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I liked the strong narrative element—and the scratchy, witchy vibes of Kiki Smith’s figures (our prompt for The Kick-About No. 127) that sense too of the promise of magic, and the environs of the woods. I don’t draw really, but I decided I’d just begin something by using charcoal on tracing paper to conjure up…
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Our last edition of The Kick-About immersed us in the shimmering world of iridescence—a celebration of light in perpetual transformation. This week, we turn our attention to the evocative art of Kiki Smith, whose work probes themes of mortality, the human body and the interplay of myth and nature. For all previous editions of The…
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I was interested in creating opals and geodes as my response to The Kick-About’s theme of iridescence, so wrapped big spoonfuls of wet filler in bags of clingfilm and suspended them to dry over night. The next day, I unpeeled the foodwrap, leaving me with this array of organic, orb-ish forms. I went about using…
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The last edition of The Kick-About had us all staring at Rorschach’s famous ink-blots, as if, by doing so, we could slip past these blotches to apprehend our inner-selves. This week, it’s not so much about divining hidden depths, as delighting in the surface of things. For all previous editions of The Kick-About go here.…
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These bug-themed images began life very simply – as random mirrored silhouettes created using…. wait for it… the ‘insert random shape-maker’ tool in Powerpoint. I was looking for a starting point with minimum finesse or creative promise: much like an ink splash or accidental ring of coffee. After that, I was able to take the…
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A final set of alternate photographs produced for the self-portrait-themed edition of The Kick-About – still channelling Count Orlok and there’s something here too that reminds me of the robot on the album cover for Queen’s News of the World—and also various cheap-skate alien races from 1970s episodes of Doctor Who…
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The last edition of The Kick-About was prompted by the idea of ‘self-portraits’. I gave myself ninety-minutes (and some silver face paint) to play some games with the textures of my fifty-year old face. I look rather unhappy in this set of iterations—with a hint of werewolf—as I scrunched my face to reveal as many…
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I went to see Robert Egger’s Nosferatu a few weeks ago; I think it must be living in imagination still! In approaching these self-portraits for The Kick-About No.124, I was also thinking of backstage photographs I’ve seen of the likes of Laurence Olivier and Gielguld as King Lear or Prospero. And maybe it’s because I’ve…
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For this week’s Kick-About, we turn inward from the bold, expressive landscapes of Wu Guanzhong, to the theme of self-portraiture. Whether literal or abstract, introspective or outward-facing, self-portraiture allows us to reflect on who we are and the world we inhabit. Enjoy this latest collection of ‘new works made in a short time’, and as…
Red's Kingdom 