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<Wednesday, 27th January 2010>
My girlfriend says she'd sell me for £1million. Any interested buyers get in touch.
It's Saturday evening and i'm sat at a desk in front of a computer screen eating a Swiss Finger iced bun, drinking coffee out of an 'Obama For President' mug, navy blue skinny jeans, blood red t-shirt, light grey jumper, white high-tops.
The window next to me is open, there's a cold gentle breeze blowing down the right side of my body, and i can hear birds singing quietly in the far distance.
Rachel enters the room (stage right) in a green zipped-up Parker coat and usual hammertime trousers, asks after the where-abouts of Treacle the cat who is sat on the embroidery machine, and closes the window shut.
It's dark outside so the yellow halogen light from the room bounces off the window pane reflecting the room behind me, casting a huge 4ft diameter suspended paper lantern into the garden like a giant supernova.
Fast Mexican music suddenly rises up from nowhere, Te ofrezco mi corazon/ A cambio de mi pobreza, counterpointed by Lady Gaga who looks me in the eye saying, I want your everything as long as it's free.
<3 Dimples of Venus.
<Wednesday, 20th January 2010>
Bright Futures.
This week i gave an enjoyable Subtraction Cutting Masterclass to a highly perceptive class of girls at Blackheath High School, in London UK.
I started by demonstrating a basic 6-hole Sub-Cut dress, and then within a few hours the students had an 18-piece collection to model.
<Wednesday, 13th January 2010>
Subtraction Cutting Expeditions:
There is a blissful moment in the creation of objects, where the design exists only its idea, or only in its plan, its patterns, its model.
Prior to making an impression on a canvas, or a sound on an instrument, one reaches a point beyond which something must occur.
That is, one is left momentarily in the presence of what is already there (the primed canvas, the occupied silence) which has already been transformed in anticipation;
we think: 'the canvas is blank', 'the silence is empty', and denying observation or presence, leap blind and deaf into its void.
Go forth and inhabit.
Maps & Patterns.
There are things we plan/aspire to do, and there are things we are brought back down to earth to actually DO.
At the start of a new decade many new plans are being hatched.
The theme i am developing here is that a map(pattern) is not something that necessarily defines an already existing territory(garment), but rather a map can proceed the existence of a territory:
as the pattern is constructed and grows, so too does the world it represents.
We are permitted to trespass or go places we may not yet have access to or know how to reach: Both with creative patterns and maps, imaginary garments and places.
Key to Maps:
Imaginary Maps.
The maps I’m posting here are of geographic locations I aim to visit this year and in the future.
If at the end of the day I don’t get to reach all the places included, then no enjoyment will be lost in the time spent planning and map making.
Similarly I always enjoy pattern cutting even when the resulting garment goes completely tits-up!
If I don’t visualize all my aspirations, then im not giving myself the vision (an idealistic aerial view viewpoint) that I need to motivate me to actually venture forth and inhabit these imaginary spaces.
I can’t be apologetic about wanting to go places I might not yet have access to, the maps & patterns strengthen my resolve, and I want people to know that I care deeply about the places i've not yet been to.
So where will my cutting take me next? Who will it possibly introduce me to? and what luggage will i need to bring with me to show?
In June / July 2010 i will be embarking on a North American tour with the Center For Pattern Design, giving Subtraction Cutting masterclasses in Canada & USA.
The cities i may possibly visit in 2010 are marked in red (TBC), green is where we've already held masterclasses, and blue is on the wish-list :
In the UK my Subtraction Cutting masterclasses have already taken me across England and Scotland, so in the year ahead i will be concentrating my efforts on developing new techniques to exhibit and perform.
This will keep me nearer to home in Brighton, London and Bristol. If you desperately want a class or advice then do get in touch with me, but you may need to venture south.
I'm really hoping this year to visit more of Spain, as i really enjoyed cutting at the Arteleku Gallery in San Sebastián.
Paris, Berlin and Tel Aviv are also all on my wish-list of places i'd love to be invited to soon, whether to give cutting masterclasses, exhibit or collaborate.
After my North American tour, i'd love to venture east. Japan has inspired me hugely throughout my education, and it would give me great pleasure to take my cutting skills full circle, and perform live in Tokyo.
Cutting the other side of the world is a dream i hope to one day fulfill. Plans for an Antipodean adventure are already underway, we just need the last few pieces of the jigsaw to fall neatly into place ...
... Then of course there is the Southern States USA tour, a logical next step for 2011, i'd love to also cut in Miami, Cuba, return to beautiful Mexico again, venture deeper south into Brazil and Argentina, as well as cut in Moscow in Russia, a country that has fascinated me since childhood.
My world grows bigger by invitation, my Subtraction Cutting Suitcase never empties.
<Wednesday, 6th January 2010>
Faithful Suitcase.
Proposal requiring sponsorship or commission: 'The Faithful Suitcase Collection' by Julian Roberts
I’d love to do an exhibition sometime during London Fashion Week in September 2010 or February 2011.
It would be cool if this could then travel to other countries with me as i tour, giving live demonstrations of the most challenging tricks on show.
I’d like the exhibition to consist of 3 main elements:
- Sub-Cut showpiece garments that really push the extremities of creative cutting, including tailoring.
- A film or series of films. A new backdrop for me to talk against/ show in front of/ project ideas onto. The soundtrack to the film would be oral and performed live.
- A collection of menswear garments made for traveling, that fit in a suitcase with all my tools/basic patterns. I want to design a range of clothing I can wear, which I will ACTUALLY wear when touring. I want a ‘uniform’. I have a bag next to my desk that is never unpacked. I take it on every sub-cut demo I do. I’d like to show this, and perhaps also even sell these menswear garments. I want to include myself in the design process more. I’m going to start by taking blocks off my existing favorite clothes & then remake/refit everything. It will probably all be black/grey/navy with occasional bright highlights/ hand-painted shoes, all very utilitarian/practical. Stuff I wear for real, made in my size. I’d like to make the bag/luggage too, and all the tools i need to cut with: A Subtraction Cutting Survival Kit.
Secret Door
Some people say thay we start to die the very moment we are born, but i can't agree with this idea.
I'd prefer to think that i started to die today, at about 11.30am.
Sustainable Action
Did you invent the lightbulb or telephone ?
discover gravity ? walk on the moon ?
invent Surrealism ? direct 'Lord of the Rings' ?
write Romeo & Juliet ?
paint the Cistene Chapel ?
unite Britain under one crown ?
design the i-Pod ?
build the Golden Gate Bridge ?
erect the Eiffel Tower ?
code the Windows Operating System ?
fly the first airplane ?
carve the stones for the Pyramids ?
inspire a nation to rise in revolution to overthrow tyranny ?
discover a new planet or touch the bottom an ocean?
i didn't think so.
neither did i.
Because great things have been done for us,
does not mean they last for all time,
and need repeating, bettering, reworking, surpassing.
Lets not get flabby & lazy,
enjoying the fruits of other peoples achievements.
Only Regret of 2009: Didn't dance enough, wasn't asked to.
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All garments, video, graphics, websites and text are copyrighted to Julian Roberts (c) 2009. A lot of the images assembled above came from Google or somewhere, and are the copyright of their original owner. But their assembly together is very much my own doing, it's difficult to say really where creative ownership begins & ends, i'm certainly not averse to creative trespass. So no reproduction without permission, unless you're feeling subversive, punk.