THE BUY ART FAIR.

I bought some art today. I went to THE BUY ART FAIR and bought the above plate, a couple of little collectors books and a T.Shirt by Tracey Emin. I like Tracey Emin she uses the word 'cunt' even more than me......

Anyway running alongside THE BUY ART FAIR which mainly consists of an awful lot of shit ( think bad graffiti and air brushed naked ladies,think 1980's heavy metal album covers or pictures of confused looking cows painted in a naive stylie on hills that look like boobies) is THE MANCHESTER CONTEMPORARY which is not shit, and is getting bigger and more interesting each year and is where I got my bits and bobs from. I know perhaps I should have bought stuff by an 'emerging Artist' rather than by Tracey, but to be honest Tracey's stuff, although maybe not as limited was cheaper!

Image copyright Mark Page

Malcolm Craig Gilbert and the latest SOURCE.

Image copyright Malcolm Craig Gilbert.

For me the juries still out on Malcolm Craig Gilbert's series
'Post Traumatic Exorcism' Still there's plenty of other great stuff to look at and for those cleverer types amongst you, things to read in the latest edition of SOURCE. It's got a bit of a sinister feel this time, a slight Halloween accent perhaps ?

Bah humbug 2 months early......

Image copyright Mark Page

What is it with Halloween ? load of of bollocks that's what it is. Another load of shit swallowed by a nation (us) losing it's identity and filling the void with Americana. Come round to my house trick or treating and you'll get 'short bloody shift' ya little bastards...

Gregory Isaacs 1951-2010.

Gordon Clark & Leon Botha.

Images copyright Gordon Clark

Made me question my motives for posting these photo's by South African photographer Gordon Clark. I was drawn to them and I know why. Shock value and base instincts that no matter how sophisticated I try to be, keep rising back to the surface. What saved me from being a cheap voyeur and what lifts this work way above Shock Art and into the realms of Bloody Good Art, is the collaboration of the subject in the pictures by fellow artist Leon Botha. Clark & Botha's joint project 'LEON'

Snap.

Image copyright Mark Page.

Me and Ian Brown's video director on last years track 'Stellify' had the same location idea. It's the bit when he starts singing, and it's my route to work every morning. Can anyone name said location ?

Stephen Tourlentes.

Image copyright Stephen Tourlentes

From Stephen's statement about his project 'OF LENGTH AND MEASURES: Prison and the American landscape'

"Over the last several years I have been photographing the institution of incarceration in American. The presence and location of these institutions of exile paradoxically reflect back upon the society that builds them. Prisons are highly complex systems designed to contain, and punish the burgeoning population presently incarcerated in the United States. Since 1980 the number of prisons in the U.S. has quadrupled. A 2008 report from the Pew Center on the States reports census totals for the American prison system at over 2.3 million incarcerated in state and federal systems. The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners. More than one in 100 adults in the US is in prison or jail" CONTINUED

found via Prison photography including an interview by Pete HERE. So it got me thinking I've not really seen much British prison photography. I know about Donovan Wylie's MAZE work, and I've seen portrait work done in association with prisoners/education departments, but for instance I've never seen landscape work done about them. We've 140 of them in Britain, in all kinds of environments so you think someone would have had a stab. Sorry that's a bad choice of words......

And not a plastic tit in sight........

From 1938.

BILLY & ROONEY, PENDLETON, 2010.

Image copyright Mark Page

I bet THIS 'Rooney' doesn't need a couple of hundred grand a week to guarantee his loyalty.

Martin Usborne

Image copyright Martin Usborne

Broke my bloody heart Martin Usborne's series 'MUTE: The Silence of dogs in cars' But then I saw his other series 'LIFE AS A DOG IN THE RECESSION' and 'DEAD FOX' and they cheered me right up again!

Found via foto8

BROKEN MANUAL..

