Aidan Moesby :: Text Artist

Printing Again in the Studio

I should say a studio rather as mine is still unusable as a place of print – the papers absorb too much ambient moisture. However i went up to Julia Bartons‘ studio to use her press. When i move studio’s hopefully i will invest in a relief press – having just done a day I have discovered just how versatile the press is and how delicate the prints can be. Here are a couple of early efforts.

I’d never just picked up some vegetation and printed it – i was on a roll

and another

and then i went for something to contrast – some man made mylon rope – i was really surprised by how well this took considering how unabsorbant nylon can be.

And as an extra you get a bit of embossing thrown in for free. Result. Now I just need some more time to play and print.

The Art House Exhibition

So Wednesday the 28th was the opening of my exhibition. It is tentatively called Everytime I’m in a queue I always imagine what I’m going to say about a hundred times’. This exhibition is part retrospective part new work – site specific or made especialy for the show, The title is taken from a new work regarding my new fictional newspaper which I am working on for my Engage Everyone residency at Dundee Contemporary Arts. This time it is more of an intervention.

As part of the opening – and I must admit it was unlike any I had been too – not the traditional private view. The Art Walk was so people were moving from venue to venue. People also tended to cut through the foyer – which is where many of the works are – and go straight to the studios. At 7 i did the now de rigeur artist talk. This was fine – there were even a few faces in the audience i didn’t recognise. One of the questions asked was if i am moving to be producer cleaner- crisper work – referencing my recent foray into vinyl.  I am enjoying playing with text and vinyl, but i remain of the view that i will produce work which fits the location, space or word the best. I still like being able to see the marks of the process which contributed to the execution of the work. My two new vinyl pieces are in the lift and main corridor of the art house.

Continuing my theme of communication, dialogue and the view that the more connected we are the more disconnected we become – the whole digital/social media diaspora then I am showing ‘Solitary’ in a paired down version without any additional text on the nature of lonliness.

There is always that element of how the work is going to breathe on its’ own. I think there is a good mix or old and new, things in the gallery space and thos site specific and installational elements. I guess that’s my work done on it, I’ve done all I can. Now I am waiting to hear the feedback, see what people think.

Centre for Fine Print Research – Bookmarks

A few years ago I signed up to do a limited edition of 100 bookmarks. Time passes. Then a reminder comes and you have to pull it out the bag. Anyways, I have my 100 bookmarks ready to post off. Hand printed using an old Adana flat bed quarto. I love letterpress. I love the lo-fi way. There is something exquisite about the process, the marks, the individuality and hand craftedness that is imprinted into the paper.

All in a row

Soften

During the Hepworth at Wakefield opening I had the opportunity to show some work. This print is coloured only by the patina of the wood blocks.

Do You Think We Can Talk About This?

I have just installed ‘Do you think we can talk about this?’ at the Centre For Life, Newcastle. It is a collection of pieces which reflect on  the personal and cultural agenda surrounding mental health. It runs for a couple of months. Can we talk about mental health? At once we are fascinated by those perceived as kooky, off beat, crazy and then we tire of them and vilify them and perpetuate the stereotypical images and viewpoints of those living with an enduring mental health condition. I hope we can talk about it, I hope we can get a right good open honest discussion going.

Letterpress. Paper, Acrylic,Text 2010

Brief Statement

A socially engaged text based artist Moesbys’ work is informed through the linguistic and visual imagery we use to create and make sense of the worlds we inhabit. Text based installations explore the conflict within the personal and cultural agendas of our Cultural and Psychological heritage. He utilises a variety of media, technologies and approaches in order to realise the artwork yet the text and its imbued meaning is always paramount

Framing of the Work

Aidan Moesby utilises metaphor to provoke a re-evaluation of what it means to experience psychological conflict. The work references the ‘Personal’ and ‘Cultural’ worlds. It explores the preoccupation with the ‘Pop’ psychology of the disposable ‘low brow’ visual media culture which offers the empty promise of 15 minutes of fame through simulated catharsis.

The work has everything and nothing to do with his own experience of Bipolar Disorder. We all experience the highs, lows and ennui of life. To some extent we have lost our sense of Self and our Integrity. Validation is sought from others rather than from within. We yearn for vicarious fulfilment, the projected phantasy, the glossy dream, the ‘quick fix’ down on ‘Easy Street’. We do not wish to look at or acknowledge our own psychological fragilities, and very often we do not wish to attend to those fragilities of others lest we catch them.

Aidan attempts to explore the frailty of the Human Condition in all its’ imperfect splendour. He mines a rich and complex vein of written and visual language in an effort to gain an understanding and awareness of how we can make sense our place in the worlds we create. Ultimately he acknowledges that we are in a state of constant flux and the work remains to inhabit the often subtle, fragile and dynamic boundary between the conflicted continuum of ‘ease’ and ‘dis-ease’.

Mirror. Text. 2004