Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Out of Nothing
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE: 1976
WEBSITE: http://davidblandy.co.uk
CITY: London
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born 1976.
EDUCATION:Chelsea College of Art, B.A. (honors), 1998; Slade School of Art, M.A., 2003.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Artist and writer. Has exhibited artwork at venues, including Focal Point Gallery, Arts Catalyst, Bury Art Museum, Seventeen Gallery, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Plymouth Arts Center, Tate Modern, Bloomberg Space, and Four Quarters.
AWARDS:Jarman Video Award, Film London. Grants from organizations, including Arts Council England.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
David Blandy is a British writer and artist. He holds degrees from the Chelsea College of Art and the Slade School of Art. Blandy’s work has been shown at venues, including Focal Point Gallery, Arts Catalyst, Bury Art Museum, Seventeen Gallery, Fort Worth Contemporary Arts, Plymouth Arts Center, Tate Modern, Bloomberg Space, and Four Quarters. In an interview with Naomi Jackson, contributor to the Medium website, Blandy discussed his artwork. He stated: “I work with the image in the digital world, thinking about forms like the YouTube tutorial and music videos, to television series, anime and the narrative sections of computer games. This mostly becomes short videos, performances and installations.”
Blandy collaborated with the illustrator, Daniel Locke, to create the graphic novel, Out of Nothing, which was released in 2018. It finds a blue female protagonist observing key moments in history, including the advent of DNA analysis and the rise of hip hop.
Out of Nothing received mixed reviews. Noah Berlatsky, critic on the Comics Journal website, suggested: “Out of Nothing‘s storyline is scattershot to the point of incoherence; on one page you’re traveling on the silk road with (very appealingly drawn) cows; on the next you’re chatting with Gutenberg besieged by his creditors.” Berlatsky added: “Out of Nothing … can’t get its act together to develop either characters or narratives.” Berlatsky concluded: “Locke and Blandy want to tell the story of the universe with great sweep and resonance; they want science to have the force of myth. But science is a tool, not a meaning for existence. Without God, there’s no myth. There’s just that skull, and, like Out of Nothing, skulls don’t have much to say.” “The book’s ambition often overshadows its clarity. However impressive the spectacle, many readers will be left still puzzling at its close,” remarked a Publishers Weekly writer. However, Fiona McMahon, reviewer in Booklist, described the volume as an “expansive, thoughtful, and thought-provoking graphic novel.” McMahon also predicted: “It’s sure to be enjoyed by philosophically inclined readers of all ages.” Antony Esmond, contributor to the DownTheTubes.net website, asserted: “It is full of big ideas, the biggest in fact—and places us smack bang in the middle of those ideas as they formed. Out of Nothing is intelligent and thoughtful—yet also colourfully fun and dreamlike.” Esmond added: “Don’t think this is an overly serious book. It has big issues at its heart, but delivered with a playfulness that makes you want to return to read a bit more.” Writing on the London Guardian Online, James Smart called the book a “bright, imaginative graphic novel.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, April 15, 2018, Fiona McMahon, review of Out of Nothing, p. 37.
Publishers Weekly, January 29, 2018, review of Out of Nothing, p. 177.
ONLINE
Comics Journal, http://www.tcj.com/ (April 3, 2018), Noah Berlatsky, review of Out of Nothing.
David Blandy website, http://davidblandy.co.uk/ (October 10, 2018).
DownTheTubes.net, https://downthetubes.net/ (November 16, 2017), Antony Esmond, review of Out of Nothing.
London Guardian Online, https://www.theguardian.com/ (March 16, 2018), James Smart, review of Out of Nothing.
Medium, https://medium.com/ (March 15, 2017), Naomi Jackson, author interview.
DAVID BLANDY
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Download CV
David Blandy
b. 1976
Lives and works in Brighton & London
1995-98
Chelsea College of Art BA (Hons) Sculpture
2001-03
Slade School of Art MA in Fine Art Media
Represented by:
Seventeen Gallery
270-276 Kingsland Road
London, E8 4DG
T. +44(0) 20 7249 8713
E. info@seventeengallery.com
Films are distributed by LUX, London
David Blandy has established his terrain through a series of investigations into the cultural forces that inform and influence him, ranging from his love of hip hop and soul, to computer games and manga. His works slip between performance and video, reality and construct, using references sampled from the wide, disparate sources that provide his (and our own) individualist sense of self. He is currently working on a New Geographies Commission for Focal Point Gallery, Southend-in-Sea. He has been selected for the Film London Jarman Video Award for his collaborative practice with Larry Achiampong.
