess I have a bit of a talent to disguise myself as if one googles that event he/she will not only find me at the event photos but also in the list of group show participants, despite being the only one (and this time not because of acquaintance with the gallery owner) selected to share the room with the artist, Paul Coldwell. Because of that some were mistakenly thinking my art was belonging to him so they appeared on TV marked as his. I did not mind, at the end, it's quite an honor to be considered (even though by obscure reporters covering the event) an established professional after less than 3 hours of doing prints! 

The last sentence under no way undermines Paul's research and work on loss and items of attribution, a certain trace, a portrait of a person based on his belongings. The topics covered by Paul Coldwell reminded me of another great project - My Most Important Suitcase by Fritz Roth (click here).

The pieces above were produced simultaneously while being a very dedicated mentor and supervisor of above a dozen students' work

Among the ones shown to us, I liked these two, but I strongly recommend to browse the rest of his website as there is much more: 

Points of Reference, 2011, Substrate: Somerset Velvet 300gms,Edition: 20+3 A/P

Source:http://www.paulcoldwell.org/

Hot Water Bottle, Glass and Compass, 37cmx22cmx6cm

Source:http://www.paulcoldwell.org/

Getting back to my artistic return. This even also remained unnoticed, or better said, unknown to my relatives and friends. So, yes, whenever I have time my arty side rebels and kills a boring consultant. First time it resulted in a series of QR-code inspired acrylic paintings on glass last winter when I was all by myself to manage a client in the middle of nowhere of Russian woods with -25C of cold outside. I had three after the work hobbies: Evening Urgant, a Russian version of Letterman show, drawing those acrylic self-expressions and checking out the snow level outside my terrace. Second time I was in stil-warn Baku, in the heart of the historical Inner City which already made the experience much more fun (especially, the tapping of inky fingers on paper). People at the show asked me what did I do: Paul saw some landscapes, Natavan - flowers, someone else - petroglyphs. Since I had no clue what I was doing (as from the beginning I wanted to carve a tree with carpet ornamentation, but due to lack of time and skills I only cut my fingers), I made a smart face and because everyone was seeing something different as in almost any other abstract piece, I called my papers Rorschach Studies (after Swiss Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst whose 1921 inkblot test is actually proven to be useless) automatically becoming a contemporary artist with own artist statement. 

I guess, I have discovered a new area of interest - printmaking, another hobby that I am afraid remains superficial as long as work over 12 hours a day!

P.S. thanks to my friends, Natavan and Ulviya who made me discover and experience this previously untapped and mistakenly considered boring technique!