definitely alive, almost dead for a while

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definitely alive, almost dead for a while
Friday, Sep 5, 2008 11:39AM / Standard Entry / Members only
25 comments
Well, I've been out of action for a while but was at Wing Shya's opening last night and bumped into Patrick and the AND crew who reminded me of my responsibilities as an artist on this site! So, here's the first blog in many months.
I've just been around the world part vacation but part research for upcoming exhibitions. While away I set myself a little project, to cross paths with various people important in my life and shoot them. Here are a few of the results so far. It's an ongoing project that will eventually lead to a book. I'm now shooting people in Hong Kong so I'll add those when I've done them.
The people won't mean much to you, dear reader, but they mean a lot to me.

Be good.

SB
x

First stop was Sydney, Australia

My surf buddy, Chris Jones at a very cold and sharkey NSW northern beach.

NSW pebbles.

Kharis

Crabs at thee fish market, cheap and yummy.

Honolulu airport

retro lounge Hawaii

volcanic rock on the big island

my Hawaii surf brother, Punchy. This is actually a 30ft drop though it looks like he's walking on water.

Post office boxes

Hawaii is kinda redneck.

Hawaii

Lots of big tricks in Hawaii, most for sale because of the oil prices.

Airport on the way to LA

Quiet corner of Honolulu airport.

Corey outside the Gehry designed Disney concert hall.

Conan Hayes, superstar surfer and boss of RVCA clothing.

Sunny England

Darryl Griggs, DJ from Sugar and Volar now living in London.

My momma!

Brighton rocks!

Ex Hong Kong and now superstar DJ Lee Burridge.

Brighton pier again, interesting to me because a lot of my installation works relate to carnival and fun fair.

My '68 Pontiac Firebird, rusting away in my brothers back yard. Beats renting when I'm back home though...

Nina

Emma at the polo field.

Happy times!

My bro at his offices.

That's it for now!
Peace.
Birch.

Entry comments (25)

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Race Wong
posted on Sunday, Nov 16, 2008 5:04PM [Report]

wow !!! SUPER COOL!
GTOX Design
posted on Friday, Oct 3, 2008 10:30AM [Report]

Reminds me of when I was working in Chichester ages ago, started surfing in mid Dec, 5mm wetsuits, freezing!!! Peeing in your suit, that nice warm feeling! What a blast from the past :)
AsianChick100
posted on Monday, Sep 8, 2008 6:48PM [Report]

what a pretty girl... with a pretty name! =)
Simon Birch
posted on Monday, Sep 8, 2008 4:56PM

yeh marie, you pretty much got the idea, that's kinda how the book works. i got quite a bit of work to do on it and a number of paintings that are overdue too so no idea when it'll see the light of day.
when the time is right i guess.
sb
MissyK*
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 5:43PM [Report]

Great to have you back in HK!!! Gorgeous poetic shots - simply peaceful looking at them. Pictures capture moments the eyes dont see and you've shared that moment. Thank you!!! God Bless xox
Marie Jost
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 11:14AM [Report]

I keep having this bizarre idea when I think about your project. I keep seeing sections of text and then section of images, but it is a continuous narrative, the one taking up where the other left off, one using words and the other images to continue the narrative. I'm not a visual artist, so I don't have a clear idea how this would work, exactly, but I keep having this image of the alternation of text and image, perhaps more like how a film uses text and image. There are the lines that the actors say, but then there are all those things that the director communicates through the actual images of the film, sometimes in concert with the text and sometimes independent or parallel with the text. I'm sure you are way ahead of me on this. :-)
Marie Jost
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 11:03AM [Report]

Trained art historian means I did all the formal training and got the degree, a doctorate. As you found with the MFA, completing the course of study has its benefits. Ditto for art history. Writing the dissertation taught me more than everything else I did in graduate school. Although I'm currently not using my art history degree to make my living, the skills I mastered I use almost every day. So, yeah, calling myself a trained art historian seems to make sense, perhaps to add a fine distinction that I am currently not a practicing art historian. Maybe its all semantics and, in the end, these distinctions are meaningless.

Sometimes pictures can generate the writing, rather than illustrate it. Let me give an example: I once wrote a novel whose genesis was some photographs of 2 famous flamenco artists performing together--a singer and his guitarist partner. I created two fictional characters based on the implied relationship between these two characters. In this instance, the images were the beginning, not the end of the journey.
Simon Birch
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 9:59AM

a trained art historian? kinda like a pet is house trained? ; )
In answer to your question, the images are an accessory to a book about me, my work and a particular life changing adventure i've been on over the last 6 months. I'm not much of a writer so the images felt necessary, to bring a visual dynamic to the process. In the context of the narrative, they are indeed not touristy.
Marie Jost
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 1:48AM [Report]

This is hardly "touristy snaps", Simon. I will be interested to see how text and image relate in the final product. Will they tell totally separate stories, separate but parallel stories, or will they both tell the same story, just using different means? As a trained art historian and a writer, I navigate between the world of visual imagery and verbal imagery. They are quite different, but can serve the same purpose.
carmellarose
posted on Saturday, Sep 6, 2008 12:07AM [Report]

That is a sweet pic!
yulien
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 11:14PM [Report]

aaaa!!! my friend is a BIG fan of his music!!! :)
elavndrc
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 9:39PM [Report]

awesome shot!
Simon Birch
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 8:21PM

The project is just photos and a lot of writing too. there's a whole story to it though it may just look like tourist happy snaps.
Marie Jost
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 6:23PM [Report]

Glad you're back posting on AnD. Interesting project. Is this strictly a photography project, or will it generate paintings, as well?
JoanneSanderson
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 6:19PM [Report]

oh, I haven't been on one of these in years. Great pictures Simon, good luck with the projects
JoanneSanderson
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 6:18PM [Report]

I like carousels, they have quite a haunting atmosphere about them.
JoanneSanderson
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 6:17PM [Report]

wow that's an amazing shot.
room43
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 4:26PM [Report]

feels very...introspective. Thanks for sharing!
Berton Chang
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 2:23PM [Report]

good to hear that you back in it. call you sometime.

b
rottendoubt
posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 1:29PM [Report]

was great seeing you last night!!!! welcome back to hong kong!!!

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Simon Birch

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A full time artist, Simon Birch is a young Hong Kong artist who's made a huge impact with his energy and vision in the last few years. Apart from his critically acclaimed, dramatic paintings, he's man...
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Occupation: Painter
Gender: Male
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