Luke Gilliam's Page
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Idiosynchronism
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Journal Entry: Hullucination As Practice
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Luke Gilliam
Latest Activity
Profile Information
- Relationship status
- single
- College / University
- Trebas Institute Toronto
- Program
- Engineering
- Graduation
- 17 February 1998
- Member type
- Artist
- If you're an artist, what kind of art do you make?
- Installation, Painting, Photography
- I am...
- A young painter living in England. Active in the industry including selling work to private collectors in the Bath Bristol Region. Frequently travel to France working with the music collective imuZZic made up of Bruno Tocanne, Adam Daudrich, Louis Sclavis, and Henri Texier to produce music and bring back ideas surrounding free improvisation, minimalism, and symbolism to feed into my paintings based here in the South West UK.
I frequently work at the St James Wine Vaults selling work and mixing live bands The Dusty Stars and Port Erin.
- About my artwork
- Disturbed, cut, mixed, geometric, multi dimensional, symbolic work often infused with fabric, metal, and blood. Made to sell but directed away from the commercial market in the UK and towards young philosophers and people into media studies.
I have been holding exhibitions and previews since 1994 which include...
COMMISSION, CAFE PARISIEN, Bath April 2009
GUEST CURATOR, BRITISH ART ACADEMY, Bath April 2009
GUEST CURATOR, BRITISH ART ACADEMY, Bath March 2009
GROUP EXHIBITION, BRITISH ART ACADEMY, Bath Feb 2009
GROUP EXHIBITION, BRITISH ART ACADEMY, Bath Jan 2009
MIXED MEDIA EXHIBITION, ST JAMES, Bath Nov 2008
BATH OPEN ART FAIR, Bath 2008
SIMPLETON, Bath 2008
NUIT BLANCHE, Toronto 2007
ZENPHYREMOS, Lyon 2006
ANIMOTS, Lyon 2006
NEW DAY VOLUME I, Lyon 2006
MR J FOR ALEX BELLEGARDE, Distillery , Toronto 2003
QUINSIN NACHOFF LIVE VOL II, Distillery , Toronto 2003
QUINSIN NACHOFF LIVE VOL I Distillery , Toronto 2003
MUSIC THAT LIVE FOR PEOPLE, Toronto 1998
SONG FOR CAITLIN, Toronto 1998
DOGMA, Directed by Kevin Smith, Toronto 1998
EARLY HUNGER, Maze Gallery , Toronto 1994
My process. I would say the most profound moments of my life have been studying South American shamanism or 'nagualism', producing jazz music, and listening to Hungarian folk music. In particular it is the sorrow and 'ungraspability' or 'intangibilty' (or just 'mystery' if that is easier) of Hungarian folk music that conjures voyages in my subconscious. I begin with a memory of one of these profound moments and use found objects in my studio such as books and sheet music as the beginning of a shape or symbol that goes direct onto the canvass. It is from that starting point that I build outwards by cutting, scraping and reshaping the source symbol that I realize what needs to be added, either with paint, charcoal, metal, or fabric in order to arrive at a finished piece. In this way I transform my perception of what has ignited me by moving my hands. The movement sets the transformation into motion until the source symbol has become a new being. I do not see these as paintings or sketches but as voicings or statements coming direct from the source of the universe onto the physical medium in my studio. This is my process.
Most of my work is a homage to my friends Bruno Tocanne, side man to the veteran violinist Didier Lockwood, and Heiner Stadler, producer to the late John Lee Hooker and director of Labor Records. It is their ideas that drive me. It is thereby art inspired by experimental music and all of the symbology surrounding it.
Three snippets of information about me from three friends:
"I looked at Luke's work [zenphyremOs]. It's beautiful! It's really amazing. It's also the sort of work that people would want to buy."
Sally Clark - Writer, Vancouver
"(A Passagem) ? uma bela combina??o de texturas, superf?cies e m?dia. Seja enquanto fotografia, colagem ou desenho, eles s?o bem combinados e lembram-nos de que ? poss?vel compor algo belo e mesmo assim provocante. Uma representa??o visual muito expressiva da experi?ncia t?til.? "
Rodrigo O.L.C. Bernardo - Student To Thomas Farkas, Sao Paulo
New Day Volume 1
"I listened to Luke's music. It is strong and to the point. I like it."
