http://www.andreaallan.co.uk en-gb andreaallan.co.uk 2011-12-30T00:00:00Z andreaallan.co.uk http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#109123 Answers on the front of a postcard is the latest exhibition at Opus Gallery in Newcastle which coincides with Kim BakersMemento Mori solo exhibition and it features some of my work from Only Connect. The exhibition runs from the 2nd December until the 27th January viewing at the gallery is by appointment only from Monday till Friday 10am 5pm. As New Year is nearly upon us I thought I would share some resolutions. Im not a fan of resolutions perhaps because I see it as something people start out in January and end in February if they even make it that far yet I dont think that this can merely be summarized as a to do list. Having looked through my blog of the past year I realised that there are about 8 which is shocking considering how much work Ive done this year. So resolution one for the New Year is to blog more. Resolution number two is to do some videos. Over the past year Ive been watching a lot of Chase Jarviss videos about his work equipment commissions etc... 2011-12-28 10:59:46 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#99297 So Im coming into my final month of my residency at Luton Hoo Walled Garden. Ive really enjoyed working down there although I have to say I wish I had been able to spend more time there. I still feel that there are more photographs to take. Im now writing the text to accompany the photographs. Its been a while since Ive written any pieces of fiction so its taking me a while to get back into it. But I spent most of yesterday afternoon going through some of my favourite books which usually spark off some inspiration. For those of you interested these include Howards End A Room with a View and Rebecca. Im quite limited in what I can write for the simple reason that I dont have a lot of space to exhibit the text. The writing will be quite fragmented in fact Ill post some snippets up when I get the chance. For now I will leave you with a couple of the images taken the last time I was down at Luton. ... 2011-8-8 21:47:46 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#98954 My work The Romance of Strangers was selected to be part of a slideshow curated by the ASA collective. ASA is a collective of people from various backgrounds who believe in the power of storytelling as a vehicle to promote reflection and discussion about several issues of the human sphere. We love images and especially the ones that tell stories which long to be told. We are committed to produce and give these stories a platform to make a difference.This is the first time that I have had work projected and also been to a slideshow and I have to say I really enjoyed it. There was time after each piece of work for the photographers to talk about their work and also to take questions off people in the audience. I have to say that I enjoy listening to other artists talk about their work your able to gain more information about the work than you can ever hope to gain by reading an artist statement. I think I may at some point upload the slideshow onto my website so that you can see t... 2011-6-20 17:26:48 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#95549 Its been about a month since I was last down in Luton and I realised that I havent done a blog about it The visit was in some ways disappointing I was hoping to get into the archives this time and unfortunately I couldnt its meant I havent been able to get on much with the writing side of the piece as I would have hoped. Still I managed to get some ideas down for the photographs. I have a rough idea of the final images now which is great so when I go down in July I should get that finished. The top image is one of the photographs I shot in May the model is another artist Abi Spendlove who was helping me out. I think this is perhaps the first series of work that Ive decided to use square format which has changed the way Im looking quite dramatically. Ive also been thinking about how the final images will be printed. I really like high contrast images but I dont think it will work for this. Im always conscious when Im photographing what the final photograph is going to look like es... 2011-6-5 22:25:22 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#91597 I keep meaning to update my blog and somehow always seem to forget. Few things have happened over the last few weeks firstly my work Uncommon Ground is now available to buy from Opus arts. Completely stoked about this I got to go into their new gallery in Newcastle an see some of Carne Griffiths pieces. Charlotte Bracegirdles work was also up which are famous photographs but with the people removed difficult to explain guess you have to see the work to get what I mean. And of course Hector de Gregorios work was there I cant begin to tell you how much I love his work. I wrote my dissertation at Uni on JoelPeter Witkin and I always think of de Gregorio as being a modern day Witkin hes really taken the ideas and pushed them I could gush about his work all dayI also have an exhibition at Woodhorn which is only a few miles away from where I took the photographs for Uncommon Ground in the Summer. This is a little different for me as its going to be a projection of the photographs rather th... 2011-4-12 20:55:26 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#88579 I made a list at the beginning of the year of things that I would like to achieve photography wise. The list consists of easy little projects to producing an entire body of work to something I didnt think I as going to achieve but I wanted to a residency. A few days ago I got accepted onto a residency that I applied for in February. It starts at the beginning of April in a walled garden which is part of the Luton Hoo Estate. It is for 6 months at the end of which there will be a two week exhibition to show the work produced. Heres a snippet from my proposal outlining what I intend to look at whilst Im thereWhilst researching Luton Hoo and in particular Madame de Falbe I began to wonder if this walled garden can be interpreted by our 21st Century thoughts and feelings. In other words does the garden have a finite longevity or does the recent restoration process bring it back cyclically to its original state The issues raised by my thoughts are that our roles as spectato... 2011-3-6 21:36:39 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#87836 I came across this at the back end of last year and its still in my head. Aside from being beautifully shot the monologue running alongside it is inspiring. Two quotes stand out for me in this video I never set out to become anything in particular only to live creatively and push the scope of my experience through adventure and through passion.I never want to take this for granted so I try to keep motivation simple real and positive.The video was made as part of the Relentless short stories competition. The guy who directed the story is photographer Mickey Smith he also write the words and the music to accompany the video. 2011-2-26 13:23:48 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#87824 I came across Mark Tipples work whilst researching for the SwitchFoot series and I instantly fell in love with it. I started going surfing last year and probably spent more time being pulled under than actually surfing. I think these images are so powerful because they dare to go beneath the surface of the issue exploring new angles of the sport. Ive always been intrigued by what happens below the surface like whats happening where we cant see. Coming from a surfing background I used to wonder what happens when were duckdiving like what it looks like from a different angleI used to surf with a small video camera and housing attached to my helmetbut that sucked. I looked for a new approach to capture what I was seeking which basically meant getting off the surfboard. Mark Tipple 2011-2-26 12:11:22 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#86863 Its been just over a year since I posted an update about my work so I thought I would have a quick run through some of the things I did in 2010 with the intentions of keeping this blog going in 2011. Although I have to admit Im not very good at blogging I keep forgetting.For the first time I managed to make it to the North East Open surf competition in Tynemouth. As I remember it was a really windy day I missed the first half of the competition because I wasnt feeling well I must have had on a million layers. I thought this would be a great opportunity to add to the SwitchFoot series and I wasnt wrong. After taking some of the surfers during the competition I also managed to snag a couple of them as they where heading back up the beach.In October I had an exhibition at the Viewfinder Gallery with the series The Romance of Strangers as well as attending Photomonth in London. There was a huge mix of people at the festival from individuals to galleries with a large array of work on show. ... 2011-2-13 20:36:41 http://www.andreaallan.co.uk/page11.htm#87851 I came across an opportunity to do some writing for a project by Luke McGrath called Project Fifty. The idea of the project is to have a collection of stories which can be downloaded and listened to as you walk around Newcastle. Below is what I submitted for the project.There are forty different writers who have written prose poetry and scripts. All in effort of getting new audiences into literature and a chance for them all to come together to display their workYou can download the podcasts on iTunes by searching for Project Fifty Walks Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Style Definitions table.MsoNormalTable msostylenameTable Normal msotstylerowbandsize0 msotstylecolbandsize0 msostylenoshowyes msostyleparent msopaddingalt0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt msoparamargin0cm msoparamarginbottom.0001pt msopaginationwidoworphan fontsize10.0pt fontfamilyTimes New Roman msoansilan... 2010-12-1 16:50:47