Stanley Donwood

(image © Lucy Johnston, not to be used without prior consent)

Stolen posts from There's more to life...

The other week we were scheduled to shoot in Cardiff at the Manic Street Preachers recording studio... sadly a last minute hitch with a string section meant we had to postpone, so with tickets already bought Dan swiftly arranged a Bath based plan. On a beautiful sunny day, I boarded my train to Cardiff, got off at Bristol, met Dan and journeyed to Bath. Here I visited Tim Richards' (the sculptor and model maker) studio, posed with real 1960's Daleks, explored a renovation project (cue taking photos of decaying layers of past domestic mundanities like wallpapers and light fixings - some of my favourite things to capture. I'm obsessed with homes that have been vacated and small semblances of personalities long gone, left behind, as I think discussed in a early post). After a wonderful lunch discussing frail eyes and fashion houses, we scurry up to the great Stanley Donwood's studio, where he had kindly allowed us to photograph and chat. I'm still working on the digital shots and need to get the film shot on my Mamiya processed but here are the usual behind the scenes shots (taken on my LC-A+)

The journey...

The Man himself

(all images copyright Lucy Johnston)

Read more on this wonderful project here: http://more-to-life-than-books.blogspot.com/

and from Dan's own blog here: http://winninly-lo-fi.blogspot.com/

Vaughan Oliver

This wonderful craftsman kindly allowed me and Dan into his home to talk to us about his brilliant collection of work (mostly whilst I stood gaping over the treasure troves of brilliance he had stored in various drawers). I saw actual artwork drafts for Pixies' Doolittle and got to hold in my hands the glorious and lavish Minotaur boxset... not to mention look at more beautiful artwork he'd crafted for some of my most favourite bands (Cocteau Twins, Atlas Sound etc).

http://vaughanoliver.co.uk/

Me on the Guardian website...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2010/apr/15/photography?picture=361513261

Pretty chuffed doesn't even cover it.

And so it begins...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/general-election-2010

Please don't let the tories in.

Recent wanderings through London with a bit of Banksy thrown in...

(how my head felt after seeing Banksy's brilliant Exit Through the Gift Shop)

Maria and I, on a hungover Sunday afternoon trundled through darkened graffited tunnels underneath Waterloo station to find a bricked up vault to see Banksy's Exit through the Gift Shop. I'll be honest with you, I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had heard the film had had a warm reception at Sundance, but let's be honest, Banksy can rarely do wrong in people's perceptions at the moment (well, maybe not the local councils) and I was a bit concerned I'd have to sit through an hour or so of Nathan Barley visuals steeped in style over substance. Anyway as someone who's always been interested in art (street art of course included) the idea of sitting in a specially set up space to watch the film immediately appealed to me, and I do like Banksy's work so...

In case you haven't seen the trailer - here it is...

I don't think the trailer does it justice to be honest. I was so impressed after seeing this film I could hardly begin to extract words from my own scramble of thoughts. In simple terms (its all I can muster) I thought it was an interesting exploration into art as owned object, art-world as consumerist market place. Work originally intended for everyone and the urban environment is now turned into currency, which this film exposes and explores. I wanted to laugh and cry when we heard one renowned US art buyer speak, whose first piece (which she alledgedly fell in love with) an original Warhol, was, when asked where it was, left at the back of her closet somewhere. Oh my word. People are idiots.

You've got to watch it. The film is like a documentary translation of one of Banksy's own stencils or Shepard Fairey's layers of poster glue and screen prints. Layer upon layer of different documentaries are placed on top of each other. All these layers: the handheld footage shot by Guetta, filming pioneers of a particular period of street art, then Banksy's footage observing street art's (or art's) descent into the world of consumerism, all mixed up within a biographical documentary on a french 'film maker' Thierry Guetta, are all laid upon the foundation of it being a documentary about Banksy and his work. The fact that its not hard to follow (like the above sentence!) or a complete mess of a film is a truly astounding feat.

I'm still not sure as to whether Thierry Guetta aka Mr Brainwash is a very clever man, a Warholian dream (a natural postmodern progression from Duchamp's ready made) or an idiotic opportunist. My conclusion is probably all of the above.

Anyway here's some snaps I took in there.

(These were strange animated sausage creatures. Quite sweet AND disturbing)

And these are some photos that I took after the days following that Sunday...

(ME)

Where I grew up (1981-1994) and where I live now (94 - current)

Bill Drummond

I went to Bill Drummond's house on Friday morning to take some photos for Dan Richards' book (http://more-to-life-than-books.blogspot.com/). It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and Bill was extremely kind in indulging us in having a few photos taken in places where he works and collects his thoughts. We spoke of Lady Gaga, the british education system and his dislike for nostalgia. It was a true pleasure to meet him and I walked away excitedly talking to Dan, with a bundt cake Bill had given me under my arm. Bill was kind enough to put it in a shiny red cake tin from Texas for me to take home.