Solo exhibitions
2019
"The World After”, New Geographies Commission, David Blandy, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on-Sea
"Genetic Automata", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Arts Catalyst, London
2018
"FF Gaiden: Delete", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Bury Art Museum, Moving Image Gallery, Bury
2017
"David Blandy", Seventeen Gallery, London
"Child of the Atom", David Blandy, Vdrome
"Finding Fanon Trilogy", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Forth Worth Contemporary Arts, Texas, USA
"The Finding Fanon Sequence", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Plymouth Arts Centre
"Finding Fanon Trilogy", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium, London
2016
"Citadel: David Blandy", The Exchange, Cornwall
"Finding Fanon Part Three: Prologue", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Tate Modern, Switch House, London
"FF Gaiden: Delete", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle
2015
"Hercules Rough Cut", Bloomberg Space, London
"A-Z presents David Blandy", Four Quarters, London
"Media Minerals", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Dolph Projects, London
2014
"Helix", a collaboration with biologist Adam Rutherford & illustrator Daniel Locke, A Wellcome Trust Arts Award, with support from Lighthouse
"Biters: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy", Iniva & 198 Gallery, London
2013
"Anjin 1600: Edo Wonderpark", Rose Lipman Building, CREATE London
"Backgrounds", Seventeen Gallery, London & Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
"Mobile Suit Academy", Peckham Space, London
2012
"Odysseys", Phoenix Gallery, Brighton; in association with Lighthouse as part of the Brighton Digital Festival
"David Blandy - Passage Of The Soul", Exeter Phoenix
2011
Artistic Dialogues II, David Blandy & Nilbar Güreş, Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany
"Run a Mile in My Shoes", Great North Run Moving Image Commission 2011, Newbridge Space, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
2010
“Child of the Atom”, Seventeen Gallery, London
Solo presentation at TankTV project space
2009
“Crossroads”, Spike Island, Bristol, touring to Turner Contemporary, Margate, and 176 Project Space, London
"The Barefoot Lone Pilgrim", Solo screening, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead
2008
“Artprojx Dojo: Duels and Dualities”, Artprojx Space, London
2007
“Fortress of Solitude”, Jerwood Platform for Artists, Cell Project Space, London
“The Way of the Barefoot Lone Pilgrim”, Platform China Project Space, Beijing, China, curated by David Thorp
Current & forthcoming
2018
"Rivers of Emotion, Bodies of Ore", Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway
”Film London Jarman Award”, touring to The Mac, Belfast; Towner Art Gallery, Eastbourne; Spike Island, Bristol; Glasgow Film Theatre; Dundee Contemporary Arts; Turner Contemporary, Margate; Exeter Phoenix; FACT, Liverpool; Nottingham Contemporary; Firstsite, Colchester; G39, Cardiff; HOME, Manchester; & Whitechapel Gallery, London
”Frantz Fanon Symposium”, ICA Miami, USA
"Offline Browser", Taiwan International Video Art 2018, Taiwan
”Nature as Data“, Jing’an Sculpture Park, Shanghai
”I want God, I want poetry…”, Moca Tapei
”Africa in Motion Film Festival”, Scotland
”We suffer to remain: Finding Fanon”, National Art Gallery of the Bahamas
"The Fantastical Multimedia Pop-up Project", The Edge, Bath
"Idea of North", BALTIC, Tyneside
"Finding Fanon", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, National Gallery of the Bahamas, Nassau, The Bahamas
"Alternate Realities", Sheffield Doc|Fest, Sheffield
"Random Acts", Channel Four, UK
Selected exhibitions & screenings
2018
"Finding Fanon" Screening, Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham
"Vector Festival", Toronto, Canada
"Sunshine Socialist Cinema", Höja, Sweden
"Revolt and Revolutions", Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
"Hello World", Art Tower Mito, Tokyo, Japan
"Experiments in Art & Science", Kettle's Yard & The Gurdon Institute, Cambridge
"States of Play: Roleplay Reality", FACT, Liverpool
"In/Di/Visible", Bethlem Gallery, London
"Paysage(s) choisi(s) – Chosen landscape(s)", Nouveau Musée National de Monaco NMNM
"Frame, Play, Pause", SASK Sint-Niklaas Akademie, Belgium
"Finding Fanon Sequence", Corsica Studios, London
"Transmediale/Festival", Berlin, Germany
"A Utopian Stage", Curated by Archaeology of the Final Decade, Dhakaa Art Summit, Bangladesh
"Polymorph Other", IMT Gallery, London
"Club Conscious", Observatorium, Antwerp, Belgium
2017
"Unmaking the Mask", Screening, BAMcinématek, Brooklyn, USA
"Afrotech and the Future of Re-invention", Screening, Hartware Medienkunstverein, Hamburg, Germany
"Trauma & Revival", Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow, Poland
"There past the borders of nowhere", John Hansard Gallery, Southampton
"Artist Film Weekend", HOME, Manchester
"Out of Nothing", A graphic novel with Daniel Locke & Adam Rutherford, Nobrow Press
"Picnic at Tornado Sands", Arcade East, London
"Screen City Biennial 2017", Online & at Stravanger, Norway
Longlisted for the inaugural Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowships
"L’Autre… De l’image à la réalité", Maison Populaire, Paris, France
"Wilderness Way",Mima, Middlesbrough
"Posthuman Complexities Film Program", mumok Kino, Vienna, Austria
"Dialogue de l’ombre double", Videobox, Le Carreau du Temple, Paris, France
"ARS17 - Hello World", Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
"Zuecca Projects presents: Daata in Venice", Venice
"Medieval-City One", Two Queens, Leicester
"Finding Fanon Sequence LP Launch", Lighthouse, Brighton
"Untitled: Art on the conditions of our time", New Art Exchange, Nottingham
