Category: Art

The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle

The Other Art Fair

Seduced by art: From art virgin to art collector It sparks off debates, encourages us to take a look at topical issues, delves inside the subconscious, and allows us to have a laugh at the world and...

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Make Better Music 67: Raw Power and Sophistication

For some, measured, intelligent songwriting skills are the pinnacle of musical enjoyment, for others it can be the antithesis of what music is there for - the expression of raw emotion....

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Loitered Lens: Her [Pics]

Images by Carl Byron Batson 2011.  Carl Byron BatsonPhotographer, published poet, former party animal, body builder, grave robber to the stars and renowned chainsaw juggler, Carl can often be...

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Make Better Music 66: Embrace the Chaos

In the midst of a vast YouTube binge the other evening (I’ve got a thirst for seeking out to interviews with musicians I like, and seem to be hopeless at turning YouTube off), I happened to come...

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Photo Essay – Judith Scott at Museum of Everything

Museum of Everything showcases outsider art and people not usually recognised as artists. I loved the Judith Scott exhibition, and especially intriguing were the x-rays of the...

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Loitered Lens: Healthy Junkies [Pics]

Melodic French edge meets English grunt. Parisian Lead singer Nina Courson teamed up with British guitarist Phil Honey-Jones just over a year ago to set about writing and recording one song for a...

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Make Better Music 65: A Musical Process

So this week, having been inspired by a particular piece of music, I’m going to focus on one particular kind of procedure - which doesn’t really have a name. I’ll just try to describe it....

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Loitered Lens: Grim Dylan [Pics]

Photos of Grim Dylan 2011...

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Artists: what are we worth?

The economic crisis has meant an economic armageddon for artists. What are we worth? was a panel discussion led by DACS and Artquest that considered how artists can create income in support of their...

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Make Better Music 64: “What Comes Next?”

Make Better Music 64: “What Comes Next?”The big question that always demands an answer, when you are writing music, is what happens next? It seems straightforward until you try it. Then...

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Loitered Lens: Catfight/Gasoline Thrill [Pics]

Catfight have forged a breathy reputation for getting dirty in UK venues since 2009, and giving you more rock for your pound. Prior to becoming Gasoline Thrill Trebuchet captured Catfight live at the...

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From Shiny Things to Silliness – Frieze Overview

Frieze was a fantastic opportunity to see a so many of the world’s top artists and galleries in one place. With a multitude of  styles and genres on show from over 170 galleries from...

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Metahub – Nuit Blanche, Amiens 2011

Digital Arts: Flash in the pan, light at the end of the tunnel or oncoming train wreck.  Amiens, France 15th October  This year saw a conjunction between digital artists in the UK and...

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Loitered Lens: Black Nazarene [Pics]

Black Nazarene Website. Images by Carl Byron Batson 2011.  Carl Byron BatsonPhotographer, published poet, former party animal, body builder, grave robber to the stars and renowned chainsaw...

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Takako Shimizu – Piecemaker Exhibition 2011

Mosaic sculptor Takako Shimizu explores the other facets of Glass.  It’s clear that while glass heats to a liquid state and cools to become a solid, something of its liquid nature always...

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Make Better Music 63: Simplicity vs Complexity

Sometimes I like to overload a song with overdubs and production tricks - if that is what suits it. More can be more in this case. Of course the opposite is also true, less intensely produced music...

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Art, Money and Shredded Credit Cards at Frieze 2011

October is the shining pinnacle of the art world calendar, and you cannot have failed to notice that Frieze, the biggest beast of all art fairs, unveiled it’s glistening art delights this...

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Make Better Music 62: Working Out Your Musical Muscles

Of course, if you are writing a song every day, it’s unlikely that you are going to be churning out a double album of SOLID GOLD CLASSICS each months, but on the flip side, it will do you a lot of...

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Make Better Music 61: The Music Diet

Every few months I feel like I need this kind of diet for my ears - I’ve either been over-indulging in one particular artist or genre, or I’ve been gluttonous and chowing down way too much of...

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Oil: Edward Burtynsky’s Narrative of Society’s Fuel Source

That one substance which is at once both everywhere and yet nowhere to be seen is the subject of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky’s most recent exhibition, entitled Oil. Through over 50...

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Make Better Music 60: Automation and the Human Form

On the plus side, a new generation (one that has grown up with remarkably powerful music tech tools) will do things with music software that are incredible, ground breaking, ear-catching and mind...

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Creative Journey: How to Curate Abroad

Creative Journey: How to Curate Abroad...

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Make Better Music 59: It’s not what you put in, it’s what you get out

One of the joys of music is that it always has something to say that’s worth listening to, even in tracks that you have heard a hundred times. There’s a richness and enough ambiguity of...

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Make Better Music 58: Go Where the Barriers Are

The idea is simple - things that are easy to do can be done by more people than things that are hard. You want to make your music available as a “self release” via a service like bandcamp? Go for...

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Our-Merica 5: Imaginings of America

"Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it had merely been detected." – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Images By Our Bartlett....

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Make Better Music 57: Counterpoint

I regard writing fine counterpoint as a bit of a lost art. In some ways it’s largely redundant in todays music, where single ideas right up front are generally king. This is not any kind of rant...

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Our-Merica 4: Imaginings of America

"I believe America's best days are ahead of us because I believe that the future belongs to freedom, not to fear." – John Kerry Images By Our Bartlett....

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Make Better Music 56: Celebrating the Old

I wonder how it feels to be making music after fifty or even sixty active years. Some people have gone on even longer - Elliot Carter is about to turn 103 and is still an active composer - what can...

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Our-Merica 3: Imaginings of America

"This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do." – Jack Kerouac, On the Road Images By Our Bartlett. http://www.ourbartlett.co.uk Our...

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Make Better Music 55: Back to Basics

Imbue your music with your passion. If you don’t have a passion for making music, then leave it to those who do. Fill your music to the brim with all the emotion, drive, energy, love, enthusiasm...

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