Image copyright Alec Soth

News of Alec Soth's latest book BROKEN MANUAL has been floating around the blogs for a while now. A large chunk, 53 images, have recently been uploaded to Soth's new website. So for those of us who haven't got a spare $800 to buy this Special limited edition version, and I really wish I had, you can get get a good idea of what will be in the $75 version due out at a later date.
This work marks a pretty significant change in style. Alongside Soth's usual large format colour work we also find B/W, still lives and even what appear to be some kind of scan or perhaps Internet grabs. It all makes for a really intriguing set of images which gives a strange unsettling feel to the sequence. Of course the big question now is what are all the legions of Soth imitators going to do?

Career Advice.

Take off that Red shirt, hang it on a hook in the changing room and fuck off............

BEARD-EEE BUGGERS.

Apparently Beards are all the RAGE at the moment with Manchester Northern Quarter/Chorlton Types (mainly with the men although not exclusively) putting this pu-biccy form of attention seeking to good use, some of the most ridiculous Dedicated followers of facial hair, have parked up their 'FIXIES' donned some tweed and posed for Manchester photographer Gill Moore so as to produce a calender all in the name of charity. The photographs can be seen at COMMON BAR with a launch of the calender this Thursday. Go see Gill's Pictures even if this much face fuzz makes you end up with a little bit of sick in your mouth....... More details below.



The launch of the "Beards of Manchester" calendar will be at Common Bar this Thursday 21st October from 6pm.

It's a hairy initiative to find the best beards in Manchester and all in the name of charity. The brainchild of Sam (b & n magazine) and Chris (Oh Digital), I was delighted to be asked to work on this project and played my part by taking all the photographs featured in the calendar in and around Manchester over the last few weeks. The sun came out once and not even torrential rain stopped us.
All images featured in the calendar will be exhibited in Common Bar, Northern Quarter, Manchester aswell as a huge framed compilation of all the hairy entries which didn't make the cut.

The charity calendar will be on sale on the night and at venues around the city after that.

There may be beer. Could well be cupcakes.
Would love it if you can join me. Thanks for reading and hope to see you Thursday.

Gill x

Colleen Plumb.

Animals both alive and dead and pretend feature heavily in the work of Colleen Plumb.

P.S. Hello to everyone who was at THE ALTERNATVE CAMERA CLUB this past Saturday. It was great to meet more of you.....

"Are current trends of non-payment and free labour perpetuating a new ideal where artists are becoming distinctly bourgeois? Guyan Porter questions purportedly leftist and radical practice that promotes art as being apart from common economics and, consequently, from payment."

Via AXIS HERE.

Fuck it, I'm moving to Chile...

FACE TO FACE.

The mighty mighty Brian Griffin has a big retrospective outdoor show in the nations 3rd city, Birmingham. It's called FACE TO FACE and goes on until the 21st November.

Chemical Tea Room are proud to announce 0.1, the very first full group exhibition of works by it's collective artists. The exhibition is the first opportunity to see the collective together in one place presenting coherent bodies of work. It promises to be an exciting show for all involved. We would like to invite you to attend our opening night on Thursday 14th October 2010 at The Continental, South Meadow Lane, Preston, Lancashire.

Included in the show are works by Brian Morrison, Graham Hallam, Victoria Haydn and Rob Rusling

Fuck BIG BROTHER, lets watch rescued miners.

HERE.

Naomi Harris.

Image copyright Naomi Harris.

Tits, bums & willies. 'America Swings' by Naomi Harris. Interviews with her HERE & HERE.

THIS COMING SATURDAY.............

MANCHESTER PHOTOGRAPHY & THE WHITWORTH

Together again as 'THE ALTERNATIVE CAMERA CLUB'

Present

MISHKA HENNER

Image copyright Mishka Hemmer "from the series in a foreign field"

Mishka Henner has worked on documentary projects with his partner Liz Lock across the North West since 2005. Using portraiture and landscape studies, they produced many stories exploring the post-industrial satellite towns of the north. In the last twelve months, Mishka has interrogated the nature of photography and his role within it in an age when everyone is either talking and writing about or actually taking pictures. The resulting works include Winning Mentality, Collected Portraits and Photography Is (described by Joachim Schmid as "the only book that really says what photography really is, unbiased, straight forward, comprehensive"). In this talk, Mishka will discuss these works in relation to his own documentary work. Mishka is represented by Panos Pictures and is a member of the ABC Artists' Book Cooperative.