"Yours Sincerely", RCA Film Night, London
"All Channels Open", Wysing Arts Centre
"Public View", Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool
"Finding Fanon Trilogy", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium, London
"Parallax Scrolling", Breese Little, London
"Film Cologne", Art Cologne, Germany
"Cast Film Club", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Cast, Cornwall
"Trust Me, I’m an Artist: DNA Ancestry Testing",
Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Arts Catalyst, London
2016
"'That Time", Gerðarsafn Kópavogur Art Museum,Cycle Music & Arts Festival, Kopavogur, Iceland
"Here come a new challenger", Cubitt, London
"Wysing Poly Residency", Wysing Arts Centre
"FF Gaiden: Delete", Praksis Premier Screening, Cinemateket, Oslo, Norway
"Finding Fanon Screening", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Stony Island Arts Bank, Chicago, USA
"Getting the Heart Ready", The Royal Standard, Liverpool
"Supernova Festival", Denver, USA
"Mount Florida Screenings", Mount Florida, Glasgow
"Bedlam Fringe Film Festival", Edinburgh
"Spill Festival", Ipswich
"Our Machines II", Brighton Digital Festival 2016
"Experimental Motion", Brighton Museum & Art Gallery
"The Long Progress Bar", Brighton Dome Studio Theatre
"Lavish Big Screen", Latitude Festival, Suffolk
"Random Acts", Channel 4, UK
"Eva International 2016: Still (The) Barbarians", Limerick City, Curated by Koyo Kouoh
"Histories of a Vanishing Present: A Prologue", The Mistake Room, Curated by Cesar Garcia & Kris Kuramitsu, Los Angles, USA
"Emotional Supply Chains", Zabludowicz Collection, London
"Game Video / Art. A Survey", part of the "XXI Triennale International Exhibition. 21st Century. Design after Design", Contemporary Hall Gallery, Milan, Italy
"Media Minerals", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy as part of "Imitation of Life", HOME, Manchester
"Focus on the Funk- Journeys", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, Birkbeck Cinema & Serpentine Gallery
"Wysing Polyphonic", Wysing Arts Centre
"Out of Nothing", Graphic novel with Daniel Locke & Adam Rutherford, supported by The Wellcome Trust & Lighthouse
2015
"The 59th BFI London Film Festival", BFI Southbank,London
"Both Sides Now", screening & exhibition various venues in China and The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, Manchester
'Ghosts', Hangar, Lisbon, Portugal
"Turtle Salon", Färgfabriken, Stockholm, Sweden
"The Long Progress Bar", Brighton Digital Festival
"Art Pop Montreal Festival 2015", Montreal, Canada
"The Vanishing Point of History: L’Été photographique de Lectoure", Centre d'art et photographie de Lectoure, France. Curated by Catsou Roberts
"The Curves of the Needle", Baltic 39, Newcastle
"Open Souce Contemporary Arts Festival", London
"Daata Editions", New York, USA
"Room of Requirement", Horseandpony Fine Arts Project Space, Berlin
"Drawing Biennial 2015", The Drawing Room Gallery, London
"Collaborate", Oriel Sycharth Gallery, Wales
"Pigdogmonkeyfestos", Phoenix Gallery, Exeter
"Wir Sind Alle Berliner:1884-2014", ICI, Berlin
"ReMix", Bury Sculpture Centre, curated by David Thorp
"Alternative 23", IMT Gallery, London
"Land Engines", Queens Hall Arts Centre, Northumberland
2014
"NADA Miami 2014', Miami, USA
"Extinction Marathon: Visions of the Future", Serpentine Gallery, London
"The Nuisance of Landscape: Grizedale - The Sequel", Abbot Hall Gallery, Cumbria
"Collections of Collections", V&A Friday Late, London
"Fierce Festival", The Edge, Birmingham
"3rd Bienale of Bahia", Modern Art Museum of Bahia, Brazil
"Digital Africa", performance as part of 'Africa Utopias', Southbank Centre, London
"Turtle Salon in the Forest", Sweden
"Foam", Attic, Nottingham
"Animamix Biennial", Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai, China
"Biters: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy" as part of Test Run", Modern Art Oxford
"Pigdodandmonkeyfestos", Airspace Gallery, Stoke-On-Trent
"Artprojx Cinema presents Teen and Keen", Voice and the Lens, London
"27 Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2014, Festival for Expanded Media", Stuttgart, Germany
"After/Hours/Drop/Box **LIVE**", Spike Island, Bristol, Curated by John Lawrence
"Why Did You Stop", exhibition curated by Expograph, Berlin, Germany
2013
"After/Hours/Drop/Box", Modern Art Oxford, Curated by John Lawrence
"Is that all there is?", Film Screening, Import Projects, Berlin, Germany
"Totally Devoted", Screening event, Outcasting at Temporary Art Projects, Southend on Sea
"The Artsadmin Jerwood Commission", Premiere screening, Whitechapel Gallery, London
"V22 Collection Show", V22 Workspace, London
"Totem and Taboo", Freud Museum, London
2012
"Thank You For The Music", Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
"In the Woods", The Big Screen & Film Gallery, Latitude Festival, Suffolk
"25th Stuttgarter Filmwinter 2012, Festival for Expanded Media", Stuttgart, Germany
"Let the Rythym Hit 'Em", Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
"RE-RUN", Banner Repeater, London
2011
"I will talk with anyone who will talk with me", The City Gallery, Leicester
"SUNDAY" Art Fair, The Zabludowicz Collection presents David Blandy limited edition action figures
"David Blandy, Riley Harmon and Graham Hudson", Seventeen, London
“Amen Brother”, Grand Union, Birmingham
The Drawing Room Gallery Fundraiser 2011, London
"Journey Men" Two person show with Antti Laitinen, AirSpace, Stoke-on-Trent
2010
“Choose your character” solo event at the ICA, London, as part of Live Weekends
“Be Glad For the Song Has No End: A Festival of Artists' Music”, Wysing Art Centre, Cambridge
“Contort Yourself”, three person show at ACME, London
“Mixtapes: Popular Music in Contemporary Art”, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork, Ireland
