art school philosophy

I went to art school (just for a year) in 1998 when I left school. As part of the course we had to write an essay by choosing 3 of the questions below to answer. I just found that list after all these years, below is the best of them - some are still pretty ridiculous but fun to think about. I might blog about some of them in more detail another time.

Why is there folk music?
Could you get along with someone who had no taste?
What if you cooked a meal and no one ate it?
Can you indicate the boundaries of your own culture?
How much space does your body take up?
To whom are you responsible?
For what are you responsible?
Why are you wearing those clothes?
How do you act when you’re alone?
Are you the product of nature or nurture?
Was Darwin right?
Why are there only 2 sexes?
Review a film imagining you are a member of the opposite sex
Review it imagining you are twice your age
Describe a space as if you were blind
What does a house have that a painting doesn’t?
How many words is a picture worth?
Write beautifully about something ugly
Is training necessary?
Does knowledge get in the way?
Could you make something without designing it?
Is style opposed to content?
Describe what is meant by the word ‘rhetoric’
Could crime be described as political?
How easy is it not to think about art when you’re making it?
Is it the same when you are looking at it?
How can you tell the difference between life and art?
How can you tell when something is real?
What is transcendence?
Does belief have any place in the experience of art?
Is religion avoidable?
How can one achieve Nirvana?
How can you be sure that pain exists for someone else?
Do you think good and bad are opposites?
Is ‘abstract’ a verb or an adjective?
Give an account of the ways in which minimalism is expressive
Is art always serious?
Can laughter be revolutionary?
Does the fact that works of art don’t have a particular meaning imply that art is meaningless?
What can silence mean?
Are conversations always about communication?
Can questions be answers?
Is standardisation the road to utopia?
What does it mean to say that modernism has failed?
How do you know what you like?
Are your ideas your own?
When does the future start?
How old will you be when you die?
Does space exist before you fill it?
What is chaos?
What is nonsense?
Write a sensible Dadaist statement about soft drink tins
Is moisturising the answer?
What would you censor?
Are there things you shouldn’t joke about?
Are there things you shouldn’t make art about?
If someone offered to pay you well for something you really didn’t agree with, would you do it?
What is the difference between idealism and ideology?
What is situationism?
Produce a psychogeographical account of your journey to college
Argue for the importance of kitsch
Give me ten good reasons why I should live in a tree
Is art useless?
Is art for everybody?
What distinguishes work and leisure?
Is beauty relevant?

le cirque invisible

My Mum bought tickets on the spur of the moment after I told her about a poster I had seen on the tube. One review said that if you're depressed, before trying anti-depressants, come and see Le Cirque Invisible. Both my Mum and I had had a particularly crappy day. Having been out of work for a couple of months and feeling pretty low about it, I had missed out on a job that afternoon. Mum, who was meant to meet me for dinner beforehand, had been locked out of the house, kept builders waiting at a flat she lets out and only just got back in the house, to the flat, and back again in time to jump on a train to meet me for the performance.

We didn't know what to expect.



I'm looking online at reviews of it, all of them highly praising it, except for one Guardian review by Lynn Gardner from last year which I've just read. Ok, so the show may have hardly changed over 30 years but that is the beauty of it. It is crazily wacky, simple, timeless and quirky.

The duo are Victoria Chaplin (daughter of Charlie) and her French husband Jean-Baptiste Thierree - I was surprised to hear they were married when he is in his 70s and she looks about 40, but was then even more surprised to hear she is nearing 60. She contorts herself into the most amazing positions and creatures. But it was Jean-Baptiste who really stole the show for me, his obvious passion, enthusiasm and demeanor were enchanting.
One of my favourite bits had to be the rabbits and ducks that came on stage - seemingly voluntarily. The rabbits were given books to read so they didn't get bored. Their costume changes and the humour in the simplest of sketches is refreshing and certainly cheered both Mum and I up.

this is what i'm thinking right now

30 things to do before you turn 30

I'll be 30 next month. I usually hate these type of things - usually written in the same sort of publications which like to convince you that you're too fat, ugly and poor to be considered a proper human being.

