This is not a sketchbook

In 1968 artist Michel Foucault painted "Ceci n'est pas une pipe". When translated it comes down to "This is not a pipe". 

Bizarre? Certainly.

Welcome to the art movement Dadaism. This post WWI movement abandoned all tradition and form of usual art. The mind frame in this work is this-is-art-because-I-say-so.Dadaism was anti-art in the academic sense. Most works involved taking something useful, and usual, and making it have no use. 

This was then called art. 

Another example? Marcel Duchamp's work, "Fountain", which is, in effect, an upside down urinal signed R. Mutt. There were 15 identical artworks of "Fountain". The price tag on one of these is $2.5 million these days...

So with an anti-art, anti-theworld, anti-conforming, and $2.5 million in my mind, finally realised how I'd show that my book is not what it appears to be...hence the giant purple iPod below!

I was shocked when I realised that iPods only came into being for the first time in 2001. Check out their history and development over the years...truly mind boggling! http://www.ipodhistory.com/ 

A new blog, a new project

It's called the Sketchbook Project.

An initiative for which over 28 000 artists this year will vouch. You pay $20 for an 80-paged sketchbook. With creativity as your only boundary artists are encouraged to put their all in to make their book enticing enough to be taken out...again and again and again.

The beauty of this project is that the aim is to create one global piece of art. Work to which numerous cultures and ages and countries have contributed, and the final, single collection to be exhibited around America and then remain in a private collection at the Brooklyn Art Gallery.

Exciting, huh? I thought so. I was so intrigued that I joined all the way from South Africa.

This blog is going to be a follow-up on my progress and development of my sketchbook, before the crunch date-15 January.

Some time killers: For more info on the Sketchbook Project follow the link http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

Oh and the tiled background image of this blog is "Seamstress" by artist James Jean. Check out his amazing postcard works and sketches! http://www.jamesjean.com 

Is is now, I'm afraid, a past tense. James Jean, for all his brilliance was emperor of all things wallpapery on my blog. But then....his colours...my colours...not quite contrasting enough to be complementary, more accurately they became a soup of mediocre. So I looked to no other than Walter Battiss, South African artist extraordinaire! This is his work, he is my favourite South African artist who, along with Norman Katherine (whom I love too) invented Fook Island. (If you don't know what Fook Island is now is the chance to do yourself a favour and google it!) So yes...this is Walter Battiss's work.