Art Sheffield 08: Yes, No & Other Options takes place from 16 February - 30 March 2008 in venues across the city including Bloc, End Gallery, Millennium Galleries, S1 Artspace, Site Gallery, Yorkshire ArtSpace, the Winter Gardens and the public realm.

Ever feel like you're always being asked to work more / do more / perform to a higher level?

This city-wide exhibition addresses the fact that in a post-industrial condition, one particularly pertinent to Sheffield, we have entered into a service culture where we no longer just work, we perform in a perpetual modeof "I Can". (Even advertising tells us that "Life gets more exciting when you say yes"). Art Sheffield 08 suggests that as well as yes and no, there may be other options.

For more details, see the Art Sheffield 08 website.

Sheffield-based art parctitioners No Fixed Abode have a cool new website, detailing their various interventions including their Sheffield-wide mobile cinema, and their performance at Robin Close and Webster Gotts’ art-karaoke night:
http://www.nofixedabode.org.uk/

Last night I went to the opening of Neil Webb's (AKA Bocman) latest show at Bloc space, Sheffield: The Stars In Us All.

The work is inspired by astronaut Dave Bowman's last words before entering the black monolith in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddyssey: "My God, it's full of stars". Webb has positioned three black monoliths around the studio, each highly polished and perfectly reflective. The monoliths, the room itself, and a bench in the room all act as loudspeakers, broadcasting a 45-minute sound piece. The only faint light in the gallery is provided by blue neon lights behind each monolilth.

The result is suitably awe-inspiring, frequently meditative and contemplative, and occasionally disturbing. As with previous works by Webb which I'm familiar with, there is a perfect relationship between the auditory and the visual, and every element seems perfectly judged to contribute to the overall experience.

The show is also reviewed in today's Guardian Guide . 

FAD now has its own radio show, "Empty Space". We will be broadcasting on Sheffield Live next Tuesday from 10am until noon (GMT). It will continue every week, either in that slot or at the same time on Friday.

You can listen live at www.sheffieldlive.org - where every show will also be archived as an MP3/podcast - or if you live within a few miles of Sheffield city centre then you can tune your radio to 93.2FM.

The show will cover contemporary visual and audio arts in Sheffield and beyond. We'll have features and interviews on local events and artists, interspersed with eclectic and experiMental music. We'll also be working with artists to create some one-off made-for-radio artworks.

If you're near a computer when the show's on, please visit the Sheffield Live chat room where we'll be hanging out and taking feedback and suggestions. After (or even during) the show, we'll be posting track-listings and other info here on the FAD website.

We're very open to suggestions for features, guests, music, happenings - anything which might work on the airwaves, but which doesn't usually get an airing. If you have any ideas, please email es at fademail dot com.

Please listen and enjoy!

On Friday I went to the opening of Paul Evans ' show "After Nature" at the Cupola Gallery, Sheffield. I've been following Paul's work for a couple of years. When I first met him, he'd just given up his job as head of a successful Sheffield-based design agency in order to concentrate full-time on his painting. His new focus is paying off: there is some wonderful work in this exhibition, showing an intimate exploration and growing understanding of oils and watercolours. His talent is also attracting attention from further afield: in 1996 the Guardian tipped him as "one to watch out for" and just last week he won the Eyestorm Gallery Award for Painting.

The paintings themselves are inspired by landscapes: both inner and outer. The inner world of cellular biology inspires some delicate organic watercolours, each painting accompanied by a Haiku written by the poet Chris Jones:

Evans' oil paintings, ranging in scale from small studies to large canvases, draw from wild British landscapes, starkly beautiful spots such as Kinder Downfall and Malham Cove:

At a secret location…

Phlegm Comics . 

If you don't like reading long articles, here's the gist: I'm publishing two books of my photography, but I need pre-orders so that I can afford to publish them. You can buy either/both books with 33% discount AND get a personal dedication in the book(s) if you order from me WITHIN THE NEXT WEEK.

