funny christmas display in Madrid

Im just including this video due to its amazing distaste and comical value. Its a large display put on by the Spanish department store El Corte Ingles, Its put on for childrens entertainment, but i wonder how much they spent on this when the country suffers 20% unemployment?
but still, made me laugh.

progress with steel and mirror tree

The images here show the tree half completed, I have about another 8 mirros to go on and loads more leaves. The aesthetic is starting to come together, I am pleased with how the leaves came out, there is a nice blue detail around all the leaves, which is a reaction to the plasma cutter I used to cut them out. I hope that the adition of the rest of the mirrors with fill it out more and that in the rigth light and position I hope to get some good images of it.
As the piece develops, I think I am growing less fond of it, maybe just due to spending too much time looking at it, but I am looking forward to completing it and comencing with a new project.

Magpie

I was thinking about the photographs I have been taking, with the large shiny and abstract surfaces, it was then i compared my compulsion to that of the Magpie with hsiny objects. I thought it would be interesting to create a shiny magpie looking into a puddle with its head slightly turned to insinuate confusion.
I was just playing here with some cans to see if i could translate the idea i had. the main problem i had was joining the can wihtout it being to delicate, solder doesnt bond so well with can, and the epoxy i had doesnt bond rapidly enough to hold the correct form. I think its an idea i might revisit and take a different approach with. even if completed the aluminium surface wouldnt have presented a surface as shiny as i would like.

latest selection of cropped photographs

These photographs are some of the favourite pieces i have done here in madrid. They sit right on the line between photography and painting, and alot of peoples first impressions is that they are paintings. I think this is where alot of my interest in the works lie. the fact that they are direct reflections of reality interests me, and how these beautiful abstract "paintings" are the unintentional by-product of contemporary and past architecture dating back to the 1800's. the windows creating the reflections are contemporary, but the subjects of the reflections span a few centuries. I find this quite an interesting point. some of the last images shown he become vaguely reminiscent of some keith tyson paintings I have seen, the ones where he uses the chemical reactions to create the paintings for him. They have a similar means of existence, his paintings are the product of human intervetion mixixing certain chemicals, and mine are the product of a complicated series of historical events taking place to create the exact scenery that creates these reflections.

progress with my metal tree sculpture

These Pictures show the progress im making with my metal tree, I have made the trunk from six seperat steel rods bent and twisted into organic and natural shapes. I have started mounting theconncave mirorrs onto the tree. I had to create my own mounts for the mirrors so as to keep a consistent tone and colour of metal. I intend to mount at least 15 or so of these mirros until they create the impression of a full and dense foliage, once I have added the leaves aswell.

exhibition space in bellas artes

The college in madrid constantly houses exhib itions of students, alumni, and other artists making for a vibrant and exciting atmosphere with lots of opportunites. I'm looking forward to exhibiting some work here.

completion of first mural

These pictures depict the completion of my mural painting. I'm fairly happy with the finished product, the point of the excercise was to learn the fresco technique and to learn to transfer an image from a drawing to the wall. This ended up not being the case with my mural as I was working with a partner who's design it was, who I havent seen since november, and he had the design so I had to improvise some of it. But i feel alot more confident with the technique now, and that I have learnt alot and that I will be able to produce the next one alot quicker and more efficiently.