“The Crossroads Shack”, installation and screening at Latitude Festival, Suffolk
“Royale with Cheese”, AICON Gallery, London, curated by Niru Ratnam
“Psychic Geography”, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead
2009
“Stranger Things Are Happening”, Aspex, Portsmouth
“Personal Affects”, Exhibition and Residency, A.I.R. Hotel MariaKapel, Hoorn, The Netherlands
"Hesperides II", Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts de Lausanne (MCBA), Switzerland"
The 6th Bremen Art Spring", GAK, Bremen, Germany
"The Underground Soul", Solo exhibition, Brighton Art Festival, Grey Area, Brighton
"My Philosophy", Solo screening, Artprojx Matinee Presentations, Prince Charles Cinema, London
2008
“Far West”, Arnolfini, Bristol; touring to A Foundation, Liverpool and Turner Contemporary, Margate
“Museumnight 2008: Tomorrow is Humourless”, screening event, Stedelijk Museum Bureau (SMBA), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
“I/Legitimate”, Museu da Imagem e do Som de São Paulo, Brazil
“Made Up”, the Bluecoat, as part of the Liverpool Biennial
“Tatton Park Biennial”, Tatton Park, Cheshire
“Sonic Youth”, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin, Ireland & touring to Wallace Gallery, New York, USA“Phenomena”, Pori Art Museum, Finland
“The David Blandy Special”, screening, 176 Project Space, London
“Jerwood Moving Image Awards”, Jerwood Gallery, London, Finalist
“Artprojx Hi Fi” at Anthology Film Archives, The Armory Show, New York
2007
Art Review’s invited comic contribition, December Issue
“Persona Non Grata”, curated by Ben Judd, One in the Other, London
“Artprojx Hi Fi presents”, Art in Marrakech, Théâtre Royal de Marrakech
"Encore Pacifca", Video screening, Kunsthall Bergen, Norway
“Microwave International New Media Arts Festival”, Hong Kong, as part of “À la Chinoise” curated by Marcelo Rezende and Fernando Oliva
"My Still Life as a Personal Object," Alma Enterprises, London
“The Great Escape- New Art from London”, White Flag Projects, St Louis,
USA, curated by Katrina Hallowell
“Live Screen”, Lilian Baylis Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, London
“Artprojx Hi Fi presents” at Late at Tate Britain
“Konst på Bio" (Art at the Movies), Biografen Sture, Stockholm, Sweden
"A Second Life”, Stadtgalerie, Bern, Switzerland, curated by Barnaby Drabble
“Big Family Business” The IMÇ Buildings, Istanbul, curated by Esther Lu and Adnan Yildiz
“Artradio”, exhibition and residency, Cornerhouse, Manchester
“About Turn”, Kunstverein Braunschweig, Germany
tank.tv DVD of selected video artists, distributed by Thames & Hudson
“Artprojx at Greenland Street presents”, Screening Event, Greenlands Street, Liverpool
“Inter-Faces”, Soros Center for Contemporary Art - Almaty, Kazakstan
Artsadmin Screening Programme, Artsadmin Studios, London
“The Communism of Form: Sound + Image + Time”, Galeria Vermelho, São Paulo, Brazil
“Extend Your Neck”, Cafe Gallery, London
“100 Tage=100 Videos”, Kunstvereine Gl Strand, Copenhagen, Denmark
“Role Model”, The John Institute, Zurich, Switzerland
“KolnShow2”, Galerie Vera Gliem, Cologne, Germany curated by Nicolaus Schafhausen and Florian Waldvogel
“16 Hour Museum”, AIT, Tokyo, Japan
“Air Video”, Air Space, Stoke on Trent
“Media Attention”, G39, Cardiff
2006-07
IASPIS residency in Stockholm, Sweden, culminating in “Open House”
2006
“Street: behind the cliché”, Witte de With Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
“Because the Night”, Artangel Interaction, Bethnal Green Town Hall, London
“I don’t know what else to do with myself!” Video Screening & discussion,
AK28 Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden
“100 Tage=100 Videos”, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Germany
“[Incorporaciones+Polesello] Recientes”, Macro-Museo de arte contemporáneo de Rosario, Argentina
“The Mothership Collective”, South London Gallery, curated by Harold Offeh
“Kaleidoscope”, screening, Whitechapel Gallery, London
“Turtle”, Chelsea Space, curated by Michael H. Shamberg
“Represent”, two person show with Saskia Holmkvist, Gasworks Gallery, London
“FILMPERFORMANCE”, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford
“Kill your Timid Notion”, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee
“Culture Bound”, VII East Wing Collection, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
2005
“Monitor”, LOT, Bristol, curated by Sally Shaw
“Adding Up”, screening, Sous-Station Lebon, Nice, France
Thirteenth Raindance Film Festival, tank.tv showcase, London
Gasworks Gallery/Triangle Arts Trust residency at El Levante, Rosario, Argentina
“About Time”, Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Denmark, curated by Nikolaj Larsen
“Cumbriana Proof” Grizedale Arts, Cumbria
“Projekt Migration”, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany
“The Mind is a Horse (Part 2)”, Bloomberg Space, London
“Astigmatic 2005 festival”, Tank.tv, Gdynia, Poland“It is hard to touch the real”,
touring video archive, curated by Maria Lind, to Kunstverein Munich, Germany,
Bildmuseet Umeå, Sweden; Yeans, Gothenburg, Sweden; Unge Kunstnerers
Samfund UK, Oslo, Norway; Tallinn Kunsthalle, Tallinn, Estonia
“Faltering Flame: Aspects of the Human Condition in Contemporary Art”,
Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, curated by David Thorp
“Biennale! Artist Film & Video”, Temporarycontemporary Gallery, London,
selected by Jananne Al-Ani, touring to Dashanzi International Arts Festival,
Beijing, China, and Raum 3, Berlin
2004-5
“Romantic Detachment”, residency & exhibition, curated by Grizedale Arts & The Henry Moore Foundation, PS1 Gallery, New York,
USA & touring to Chapter, Cardiff, Wales; Q Gallery, Derby; Folly, Lancaster
“New Contemporaries 2004”, Liverpool Biennale & The Barbican, London
2004