Heiner Stadler - Labor Records, New York
- Artists I like
- Pretty much Joan Miró. In reality though I don't actually care what people are doing. I steal people's work regularly, cut it, edit it and remake it until I arrive at an honest reflection of what I see in the world around me. Thereby I don't care about Joan Miró or any other artist, old or new, here in the UK or overseas. It is irrelevant if you know that creating in the moment is all that exists and that most of people's opinions add up to be of little use to echo the true voice of the source.
- Interests
- Eating crisps at odd angles and speaking Russian at youth hostels across the UK. Researching how music and art connect. Please check out the following websites!! ::
http://www.laborrecords.com/
http://cdbaby.com/cd/adamdaudrich
http://www.brunotocanne.com/
http://www.niccosta.com
- What exhibitions are good at the moment?
- They had some lithographs from Guernica at the White Room Gallery which were pretty interesting. Although I basically detest the Victoria Art Gallery (sorry guys) they did present some work recently by Keith Vaughan which was a real eye opener.
- Centre of the artworld:
- my studio, nowhere and everywhere
Luke Gilliam's Blog
A Hommage To My Colleagues
Personal Notes On Art.... It seems odd to format a hommage to some of my colleagues on a art magazine website. However lack of a large commercial site with a much needed administrator and also the self realisation that the artists I have worked with since 1994 come from so many different backgrounds makes it hard for me to realise who would write down our collaborations in one place? Probably no one. Here is a hommage to some of the people I have worked with and also worked for, in no particular… Continue
Posted on 8th July 2009 at 3:30pm —
Catalogue Of Sold Work
01 EARLY HUNGER - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - FRAMED - 1997 TORONTO 02 EARLY HUNGER - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - FRAMED - 1997 TORONTO 03 STUDY OF SYMBOLS - OIL ON CANVAS - 2003 TORONTO 04 JOIE DE SNCF - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - FRAMED - 2005 TORONTO 05 ZENPHYREMOS - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - UNFRAMED - 2006 LYON 06 ZENPHYREMOS - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - UNFRAMED - 2006 LYON 07 ZENPHYREMOS - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - UNFRAMED - 2006 LYON 08 ZENPHYREMOS - LIMITED EDITION PRINT - UNFRAMED - 2006 LYON … Continue
Posted on 29th June 2009 at 10:30pm —
Note To The Public
I was recently asked to write a description for a small series of paintings I have made for the British Art Academy called "4 Day Fast To Stop War" In general I don't like writing about individual paintings. So I won't. What I think is pertinent. Also severely overdue. Is a review as to why there is a war in Iraq. I remember following it very closely in 2003 and 2004 in all of the newspapers in Toronto. Then buying books about the subject written by important people, like Pillinger and… Continue
Posted on 18th February 2009 at 1:00pm —
Cosmic Connection With The World
After a very large portion of talks with artists in the South West Uk I have stumbled upon some disturbing information. Not only are all the major beliefs in the world - at least the ones people fight over - totally based on narratives for which very little concrete and provable source material exists, but, to make matters worse, those fighting in the middle east are not fighting over the difference between the many documents within the muslim groups and jewish groups, including the many high… Continue
Posted on 23rd January 2009 at 2:13pm —
Review From Jazzdimensions Magazine
Trio Résistances - "New Day Volume 1" Contemporary Works by Luke Gilliam-Adam Daudrich Das Trio Résistances gehört seit vielen Jahren zu den interessantesten Ensembles des französischen Free Jazz. Gradlinig und kompromisslos gehen die Musiker Bruno Tocanne (Schlagzeug), Lionel Martin (Saxophone) und Benoît Keller (Bass) einen Weg des nicht geringen Widerstands. Die Musik des Trios ist sperrig, zuweilen rau und sucht mit Konventionen zu brechen. Im Covertext sprechen sich die Musiker ge… Continue
Posted on 25th November 2008 at 5:31pm —
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I'll take a stroll for your latest work and accordingly send back a comment of course!!.
