Near Vinyl Dead Cassette

HEISTLAND

A trilogy of over 60 photographs. A personal work created over 3 months in 2011. 

Heistland: Parts I, II, III can be viewed at www.jasonxlee.com

The Artists featured in Heistland are:

Music: Andrew Phillpott, Clovisse Ferguson

Writer / Activist: Gráinne Humphrys

Music: Camilla Griehsel

Music: Zoe Spencer, Simon Crockett

Writer: Elizabeth Murray

Music: Mick O’Callaghan.

Heistland is the final installment of my Mizen Peninsula Trilogy which includes: 

The Mizen Peninsula Photo-Blog (Part I) Hacketts TV (Part II) - Both of which are ongoing projects.

Heads Up

A blog project I started last year, using composite images, has been receiving some warm attention latetly from fellow artists and designers including Scott Belsky, and is about to get some more thanks to blogger and writer Elizabeth Rose Murray, looking forward to seeing how she presents it to her audience and how they respond. Great to have a piece re-invigorated after a 6 month hiatus. 

Director / Filmmaker and Executive coach Helen Selka observed that these images in postcard or poster form also represent the ‘collectable souvenir’ genre. I like where this suggestion can go and what it adds to the project. 

Thanks Helen and Elizabeth.

If you are new to my work, here are some important links:

My website: www.jasonxlee.com here you find my art and further info.

The above Project Blog: On Tumblr

A community blog I created: Mizen Photo-Blog Photos contributed by various photographers on the Mizen Peninsula, Ireland. Again on Tumblr.

One Song / One Shot: Hackett’s TV A series filming musicians at the world famous Sunday Sessions in Hackett’s Bar, Schull, Ireland. On Vimeo.

There’s plenty of scope to get connected and follow news and events through these sites as well as on Facebook for the Mizen Photo-Blog Page and my own JasonxLee.com Facebook Page.  You can also email / subscribe to my mailing list at : info [at] jasonxlee.com

Interestingly here are some pre-Photoshop composites in the news today via the London Festival of Photography: Yahoo News

Immaculate Conception & other metaphors of creativity.

Meet ‘Al’, the ceramic Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival gong by irish artist Pat Connor. ‘Al’ is currently on route to the international film festival in Guadalajara, Mexico at the request of his excellency Carlos De Alba, mexican ambassador to Ireland where he will also meet with oscar nominee Demian Beschir before settling in, in his new home with filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios whose short film won Best of Festival prize in 2011.

This is ‘Al the Third’. His story here is soft in the centre, it’s fun, as he is elevated into popular culture, pop culture, pop, but he is not a cartoon. He is the symbol of excellence, Best of Festival for the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival.

When the first generation ‘Al’ first stepped into the light, his first time around, his first photo oppourtunity, life was much harder then. He didn’t hold any currency or speak the language. It was not until Jack Gold presented ‘Al the First’ to 2009 Best of Festival winner Vincent Gallagher, whose father had been a long time admirer of Pat Connor’s art, expressed his delight at welcoming this scatterling, this vagabond and orphan to the angels and architecture of his family tree, that you first heard ‘Amen and Hallelujah!’ 

Whichever way you look at it, ‘Al finding his story or the story finding ‘Al’, there was a moment at the beginning when ‘Al’ nearly nearly didn’t exist. When back in 2008/9 the idea for the gong was revolving around a twisted piece of metal looking like a film strip. Pat asked if I could put together a graphic stencil to etch the festival and film strip details on. 

We played around, the deadline got closer, and there was something very wrong in the air. Why was Pat Connor, ceramicist and artist making a gong that bore little or no resemblance to his art? Why was I helping him do this? With deadlines looming it was time to stop, pause and re-engage.

A twisted silver film strip wasn’t going to be necessarily wrong, but looking at Pat across the table, his years of work, his chimeric world, a film festival in a village without a cinema, it just wasn’t right, it wasn’t adding up.

It took a couple of days breathing, before a moment, I remember being like a rarely mentioned scene in ‘Saving Private Ryan’ where a secretary notices the names of the brothers, alerts her seniors and gets out of the way to let the story unfold, I ask Pat why he doesn’t just create a figure similar to one I’d seen in his collection, add a golden crown and emblazon the FSFF name across it’s chest? 

Anyone can make a twisted silver film strip, or a golden figure, but only Pat Connor can make ‘Al’. It may seem obvious now, but we often look the wrong way before we look the right way. ‘Al’ already existed, he just hadn’t been seen for a while, like a long lost pal. 

Pat Connor’s art and the Corona Fastnet Short Film Festival are different and challenging, ‘Al’ is a different type of gong, but they share the same compass bearing and in doing so they are being found by an audience that too already exists.  

Vayan con Dios!

See ‘Al’ on his adventure here: CFSFF Facebook Page

Photo ‘Al & Pilots’ ©2012 CFSFF 

Part of this text re-interprets Paul Simon’s ‘You can call me Al’ .

Nautonnier: Two hundred and eighty nautical miles of sea.

Photo: Land’s End, 16 Feb 2012 from the series Nautonnier