Life Observed

Here's a nice little arrangement I present to you as an  Art Installation. In this case it is a permanently fixed plumbing installation* It represents life and death, and the security of home versus the unknown possibilities of the world outside. If you wish to buy this piece you will have to buy the house as well, which will provide an excellent context and display space.

Now this is art, I think. It shows artifice, and the craftsman's hand. It is satisfying to look at and touch. Oh, and it's shiny as well. Art is supposed to make you feel something, and in that task it generally succeeds.  Particularly when you see the price.

Sometimes I can spot art immediately. There is something pleasing about a particular shape or a juxtaposition of colours. There is something that says "yes, I could live with that item on a daily basis" because it shows artifice (in it's original meaning). Here is a particularly pleasing piece. by Theo Gayer Anderson .  I rather like the precision in the intersecting forms.  Perhaps it appeals to the Artist in the Engineer in me.

I was going to name this short series of blogs "A+E: The Artist and the Engineer".  So, why is Art so different to Engineering?  Well, Art is always good art. There's no such thing as bad art, because it all lies in the eye of the beholder. There is, however, bad engineering. A badly engineered thing just won't work, and everyone would see that.  Therefore I maintain it is more difficult to be an Engineer than a Artist. To prove this I shall create some art of my own. All I have to do is make an arrangement of items and (in this case) light and photograph it carefully, then declare it to be A rt. Here is one I did recently:  BTW. I would sell you this piece of art, but trust me, you couldn't afford it.

We find ourselves in Burford, in 1987. Another shot for the record that had little significance then, but is a small historical document these days. The garage must have been one of the last with pumps on the high street dispensing petrol without all the safety measures we have these days. As you can see, in those days petrol cost 38 pence per litre (or £1.75 per gallon if you didn't understand this new fangled stuff). Fill up your Alfasud if there's a space.

Two blokes perched precariously in the weir under Pultney Street bridge in Bath.  This was actually thirty five years ago. Not much has changed in terms of architecture, which is a comfort. I wonder if they still stand in the river these days?

It's 1973, and you can walk right up to the stones at Stonehenge if you want to. Go there in December and you find the place deserted.  Incredible...