“Ethnic Marketing”, Centre d’art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland,
curated by Tirdad Zolghadr
“I almost feel like doing it again ¼”, K3 Project Space, Zurich,
Switzerland, curated by Barnaby Drabble
“Agora”, Transition Gallery, London
“Tempered Ground”, Museum of Garden History, London, curated by Danielle Arnaud & Parabola
“Body-Con: conscious bodies”, A touring exhibition, various venues, Japan, curated by Roger McDonald, AIT Tokyo
“Itchy Park”, art event, Limehouse Town Hall, London, curated by Emily Wardill
“Art, Identity and the Unconscious in the Age of Transnationalism”,
Conference & film screening, Tate Modern, London, organised by the Freud Museum & The Slade, UCL
“Tape291 Video Open”, 291 Gallery, London “Volume”, film programme, part of“Commotion”, organised by Picture This, Arnolfini and St. George’s, Bristol
“Artist’s Films on Music Culture”, National Film Theatre, in collaboration with the Hayward Gallery, London
"Artist’s Residency at Grizedale Arts", the Lake District, Cumbria
“Emergency”, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth
“Nothing If Not Satirical”, The Nunnery, London, curated by Pryle Behrman
2003-4
“Domestico 03”, Central Gallery, Madrid, Spain
“Nothing Special”, FACT, Liverpool, curated by Claire Doherty
2003
“Family Business”, Pitzhanger Manor Gallery, London, curated by Matthew Poole & Danielle Arnaud
“Lux Open 2003”, Royal College of Art, London
“Beck’s Student Prize for film & video”, selected by Sam Taylor Wood & Peter Saville, ICA, London; CCA, Glasgow; Edinburgh Festival & ArtSway, Sway “New Video”, Galleria Morcilla, Barcelona, Spain
2002
“Someone must have been telling lies”, Forde Espace, Geneva,
Switzerland, curated by Ceri Hand
“Deliberate Regression”, Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London, curated by Vita Zamen
2000
“The Big Torino” Arts Festival, Turin, Italy
“Wooden Heart”, AVCO Gallery, London
1999-00
“New Contemporaries 1999”, part of the Liverpool Biennale, & Milch, London
“River Deep, Mountain High”, Gallery Westland Place, London and Duncan of Jordanstone Gallery, Dundee, curated byKelly Taylor & David Risley
1999
“Temptation/Boredom”, Outline Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
1998
“Originals#2”, Kapil Jariwala Gallery, London
Selected commissions & prizes
2016
"FF Gaiden: Delete", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, 2016. Commissioned by Praksis Oslo, Norway. In collaboration with Mennisker i Limbo (People in Limbo), in partnership with PNEK, Atelier Nord, and Notam.
"FF Gaiden: Alternative", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, 2016. Commissioned by Tyneside Cinema, Supported by Arts Council England. In Collaboration with the Factory.
"FF Gaiden: Control", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, 2016. Commissioned and produced by FACT. Supported by Paul Hamlyn Foundation. With thanks HMP Altcourse, Keith McDonnell, Tony Connolly and the HMP Altcourse gym team, HMP Liverpool and Partners of Prisoners.
"FF Gaiden: Escape", Larry Achiampong & David Blandy, 2016-17. Commissioned By New Art Exchange, Nottingham. In collaboration with members of Nottingham’s Women’s Cultural Exchange.
2015
"Finding Fanon Part Two", Brighton Digital Festival Commission, Supported by Arts Council England, Produced by Artsadmin, London
"Workweek Prize", David Blandy and A---Z for the installation 16-Bit at Four Quarters, London
2014
Arts Council England Award for "Biters: Larry Achiampong & David Blandy'
"Outcasting Fourth Wall Festival V2:0" Commission, Cardiff
2013
Royal College of Psychiatrists, Film & Video Art Commission 2013, 21 Prescott Street, London, Curated by David Gryn
2012
"Art Across the City", A Locws International Public Art Programme across the City of Swansea, Wales, UK
2011
Great North Run Moving Image Commission 2011
2010
Winner of “The Times/The South Bank Show Breakthrough Award”, Nominated as the representative for the Visual Arts
2009
Daiwa Award for travel to research “Child of the Atom” in Hiroshima, Japan
2008
“The Search for Mingering Mike Museum”, commission by the Bluecoat, Liverpool for the Liverpool Biennial
Video work “Samurai Story parts I & II” and comic “The Gateless Barrier”, commissioned by Tatton Park Biennial, Cheshire
2007
“Spike in the City”, commission by Spike Island, Bristol
2006
“The Man who Fell to Earth”, commission by Heron Mill, Cumbria
2005
“Soul of the Lakes” Grizedale Arts commission for “Cumbriana Proof”, Coniston, Cumbria
Artsadmin Live Arts Bursary 2005-2006
“Radio Nights” Artangel Interaction commission, a film made in collaboration with The Avenues in North London, The Gate Cinema, London
2004
“Mostyn Open”, Oriel Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, Wales, winner of the £6000 award
“Enter the Barefoot Lone Pilgrim”, performance as a hermit, Painshill Park, Surrey, commissioned by Danielle Arnaud & Parabola for “Tempered Ground”
2003
“Ya get me?”, Artangel Interaction commission, a film made in collaboration with The Avenues in North London, that centres on the use of language inside subcultures
2002
“Beck’s Student Prize for film & video”, runner up prize winner, ICA, London
1999
“Medway Open”, Gillingham, Kent, winner of £5000 award selected by David Thorp & Permindaur Kaur
QUOTED: "I work with the image in the digital world, thinking about forms like the YouTube tutorial and music videos, to television series, anime and the narrative sections of computer games. This mostly becomes short videos, performances and installations."
ARTIST INTERVIEW: DAVID BLANDY
by Naomi Jackson
Courtesy of the artist, 2017
We catch up with artist David Blandy after his work at Open Source Contemporary Arts Festival, to talk about the digital world, video games and cultural collisions.
What is your practice, and what is your working process?
