I'LL SLEEP ON IT HOWARD MASON PEOPLE WATCHING | until 30 November 2024 #GlobalWarming #ClimateChange #EnvironmentalAwareness #SaveThePlanet #Environment

'PORTRAIT' HOWARD MASON PEOPLE WATCHING | STROUD Until 30 November 2024 aleph.contemporary

Howard Mason PEOPLE WATCHING Runs until 30th November 2024 Aleph Contemporary, Station Road, Stroud Open Friday / Saturday 10-4 and by Appointment - DM please.

I first made animal drawings as a way to practice form and technique with pencil, pen and ink. Trying to develop a freer style through repetition. Excerpt from KINGDOM, Drawings, Paintings and Prints, 2009 - hardcopy available to buy

Begun as derogatory self-portraits (usually farm animals such as mules and pigs), the series developed over a decade or more. Symbiotic Relationship, 2021 Etching, aquatint and dry point on copper plate. Printed on German Etching mould made paper. Edition of 50 Plate: 20 x 30 cm

"I rarely even looked at reference photographs of the actual animals I was drawing. They soon became almost human forms or I even thought of them as self portraits." Excerpt from KINGDOM, Drawings, Paintings and Prints, 2009 - hardcopy available to buy

After a while I became more adept at making these drawings and because of this they seemed to get more illustrative and lost their raw quality I'd originally sought and gradually lost interest in making them. Excerpt from Chris Burns KINGDOM 2009

We werecloseto Antibes, Cannes andNice,wherethe only work for foreign workers seemed to be upon the luxury yachts of the rich, that docked in the local ports. Excerpt for Chris Burns KINGDOM 2009, Hard copies available to buy

I found that even a pot washing job was out of my reach as they said my French wasn't good enough and the boat work seemed to be a culture you had to be a part of, a club, which both my girlfriend and I found somewhat sickening and desperate.

A feeling of abject despair and inadequacy began to hang over me, one that I was familiar with back in the U.K; but worse than that, I could see very little out there I could do to make ends meet. In hindsight we should have cut our losses and moved on,

So with nothing on offer I had an idea to take to the streets and try and sell drawings in a buskin fashion. I knew I could make the animal drawings quite quickly and possibly I thought they were saleable; quite different to the usual Riviera art on sale in the streets.

I set up outside the Picasso ceramics museum in Vallauris; feeling Picasso a good ally in this venture. Tacked up ink drawings along the medieval museum's outer wall, right at the entrance then laid my drawing equipment on the floor; I set to work making new images of animals.

The museum's security man came across me and peered silently at what I was doing. He looked at the drawings tacked to the wall and then left me to it. As he walked away, I nervously checked him out and noticed that he only had one hand. Chris Burns, Ostrich, Edition of 50

That first morning outside the museum was quiet and uneventful, however, it slowly turned into a busier afternoon. Now and again people stood and watched me draw from a distance. Being sat on the street scrawling animals didn't make me feel any better about my situation.

👀✨ On View Now 'ABOUT LOOKING' – Recent works by local artist Bob Davison at aleph.contemporary - Running until March 22nd in Stroud #BobDavison #AboutLooking #ArtExhibition #AlephContemporary #StroudArt #ContemporaryArt #GalleryExhibition #ArtCollectors #VisualArt

Bob Davison Macleaya and Crocosmia II 2024 Acrylic, watercolour and pigments on paper 26 x 41cm £1300

Macleaya and Bottlebrush 2023 Acrylic, watercolour and pigments on paper 61 x 84cm Signed & dated £ 3,300.00

ABOUT LOOKING Bob Davison See the website - alephcontemporary.com for the current exhibitionABOUT LOOKING link above.

🌀 THE KNOT — a 3D render Simon Tayler - FLUX - Stroud until October 11 An abstract form bound in tension and symmetry, suspended between the known and the unknowable. This piece finds new resonance rendered in 3d paired with audio from the original DUNE.

October '25 It's been a while since I've put together a composition; this is arguably one of the most important—please share.