Corp’rate Day

thoughts on art and fiction

May 09

2023

Art Writing, Class Matters, Fairy Tales, Writing as Creative Practice

The Shark Prince

Laurence Figgis, The Shark Prince, 2023, Watercolour and pencil on paper, 21 x 21 cm

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I want to tell you about an acquaintance of mine—old Princeps Squalus.  Do you know him? And his wife, the Princess Ahreal. Do you know them? Have you been to one of their spoken word events? Have you been to their home? Did I tell you about their wonderful [BONE BROTH] [ALMOND MILK] [LANA DEL REY] [MUBI]? (You should see the size of their [MUBI]!  It’s enormous!) Did I tell you about my [SUPERSOFT DRESSING GOWN] [LONGER FLEECE] [LEMONS UNWAXED]? Did I tell you about my [AUTHENTIC SELF]? Did I tell you about the Shark Prince?
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Nov 01

2022

Art Writing, Autofiction, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Austen, Writing as Creative Practice

“Near and Deep as the Thunder Crashed”: what the lyric does to the biographical in fiction

In a 2008 essay, ‘Why Lyric,’ Jonathan Culler goes as far as to argue that the lyric form is opposed to narrative and should not be confused with it. After lamenting what he regards as a prevailing tendency to treat poems as dramatic monologues, aligned with the novel, Culler goes on to state: 

 

“…it is deadly for poetry to try to compete with narrative—by promoting lyrics as representations of the experience of subjects—on terrain where narrative has obvious advantages” (Culler, 2008: 202).  

 

Culler does not openly state the fact, but we can only assume; it must be equally “deadly” for novels to try to compete with poems. What role, then, does the lyric play in fiction – especially biographical fiction, a genre that would be seem to be directly involved with the lived experience of “subjects”? Read more →

Mar 25

2022

Contemporary Visual Art, Gregor Wright, Writing for Other Artists

Why are the paintings (not) televised? Some thoughts on the work of Gregor Wright

In the 2018 exhibition ‘Magic Stuff’, Gregor Wright showed a series of what he called ‘screen-based paintings’, digital works on UHD screens; abstract in appearance, and (implicitly) animate in nature. In the past, Gregor’s work has incorporated painting, drawing, sculpture (along with activities such as making fanzines and printing T-shirts), but the screens are prominent in the current body of work—and, as such, will be the focus of these reflections. Read more →

Mar 23

2022

Anachronism, Contemporary Visual Art, Surrealism, Surrealism and Scotland

Anachronistic Pursuits: In Conversation with Catriona McAra

For over a decade, Laurence Figgis and Catriona McAra have shared an interest in the anachronistic union, and narrative possibilities, of Surrealism and the fairy tale. The most recent manifestation was ‘(After) After’ (2017), a solo exhibition by Figgis curated by McAra with an accompanying critical text by Susannah Thompson. ‘(After) After’ suggested an extension to the surrealist story, the need to find out what happens after the “happily ever after” of the movement. The exhibition made numerous references to surrealist techniques (word play, collage and metamorphosis).  This in-conversation positions Figgis’s long-term critique of the kitschification of surrealism within the Scottish cultural landscape where he has forged his artistic career. 

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Apr 16

2021

Art History, Cathy Wilkes, Clare Stephenson, Contemporary Visual Art, Salvador Dali, Surrealism, Surrealism and Scotland

The Spookier School: (Anti-)Surrealism in Glasgow

This paper poses the question ‘What is Surrealism?’ from a particular vantage point: that of a practicing artist who has lived and worked in Glasgow since the turn of the twenty-first century. With reference to my own art practice, I will consider my troubled relationship with the category ‘Surrealism,’ as contingent with the specific trends of the Glasgow art-scene during this period and the broader international context.

In particular, I will address the apparent interest in surrealist methods demonstrated by Glasgow-based artists in the early 2000s (in opposition to the neo-conceptual and relational aesthetic genres that had placed prominent Glasgow artists on the international map in the previous decade). Whilst acknowledging the value of research into the historical surrealist movement (for shaping a more rigorous understanding of my practice), I will also recount my frustrations with the movement as they emerge in two areas: doubt regarding the ‘revolutionary’ power of the unconscious, and the potential valorisation of ‘linear’ narrative thinking – even in the domain of the ‘fantastic’. Read more →