I-mitri CounterAction - Dub Warrior

I-mitri CounterAction at Soft Touch Arts, Leicester

I'm so blessed to work with so many talented and generous people and today I started work on a new project with the wonderful artist musician I-mitri CounterAction.

I will keep you all informed of developments as the work takes shape.

Paul Conneally
Leicester
October 2016

The Courtyard - Forest Lodge Primary School, Leicester

The Courtyard - Forest Lodge Primary School

The Courtyard is a representation of the area outside the main reception of the new Forest Lodge Primary School building in New Parks, Leicester.

I introduced 9 and 10 year olds at the school to Max Ernst, Dada and frottage. It builds on my work with them around Guy Debord and the Situationist International the week before and combining the two we argue that the above is just as much a picture of the front of the school as any traditional painting or drawing. The work is part of a three workshops that I also consider a piece in itself, the children and their actions part of the work.

'The Gallery of the Street is Open' is a slogan from the Involuntary Painting movement that myself and New York based artist Millree Hughes initiated in 2013/14. We have pursued actions across New Parks and New York with Soft Touch Arts and New York based artists from the IP Movement including Brad Melamed, Andrea Evans, Lucien Samaha, Michael Lee Nirenberg, Cezare Ramone and Judy Rhee.

This school based section of our work is with Forest Lodge and Parks Primary. Pupils involved have now been given disposable cameras to photograph Involuntary Paintings and other things that strike the children as they walk into school.

The work is with and for Soft Touch Arts, Arts Council England, Leicester City Council Libraries Service and the Raising Achievement Team. Artists Lauren Ann Park and Sally Norman have been invaluable in their work and support across all Involuntary Painting New Parks : New York interventions and workshops.

Paul Conneally
June 2016

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York Library Installation - Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally 2016

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York culminated with images of things identified as 'involuntary paintings' by members of the Creative New Parks group being incorporated into the fabric of the New Parks Centre Library. One of the pieces was a series of photographs of a kerb and tyre mark running up the road , St. Oswald's Road, opposite the library, which were applied to the library front windows. Here's one of the original images:



The community working with Conneally photocopied the tyre mark that had been discovered by Colin Murphy, a member of the group, and photographed on Conneally's iPhone 4. They then put the photocopies together sticking them down on a roll of lining paper creating something that resembled Rauchenberg's 'Tire Print'




Above is 'Tire Print' a voluntary artwork by Robert Rauschenberg made with John Cage. Below is the group's work drying in the library.



Vinyls of the original images were printed and made to measure the front windows of the library. These were applied to the windows by Conneally with Sally Norman of Soft Touch Arts who facilitated the whole project.
   [wpvideo MpsyJwBb]  



Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York was conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough UK) for and with Soft Touch Arts, Leicester City Council and Arts Council England.

Note: The term ‘Involuntary Painting’ was first ‘invented’, coined and used in this context by Hughes to describe marks on objects, walls, buildings made by the weather, ageing, persons, animals, graffiti, abuse and other means, that he came across in his travels around New York, that seemed to him could be and were similar to modern paintings found in galleries and museums across the world.

Hughes, working with Conneally, developed the idea further, and together they came up with a simple way to describe what an involuntary painting was in the hope that by identifying and sharing such involuntary paintings they might encourage the reexamination of what painting is, has been and could be.

“Imagine that and alien lands on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of contemporary modern art but never having seen a painting. What might this alien mistake for a painting? These things, never intended as art, as paintings, are what we now propose as involuntary paintings” – Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally 2014

Christ Has Died Is Risen Christ Will Come Again

'Christ Has Died Is Risen Will Come Again'
New Parks Methodist Church, Leicester
Paul Conneally
April, 2016

  

Curating - Moving On Involuntary Painting 2 New Parks : New York

Above: New Walk Museum and Art Gallery staff hanging the Leicester 2016 Open Exhibition

Today the Moving On Involuntary Painting New Parks : New York group explored the art of curation and putting an exhibition on with a visit to Soft Touch Arts and New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester.