A huge embrace
thebigfuss@hotmail.co.uk
http://thebigfuss.jimdo.com/
Cheers, Mik
I've not been using artreview.com so much.
You always look as if you are having a lot of fun in your work. There's a strong sense of the works getting done or performed. If that's your main interest, that's fine. If you want to make fine art 'produce' you have to jump through all kinds of cultural, intellectual, moral and technical hoops...and you still get nowhere at the end of it!
To get the 'most' out of art college maybe you would have to be prepared to change radically...You might not be up for doing that. Some how I can't see you as a conceptual artist. If you do modernist paintings they'll probably see you as some kind of freak that needs to be worked on.
People navigate the similar problems in different ways. I like to be lost in making work. Whatever precise plans I have at the outset tend to go by the board. I make most of my things out of cheap and found materials and most things I make get chucked out sooner or later.
The important thing is the work changes me...and so on, and so forth.
If I 'influence' other people and things, it is usually accidentally, and in other forms. I worry about infecting other artists with my negativity.
I wouldn't recommend my way of going on...you seem much more outgoing and enterprising than me...My way of working basically saves me a lot of aggravation.
It is impossible to 'win' in contemporary art, but if you are so inclined making art can be one of the things that makes life worth living. All the best ROB
Looking at your recent works bring to mind some of the things I was saying before - I worry that perhaps you invest too much in your painting - I may be reading them wrong, but they look to me as though you need to explore ideas further before "committing" them to presentation canvases. To remind you of Paul Klee and other Bauhaus painters, they made many sketches and drawings (which I still say is a special strength of yours that you should push further) often very small scale on paper with gouache, poster paint or watercolour, testing ideas, compositions, brush-marks and colours.
I can see that you've pared things down quite a bit - persued the more minimal statement - and I like some of the shapes you're dealing with, but generally this new batch seem perhaps too overtly commercial: it seems to be moving closer to design-for-interiors than art. Mind you I recognise that commercial viability is something you are after - unfortunately I am pretty hopeless at working to a market - tried it, couldn't get motivated by it, was frankly bored by it, produced rubbish, so I gave up. It seems I can only produce reasonable stuff when I simply follow my own nose: often work is abandoned, but amongst those - just occasionally - a real gem comes out. It the gems that I live for - they're worth all the stuff that is binned or re-primed.
However, I must say that the one that stands out for me - probably because it reminds me of your drawings - is the white sculptural assemblage. This is a nice piece - have you done any more like that? Mind you, the photo is a bit grainy and soft focus - it might be worth trying to get another shot of it if you can. But yes, I think you've got something there.
All the same, I still think you ought to look into going to art-school, possibly part-time as I said. You have a strong talent and good visual/manual skills that could best be developed in a more formal way. I think you'd love it, even though it may well challenge some of your ideas, but that is usually a good thing - it certainly helps me, and I'm looking to do another course. And you'd get a constant stream of feedback - obviously you don't have to agree with it all, but it helps the thinking process, helps you find directions forward. Also, quite frankly, I think adult students can get far more out of art-school than the bulk of students because they know what they need and are happy to ask for information and help from the staff. Now is a good time to investigate the possibilities, as colleges are recruiting for September.
You are of course completely free to totally disregard my opinions, but there you go. I think you need to draw much more - and so do I!
By the way, one thing I've been playing with recently is that ready mixed poster colour that comes in big bottles - cheap as chips, and though some of the colours might not be as strong as artists quality it's fine for sketching and experimenting with - an accessible way of testing your ideas, and you can use it thickly as it comes or thinly like a watercolour, and mix it with acrylics or even emulsion. Have you tried it since primary school? I was pleasantly surprised.
I hope this is of some help.
Cheers, Mik
Yes, I spotted your email last night - I've been away for a few days (a big party in Portugal), so have been catching up today. I actually spent this afternoon painting, even though there was a pile of mail to deal with.
I had a quick look at your images last night, but will look properly tomorrow - always happy to stick my oar in - even though it may not be always welcome - I hope it's useful occasionally - I'm glad you thought so before - no guarantees though, eh? :) But you're right, it has been a while.
By the way - what is this "British Art Academy" - it's a new one for me?
Cheers, Mik
s.
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