art

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Beastlies: The Very Slender Man

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The myth of The Slender Man is very well known. He is a long man with the uncanny ability to appear unrealistic in old photoshops. And now, terrifyingly, reports are now trickling in of this, The Very Slender Man, who is, apparently a bit slenderer, and even less realistic.

I am yet to be convinced of the veracity of these sightings. I think he’s on stilts, and I’m pretty sure those are just long, empty sleeves with gloves stitched stitched to the end of them.

Fair enough, his face does appear to be a massive hole filled with teeth but a commited hoaxer could have carved that hole into his own head using a spoon or something. Yeah, I’m not buying it.

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Free Mini-Zine – The 7 Fold Path

Writers’ Block ran a zine workshop the other night. We made around 25 daft little homemade publications, on subjects as diverse as film editing, stegosauri and correct fez deployment. And I made this one. It’s yours to download, print and assemble yourself, should you want to (you totally want to!):

THE 7 FOLD PATH

For the extremely intricate and complicated zine-assembly instructions, check this page out (basically, you’ll need scissors and folding skillz). You’ll find templates for making your own there, too.

Mini zines are fun! Look forward to seeing yours soon!

Leave a comment Posted on animation, art, music

Sword & Sorcery EP


Isn’t this trailer gorgeous and intriguing? I’m not 100% sure what it’s selling, but if it’s a game I’ll play it, and if it’s biscuits I’ll eat ’em.

The trailer, by Superbrothers, features the music of Jim Guthrie, music created using MTV Music Generator on the PlayStation. Here’s a previous collaboration between Guthrie and Superbrothers, The Children of the Clone. I LIKE it. There’s a nice interview about the collaboration here: ifc.com

2 Comments Posted on art, the story of grass

Marley and Me

Original one-sheet poster for the Owen Wilson film “Marley and Me” (2009), painted by Gus Hughes. Dismissing studio complaints that the poster was not particularly representative of the film, Hughes reportedly said: “Look, I drew the fecking dog, didn’t I? And if your stupid fecking film doesn’t have a lighthouse, the eyes of God and a giant fecking worm in it that’s not my fault, is it? I didn’t direct the fecking thing, did I?”.

Hughes is currently in negotiations to direct “Sister Act 3: Big Worms!”.

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Peg Powler + ARC March Lineup: Games/Gus Hughes

The Peg Powlers are at it again. They launch their new show at ARC on Monday March 7th, 6pm-9pm. I glued some paper to a box, and the Pegs will be sticking it to the wall for me. I love them.

I can’t go to the launch, because I am taking a jolly holiday for a few hours, but LOOK WHAT I’M MISSING!

ARC Stockton Arts Centre, Dovecot Street, Stockton-on-Tees

Peg Powler’s programme of alternative contemporary art continues on ARC’s second floor this March with a new group show, ‘Games’ and a new solo spot from Irish artist Gus Hughes.

GROUP SHOW: GAMES
Art inspired or related to ‘games’ – from board games to mind games to video games, including art from:

Annoform Middlesbrough based fine artist/graphic designer, contributing art to this show inspired by the aesthetics of the earliest video games. intaspace.blogspot.com

Bunny Bissoux Artist, illustrator and self described ‘obsessive fanatic’, Bunny is Leeds born, Brighton based and her work is loaded with imagination, charm and honesty. ‘Sega Crushes’, her piece in this exhibition, details her personal history of video games. bunnybissouxart.com

Harris + Hughes Teesside’s James Harris and Dublin’s Gus Hughes are the creators of the surreal art/humour zine ‘The Story of Grass’ and for this exhibition present The Story of Grass – The Board Game. ramshacklecharm.wordpress.com

Adam Hogarth Based in Darlington, Adam is an artist interested in how we create our own worlds, including through colloquialisms. His piece in this show ‘Around the Clock’ is a screen print illustrating the nick names of each section of a dart board. adamhogarth.blogspot.com

Superbrothers & Jim Guthrie Creators of ‘Sword & Sorcery EP’, A project from Toronto exploring an arthouse approach to creating a computer game, including music by Jim Guthrie. swordandsorcery.com

SOLO SHOW: GUS HUGHES
Strange and funny visions from Dublin artist Gus Hughes, co-creator of The Story of Grass zine. Gus studied animation at Teesside University and his short films have won acclaim, but his recent artwork sees this talented and prolific gentleman move further into the realms of the primitive, the subconscious and the surreal. Using painting and drawing techniques over a variety of mediums, Gus’ art is often loaded with hidden meaning and can be raw and sinister, yet always strives to be fun and approachable. gushughes.blogspot.com

Peg Powler Gallery.

A Hughes solo joint! It’s going to be mental, isn’t it?

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The Story of Grass #4

Hughes and I launched issue 4 of our art/humour/widdicombe zine The Story of Grass last night, at the opening of our latest exhibition at Peg Powler Gallery. It was a bit of a mad rush – the zine had to be finished (Hughes and I jammed on the last couple of pages and the results are spiffy) and then Hughes went AWOL for an hour or two while I panicked and then it was off to Staples to get it photocopied, and we arrived at the gallery with thirty minutes to put the pictures up. We flung them bastards at the walls like it was pebbledash with faces and layers of meaning and were finished with 3 minutes to spare. Instant exhibition!

So the zine is done! This one features:

    Less pages!
    Less writing!
    More colour!
    More Widdicombe!
    Same price!

And the same old quote from Bob Mortimer on the cover.

It’s arty and funny and weird and it will make you taller, if that’s what you’d like.

24 photocopied pages, incl. 8 in colour and probably 3 funny ones.

Buy it here: http://thestoryofgrass.bigcartel.com/product/the-story-of-grass-4

‘I liked The Story of Grass. I laughed until I stopped then started up again more firmly.’ – Bob Mortimer

‘Wonderfully surreal and darkly comic’ – Silent Words Speak Loudest

‘Frankly hilarious. It owes something to the Vic Reeves school of comedy, and maybe a bit of early Viz’ – The Crack magazine

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Peg Powler + Arc: Words

Tuesday night at 6pm is the first chance to see February’s set of exhibitions happening on Level 2 in Stockton’s art centre, ARC, curated by Peg Powler. You can see the exhibitions anytime throughout February (Monday-Saturday, whenever the Arc is open).

Part of the exhibition is a section called ‘Words’ – a themed exhibition featuring:

-Michael Duckett
-David B (of The Modern Lonely)
-AJ Garrett
-James Harris
-Elle Green
-Tom Flynn
-Aimée Charlotte
-Josie Long

I have 27 manageably-sized bits of art hanging up there, each one throbbing with up to three levels of meaning and seven possible emotional responses. Email me if you’d like a set of guidelines as to how best to “enjoy” the work, but the main advice I can give is to stand around two to three hundred metres away and imagine they’re brilliant.

I’ll be at the launch. See you there?