10 Diary Entries [2010-12]

Simon Granell

This work is an exploration into a personal use of spoken language though a predefined process intended to mirror that of my painting practice. A similar process of self-imposed limitation is applied with the aim of suggesting both an autobiographical residue of my own thinking, and open up a potential dialogue for the reader. A series of ten quotations taken from a painting diary are paired with words and punctuation from a series of books that I own. This process has been repeated until all ten quotations have been paired, one word and punctuation mark at a time, creating lists of footnotes, the suggestion being that language has been acquired in this manner. The relationship between word and associated footnote becomes the source of play, frustration or familiarity. The intention is to demonstrate that this deterministic process far from being reductive in its effect, has resulted in the words being read either as part of a whole or reintegrated and reoriented into something new through a process of appropriation rather that engenderment. The hope is that this procedural limitation can act as a trigger for the reader to resequence and reconfigure the references through association and connection that might say something about them in terms of age, taste and perhaps even prejudice. While painting is the subject of the quotations, the implication is that this is constructed by material from another source. This has a distancing effect, which I hope has drawn some parallels with the process of making a painting itself. The footnotes have become detached for the quotations and are free to be re-cited, and act less to affirm or underline and more of leave a trace.

¹ Ueshiba, M., 1993. The Art of Peace. Massachussetts: Shambhala Classics p.7

² Maupassant, G de., 1975. Bel-ami. London: Penguin Classics, p.288

³ Perec, G., 2008. Species of Spaces and Other Pieces. London: Penguin Classics, p.33

⁴ Hornby, N., 2011. Speaking with the Angel. London: Penguin Books, p.202

⁵ DeLillo, D., 2000. Cosmopolis. New York: Scribner, p.6

⁶ Woolf, V., 2008. A Room of One’s Own. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.xiii

⁷ Ellis, B.E., 1998. America Psycho. New York: Vintage Books, p.56

⁸ Sobel, D., 2009. Galileo’s Daughter: A Drama of Science, Faith and Love. London: Fourth Estate, p.72

⁹ Virgil., 2003. The Aeneid. London: Penguin Books, p.26

¹⁰ Carver, R., 1993. Where I’m Calling From: Selected Stories. London: Harvill Press, p.45

¹¹ Ueshiba, M., 2008. Secret Teachings of Aikido. Kyoto: Kodansha International Ltd, p.11

¹² Knowles, E., 2009. Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.888

¹³ Beckett, S., 2010. Happy Days. London: Faber and Faber, p.23

¹⁴ Welsh, I., 2009. Trainspotting. London: Vintage Books, p.8

¹⁵ Gettens, R.J., 1966. Painting Materials. New York: Dover Publications Inc, p.278

¹⁶ O’Brian, P., 1994. Picasso: A Biogrphy. New York: W. W. Norton and Co, p.13

¹⁷ Woolf, V., 2008. Jacob’s Room. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p.93

¹⁸ Tohei, K., 2001. Ki in Daily Life. Tokyo: Japan Publications, p.13

¹⁹ Russell, B., 2004. History of Western Philosophy. London: Routledge Classics, p.216

²⁰ Azerad, M., 1998. Come As You Are. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, p.50

²¹ Westbrook, A., 2001. Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere. Vermont: Charles E Tuttle and Co, p.19

²² Ueshiba, M., 1996. Budo: Teachings of the Founder of Aikido. Kyoto: Kodansha International Ltd, p.28

²³ Carver, R., 2010. Beginners. London: Vintage Books, p.17

²⁴ Wenger, A., 2011. Arsenal 125 Years in the Making: The Official Illustrated History 1886-2011. London: Hamlyn, p.10

²⁵ Davis, F., 1991. The History of the Blues: The Roots, the Music, the People. Boston: DaCapo Press, p.19

²⁶ Aristophanes., 2007. Frogs and Other Plays. London: Penguin Classics, p.21

²⁷ Levi, P., 1989. The Drowned and the Saved. London: Abacus, p.42

²⁸ Costello, D., 2007. Art: Key Contemporary Thinkers. Oxford: Berg Publishers, p.120

²⁹ Oakley, G., 1997. The Devil’s Music: History of the Blues. Boston: DaCapo Press, p.29

³⁰ McEwan, I., 2007. The Daydreamer. London: Vintage Books, p.8

³¹ Calvino, I., 2010. The Complete Cosmicomics. London: Penguin Classics, p.29

³² Rushdie, S., 2000. The Ground Beneath Her Feet. New York: Vintage Books, p.14

³³ Calvino, I., 2009. The Path to the Spiders’ Nest. London: Penguin Classics, p.26

³⁴ Levi, P., 2000. The Periodic Table. London: Penguin Classics, p.81

³⁵ McEwan, I., 1997. The Cement Garden. London: Vintage, p.6

³⁶ Pinter, H., 1991. The Homecoming. London: Faber and Faber, p.33

³⁷ McEwan, I., 1997. First Love, Last Rites. London: Vintage Books, p.7

“I¹ am² not³ interested⁴ in⁵ furthering⁶ any⁷ debates⁸ about⁹painting¹⁰.¹¹ Picking¹² up¹³ a¹⁴ tube¹⁵ of¹⁶ paint¹⁷ and¹⁸ finding¹⁹ something²⁰ to²¹ do²² with²³ it²⁴ .²⁵ How²⁶ I²⁷ negotiate²⁸ that²⁹ is³⁰what³¹ I³² am³³ here³⁴ to³⁵ do³⁶.³⁷”

15 02 2012

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