But what the hell, I haven't got much else to do today so I thought I'd make my own list, compiled from other lists.

1) Visit Paris

DONE! (several times - I also lived in Lyon for a year when I was 21-22 - in some ways even better than Paris, more friendly and intimate. One of the best years of my life, partly for meeting my first serious boyfriend. Unfortunately, he wasn't French, but Welsh.)

I think this one should be 'have a romantic kiss in Paris' - haven't done this, yet :(

2) Get a piercing/tattoo

Hate tattoos and will never get one, but I have 3 piercings in my right ear, 2 in my left and my nose pierced. Had wanted to do it for years and finally did when I was 25 and in the Philippines. The guy said there wouldn't be any hurty, but there was. 

3) Learn another language

I speak French... well at least I did. Languages have never come naturally to me, but having spent most childhood holidays in France I was always determined to learn it, and did well enough to study it at university. However I have since forgotten it all. Shamefully.

4) Buy a one-way ticket overseas

Not sure about this one... I've had a round-the-world ticket. Probably bought a single when I went to Lyon, but that's only just across the channel so perhaps doesn't count. Damn it. This is something I'd like to do one day.

5) Have a 3-some

Done! ;)

6) Go on a demonstration

Never chained myself to railings, but I have been to 2 rally's. The first one was when I was living in Lyon, it was the year that the far right leader - Jean-Marie Le Pen, nearly got in. Lots of the students went on a march protesting against him and were setting off just as I was coming out of class. It was good fun, a great atmosphere and felt like I was really shouting for a good cause, even if it wasn't my own country.

The 2nd was in 2003 in London for the anti-Iraq war demo. I took my Mum.

7) Go and see your favourite popstar in concert

Growing up as a true 80s child, Madonna was always my icon and I vowed when I was about 12 that I would go and see her in concert - and I did! O2 arena in 2009.  I was at the back but it was worth everything penny, and even the 4 hours it took to get home on rubbish London transport.

8) Run a marathon

Absolutely not. Nor do I have any intention of ever doing so. I hated sports at school and was crap at them, always the last to be picked.

However I am proud that regularly practice yoga and keep fit this way. I love it and hope I'm still doing it when I'm 80.

9) Have sex in public

Well there was a field, some naughty fumblings on a bus once, and that time - ahem - in the kitchen at work... also nearly got thrown out of a restaurant for something similar (with the same person I should add) 

Oh god, they're all coming back to me now - also a hotel balcony... and a beach in Portugal

Do they count?

10) Get something published

Done! When I left university for a while I wanted to be a travel writer. I took my laptop with me and wrote everyday. When I got back a got a couple of articles published and did some work experience at TNT magazine where I got a couple of things in print.

I'm also on the Rough Guides writer's pool, although they've never asked me to do anything.

11) Do a skydive

NO thanks!

12) Stay in a 5* hotel

Done - The Savoy in London when I was a bridesmaid for a rich friend, and the Oriental in Bangkok. My friends parents were friends of the owners and we got a heavily discounted room. 

Also stayed in a safari lodge in the middle of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It's not 5* but normally costs about £300 per person and we stayed there for free.

I think the best one though is the Imperial Queens Park. It's rated as 4* but I can't imagine how much better a 5* would be. I've stayed for free (through work) and again have paid to stay there. It's only about £40 a night. Amazing. 

13) Go to a Gay Bar

Hmm. Have been to a sex show in Bangkok's red light district. Never seen ping pong balls used like that before. Surely this trumps a gay bar?

14) Go skinny dipping

Done - Okavango Delta in Botswana - quite brave considering there are hippos and crocodiles 7ft long in there. (We were assured this was a safe bit) I got out and dressed just before my boyfriend got out - a bunch of tourists then turned up and got in - and he was stuck, unable to get out!

