The explorer

Dr Freakinstyle sales
over the economy of scales
looking for land
where his freaks take a stand
drowned morals and ethics
still alive are those that meet the economical mathmetics
rules don't age like wine
a sea of vinegar over time

from dusk till dawn
mutated sheep are spawn
they won't be put on mute
keeping the ship en route

...oh, so I really should make them speak:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNQu7jh9vNM&feature=g-all-u&context=G2e93f80FAAAAAAAAAAA

Update in busy times

With the Threshold Festival in Liverpool almost to be kicked of, I am still busy with other work and narrowing down what my work is about to create an installation or bigger pieces. Two of my sculptures will actually be on display in Eggspace and the Camp and Furnace during this festival. The one hanging in Eggspace is a new experiment of which I'll use some bits more in the future. I have been busy collecting rubbish to have the right colours and shapes for some small sculptures with sheep bones, the familiar stuff, but also to make a few much bigger ones this spring.

So not much sculpting an pictures, but they will come .... if you build it they will come!

Groups, herds, communities

Yes, I have been thinking about these a lot lately. They came up when thinking about the credit crunch and everything around it. We people love to follow others, like sheep, also in the abyss.
I, quite often, find myself outside the group by surprise and makes me wondering why. When I try to convince others of different ideas, you have to fight against group culture, habits and thoughts. Doing this takes a lot of energy.

I have noticed in particular that groups can have their own ways of make things sensible and simple ways of defending their truth, resulting in ‘begging the question’, which is a circle of arguments that will defend each other’s existence. This can become really frustrating, just like being normal and sane in a mental institution. They keep saying you’re insane, because you are behaving different from what they expect. They expect insane behavior; therefore your sane behavior becomes insane.

You will notice similar things when you are new to a group. You have more distance between you and their ideas, which make you have a clearer view. But to work with that group you have to adapt to their culture and try to understand them.

The question for myself, as being relatively new to the art world, where does ‘getting to know’ stop and art innovation begins?

Exhibitions

Yes, I have been busy on this yesterday. One exhibition started in Kendal in the Dickie Doodle live music bar. The only bar I have seen that has actual display cabinets, amazing! Further, been busy with delivering two sculptures for The arts festival of Liverpool; Threshold 2012. This is specifically a festival from the 10th till the 12th of February with music performance arts, visual arts etc. My work will be shown for about a month around this weekend in two venues: Eggspace and the Camp and Furnace.

I hope I have some time the coming months to do more experimenting but I am afraid not. The little time I will have between work is to little, so I'll try some small experiments on small bones or clones of older work. Stay tuned!

The story

Still trying to figure this out. It is hard to make a sculpture with all my desired features in it:
- natural found objects
- Cartoon character
- Consumer symbol
- symbol for people always following other people
- Prefered decorative style; Delft blue ceramic paintstyle
Ok, I do use sheep bones and sheep ..... are sheep, therefor covering the last criterium and the first. Cartoon character is also possible in this, but becomes harder. Only I find that the consuming part fades. I have now made a new abstract skull covered in a mosaic made from thrown away plastic bottles. So no natural object. I feel I am getting close, but the next question is, can I come up with a format that I can repeat and still have enough flexibility to innovate?

And how can I add my own story to it? From Finance to sculptor in bad economic times and always busy with plants and outdoor activities. ....I am thinking out loud!

2012

What will 2012 bring?

Well, There are a lot of things happening in Europe and they are giving shape to things that will determine the next 10 years. There are always big changes in these times of crisis. Maybe, if I find the right way to express it, I'll try to create something to show my thoughts about these problems and solutions. Don't think to heavy of it, I'll will always try to blend in a visually low barrier style.

The beginning of 2012 I want to focus on more time intensive sculptures and more visual experiments, besides making more pictures. I will have an exhibition in January in Kendal in the Dickie Doodle life music bar. I am also busy to get something in Liverpool, Lancaster, London and another one in Manchester.

If you know places where my style would fit, let me know! Victor [AT} imsobo.com

Sometimes the slightly weird places are the most interesting.

Thanks for following me in 2011 and have a great 2012!

Back to the background

The last 8 months I have been focussing on developing my style in sculpture, paint style and the materials I use. Now it is time again, just in time before christmas, to mention my background message. This message isn't directly clear when looking at my sculptures. This will probably remain for most new work. This is probably my work that is the most straightforward to express what I want to say:

Hom Rottey: shopping trolley x Hot rod x mouth




So I decided to rewrite my 'about' page on my website to make it more clear why I make these specific creatures. http://www.imsobo.com/about.html

I will use my blog a bit more to add ideas to this theme.