I work with the image in the digital world, thinking about forms like the YouTube tutorial and music videos, to television series, anime and the narrative sections of computer games. This mostly becomes short videos, performances and installations. I start with a preexisting form, such as Machinima or Flat Earther videos, and then think about my relationship to that form, and how it functions. I’ve also been working a lot with Larry Achiampong, looking at the post-colonial condition in the digital age, in our Biters and Finding Fanon projects.
What themes are you currently exploring in your work? How do they materialise themselves, and why do you explore them?
I try to highlight our relationship with popular culture and what makes us who we are. In each work I attempt to deconstruct the form, placing myself as an alienated subject in a prefabricated cultural archetype. Currently I’m looking at the relationship between personal relationships and global events, the emotional impact of how the two influence each other in the physical and virtual world, from Facebook feeds to Whatsapp chat to conspiracy videos.
David Blandy performing with Larry Achiampong, Open Source Contemporary Arts Festival, curated by Marie d’Elbée, Dalston, 2015
What else has been influencing you lately, aside from the arts?
Videogames, as ever. I finally got a chance to play a little Final Fantasy XV, and that got me thinking about cultural collisions and appropriation and emotional affect. There’s a moment of true absurd pathos at the beginning, where you and your friends (who look like an Emo boyband with £500 haircuts) have their car break down in the desert, and the game makes you push the car down the road. The pre-scripted dialogue continues, as the camera pans out on the scene, and a cover of Ben E. King’s Stand By Me starts to play. The strangest thing was it actually made me feel like crying. Maybe I’m a bit over-tired at the moment.
I’m also finding fundamental Christian and Flat-Earther videos pretty fascinating recently — how intense they are, and the way they try to use the visual language of documentary to illustrate incredibly intricate fantasies. The fact that these videos are regarded as “truth” by a significant number of people gives them a different sort of urgency, and strangeness.
What are you currently working on? What are you plans for the foreseeable future?
Larry and I have just finished FF Gaiden: Escape — a two screen installation currently featuring in the exhibition Untitled at New Art Exchange, Nottingham — where we worked with a local women’s refugee group, Women’s Cultural Exchange. The show is on until the 19th March. Currently working on Finding Fanon 3, the sequel to Finding Fanon 2 that mixes real life footage and the virtual space. We’ll be showing it at Plymouth Arts Centre from 21st March to the 6th April. Where Finding Fanon looked at our relationship to the colonial past, and Finding Fanon 2 looked at race, identity and the virtual present, the third film looks to the future, showing our children working together to form a new life in a possibly post-apocalyptic world.
QUOTED: "expansive, thoughtful, and thought-provoking graphic novel."
"It's sure to be enjoyed by philosophically inclined readers of all ages."
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Print Marked Items
Out of Nothing
Fiona McMahon
Booklist.
114.16 (Apr. 15, 2018): p37.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Out of Nothing.
By Daniel Locke and David Blandy. Illus. by the authors.
2018. 248p. Nobrow, $22.99 (9781910620281). 741.5.
This expansive, thoughtful, and thought-provoking graphic novel follows a girl who's an ever-present
observer throughout several millennia. She witnesses the creation of the Earth and flows along passively
through the progression of time. She observes the first hunters as they tell stories, acts as an apprentice to
Gutenberg, lunches with Braque and Picasso, and weaves her way through time up to the future of man
living on Mars, where she finally floats away. Locke and Blandy's imaginative and dreamlike illustrations,
in dense, matte color and swirling organic shapes and cartoonish figures, bring to life a side of science that
is usually overlooked, neatly weaving together philosophy and art and the often overwhelming concepts of
space and time. In one particularly memorable sequence, the science of DNA design is beautifully tied to
the creation of hip-hop. This work requires dedicated time and thought to truly appreciate Locke and
Blandy's ingenuity, but it's sure to be enjoyed by philosophically inclined readers of all ages.--Fiona
McMahon
YA: The bright visuals and brainy subject matter will appeal to contemplative teens pondering the nature of
existence. SH.
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
McMahon, Fiona. "Out of Nothing." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2018, p. 37. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537268106/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e4181d08.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537268106
QUOTED: "The book's ambition often overshadows its clarity. However impressive the spectacle, many readers will be left still puzzling at its close."
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Out of Nothing
Publishers Weekly.
265.5 (Jan. 29, 2018): p177.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Out of Nothing
Daniel Locke and David Blandy. Nobrow, $22.99 (248p) ISBN 978-1-910620-281
The simple, bold art style, dazzling color, and varied composition choices in this graphic nonfiction work
bring dynamism to a cerebral academic experiment, which never quite gels into a cohesive proof of concept.
In his introduction, geneticist Dr. Adam Rutherford explains how he collaborated with Locke and Blandy to
graphically represent the scope of the universe and human life, promising a "story created ex nihilo, from
the big bang to an imagined future, remixed from its constituent parts." Opening with the birth of the
universe, Locke and Blandy employ a mostly silent blue-skinned young woman as an imagined sentient
observer through the ages, placing her in their omniscient narration of the history of human evolution and
innovation. The scope touches on such developments as the invention of figurative art, agriculture, printing,
the discovery of DNA, genetic engineering, space exploration, hip-hop, the internet, and an imagined future
on another planet. This succeeds where the exposition is pared down, language is simplified, and smart
visual composition is used to make surprising connections between various developments. Often, though,
the time-traveler device coupled with the academic exposition becomes redundant; with a message that is
largely about how humans communicate, the book's ambition often overshadows its clarity. However
impressive the spectacle, many readers will be left still puzzling at its close. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Out of Nothing." Publishers Weekly, 29 Jan. 2018, p. 177. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A526116555/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=8202c711.