I kind of think you're meant to go skinny-dipping at night though, that's what they do in the movies. Haven't done this.

15) Take drugs

I'm a wimp when it comes to drugs. Convinced that if I ever tried E or even coke I'd be the one freak who'd overdose/freak out/have an allergic reaction and end up in hospital.

I have dabbled a bit with Marijuana. Two quite amusing incidents... 

First was in India aged about 19 - I was in a town where alcohol was forbidden but you could buy 'special' lassi's (green with weed). I had had delhi belly and hadn't eaten anything for days, but didn't hesitate to down this in one. I was hallucinating monkeys for the rest of the evening and convinced that one of the guys in the group I was travelling with was planning on raping me. Neither were true, very embarrassing the next day. Also thought I was about to have a heart attack as I had the WEIRDEST pins and needles going up and down my left arm. 

The 2nd was at university. My housemate had made some hash brownies and left me in the house on my own with them. I can never eat just one cake/brownie and devoured the lot. I then spent an hour trying to get a giant centipede out of my hair before being violently sick.

16) Swim with dolphins

I kayaked with some in Namibia... I have swam with a whale shark though, twice in fact, once in the Philippines and once in Mozambique.

17) Climb a mountain

Hmm, no :( I've looked at Mount Everest but that probably doesn't count.

I have been high enough to experience altitude sickness though - not seriously, I just got the giggles and felt a bit weird. That was in Hawaii, we were filming at the top of Mauna Kea (extinct) volcano where there are some of the best telescopes in the world. That was a truly amazing experience.

18) Sail on the Nile

Did a Nile trip when I was 8, I still remember it in bits...

19) Kiss a random stranger

Think the quickest meeting - kiss was about 5 hours, guess could be better...

20) See the Northern Lights

Nearly! I was meant to film in Alaska a couple of years ago where I would have had a really good chance, but plans changed at the last minute and we went to Iceland instead. (Not a bad alternative!)

21) Win a competition

Done! This month! My first short film won a FilmLondon short film competition and will be shown at Bafta next month. 

22) Sunbathe Naked

Only topless :( I would though... tried to find the nude beach in Noosa, Australia once but couldn't find it...

23) Give £10 to a homeless person

Will do it today!

24) Slept under the stars

Lots of times in tents :( Done this in Morocco, India and Namibia and Botswana, and once properly in India. Awoke to a horse nibbling on my ear.

25) Been to as many countries as your age

Done! 34 at the moment.

26) Changed someone's life

Apparently, yes...

27) Move out of home

I am ashamed to say I am living with my Mum and her partner at the moment - but I haven't always... I went to boarding school, university, lived in France and done lots of travelling. I'm back with Mum whilst saving for a flat which I really hoped would happen before the big 30 but looks like I'm just going to miss it.

28) Made a film

Yup! 

29) Ride a Harley Davidson

Yes in the French countryside - although I wasn't driving and I wanted him to go faster! 

30) Volunteered

Nope... can't I do this before I'm 60? I have just made a charity film for free though, that sort of counts right?

There are a few achievements not on any lists I found but which I think deserve a mention:

1) Go out with a famous person

Possibly... sort of...

2) Go holidating

I think I'm fairly spontaneous - none more than a couple of years ago when I went to Africa with a guy I met on an internet dating site. It was our 7th date I think, and we went travelling together for 9 weeks. Although it didn't have a happy ending I did have an amazing time.

3) Art scholarship

I won an art scholarship for my A-levels and went to art college which had been my dream. (The dream changed once I got there, but it was still an achievement) 

4) Taken a cheetah for a walk

Yes - In Africa, one of the most amazing experiences ever.

Some more old artwork

Beautiful World Map

I have just finished working on a series about cartography.