The group had illuminating talks from Vince Atwood and Lewis Buttery from Soft Touch Arts and Lisa Jaques at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. Both venues had jointly hosted the Generation Art exhibition. Vince had been part of the selection panel for the national project and Lewis and Lisa had been part of the curation of it in Leicester. It had previously been hung at The Turner Gallery in Margate and Lewis along with some other young people decided how to hang the works in Leicester.

 

Above:Vince Atwood of Soft Touch Arts

 

Above:Lewis Buttery of Soft Touch Arts talks about curating the Generation Art Exhibition
 

Above: Lisa Jaques of New Walk Museum and Art Gallery talks about curation

The MOIP2NPNY group are thinking about curation as they intend to put an exhibition on as part of the current project which includes mapping and re-siting locations in New Parks from New York and vice versa mediated by involuntary paintings and psychogeography / splacist methodologies.

Paul Conneally and Millree Hughes
March 7 2016

Throwing A Wave

walking past the cob shop
on Aikman Avenue
Claire who works there
throws me a wave

Paul Conneally
New Parks, Leicester
February 29th 2016

Tiled Panel - Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York

Sally Norman of Soft Touch Arts with the tiled panel made by members of the Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York group out of a visit to the local church, St. Aidan's, to see the 1958 tiled mural on its outside wall, mediated by an Involuntary Painting photographed by New York based photographer Lucien Samaha.

The tiled panel will be installed in New Parks Library along with other works out of the project in early February.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York was conceived by artists Paul Conneally Loughborough, UK) and Millree Hughes (New York, USA) with Soft Touch Arts, New Parks Library, Arts Council England and Leicester City Council along with New York based artists including Brad Melamed, Andrea Evans, Lucien Samaha, Judy Rhee, Michael Lee Nirenberg and in Florida, Jane Hart.

NB The term Involuntary Painting was invented in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Conneally: If an alien landed on Earth with all the knowledge of painting and paintings but never having seen one what might it mistake for a painting as it moved about the streets, the world?

21st January 2016
Soft Touch Arts
Leicester

Artist Millree Hughes talks on the move from New York to New Parks Involuntary Painting Group

Millree Hughes Artist New Parks New York 

Millree Hughes talks on the move from New York to New Parks Involuntary Painting Group as they prepare in March 2015 to explore their area via involuntary painting. This was part of a six week intervention and workshop piece 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' with and for Soft Touch Arts and Leicester City Council New Parks Library and members of the New Parks community.

Involuntary Painting is a term first coined in this context by New York artist Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with UK based cultural forager Paul Conneally.

Involuntary painting asks if an alien landed on Earth with all the knowledge painting but never having seen one what might it mistake for a painting that wasn't intended as one?

Hughes and Conneally set up their ongoing artwork, the 'Involuntary Painting Facebook Group' in October 2014. The first Involuntary Painting Show was Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York at Soft Touch Arts, New Walk, Leicester and was opened by HRH Prince Edward.

#involuntarypainting 

Kerb and Tyre Mark - The Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York Group April 2015

The collating / collaging of Colin Murphy and Paul Conneally's long series of photos of the IP kerb and tyre mark by the Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York group and we are back with John Cage and Robert Rauschenberg and their 'Automobile Tire Print - 1953' where Cage made a voluntary tire print for Rauschenberg by driving a car with paint on its wheels along a strip of stuck together sheets of paper - our tyre mark was involuntarily made by some driver or another and spotted by Colin Murphy opposite New Parks Library.


'Automobile Tire Print' Robert Rauschenberg 1953

'Involuntary Painting' is a term first coined in this context by New York based artist Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with British artist and poet Paul Conneally.

'Imagine an alien lands on Earth with all the knowledge of modern painting but never having seen one. What might they mistake for a painting as they walk around?'

'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' is a project / work conceived by Hughes and Conneally for and with Soft Touch Arts,New Parks Library and local community adults and children in Leicester UK. The project received support from Arts Council England and Leicester City Council.


Members of the 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' work to collage the Involuntary Painting photo series of a kerb and tyre mark by Paul Conneally and Colin Murphy

Leicester April 15 2015

SAVAGE NUNEATON - Colin Murphy 2015

'SAVAGE NUNEATON' - Colin Murphy 2015

'SAVAGE NUNEATON' is a frottage piece by Colin Murphy made as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York in New Parks, Leicester.

