I decided to change the publicity shot on my home page, the photo of me in my pants had caused a noted drop in visitors.

I am going to try and keep this blog more up to date in the run up to the final show. It started out as a diary of my live shows, but I haven’t actually performed very much over the last few months. I have mostly been studying.

Recently I have been trying to write an essay on ‘The Jokes of Harold Pinter’… they aren’t very funny.

I have been concerned by the ominous turn on my recent artistic output. This has included: An attempt to deal with apathy towards the post 9/11 nuclear threat with some jokes about doing the washing up; A song about depression, suicide and riding donkeys; and most recently a bleak post apocalyptic drama set in my local Tescos.

My work just isn’t that funny anymore. Does that mean the last two years at Goldsmiths has made me worse? Has it only made me a more miserable and wretched artist? Where does that leave me?

I decided last week to try and write some new jokes in an attempt to liven things up. But they weren’t very funny. I noted from watching television that even when jokes are not funny, you can make people think that they are If you dub on some sound effects of a laughing audience. I have been considering taking my own pre-recorded laughter to gig so I can play it even if the jokes are not that funny. Maybe this isn’t standard practice on the stand-up comedy circuit but I thought it might be worth a try.

Labels: not very funny

It is getting near to the final Goldsmiths final shows. Pressure and anxiety is building here. In six weeks time old swimming baths on Laurie Grove Road, which are home to the Goldsmith College Post Graduate Fine Art Studios, will be turned into a grand exhibition. It will be the biggest show of my career so far, not only will it decided the final grade for my Postgraduate Studies, but it will also be visited by the important and influential people of the London Art world who will probably decided the rest of my career…

…And I don’t have any fucking idea what I am going to show them.

I needed to come up with something shocking and sensational to get peoples attention… so I have made this publicity shot...

The problem is that there is little left that can really shock art audiences. Only the other day I was watching a colleague from art college defecate into a glass jar. It was uncomfortable at the time, but it has all been seen and all been done before.

Nudity in art is expected. Not being naked was the most shocking thing I could do. This is a picture of me keeping my pants on in an art gallery.

Nobody really want to see my dangly bits, but that also admits to a conservatism and repression. Is conservatism and repression bad? That is a very difficult question.

I suppose a photo of a man in socks and pants should have been funnier, but it wasn’t. I’d accidentally had one too many in the Dog and Bell the night before and wasn’t feeling very cheerful the morning of the photo shoot. The piece is supposed to be about discomfort anyway.

I don’t know if not being funny is good thing.

Labels: Goldsmoths Masters of Fine Art Final Show Obscenity Nudity Shock Taboo

Here are some edited video highlights from Frogstock at Alma Enterprises Art Gallery. We have some great clips of The Man From the Woods, Victor Mount, Martin White, The Fucks, The Blo' Boys and Opposite The Hotel.
Unfortunately I had to change tapes during Leigh Clarke's body beat boxing set so there is no footage of this but I am hoping somebody else might have some I can edit in. The recording of Jeep's naked performance also had some problems due to being recorded on a dodgy cheap tape from Bethnal Green Market, but after some pain staking restoration work you can now see his magnificent piece of footage...



We have some more great recording we made at the event, including some audio tracks which might be available soon...