Went to St Helen’s for the first time on Tuesday to give an hour lecture to second year BA Hons Painting students at St Helen’s college. I was struck by the very odd assemblage of architecture in the town – a grim mix of lumpy 50′s concrete and modern souless developments. I would compare it to cough medicine, quite disgusting but strangely addictive.

I gave a talk on University life and post uni inter-spliced with how my artwork progressed and my interests. I found doing the PowerPoint beforehand to be a ‘this-is-your-artistic-life’ moment. However as I trawled through the documentation of all my studio experiments in 2006, I felt strangely liberated. It tied in with a conversation with Emily Speed that I had the week prior regarding how we are often guilty of falling in the mindset of making work just to display or exhibit. I know that for a lengthy period of time I have been guilty of this. I have forgotten what it is like to focus intensely on a piece or idea just for my self.

I am looking forward to taking a step back from other commitments to focus on my work. Very much.

Just got back from watching West Beyrouth at FACT, chosen as a reflection on personal experiences of war trying in with their new exhibition (which I have not yet seen). I can’t remember a film that genuinely stirred so many differing emotions from me from laughing out loud to stark horror. Top draw.

I have spent a long and extremely rewarding week working on Collusion, the latest exhibition at Arena Gallery and one that I have been keen to bring to fruition for over a year. Collusion is a collaborative work between Rich White and Brychan Tudor, two artists who work within the realms of three dimensional space yet employ differing methods in their work. The process of the show involved the Rich and Brychan visiting Arena for a site visit earlier in the year. Both work by responding to the space where they will work and they both had a mutual interest in the history of the building as an old industrial building and its current manifestation as a sub sectioned multi use facility.

By building a structure that seems to twist within the room, they brought to attention the various guises of the building creating a environment that spatially overlaps and interrogates  their respective practice to offer an installation that truly explores the notion of ‘location specific’ practice.

Collusion is open until 3 April and I recommend seeing it. The next show at the gallery and the last one before I leave Arena is Proof which will feature new work by the Liverpool Illustrators.