The piece is one of a number of pieces made by the IP1NPNY group during a session where they met through artists Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally, the work of Max Ernst, then explored and identified 'involuntary paintings' in the area around Aikman Avenue shops in New Parks, near New Parks Library where the group is based, then making frottage, rubbings, of and from them.

The works were made on the day before King Richard III was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral and are collectively called 'The King Richard III Municipal Services Memorial Collection'. Many of the memorial collection feature sewerage manhole covers and other service access plates.

It is a voluntary artwork out of a feature initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

The New Parks community involuntary painting group is linked with a group of artists in New York who exchange comments and encouragement with them via the internet.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2014

REDIFFUSION - Mandy Pegg 2015

REDIFFUSION - Mandy Pegg 2015

REDIFFUSION is a frottage piece made by Mandy Pegg as part of 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' in New Parks, Leicester, March, 2015.

It forms part of The King Richard III Municipal Covers Memorial Collection produced by the New Parks contingent of IP1NPNY after first engaging with works by Max Ernst. The IP1NPNY project also includes a group of artists in New York who exchange comments, involuntary paintings found in New York and encouragement with and for the New Parks group.

'REDIFFUSION' is a frottage piece, a series of rubbings essentially of service covers for cable television services. It is not merely a straight rubbing, Mandy Pegg chooses to place two rubbings together and to use more than one colour wax, red and black. We see the 'RED' of 'REDIFUSION' highlighted in red over the black. It is a voluntary artwork out of features, metal service covers, initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2015

ROAD OSWALD ST - Carl Alex Tincknell

'ROAD OSWALD ST' - Carl Alex Tincknell 2015

'ROAD OSWALD ST' is a frottage piece by Carl Alex Tincknell made as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York in New Parks, Leicester.

The piece is one of a number of pieces made by the IP1NPNY group during a session where they met the work of Max Ernst, explored and identified 'involuntary paintings' in the area around Aikman Avenue shops in New Parks, near New Parks Library where the group is based, and then made frottage, rubbings, of and from them.

The works were made on the day before King Richard III was reinterred in Leicester Cathedral and are collectively called 'The King Richard III Municipal Services Memorial Collection'. Many of the memorial collection feature sewerage manhole covers and other service access plates. This particular work 'OSWALD ROAD ST' is from the road sign for St Oswald's Road directly opposite New Parks Library. On maps, and when people speak of this road it is as St Oswald's Road but the road sign is missing an 'S' hence just 'OSWALD'. Carl decided to alter the order of the words during the rubbing, the frottage process and to move it from an horizontal to a vertical reading.

It is a voluntary artwork out of a feature initially identified as an 'involuntary painting'.

The New Parks community involuntary painting group is linked with a group of artists in New York who exchange comments and encouragement with them via the internet.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York is a project conceived by artists Millree Hughes (New York, USA) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK) with and for Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library with support from Arts Council England.

Note: Involuntary Painting is a term invented and coined for use in this context by Millree Hughes and further developed by Hughes with Paul Conneally:

'If an alien landed on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of modern art and painting what might they as they wandered around mistake for a painting?'

These mistakes are what Hughes and Conneally call 'involuntary paintings'. Surfaces and objects marked by time, mould, human and natural activity as stand-ins for the pigment, ground, support etc of voluntary painting, voluntary art.

April 2015

'Kerb and Automobile Tyre Mark St Oswald's Road' - InvoluntaryPainting1 New Parks : New York

'Kerb and Tyre Mark St Oswald's Road'
Millree Hughes & Paul Conneally with Colin Murphy

March 2015

This work comes out of work by artists Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally as part of their project 'Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York' with Soft Touch Arts and New Parks Library supported by ACE in New Parks, Leicester, UK.

Local resident Colin Murphy working with Paul Conneally identifies a section of kerb slabs and a tyre mark that runs it's length as an involuntary painting.

Together Colin and Paul photograph the identified involuntary painting in sections using Paul's iPhone.