Mishka will be talking and answering questions at THE WHITWORTH GALLERY Saturday 16th October 10:30 £3.

Image copyright Christopher Churchill

I can't remember if it was Tod Papageorge, or one of one of my old lecturers who said "you should have a reason to use colour ". So tell me, would colour add anything at all to the above image?
Top picture by Christopher Churchill one of my favourite photographers from the latest crop from HEY HOT SHOT.

Just Take Five.

Many years ago I had a photographer acquaintance who claimed he "couldn't find anything in Manchester to photograph" I knew at that point that he would never amount to much as a photographer or probably as a man.

Finding things to photograph and then making great little vignettes is something that Philippe Spigolon is becoming wonderfully adept at. His latest 'JUST TAKE FIVE' is inspired by the jazz tune of the same name and made during a coffee break at the hospital in France that he works. Not the first time I've featured Philippe's work and I don't think it will be the last, I really love his stuff.

SERVING SUGGESTION: Why not open up another window and play the tune below while viewing the series.

The Fame Game.

I got a mention over on DUCKRABBIT and apparently I'm the 'Dogs' so there....

How bloody good

does Sally Mann's latest book look? See preview in the latest edition of

1000 WORDS.

'Freshers' by Ed Watts.

Well it's about that time of year again. Another crop of wide eyed hopelessly optimistic youngsters arrive here in town to add to Manchester's huge student population. Arriving with intact bank balances and credit ratings and with dreams of high flying careers and maybe love. For some it will be the first time they have left the nest. I like to use the analogy of those little turtle things scampering down the beach to the sea, some will make it and some........ well won't.

Photographer Ed Watts has got in just as they hatch so to speak with the first part of his project to document by using portraiture, a group of students during their time at university. You can see the first installment below and read more about it HERE.

Good luck my little student turtle friends, good luck and swim.......

CONTENTS MAY VARY.

CONTENTS MAY VARY
UPCOMING EVENTS

Boatelier

Saturday 16th October - Thursday 21st October 2010

Rochdale Canal, Calder Valley, West Yorkshire, UK

As part of Over Yonder in collaboration with East Street Arts' Social Club 2010, Contents May Vary have produced Boatelier which uses the alternative, ready-made exhibition and performance space of a narrow boat navigating the Rochdale Canal for the location of an exhibition of three event-based works. Each artist has produced a participatory event for Boatelier which takes the idea of connecting the twinned locations of the Aire and Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, England and the Ruhr Valley in Germany and explores the social, historical and political similarities and differences.

From the 16th to the 18th of October, Contents May Vary will navigate the boat from Sowerby Bridge through to Todmorden, Each day they will moor at an advertised location where they will present their event based works. Throughout each event they will collect artefacts which will be added to a collection on board the boat, accumulating throughout the journey.

From the 19th to the 21st of October, Contents May Vary will make the return journey from Todmorden to Sowerby Bridge inviting members of the public aboard the boat to experience the collection and the results of the events. Refreshments will be provided and visitors can discuss everything from art to boating with the artists.

Saturday 16th October, 17.00-19:00: Sowerby Bridge
Sunday 17th October, 15.00-17:00: Hebden Bridge
Monday 18th October, 18.00-20:00: Todmorden
Tuesday 19th October, 18.00-20:00: Todmorden
Wednesday 20th October, 18.00-20:00: Sowerby Bridge
Thursday 21st October, 16:00-18:00: Hebden Bridge

And there's an 'Artist in Residence' opportunity attached to this....

To apply
Send the following information to c-m-v@hotmail.co.uk with the subject Boatelier Residency:

•500 word maximum statement detailing why this residency is of interest to you
•Supporting images
•Your current CV
•Links to relevant websites/blogs
•Preferred residency dates

Bill Owens

Bill Owens the photographer behind the classic photo book SUBURBIA talks about his return to photography after a twenty year break. Inspirational.

Santiago Sierra.

Photographer. Artist. Agent provocateur. SANTIAGO SIERRA.

Happy Talk.

Click on the flyer to enlarge. You can download a booking form HERE.

Images copyright Mark Page

Images copyright Mark Page