The Voice Project sprang from conversations with fellow artists both online and in the real world about the nature opf art appreciation in Britain. I am becoming aware that the UK doesn't really have a strong vibe for visionary, archetypal or imaginal artforms and yet many of the those who laid foundations for the current global movement - William Blake, for example - were born here, and despite the current flighty obsession in our culture with cheap celebrity and glitzy media glamour, there is a deep and profound history of which many of us are immensely proud. There was once a time, before the Romans came, when this island was held to be especially sacred, and there are Megalithic sites and places of shivering energy that remind us that this landscape is sacred still. Many peoples across the world have forgotten this about their lands, but I can only speak of the place where I live and grew up.
I have been exploring mythology and visionary/imaginal experiences for many years, I have been wandering the stones and bones of this island and have recently been filled with the sense that this land wants us to remember its pristine sanctity. I feel as though this land won't give up its secrets freely, but wants to be asked by someone who loves it and wants to hear its authentic Voice. I have chosen to be that someone. See at this point the new work Hear Me I Speak in the Visions section of my website.
And so... The Voice Project... these are my intentions...
• To seek out, hear and experience the Visionary and Imaginal Voice of the Island of Britain from ancient times to the modern day, and to come to know it as an ally. This land wants its voice heard, but it wants to be asked. It will not give up its treasures freely, but seeks one who loves it. I am the asker and I am the lover.
• To wind the Island of Britain into the wider Global Visionary Nexus like some kind of Crazy Magic Miller Man. This island has unique and powerful visionary treats to share with the new emerging culture, but for now the people are trailing behind other nations, cultures and landscapes.
• To unite ancient and modern, rural and urban, magic-sacred and mundane-profane in one consciousness - mine/ours, I and the land unified - and come to know the soul of this land truly. To speak to an entire island and not be sent screaming into the hills. At least, not for more than a little while.
• To sketch and sketch and paint and paint as the process unfolds, and to trust in this process as it unfolds, wherever and however it takes me. To become a vessel for that Voice.
• To render all of this into a Grande Art Vision, worthy of the sacred and creative beauty that is this Island. Thirteen panels. Thirty six feet across and five feet tall. Overlaid with hidden images rendered in UV lacquer and visible only under UV light. Big task.
• To exhibit that Grande Art Vision on this Island, and invite anyone and everyone to... come and see...
At present I am at the stage of sketching and exploring various aspects that I have researched in the past, but already a few imaginal beings have made contact. A small selection of sketches can be seen below. I have also set up a Blog for this project as well as a Facebook page, clicking the images below allows you to visit these. (January 2011)
:: PRIMARY IMAGE PLAN::
I have intended that the final work will overlay a great deal of imagery upon a primary image, interacting with it through two forms I am beginning to call positive and negative transparency. Very briefly, positive transparency will use the addition of acrylic paint, ink or marker to overlay images which are masked out by the areas in the primary image plan (for example appearing only within the bodyform shapes of the man at far left, and bounded by those shapes); negative transparency will use the absence of paint, ink or marker relative to the surrounding areas to highlight the imagery. In early experiments, negative transparency has lent a shimmering, ghostly form to the work. In addition, there is also a UV-lacquer layer planned to provide hidden imagery viewable only under UV conditions, and so this work is currently planned to have four layers of imagery, each interacting with the others. Quite an ambitious task!
For now, however, the majority of the primary image plan has been completed, and can be seen below. Use the buttons to scan left and right and pause when you want to take a longer look at something. This was sketched in 13 panels, markers on card, each 21cm x 42cm, a process which took some two weeks of continuous work. As well as this animation, a digital print some 275cm widewas also produced from the resultant scans.
The next step is to continue creating further exploratory sketches. One can see clearly that not all the extant sketches have been utilised in the Primary Image Plan, and indeed some new features and images have found their way heuristically into the plan.A further exploratory step will be to rigorously test the concepts of positive and negative transparency to see whether a unified visionary effect which does not appear jagged or jarring can be created using them. Watch this space!! (April 2011)
Update August 2011 - A concept test for Panel 1 of The Voice can be seen in my new work Hear Me I Speak in the Visions section of my website.
