CREATIVE BLOCK

Sorry for being quiet this week, that is assuming that anyone does follow us... The reason is due to the fact that we are currently writing a paper on 'Creative Block'. No this is not a joke. Our deadline is tomorrow so we will be back to posting up some more of our artwork thereafter.

If however you have any suggestions or even problems surrounding the subject of 'Creative Block' please do get in touch. This is an area that we have a great deal of interest in and intend to take our little paper further as soon as we learn to write properly.

Somewhere in the near future we intend to publish a hard copy of our findings in the vain hope it will help industry practitioners and students alike to generate new ideas... We are not saying that people don't have ideas but sometimes getting them out of our heads is the main problem we are faced with...

cheers,

wma

FREE ARTWORK FOR YOU!

We have been a little presumptuous, please forgive us we were bored and had half an hour to kill. We have left you some large format posters around Birmingham! They are tacked up and ready for you to peal off.

Bye for now!

wma

Arts Fest Themes upset us...

In a moment of suffering a slight discomfort, and annoyance at reading this year’s Arts Fest themes we made a flippant post on the Created In Birmingham Blog, which is as good as ever – so shut up and get a life to those that dislike it. We would like to state here that we are very serious in our distrust and dislike of the said themes.

Our main concern is the never changing attitude towards Birmingham that some Brummies have. It’s always, well nearly always stuck in the past. The motor trade, Matthew Boulton etc and worst still, bloody Jasper Carrot and Ozzy Osbourne, who doesn’t even live here and hasn’t done for years. In fact apart from his over exaggerated accent there is nothing Brummie about him. Check out his OZFest to see just how Americanised he has become.

Can’t we just make artwork and celebrate it as it is NOW and look to the future instead of dwelling on what isn’t all that great in our past. Ok, Matthew Boulton did his bit in ending the Slave Trade but had he not been part of it in the first place he surely wouldn’t have needed to contribute to ending it.

Celebrating anything to do with the motor trade seems tiresome to say the least. Anyone that has had to sit through any of Lord Digby’s talks will tell you they are sick of this kind of thing – unless they like staged power/motivational BS talking. His nostalgic talk of the past glories of the industry here in Brum is exactly what is wrong. Instead of dwelling or celebrating on the good or bad of the past: lets deal with the now. Don’t worry it won’t make you a hard line modernist. You can still enter your watercolour daubs into Arts Fest if that floats your boat but you can also enjoy the other things your contemporaries are doing.

Here’s to the now and lets finally say goodbye to the past. Besides I have never ever understood a word that Professor Carl Chinn has ever said due to never ever being able to understand his accent. No one has ever or will ever talk the way he does. Please let’s move on…

we like annette messager

We really felt that we had to plug Annette Messager's work here on our little blog. It makes us happy and every time we see it we want to animate it. It reminds us of Universal Everything's work or the other way around!

Her show is currently running at the Haywood Gallery, London and we are all going on Mass for a day trip!

FORERUNNER RECORDS LAUNCH

We were asked by Forerunner Records to produce a giveaway that provided their customers with information about their services. We couldn't resist doing a 7inch record sleeve.

We had less than 24 hours to come up with the concept and get the artwork to the printers. The lovely snap of Amanda Palmer from The Dresden Dolls we chose was by up and coming photographer Arjun Sohal. There was no time to print a cover with a hole so we opted for stickers of the logos and to have the colour coming through the dye-cut in an abstract way...

Printed onto 140 gsm Beswick’s paper. Type set in Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk - various weights. Pantone Colour 382...

Printed by Heathcoates in Sunny Wolverhampton - very bloody good and reasonably priced!

Sculptures from our Fazeley Studio Show

Here are some pictures of the sculptures that were in our Fazeley Studio Show... Thank You to all of the WMA Team - You know who you are...

Fazeley Studios Opening

Well we are now up and recovering from the Fazeley Street Launch Party. Thank you to all of you that made it to see our work. It was very nice to see Vanley and Emily. Special thanks to James and his partner from CMYKern for making it down and ta for the shout on your Blog.



We are not ones for disrespecting the work of others, as all art is shit and all shit is art, but we now feel that we are the coolest fashionists in town after sitting through two rather dull fashion shows, sorry! Lets say we’ll give Harvey Nichols a miss this year… However, Jacob Kimmie was the total exception to the rest. He didn’t do a catwalk show but instead exhibited a range of clothing that was beautiful. The detail in some of the garments was stunning.



The Studios are beautiful and it is starting to become a hub for creativity, which in our minds is a about time. The people behind Fazeley Studios have obviously recognised that creative people don’t always want to work in damp and dirty places such as the Custard Factory and clients want to visit clean and well-presented studios.



Long live this new era of creativity in Brum.