All that Glitters, All in Hand

Ideas for the residency seem to be revolving around 2 main elements: gold and the symbol of the hand. Gold is one of the base elements, the hand is a symbol of humanity, human consciousness and connection with the elements. Both of these have links with alchemy, which also connects to Allenheads, it's lead mining history and the alchemists attempts to transform lead into gold. Both are symbolically linked with duality.

Hand = Body
Gold = Transition

Gold is only one letter away from God

• Gold is the most malleable metal know to man
• For scientific application of gold see - Trust in Gold
  
• In religion and mythology it has been used to symbolise both good and evil, a blessing and a curse
  
• It is often used in spiritual iconography to symbolise the divine, though it has also been used as a symbol of idolatry
  
• It is very important in mythology, in alchemy it is the ultimate goal, it has the power to heal - the golden fleece, it is the curse of Midas, it symbolises the greed of humankind - the golden egg
  
• It is bling...

The hand is often used to represent the body or humanity, it has a rich and ambiguous symbolism and meaning and this is why I often use its image in my work. Hands can also be linked with duality – symbols of power, dominance and enforcement (a fist) and of meditation, healing and enlightenment (an open palm). Left and right also represent a duality between yin and yang, light and dark, past and future. Hands can be seen as a primary method of non-verbal human communication. The hand also has certain symbolic connections to the 5 classical elements: earth, fire, water, air and aether.

At the moment gold and the symbol of the hand seem connected in a bit of a loose web...

Gold > mutability > alchemy > transformation > lead > mining > Allenheads

Gold > iconography > spirituality > belief > healing > symbolism > hand

Hand > five > pentagon > transitional > viral > mutation > gold

Hand > five > symbolism > classical elements

Viral Portraits

Fear of the Unknown

At this point I know very little about viruses - I want to make this clear - if I'm a little bit off the mark scientifically speaking please bear this in mind. However, based on what little I do know - have read in newspapers articles, in New Scientist or the heavy books I have bought but not yet managed to fully get into - I find them fascinating. I am not sure where this fascination comes from, perhaps they spark an interest because of the inherent duality in their nature - with potentially destructive capabilities polarised by an innate beauty and possible role as healers in gene therapy. Perhaps because of the debate as to whether or not viruses should be classified as living organisms. This uncertainty in itself is fascinating and brings up a lot of questions about existence and belief. Perhaps it is simpler than this, perhaps it is a fear of the unknown. Having to place belief in science that there is another world all around us existing out of sight, a world of highly ordered, exquisitely symmetrical organisms, deadly in their simplicity. If viruses are the greatest threat to humankind in the 21st century surely we should know our enemy?

I will be working with structural biologist Dr David Bhella at the Medical Research Council's Virology Unit in Glasgow and with the Glasgow Science Centre during this initial 2-week period starting on the 8th December. This 2-week period has been funded by the Medical Research Council.

Grimmer&Steele Trust - Sessions at Proximity Effect

Images from sessions at Proximity Effect, Plymouth Arts Centre - November 2008

Grimmer&Steele Trust meet a Care Package User in Plymouth Arts Centre ready for their Personalised Care Package:





The Personalised Care Package treatment room:

Grimmer&Steele Trust - Sessions at Proximity Effect, Plymouth Arts Centre

Are you a victim of your own over complicated emotional life?

The Grimmer & Steele Trust can help to provide you with a remedy.

We specialise in care enforcement, and can offer you a free perceptual augmentation session with the Trusts well-balanced carers. The session will provide you with a positive personalised package of sensory respite and reaffirmation - designed with you in mind.

Make yourself comfortable, relax and watch this...

Proximity Effect - The Grimmer & Steele Trust will help you to feel good about you!

Press Release -

29 November 2008 – 11 January 2009

You are invited to the opening event
Friday 28 November, 6.30–8.30pm
The exhibition opens with demanding performance by Leo Devlin curated by Red Ape, arm wrestling by Ray White and a performance by guests the Grimmer & Steele Trust, heralding the start of this daring programme.
ArtsMatrix and Plymouth Arts Centre are also supporting three artist-led projects in the city of Plymouth: Pilot, U:1 studios and new work by Café Concrete.

Exhibition
29 November 2008 – 11 January 2009
A series of performances, installations, videos and live music by visual artists from the city of Plymouth. The group is brought together for the first time, each with their own individual practice and curatorial experience, to consider the effect of their proximity to the city and each other.

Low Profile embark on a marathon performance: watching the entire 1st series of hit 1980s TV show MacGyver, back-to-back, cataloguing numerous ways of saving the day: rolling under doors, escaping burning buildings and fooling the guards.

Rooting contemporary music to locality and heritage, onec have invited bands and musicians to interpret songs of the sea for a compilation LP. Ray White creates an arm-wrestling forum in the galleries, alongside a relaxation room by the Grimmer & Steele Trust. Nick Grew, in collaboration with Heidi C Morstang, presents a new films, Grain Silo, featuring the erstwhile relic of Plymouth’s skyline. Marianne Torrance continues her research with people who share her passion for ecology, exploring art and marine science collaborations, in partnership with the Marine Biological Association and Plymouth City Council. Red Ape is an enquiry into the relationship between language and live performance. Curated by Mark Greenwood, the project explores issues around male identity and anxieties.

Curator Paula Orrell explains: "We have offered a selected group of artists the opportunity to curate/develop an exhibition in collaboration with Plymouth Arts Centre. The objective is to develop a critical space for the artists to examine their own context and offer up a broader understanding of their work. It encourages exchange and development of links between artists in the region, country and beyond, considering the current climate of the visual arts and the development of audience and profile within the city of Plymouth."

Haematoma Supernova

Nano Agent Healing Neuron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-2Xw-GNkUQ

Virus Structure

http://www.mrcvu.gla.ac.uk/research/bhellad/virus_structure.htm

Viral Portrait

Viral Portrait (manipulated digital image, 2008)

This is the first image produced from a body of works entitled Dark Matter. The works incorporate digitally manipulated external bodily features re-appropriated to create fictional micro/macro organisms. Using medical points of reference to create a visual distraction from the unnatural construction of the image. The images in the series are based around studies of viruses, bacteria and nano agents, things which are invisible to the naked eye, so small that they are almost incomprehensible. Organisms which are specifically engineered, either by nature or by man to infect or heal, damage or repair at a cellular level.

Grimmer & Steele Trust

"We provide perceptual augmentation and sensory respite for individuals engaged in the appreciation of the arts. Operating on the periphery of ‘actual’ events to respond to moments of panic, dislocation and apathy. Our aim is to re-open the eyes through nurturing, care and convalescence."

Grimmer & Steele Trust

I have been collaborating wth visual artist Francesca Steele since February this year on a project based around ideas of care and convalescence. The work has developed through a series of process based performance experiments, at NRLA, Glasgow MAP live, Carlisle and Arnolfini, Bristol. We have just had some photographs taken at Waygood Gallery and Studios by Ian Clarke and have come up with the name 'Grimmer & Steele Trust' for our collaboration. The work aims to operate somewhere at the point where genuine care becomes a vulgar display, anaesthetising the viewer but also provoking feelings of disquiet. We are interested in exploring: rehab, group and individual therapies, religion and cults, self-help and hypnotherapy and have begun wearing red uniforms as a trademark.