Accessed 30 Sept. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A526116555
QUOTED: "Out of Nothing's storyline is scattershot to the point of incoherence; on one page you're traveling on the silk road with (very appealingly drawn) cows; on the next you're chatting with Gutenberg besieged by his creditors."
"Out of Nothing ... can't get its act together to develop either characters or narratives."
"Locke and Blandy want to tell the story of the universe with great sweep and resonance; they want science to have the force of myth. But science is a tool, not a meaning for existence. Without God, there's no myth. There's just that skull, and, like Out of Nothing, skulls don't have much to say."
Out Of Nothing
Daniel Locke & David Blandy
Nobrow
$22.99, 248 pages
BUY IT NOW
REVIEWED BY NOAH BERLATSKY APR 3, 2018
God died a while ago, but we still haven't entirely figured out how to get on without him. The old guy with a white beard still hovers ghost-like in the back of our minds and the corners of our narratives, giving our lives a patina of meaning, comfort, purpose, or morality until we remember, with that sinking sense of grief, that he's not there, and we're alone.
Daniel Locke and David Blandy's new graphic novel, Out of Nothing, attempts to replace God with one of our more popular contemporary deities—namely science. The book, like Genesis, is an origin story of the entire universe, starting with the Big Bang. It is also, as a short afterword notes, "an attempt to tell a compelling story of humanity's quest for understanding and knowledge." Science, then, like God in earlier times, serves as both explanation and goal—a framework and an aspiration. Science tells us who we are and why we're here; science is what we strive towards for more knowledge and more meaning. We do not need God watching over us and knowing, because human beings are the watchers and the knowers themselves. There is no old wise man with a beard; instead, as the cover depicts, there is just a human skull, floating in space, with planets for eyes, staring at you with an expressionless, rictus grin.
The cover of Out of Nothing is perhaps the book's most disturbing and arresting image. It's a vision of an inhuman universe watched, not by questing scientific intelligences, but by a corpse. The skull evokes science and all those skeletons hanging mutely in college biology classrooms, but it also mocks the idea of observation. The dead don't watch; they're just dead. The universe existed before us, and will exist after, and the gaping of our eye sockets doesn't matter much. The drawing suggests a narrative that is in fact no narrative; we came out of nothing and we're still nothing. God's a deaths' head, and the cosmic winds howl through a graveyard. What else is there to say?
But, somewhat unfortunately, you can't sell a cover as a book, and so Locke and Blandy have to keep saying something. "The universe has no purpose and our observations are a meaningless and infinitesimal blot on the endless silence" is a downer, and it is also too short to fill some 250 odd pages. God may have passed on, but if you want to get your narrative up and running, you can't do without him, or some reasonable facsimile.
And so, Out of Nothing introduces someone sort of like God; a blue-skinned girl the creators describe as "our emissary". She is present at the Big Bang, a giant floating face with stars in her irises, "witnessing the slow accretion of particles into atoms, atoms into matter…" Then she lives on for eternity, a stand in for the reader, listening to prehistoric people tell myths to explain the world, or jotting down Picasso's brilliant insights, or dancing as Kool Herc puts the beats from two records together, creating "something new from two separate elements."
The emissary is, obviously, included in the book as a way to provide narrative continuity and a point of identification for (young) readers. Out of Nothing's storyline is scattershot to the point of incoherence; on one page you're traveling on the silk road with (very appealingly drawn) cows; on the next you're chatting with Gutenberg besieged by his creditors. The blue girl ties everything together; she's the observer, the reporter, and the scientist—the avatar of human curiosity and discovery. At the end of the book, she is back floating in space, as the panels move in for another close up of her eye, and the text celebrates human awareness. "She has taken on the self-consciousness of all those human beings she lived with…walking amongst them. It was only with them that the universe started to think…to reflect upon itself."
This is an odd sentiment for a couple of reasons. First of all, the universe is a very big place, and, scientifically speaking, we don't really have any idea if there are, or have ever been, other intelligent creatures out there somewhere. And second, why should self-consciousness matter to the universe? Is the emissary speaking for science? For humans? Who is it who thinks humans are so important, anyway?
The answer is that humans think they're important—and so to does that human construct, God. The observing blue girl, skipping across the aeons, is a kind of deist divinity, who watches the world operating, intervening only to understand its workings better. She gives the universe a human face, which is to say, she gives the universe a recognizable relationship to human purpose, morality, and motivation. Science kills God, but the new boss is oddly similar to the old boss. At the beginning of the universe, as at the end, there is still a human intelligence which assures us that human intelligence matters.
The ghost of God, unfortunately, is not as robust as he was before his assassination. Say what you will about the old greybeard; he wrestled with problems of good and evil, and he told some genuinely weird and gripping stories. Eve in the garden talking to some snake; the world drowned by flood or racked by fire; Christ on the cross. Out of Nothing, in contrast, can't get its act together to develop either characters or narratives. The progression of the centuries trudges by in a vague mist of meaningfulness, with psychedelic spirals of colors, and scientists floating in clusters in space. The final pages show people on Mars talking vaguely about the singularity. The arc of history bends towards boring technoburble.
Locke and Blandy want to tell the story of the universe with great sweep and resonance; they want science to have the force of myth. But science is a tool, not a meaning for existence. Without God, there's no myth. There's just that skull, and, like Out of Nothing, skulls don't have much to say.
QUOTED: "It is full of big ideas, the biggest in fact—and places us smack bang in the middle of those ideas as they formed. Out of Nothing is intelligent and thoughtful—yet also colourfully fun and dreamlike."
"Don’t think this is an overly serious book. It has big issues at its heart, but delivered with a playfulness that makes you want to return to read a bit more."
