'Clare'

Acrylic and Oil Portrait by Peter McGrath 

December 2016 

 portraitˈpɔːtrɪt/

noun

1. 1. 

   
   

   a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.

   "a portrait of Clare"

   synonyms:

   painting, picture, drawing, sketch, likeness, image, study, representation, portrayal, depiction, canvas;  miniature, self-portrait, kit-cat portrait;  informaloil; formalportraiture "a portrait of Clare"

GRAYSON PERRY

Typical Man in a Dress Tour

2 November 2016

The following snippets are a selection of thoughts which I scribbled in the dark during Grayson Perry’s 90 minute exploration of masculinity. The lecture was a MANifesto on what masculinity means to Perry in the 21^st century.

'Women hold up half the sky'

Mao Zedong

Women Hold Up Half the Sky identifies one of the central moral challenges of the 21st century – full equality for the world’s women. What chance for a man?

Masculinity is in crisis. Men are growing beards and the Hipster trend is a cliché. Who are the major role models for men in the 21^st century? Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and ISIS.  Therefore what is masculinity?

1.Masculinity is learnt. Parents, school, the media all reinforce the male gender in a nurture against nature format.

Alice Miller – the rise of the Nazi due to a strict childcare regime

See her book from Rage to Courage (Norton 2009).

Instead of a Hegemonic leader man uses his teddy bear as the subservient to his dominant.

2. Power of Dominance

Examples of this male dominance include: The Death Star

High rise architecture – huge erections/ structures which dominate the skyline

Men in suits all looking the same.

The Twin ideal. Are men fearful to appear different?

'Normal is the perfect aspiration for the unsuccessful'.

Karl Jung

3.The Male Performance is fluid as it is learnt over time eg. Pink for girls, Blue for boys.

4. Men are redundant

They cant use tools, they don’t need to use tools due to technology.

Men have become SKEUOMORPHIC.

SKEUOMORPH an object or feature which imitates the design of a similar artefact made from another material.

An object that used to be functional and is now decorative, like nipples on men. Men used to need muscles to for daily hunter gathering but now they are only used at the gym.

5. Masculinity – we can change.

Male increase in suicide and mental health conditions – men bypass their life feelings and emotions and have become ‘retrosexual’ and addicted to the male stereotypes of the past.

It is OK to share your feelings, it is OK to cry, it is OK to wear a dress, it is OK to hate DIY, it is OK to stay home and care for your children and be bad at home improvements and fighting.

#masculinityis

It is not necessary to treat men like a Japanese general – to keep fighting even when the war is over. 

Men need to be ‘talked down’ metaphorically because ‘Hey dudes! The war is over!!’ 
Grayson Perry

#femininityis

‘The truth will set you free but first it will piss you off’ 
Gloria Steiner.

In my opinion, the questions posed in this random collection of statements may be the antithesis of celebrating femininity. However, by recognising that males can be vulnerable and misunderstood beings trapped within a hairy backed, ‘Rambo-angst’ ridden, hipster hell following the herd ‘fight club’ mentality, reinforces the premis that with or without a womb we are all mammals and have the same basic rights – respect, liberty, security and hope.

PAGE 95

Water-based Screen Printing and safe Ceramic Decals by Dave Fortune 

My digital and textile image ‘Cheeky Girl’ has been included in this 'small but perfectly formed' informative book bursting with screen printing facts and useful tips for all creative practitioners by Dave Fortune – Master Printmaker at UWE. 
Book launched December 2nd 2016.

‘This new compendium of non-toxic screen print information contains various changes within the process… this book will be a useful publication for lecturers, teachers, printmakers and ceramic/enamel printmakers’.

RWA 164 Annual Open Exhibition 

MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS - November - December 2016

Here are a series of eclectic work produced by a mixture of Academicians and external artists using a combination of media including textiles, oil paint, photographic and stitched which I found inspirational. The range and quality of work was variable yet resonant; particularly the sculptural work of Tim Shaw, the Renaissance style pastiche portrait by Rosalind Robinson and the intimate, detailed portraits of Leslie Glenn Damhus. 
The intricate lace pointillist inspired patterned photograph 'Armour Studies - Lace IV' by Jessa Fairbrother was reminiscent of Elizabethan lace detail. Also the beautifully ornate handmade golden frame surrounding the sinister, translucent oil portrait of 'Miss X', appealed as it is the combination of emotive portrait with exactly this style of frame that could be used for my own digital print work. 
The majority of work was figurative or contained some aspect of 'humanity' which, in my opinion, was mirroring the Renaissance ideal -  'production of its own invention of humanism' ergo 'man' really is the measure of all things.

Tim Shaw

Tim Shaw’s sculpture ‘Eric’ is both other 0worldly and yet very much of this world. It is politically charged and confrontational, yet beneath the rough-hewn surfaces – often welded, stitched or bound together – there is a fragility and tactility that is inherently human.

 Rosalind Robinson

‘We Two Together Leaning’

oil on panel

Leslie Glenn Damhus

Lady of the Columbine

Oil on board

Leslie Glenn Damhus

Lady of the Celandiine

Oil on board

Jessa Fairbrother

Armour Studies (Lace IV)

Black and white unique photograph,

Pin pricked by hand

Mark Sheeky

Miss X

Oil on canvas in custom frame

The intellectual basis of the Renaissance was its own invented version of humanism, derived from the rediscovery of classical Greek philosophy.  "Man is the measure of all things."

31st UWE Annual Miniature Print Exhibition

My silkscreen print 'Tiny Lady' is displayed bottom left.