“Please, look like a tourist” @ M.Oordt, Rotterdam

Group exhibition by WdKA-students at m.oordt (January 19 – 27, 2007)
Duncan Allen, Patrick Anthofer, Jan Brandt, Eléonore Cheynet, Tomoko Okada, Leo Peschta, Doris Prlic and Kjersti Vetterstad are students at WdKA’s Fine Art Department.
M.Oordt was a temporary exhibition space in Rotterdam Zuid and for several months was home to variety of exciting, self-curated projects.

Parasite, Blaak 10 (and WdKA open day), Witte de Witte straat, Rotterdam

OPPORTUNITY (Concept piece)
When asked to respond to lectures highlighting the “problems” caused by fluctuating economics, I refused to think in terms of negativity and used a pleasant idiom, which puts a positive spin on this imperfect situation.

“A problem is an opportunity in disguise”

I have chosen locations that draw the eye (like signs, public consumption) and hidden the word ‘opportunity’ so it can only be seen due to its protrusion. I cast this word from candy letters, for me this represents how societies consume opportunities, we avoid work where possible, we can talk about a problem, yet we are unable to do anything that resolves it.

Staging Group Installation in Newton Building, NTU, Nottingham

A building is of a stark white exterior with a dominating appearance and part of the NTU campus was the setting for a most thrilling happening. The University most recently used the Newton Building as part of its technology and engineering departments. Andrew Brookfield and myself explored the existing levels and chose the lowest floor of the building that had not been completely gutted.

Though level 2 had been deserted many items had been left behind such as obsolete computers and teaching aids. There were enough working items to reform and thoroughly clean up a single office to create a convincing environment that appeared as though it was still being used.
Our success could be summed up by the actions of a member of security who had passed the office and when they saw it was in use, locked it)

As a viewer walked along the corridor, (not knowing of the condition of any other floor other then the reception area that is still in use) it seemed almost unrecognisable as a classroom or office but resembled more of a disaster area or war zone.

This was the view through one window into a locked room from the corridor on floor two.

Discombobulate 05/06, Raffles Art Café (Currently ‘The Chameleon’)

"Finished?" - series

My exhibit for Discombobulate was a selection for three paintings from a series of twelve.
Previously presented in the Bonington building, the three paintings when shown alongside each other show off my painting style and my awareness of limitations, in this case the point at which the artist ceases painting. The painting on the left ceased at two or three layers of paint, the painting in the centre was four or six and the painting the the right saw over ten layers.

For me Returning to painting after a five year break was a pleasure and to be able to dedicate my time as I saw fit was very useful to my development. I painted with passion and felt an urge to create a lot of work. I’ve always lived by the phrase, “If you throw enough shit at a wall, some of it’ll stick.” So as I make a breadth of work, I then have curative control when it comes to the presentation of my work. I felt that working to this system was effective for me as I was very happy with what I presented and others sempt to respect the attitude I had shown.

My progress through the first term at Nottingham Trent University pleased my then tutor, Professor Terry Shave, a respected painter and 'Academic Team Leader' with 'Visual Arts'.

Cinema Letters

Since the installation of windows in the Bonnington Atruim that now overlooks the Fine Art studio space, there was demand for an updateable message board. I was able to salvage large plastic letters from Mansfield's ABC cinema that were originally used to promote events and mainly films being shown there from the 1960's until the cinemas closure in 1998. Many of the letters were damaged or missing but a complete alphabet available in three font sizes has been refurbished.



I built three aluminium frames to display text. They have been erected, facing towards the atrium and Fine arts large studio area in Nottingham Trent's Bonnington building.

Malt Cross, Nottingham

Whilst defeating demons within my own painting practice, of which I am marginally accomplished, I painted with live sitters, with dramatic time constraints.3 women volunteered to be sitters for a 30 minute painting and though I had not explained to the audience that I don’t make speed portraits I was positioned so that anyone in the pub could easily see what I was working on (except for the sitter) After the 30 minutes I would simply cease painting and show the picture. The responses in general can be summed up as disappointed.















(left volunteer 3 and right volunteer 1)

I felt that I achieved what I set out for which was pushing my abilities and understanding of painting and the performative aspect of all creation and the creative action.

Pop Art by IPT Students, Mansfield Art Gallery

Exhibition of Work by “Interim provision team” students.
The aim was to expose the students to the ‘Pop Art’ movement whist exploring current pop imagery so that they may respond by creating new art work which reflects their experience of contemporary popular culture. T.A. Kate Eley and myself found that contextualizing in this way made the subject more relevant and understandable to the class (male, 14-16 year olds)

I was very proud of the conduct shown by these young men as they entered into the spirit wholeheartedly and responded by creating interesting and thought provoking work. The comments book was filled with many positives and I would happily attempt staging an event like this again again.

Marquee Colour Facility

Launch of the Videomouth website.

VIDEOMOUTH.COM

Website created: 18th March 2001 by Duncan Allen

Video (symbolic of comercialism)
Mouth (symbolic of consumerism)

I chose this name for my website because of my interest in animation and I thought that video would naturally become easier to access through the Internet. At the time I didn’t anticipate that I would become so involved with the production of flash animation and then video, but I’m happy to dedicate a lot of time to developing my skills in this area as I find gratification in realising my ideas and communicating them better.

W.N.C. Art and Design final year show, Mansfield Museum

Final assessment for GNVQ and Foundation students at West Nottinghamshire College.
My Exhibit include the following works:

“Self Portrait with spices” (acrylic on hardboard - 2000)



















“Self Portrait in suit” (acrylic on hardboard - 2000)



















“Self Portrait pixelised face” (acrylic on paper - 1999)



















A seemingly egocentric selection of work, my exhibit became for me a self-exploratory exercise in exhibitionism and understanding audience engagement.
also on show where the following works:
“Pub 2000” (computer game for windows, 256 colours - 2000),
“Self Portrait, painting by numbers kit”
(cardboard, poster paint, re-used plastic, vacuum packaging - 2000)

I was sad to discover that my ‘painting by numbers’ kit had been stolen during the exhibition. I now reconcile myself with the thought that it was actually worth stealing. However I don’t have any photos of the finished article so can only describe it.
Like most ‘painting by numbers’ kits, this one contained a little row of six poster paints, but instead of pleasant and complimentary colours I used colours that where quite inappropriate to the area, (i.e. royal blue for the face etc.) This was my favourite piece for several reasons. I was very happy with the quality of the finished product and the idea of making a self-portrait of somebody else amuses me.