One of my favourite maps was the one below by al-Idrisi from 1154. Idrisi was an Arab geographer from Morocco who went to Sicily to help the Norman King Roger II expand his kingdom by finding about more about the world beyond that which was already known.
Contrary to popular rumour, people knew that the world was round, but were ignorant to what lay beyond the Mediterranean region, they thought the rest of the world was all ocean.
Idrisi and Roger would quiz sailors and fishermen as they arrived into the port at Palermo each day, where had they been? What had they seen? How did they get there? How long did it take to get there?

In this map the world is upside down. Why? Well why do we put north at the top other than it's what we're used to doing?

omar khayyam

I've recently finished working on a documentary about Omar Khayyam who was an 11th Century Persian polymath - mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physician and poet.
His most famous poems are compiled in the Rubaiyat and are still loved today for their timelessness and have been quoted in speeches by Martin Luther King and Clinton.


They are great fairytales and here are some of my favourite illustrations from it by Dulac, Vedder and others...

(This one is actually the Princess and the Pea, not the Rubaiyat, but I love the colours and draftsmanship)

bertrand

This is a really old painting I did in my first few weeks at art school, many moons ago. I really like it though. Painting was a pretty new discipline for me and I did it from a black and white photo of Bertrand Russell, fairly quickly and spontaneously.

It's so long since I've done any painting or drawing. I really want to get back into it, but it takes committment and I know I would have to do at least 10-15 crap drawings before I got a decent one I didn't hate - and I'm too much of a perfectionist and too impatient to go through that process.

Maybe when I have babies, I will spend my afternoons painting and drawing again, that would be really nice.

This is a life drawing I did a few years back as well. Rubbish resolution but you get the idea. Again it came out quite spontaneously without me thinking about it too much. I love when it happens like that.

sometimes I feel lonely, but that's okay

I have an etching on my wall by Tracey Emin. I bought it for £250 after my first really serious boyfriend left me when I was 21. It’s of a little bird on a branch and at the bottom it says ‘Sometimes I feel lonely, but that’s okay.’

I never care what people think about me.

Yeah right! Of course I do really, everyone does right? Or let’s rephrase that – it’s when you care what everyone thinks about you that you’re in trouble. Most people care what the people they care about, think. And that’s totally understandable.

I’m at home alone on a Saturday night – oh god, what will people think? I should be out partying, surely that’s what EVERYONE else my age is doing tonight? Then one day I realised something. It’s OKAY if I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing or what I think I should be doing. I’m much happier when I’m doing my own thing.

The happiest, quirkiest people I know often do their own thing, odd things, which is sometimes nothing, or not the thing they should be doing. See what I’m saying?

It took me a long time to get to this realisation, I’ve put a lot of work into learning to respect and like myself but sometimes I still forget it.

Oh god this blog is bloody boring and self-absorbed.

Ok what now? Well, I want to tell you something I find very difficult to admit or say out loud.

The thing is, what I really want to tell you is – that I’ve never felt that I have many friends or that they are REALLY there for me if ever I need them to be. I’ve always been someone who has formed strong friendships with individuals, and never really had a big group of friends who I can hang out with. That’s what I would like/need. The few close friends I have all have groups of friends who I’m not part of so I always end up being the friend they go out to dinner with or have round for dinner. Going round and round the M25 looking for the right exit and ending up at the end of a long traffic jam. Added to that, most of my few close friends have moved abroad/got married and had babies.

Living in a big city like London, I guess it takes a big effort to keep up a social life.

There was an article in The Times a couple of years ago which focused on a couple of late 20 year olds who both said that unless they had made a big effort to arrange to see friends at least a week in advance they could easily spend a whole weekend at home alone, not talking to anyone. How awful is that? Is that what modern life in the city is really like now? If I die, how long until someone notices? I reckon it would be at least a week for me.

Sometimes I just need to adjust my hermit crab/social butterfly settings – a bit of socialising and then it’s back to the hermit crab. I’ll arrange something tomorrow for next week. Everyone’s probably busy though.

So, I am at home again on a Saturday night, watching CSI, tweeting and blogging. And then someone posts this link on Twitter and suddenly it all seems okay again.

http://saraholeksyk.com/loneliness.html