                    ——————————–

And here's the long version…

The first book will feature a selection of photos from a project provisionally called "Party People". They will mostly be selected from the photos shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gulch/sets/72157594150691342/

(I am hopeful about getting a small selection of my Party People photos exhibited at Sheffield's Site Gallery next February as part of the city's not-quite-biennial festival "Art Sheffield 08").

The second book will feature images and text from my project "Ponderosa (traces of crime)", all selected from the photos shown here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gulch/sets/72157594571034741/

(I am currently talking to the UK charity Victim Support about the possibility of arranging an exhibition of these Ponderosa photos, in conjunction with a recruitment drive/fundraising for the charity).

The books will be published by Photobox - they are very good quality for an off-the-shelf product, and very fast turn-around. The books will each be 20 pages long (I would like to do more, but can't afford it). Detailed technical specs of the books are available here in case you're interested.

I haven't selected all of the photos, or designed the layout yet, so please feel free to contribute your thoughts/suggestions/preferences.

I need to publish these two books VERY soon: at the beginning of May, I’m opening up my house and showing off my work as part of the Open Up Sheffield event. I plan to have the books on sale during the event. You are, of course, welcome to visit me during the open studios, my details are here.

I need pre-orders to help pay for the print-run, so for one week only I am offering the books at a special reduced rate of £24 each (or €38 or $50). At Open Up, I will be selling them for £36 each.

I hope to be able to include within the books a personal dedication to everyone who pre-orders a copy.

Just think: for the same price as an evening out, you will become the owner of one of a very small number of my first ever photobooks! In years to come, this will be worth thousands

I need to move very quickly on this, and so if you are interested then you MUST email me by next week (22nd). I then need payment by 25th.

So… if you want to order, please email me ASAP with details of:

• which book(s) you would like
• how many copies
• whether you would like a dedication in the book, and if so, who to

I will then reply to you with instructions for payment, and I will send the completed book(s) to you by 5th May.

And while I have your attention, please take a look at my new party photographer website.

Please feel free to re-post this message on other websites, or to email to potentially interested parties, and please email me by the 22nd if you're interested.

Thank you for listening, and now back to the art…

Sheffield photographer and FAD editor Dan Sumption was recently interviewed about his photography (and his underwear preferences) by the members of the Sheffield Flickr Group.

The interview is online here.

Exhibition of live music photos by Dan Sumption
The Washington
79 Fitzwilliam Street
Sheffield
S1 4JP

14th February - 1st May 2007.
Opening night: 14th February 8pm to 1am

Dan Sumption Photography  

For its first show of the year, Bloc will house an installation by artist duo WebsterGotts that continues their practice of creating drinking-inspired artwork.

In their work Scott Webster and Alexis Gotts closely examine pub memorabilia and culture, reproducing an assortment of objects, sayings and images. Pub furniture, framed photographs of grand gentlemen from an unknown time, and philosophical quotes have been replicated but do not pretend to be authentic. Some images include the artists themselves: a television in the corner of the gallery, instead of screening sport, shows footage of the artists nonchalantly pouring pints of bitter on their crotches.

The artists explain that the aim of the exhibition is not to turn the gallery into a pub; rather their interest lies in the effects of removing such objects from their original setting, and the re-contextualisation of the social aspects of pub culture:

“As Sheffield’s once thriving industry has dwindled, so has the influx of students increased. In Sheffield’s ‘Cultural Industries Quarter’ (CIQ), artists and film-makers mingle with local workers for lunch time pints and after-hours socials. We’re interested in pub memorabilia as it’s an intriguing phenomenon for many strangers and non-locals. Old photographs of local heroes and long-gone regulars; framed newspaper cuttings and hackneyed drinking jokes can provide tenuous links to the local past.”

3 - 18 FEBRUARY 2007
Blocspace, 198 Arundel Street. Sheffield S1 4RE
Thursday to Sunday 12 - 6pm
Private view: Friday 2 February 7-9pm
Artist Talk: Sunday 18 February 2pm