creating a costume inspired by cannell

This is a guest column written by Eva Michael-White (@mondo.gonzo on Instagram), who is contributing a unique and interesting piece for the project.

I first heard about this project from a friend, and got involved when the organiser messaged me. I began to research Cannels work by reading interviews and his obituary, to understand what his ideas and methods were, but ultimately it is the art itself which is most important. His use of colour is what attracts me the most, these bright bold shapes all jostling for attention, I love using colour in a similar way in my own work so that aspect really spoke to me. There is a great expressive nature to Cannells work, large confident marks, but also so much detail. I see a new shape or mark or face every time I look at them. This is what I'm really excited to translate into costume, the busy colours and abstract forms. As well as this, I’m also really inspired and intrigued by Cannels fascination with childrens drawings and non-dominant hand drawings; I personally love doing blind and left hand drawings because of the absolute nonsense and abstraction that comes from it. This method of simplifying forms, caricaturing and exaggerating them, is exactly how I aim to design my piece. This concept of a childish drawing, something simple yet exaggerated in shape, abnormally long arms and large head with cartoonish hands and feet, is exactly what i want to bring to life from his work.

Experimenting doing left hand childish drawings with oil pastels.

As this is a textile piece, I want to translate the myriad of different colours and forms into a variety of textures too. For example, I plan to use raw wool and pompoms as well as soft sculpture techniques to achieve the big shapes.

I really enjoy working with soft sculpture and costume, I’ve always loved sewing and I find soft sculpture to be really inspiring. Pieces such as Bas Koster’s stuffed fashion creations, as well as traditional folk costume, has been what really inspired me these past few years in my creations. Elements of story and culture coming together to create these larger than life characters, absoloute gonzoid creations that create a great impact on people. I love watching people react to my own large costumes, often with confusion and delight, occasionaly with fear but that only adds another level of emotion.

My folk inspired costumes and masks at last years ‘elevate’ show at lemon quay.

I think this project is a wonderful way to commemorate an artist, especially Paul Cannell, and I’m really excited to begin working on this project and see how other people interpret his work.

Eva Michael-White is an extremely talented artist and valuable contributor to the Damp Water Spot project. For more of her work - visit her Instagram at @mondo.gonzo

recurring colours and motifs

One of the first things that many newcomers notice about a lot of Paul's work - especially his Primal Scream sleeves and his oils are the colours and motifs that return time and time again.

The pictures here are some thick oil pastels and drawings which capture Paul's colour and style quite well. They were made by the talented @mondo.gonzo on Instagram, who is currently working on a wearable piece for the project.

According to her, working through some of Paul's reocurring motifs with oil pastels has helped her figure out how exactly to approach similar styles in relation to the human form.

I find it pretty interesting that almost all of the artists currently contributing to the project have repeated this same process - taking the time to replicate some of what makes Paul's work so unique. I think it's a natural instinct to want to try to see some of what he did from the other side - like getting a different artistic perspective might make it easier to understand it.

In Paul's own work - I believe that one of the bigger reasons his oil style stuck is directly related to his introduction to Primal Scream. When Paul met Bobby Gillespie - Bobby asked him to make a painting - which he did. It was very large and intricately detailed. For a number of Primal Scream's singles - Bobby would pick and choose specific portions of this large oil painting for covers, backs and remixes. Despite the fact it was originally just one big oil painting - it gave the impression that Paul was consistently producing near very carefully stylized pieces. It was only natural this would evolve into a more concrete style.

some memories of paul

This is a guest column written by Andy Saunders (@onetruesaunders on Instagram), who was the Head of Press at Creation Records during the time that Paul was supplying them with art from an in-house studio.

I started working at Creation Records in 1992 when the company was based in Westgate Street in Hackney - It was a few months after Screamadelica was released, which of course was one of Paul's most well known album artworks.

Paul in his attic art studio at Creation

In the offices there was an attic room where Paul had been given a studio to work in, My office was directly below this so I would often see him as he made his way through where I was working and up the metal spiral staircase to his area. He was always friendly and often stopped for a chat. I never knew him that well though, I'm not sure many people did. My job at Creation Records at that time was Head of Press and at one point I did some work to get Paul some interviews and recognition for his work in the UK media. We spent some time together working on that and I got to know him a little bit better. He was clearly a troubled man, whether from addiction or mental health issues I don't know, but he had an authenticity, kindness and humanity about him which was very appealing. He also always seemed a lot older than he actually was. He did mention that he felt he had never been fairly rewarded for the work he did with certain bands and I sensed some bitterness around that. Obviously images such as the Screamadelica artwork, the Heavenly logo and many others are now seen as hugely iconic images and in retrospect Paul is rightly acknowledged as a groundbreaking artist whose work defined the visual context of the early 90s musical landscape.