Cascadia

GoPro: Danny MacAskill - Cascadia                  Courtesy of GoPro & YouTube

Sometimes navigating space requires skill, coordination, balance and one helluva set of cojones 

Meet Danny MacAskill, the David Belle of BMX (my take).   Don't watch if you have any fear of heights....

Moh-shuh n

Hip-hop Chronicles: Locking / New York            R Allen-Sherwood 2015

Motion: the action or process of moving or being moved. 

 These images are from a continuing work-in-progress-series that began in 2010 when I encountered my first live break-dancing and I've been an avid fan ever since..

    motion is

    gesture 
    stream
    agitation
    fluctuation
    move
    sweep 

    act

Hip-hop Chronicles: Osaka Sync 2            R Allen-Sherwood 2015

For me, freestyle breaking can express powerfully raw and pure forms of movement. Especially when b-boys and b-girls are battling to protect their reputations or turf. That choreographed stuff you see on TV completely misses the mark.

  motion is  

dynamics 

kinetics
    body English
    full swing

Hip-hop Chronicles: #1           R Allen-Sherwood 2010

That's the first drawing of a breakdancer made in my sketchbook on  Nov 2010.  I wanted to say there's a big difference between this drawing and the more recent works shown in this post....but now I see that there really isn't.....

Oddly, I find that quite encouraging..

Advance New Year Resolution

From "The Hiphop Chronicles" series - my current work in progress. Nov 2015

In light of what has happened in Paris with the recent terroist attacks and all that it implies, I have made a firm decision on how to live out the remainder of my life as an artist (and human being). The commitment is this: To carry on fearlessly in faith and hope - no matter what happens.

If I give in to fear, they win.

In this battle for my life, let my art help me to communicate the joy of living; a continuing hope in the future & may I also continue to learn how to love and never give up on my fellow humankind. (No matter how deluded some of them appear to be) (Self included.)

Well, that's my new year resolution taken care of then.

Stay safe in your spaces.

100 Lines in Space

Rachelle's 100 lines (64/100)

The room was already full when I rushed in, ready to take my place in a drawing workshop alongside a group of young architect students in central London.

The instructions at the top of our introduction sheets were simple and clear. It read : "Take 100 pieces of paper and make a line by whatever means on each one". Sounded easy enough, but most things that do, aren't. With that, I began my odyssey into the world of drawing from the architect's-point-of-view.

Escher-fitti

Over the next few hours I watched as a bunch of scrawled signatures morphed into three dimensional Escher-like creatures, floating in space. In another part of the room carefully drawn pencil lines created magnetic white holes which drew the viewer deep inside the paper space.

There were drawn lines which spoke of longings, missed holidays and sexual innuendo. My favorite was an ingenious composition which consisted of a series of lines drawn across piles of paper, meticulously arranged on top of the worktable. To me, it resembled a huge paper mobile of a building, lying dormant on the table. 

Unite & Divide

As for my own drawings, I was quite surprised when one of the young architects described them as "Three dimemsional lines in space"! Although this was my first creative encounter with architects I felt it was a successful one. Their work resonated with me and I felt they understood mine. Hopefully there'll be more creative collaborations in the future.

A great big thank you to workshop leader Sean Griffiths and the Architectural Association for a enlightening evening and a great time.

KU Space of Art

Deconstructing Space: KU  (#6)                 R Allen-Sherwood 2015

"Space is the breath of art".   Frank Lloyd Wright  

Deconstructing Space

"Deconstructing Space:  Ku"        Sumi ink, watercolour on paper  2015

I've been practicing with the Japanese word 'KU' (space) over the past 2 years, using ink and calligraphy brushes but never really comfortable with any of the results -not even when they were perceived as "good" by others....  I always wanted to find a way to express KU in  my own original voice. A way of expression that is truer to who/what I am.. Well, I think I'm finally getting close. (It's only taken a decade.).

This is a work-in-progress, part of a series I've just started to develop. If you are interested in seeing more, please check out my facebook artist page where I will post works as they evolve.

As always, thank you for visiting & see you next time!.

Vertical Space Dance

     "There is no up or down. just space and substance".  

Wanda Moretti  Il Posto founder & Choreographer

Il Posto is a vertical dancing troupe from Italy who are all about creating fluid flowing bodily movements whilst dangling several hundred feet in space.

In a recent interview,  Il Posto founder and choreographer Wanda Moretti talks about the beauty of emptiness and how important it is to her dancers. She described it as: "The suspension in the few seconds of a leap, a moment of freedom in which the legs also become the arms".
 

The surreal visual imagery is mesmerising, if slightly disorienting. Makes me wonder whether the phrase 'wall legs' should be added to existing 'sea & land legs' in the English language? You decide, I'm too dizzy.