tom johnson : artwork

one of the new pieces im making for Iteration 2 is starting to take shape:

so absence from the evernet seems to have culminated in another little hiatus.. ah well. ive been working on a variety of projects lately - predominantly the bristol biennial for which ill be working on two shows with several other members of MadeScapes . Ive also confirmed a show at Utrophia , which will be a revisitation of the ideas and general visual themes of Topographic Translation more info will follow soon (projects are in june and may respectively) here is a little look at a very much in progress piece for the latter:

more words from fellow MadeScapes contributor Trevor Smith: February 15th 2012 It’s hardly news to announce that around 97% of my Facebook friends are not my friends.  A quick skim over the list reveals a collection (three hundred and fourteen of them) of former workmates, distant family members – some of whom I have never met – old college friends, a guy that sold me a pushbike three years ago, and one person whose friend request I accidentally accepted.  I addressed the accidental ‘friending’ via private message; her response was that her initial friend request was also an accident.  In a relationship it would make a great ‘first time we met’ story, but based on her status updates and her comments on other people’s status updates, we appear to be utterly incompatible, and now I am afraid to delete her because, despite my former assertions to the contrary, Facebook is the real world, and our mutual friends may swing to her favour, should I choose to proceed with the virtual cutt

click on the image to see the animated version

17:30 - 20:30 Milsom Place, Milsom Street, Bath

A couple of weeks ago there was a great show at Bristol Diving School  by Robert Prideaux and Ruaidhri Ryan . The work mostly consisted of a large video installation, rather than having a stab at some inadequite wordliness.. there was an pretty interesting accompanying text by bristol based sculptor Charles Thorburn : poster design by Lloyd Parker The nature of the gaze is not a simple one. The world of moving image has developed countless methods of enticing us to fix ours for a few moments; to be informed, compelled, or entertained. In Circumstances of Avertion Robert Prideaux & Ruaidhri Ryan address the act of averting ones gaze, and how this is handled as a fundamental component of our experience of film and documentary. We are often presented with documentary, and moments in cinema, that we are conditioned to accept as truth. David Attenborough doesn't just tell us what life is really like in the jungle, he shows us. Rather than setting out to interrogate their

back in march last year me and will kendrick  went over to oxford to help out a friend of ours and fellow bath spa graduate  lewk wilmshurst  with the installation of his first solo show.. the show took place at Freud on walton street. a rather challenging install not only due to the dsetinct lack of manpower but Freud is beautiful and interesting but also structurally quite awkward to hang work in effectively. we rose to the challenge and learned a great deal in the process, lessons which have proved useful in subsequent installations. poster design by Garry Edison Cook the main piece (from which the show took its title) is a triptych of the three works, ‘Mutual’, ‘Coordinate’ and ‘Science’ and as a piece discuss’ our relationship with the natural world. ‘Mutual‘   Mutual is a light box with an image of an orang-utan routed into the Perspex. As you inspect the work, The Orang-utan reciprocates your interest. It’s scale, it’s light, and the shrin

..so as ive been trying to catch up with whats been going on in the real world ive inadvertently failed to post the linking work.. i.e. the main piece that was in the exhibition 'these words i seek are not my own' which was the subject of the last post i made before the interim.. so here it is in all its dubious glory: 'vs' capcom, google, wood, dulux, projector, oil, acrylic, reclaimed frame, hardware 2011 we (the artists and a few other folks from around the studio) had a crit and this is the general thread of conversation regarding the work... somewhat forceful presentation of a view of incestuous counter-intuitive/symbiotic relationship existing between contemporary and historical dipictive image making. obscuring the plurality or multiplicity from both painterly and pseudo painterly perspectives content rendered, aside from being a deliberate rendering of a simulated physical (albeit exaggerated) conflict, attempt to both loose

We managed to get access to the redcliffe bridge control room in bristol for a little while before christmas. So as another MadeScapes project, i collaborated with Jack Addis , Alex Cotterell and Will Kendrick  to produce a moving light/sculpture/installation which was imaginatively titled 'Control Room'. If u are wanting to see it in real life im afraid u missed the chance for this configuration.. but fear not, the piece will be reconstructed and reinstalled for ur viewing pleasure in the very near future...

i started working on a new series of digital works before christmas, they evolved out of the methods i was using to produce test palettes for the cnc routed panels ( sempiternal view and indentured clarity ). the first 3 i made were created by condensing and manipulating images ripped from google into these little pixellated landscape format colour fields.. in spite of being produced on a computer, the production method is actually more akin to traditional painting than most of my actual painting, i keep the image strictly to one layer, negating the temptation to keep particular colour formations and move them towards/away from the surface. it is important that the surface evolves as a whole in a chronologically linear way.. that way 'mistakes' or inadequite or visual unappealing decisions have to be accounted for by re-rendering or incorperating those elements into the overall scheme of things. 'Ultrapainting 1' thomas coles, google, photoshop, digital prin

next in the backtracking web of things past (although alot of the prep and publicity was going on at the same time as Topographic Trarnslation) Chromadynamics with Will Kendrick and   Ursula Buston  in a little venue in Bath called Walcot Chapel. The awesome poster above (a smaller fold up private view invites) were done by Garry Edison Cook  and we had help installing from Jack Addis . I had three pieces in the show, the two most recent cnc pieces and a new sculpture: 'Still Livid' wood, MDF, resin, perspex, spraypaint, laquer, hardware 40 x 140 x 40cm 2011

for the fourth and final in our initial series of shows we unfortunately lost the space so generously lent to us by bristol city council.. but the thanks to the hospitality of a more established local art space/alumni project ( Bristol Diving School ) the show did go on.. Topographic Translation featured the work Lizzie Cannon , Nic Marshall , Poppy Pitt and myself and is far better described by Trevor Smith You have arrived at your destination Topographic Translation Bristol Diving School, Bristol. Oct 2011. In advance of my journey here, I entered the postcode of Bristol Diving School into Google and clicked maps. I was then able to preview my entire route, culminating in the approach along Cumberland Road and the turn-off into Hanover Place. I even picked out the best place to park my car. Forty eight minutes later, as my satnav correctly predicted, I arrived at my destination. Entering the gallery I found an exhibition floor-plan: every step