2010 Hunting Art Prize press release

Officially released on February 4, 2010:
http://www.huntingartprize.com/news/press-release32.html

The Sea Calls Us Home 2010

Plans are underway for a 2010 remake of The Sea Calls Us Home. The Sea Calls Us Home (2006) was shot and edited by Seth Kirby of English Kills (www.englishkills.com) and co-directed by myself and Seth Kirby. It stars Kristen Gerhard as the lone sailor and features sound by Ray Sweeten. Costume design was done by myself and Tara Mei Smith.

The new version of The Sea Calls Us Home [working title: No Peace No War] will feature a song (titled No Peace No War) written by Katherine Smith and Joshua Stemper of Puff Puff and the Receivers. The film will be co-directed by Seth Kirby and myself, and will star Jack Culverhouse as Jack Rackham and me as Anne Bonny. Costume design will also be done by me.

We plan to shoot wherever we can get access to a tall ship for three hours of shoot time. Recommendations as to Pacific versus Eastern Coast (we are also considering Nova Scotia) would be appreciated.

2010 Hunting Art Prize

I found out today that I'm moving on to the Jury II for the 2010 Hunting Art Prize competition: http://www.huntingartprize.com

The piece I submitted was Sarah (above), oil on canvas, 19 x 29", 2007.

A new artist's statement

“For more than four centuries, the idea of “making it beautiful” has been the keystone of our cultural vernacular – the lover’s machine-gun and the prisoner’s joy – the last redoubt of the disenfranchised and the single direct route from the image to the individual without a detour through church or state.” – Dave Hickey, from The Invisible Dragon

When I make my work, I start from my memories of my point of view as a child – full of wonder, imagination, big hopes and dreams – and I ask why I loved the things I did then as an adult artist. My paintings, drawings, and films combine the dual points of view of adult and child to create archetypal, iconic imagery rich with beauty and power.

Beauty – aesthetic refinement – is a cornerstone of my work. As Dave Hickey states in The Invisible Dragon, beauty carries within it power, weight and meaning, and is a persuasive tool, and I wield it this way in my work.

I start from the place of the personal and make paintings, drawings and films – right now specifically of Anne Bonny, the female pirate – that introduce the feminine into objects or scenarios of “masculine” aggression or power.

Romanticism, in the classic sense of the word (referring to the sublime), is also a critical element in my body of work. Nature – vast and expansive, in the form of the “wild and unfathomable (Henry David Thoreau)” ocean – is the setting for each of my pieces.

To close, I think art-making is one of the single most important things you can do create change in the world. As Gustave Flaubert has said, “Be regular and orderly in your life so that you may be violent and original in your work.”

Anne Bonny

The Anne Bonny painting I am in the process of planning is based on the well-known anonymous engraving that appeared in the book A General History of Pyrates by Daniel Defoe/Captain Johnson, published in 1724.

I will be modifying certain elements to make the piece more contemporary (ie. my version won't be bare-breasted), but the overall composition will remain the same.

Water: More or Less at Richland College

My painting Wave will be part of the show Water: More or Less, opening at The Brazos Gallery at Richland College in Dallas on January 30, 2010. The show was curated by Paul Villinski and is part of a symposium organized by Ryder Richards on water and sustainability in the environment. The show will run through February 28.

News and Works in Progress

I've decided to use my blog from this point on as a space to document works in progress, and to give news updates about exhibitions etc. Look for the finished works on http://anniesimpson.com.

To begin, I've attached the first study for my new Anne Bonny painting. The drawing is graphite on paper, 10 x 10.5". I'm planning to mount it to canvas and matte medium over it to fix the drawing.