The tyre mark reminded Colin of Robert Rauschenberg's 'Automobile Tire Print', a voluntary work, which he made with composer John Cage in 1953 and which Hughes (via video link from New York) and Conneally had introduced to the NEW PARKS : NEW YORK group in New Parks Library before they hit the streets around the Library to identify and photograph involuntary paintings.

A series of prints that will be 'stitched' together to form a long roll up image of the kerb and tyre mark is also being constructed by Colin, Paul and Millree with the New Parks IP1NPNY Group, echoing Rauschenberg's 'Automobile Tire Print - 1953'.

Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York
March 2015

---

Note: The term 'Involuntary Painting' was first 'invented', coined and used in this context by artist Millree Hughes. He used it to describe marks on objects, walls, buildings made by the weather, ageing, persons, animals, graffiti, abuse and other means, that he came across in his travels around New York, that seemed to him could be and were similar to modern paintings found in galleries and museums across the world.

Hughes, working with the poet artist and psychogeographer, Paul Conneally, developed the idea further, and together they came up with a simple way to describe what an involuntary painting was in the hope that by identifying and sharing such involuntary paintings they might encourage the reexamination of what painting is, has been and could be.

"Imagine that and alien lands on Earth programmed with all the knowledge of contemporary modern art but never having seen a painting. What might this alien mistake for a painting? These things, never intended as art, as paintings, are what we now propose as involuntary paintings" - Millree Hughes and Paul Conneally 2014

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit No.2

The Polarity of Matter and Spirit No.2
Hughes and Conneally
New Parks, Leicester
November 2014

"No dead shark or calf ... a person waiting perhaps for the number 14 ... only willing to be photographed when shown how the surface of the shelter would actually make her hard to recognise"

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit is a series of portraits taken in The New Parks Involuntary Painting Bus Shelter Photo Booth. It comes out of work through the ongoing Involuntary Painting Movement initiated by artists, Millree Hughes (New York, US) and Paul Conneally (Loughborough, UK).

'Involuntary Painting' is a term coined by Hughes in 2014 to identify and explore what an alien that landed on Earth, programmed with all the knowledge of art but never having seen any, might possibly mistake for a painting. This notion is used by Hughes and Conneally, along with a growing group of artists, to explore the nature, history and future of painting, space, place, time and more widely, art in in the twenty first century.

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit portraits are photographed by Conneally through the scratched and marked perspex side of a bus shelter on Charnor Road, New Parks, Leicester. It is this surface that is the involuntary painting, not the portrait photograph itself. The subject is photographed through the involuntary painting which acts as a lens come filter in in the physical space between the digital camera, in this case an iPhone, and the subject in the bus shelter.

The Polarity Of Matter And Spirit identifies the bus shelter on Charnor Road, New Parks, Leicester, UK, the bus shelter towards the New Parks Social Club end of the road and on the same side of the road as Forest Lodge Primary School, as the first Involuntary Painting Photo Booth. Hughes and Conneally are in the process of identifying, with others, similar Involuntary Painting Booths around the world.

A further series of portraits taken in the New Parks Involuntary Painting Bus Shelter Painting Booth will be undertaken in 2015 by Hughes and Conneally as part of Involuntary Painting 1 New Parks : New York with and for Soft Touch Arts, New Parks Library and members of the New Parks community.

Sugar Criminals

Sugar Criminals

Paul Conneally & The New Parks Poetry Machine

New Parks Library, Leicester, 2014

Sugar Criminals is a shreadlines piece - headlines from a particular newspaper on a certain day are cut up and put in a bag. Each line of the poem is written by picking out five bits from the bag and using at least three. The shreadlines process was developed by Paul Conneally in 1999 and though different comes out of Tristan Tzara method for creating a Dadaist poem:

To Make A Dadaist Poem

Take a newspaper.

Take some scissors.

Choose from this paper an article of the length you want to make your poem.

Cut out the article.

Next carefully cut out each of the words that make up this article and

put them all in a bag.

Shake gently.

Next take out each cutting one after the other.

Copy conscientiously in the order in which they left the bag.

The poem will resemble you.

And there you are — an infinitely original author of charming sensibility

even though unappreciated by the vulgar herd.

TristanTzara 

Yes 'the poem will resemble you'!