IN REVIEW: OUT OF NOTHING BY DANIEL LOCKE AND DAVID BLANDY
Posted on November 16, 2017 by Antony Esmond
Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke and David Blandy - Cover
Created by Daniel Locke and David Blandy
Foreword by Dr. Adam Rutherford
Full Colour – Hardback – 248 pages – £16.99
The Story: “Surreal sequences take us from Gutenberg’s printing press to Tim Berners-Lee’s World Wide Web, Grand Master Flash and more. Spanning millennia, this ambitious graphic novel explores humanity’s inherent ‘dreaming mind’ and its impact on our world.”
It is also the story of a little blue-skinned alien girl who wanders through the events of time…
Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke and David Blandy - Sample Art
The Review: I often ask a creator why they choose a particular subject or period to make a comic about. It doesn’t apply here, because Daniel Locke and David Blandy decided to make a comic about every time, both past present and future – and they’ve created a brick of a book. It is full of big ideas, the biggest in fact – and places us smack bang in the middle of those ideas as they formed.
Out of Nothing is intelligent and thoughtful – yet also colourfully fun and dreamlike.
Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke and David Blandy - Sample Art
“These humans are no longer just scurrying across the surface…. they are beginning to change it.”
Through the history of the Universe, and Planet Earth in particular, we see many events. We see the science of creation and we see that comparable and inseparable to this science is the art of nature and of man. Through art, we see the world around us and through the scientific developments of humankind, we see the investigation of physics and biology and chemistry and in the intricate evolutionary designs we see the patterns of artistic beauty.
This is a book that makes a whoosh as it pulls you down the time stream. From prehistoric fights with lions to drinking in a cafe in Paris to the sand clouds of Mars.
Out of Nothing makes use of time and space both in the narrative and in the style. Whole pages and sequences are allowed to develop in front of your eyes. We see the strands of DNA hang in the air, the lines of connectivity of the web, the clouds of a nuclear explosion and many, many more. In fact, I barely remember turning the pages as the scenes move along with intelligence combined with bright star fields telling us the history of the world and full colour comics.
Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke and David Blandy - Sample Art
Locke and Blandy use a guide, in their story, an otherworldly, blue-skinned female child. She can seemingly go anywhere, at any time. Each time jump is prefixed with her eyes opening to a scene. She finds herself in Mainz in 1450, in the workshop of Johannes Gutenberg, or watching Braque and Picasso discussing art in the Paris of 1907. Then, in one of my favourite sequences, in the 1970s, she’s in New York City dancing to a funk DJ when the ‘Get Down’ hits. Through this alien girl we get both perspective on events, complemented with a wry, winking humour to the tale.
Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke and David Blandy - Sample Art“When two human minds really connect, something truly powerful happens…”
The art is simplistic when it needs to be and then shifts gears and pacing to present more complicated images. The faces of the characters have an indie animation style to their often goggle-eyed intensity – but you are never at a loss to know who is who. At moments we can laugh at the ridiculousness of the human condition and some panels are played for both gravitas and laughs all at once.
Don’t think this is an overly serious book. It has big issues at its heart, but delivered with a playfulness that makes you want to return to read a bit more.
On Page 153, there is something that happens that also raises a smile. History is given a little tiny nudge… I’ll leave you wanting to find out what that is.
This was the last book launch of the year from Nobrow and yet another triumph. Geis, Dalston Monsterzz and now, Out of Nothing.
Bloody hell! How much better can their catalogue get? A big thanks to Sam, Zoe and Emma for keeping me in the loop and letting me see some of the best comics out there.
Roll on 2018!
Out of Nothing - Launch Event
OUT OF NOTHING: MEET THE CREATORS
I got to go to the launch party for this book at ‘The Cube’ in Shoreditch earlier this week (many thanks to Zoe from NoBrow for inviting me) and got to spend some time with the two creators. They were both hugely excited about the book finally being released and spoke to me with grins on their faces about tackling such a big subject.
David Blandy and Daniel Locke. Photo: Tony Esmond
David Blandy and Daniel Locke. Photo: Tony Esmond
David Blandy and Daniel Locke have been friends and comics creators since meeting at University. We spoke about the process of
They described their little blue-skinned guide as both a Muse to figures in history and also the aforementioned observer. She is the glue that holds their story together. She is also be great fun to write and draw.
When I was talking to these two guys, I could see the passion they had for their project. They both spoke about the artistic process and their particular take on it with a refreshing thoughtfulness. I’ll be looking for more from these guys from now on.
• Find out more about this book and grab a copy at www.nobrow.net or follow them on Twitter @NobrowPress
• Daniel Locke is an artist and graphic novelist based in Brighton. Much of his work has been informed and shaped by the discoveries of contemporary science. He’s online at www.daniellocke.com | Twitter | Instagram
• David Blandy is an artist who works with the image in the digital world; highlighting our relationship with popular culture and investigating what makes us who we are. He’s online at davidblandy.co.uk | Instagram
• Currently showing: David Blandy – The End of the World, Seventeen Gallery, London until 16th December, Wed-Sat 11.00 – 6.00pm | Web: www.seventeengallery.com/exhibitions/david-blandy-end-world
Many thanks for reading.
QUOTED: "bright, imaginative graphic novel."
Out of Nothing review – a breezy trip from the big bang to the end of days
Daniel Locke and David Blandy’s graphic novel covers everything from the creation of the universe to hip-hop through the eyes of a blue-skinned time traveller
James Smart
Fri 16 Mar 2018 08.00 EDT Last modified on Fri 16 Mar 2018 20.10 EDT
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Blue-skinned, green-eyed time traveller … an illustration from Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke with David Blandy.
Blue-skinned, green-eyed time traveller … an illustration from Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke with David Blandy. Photograph: Nobrow
This bright, imaginative graphic novel moves from the universe’s creation to its destruction, taking in clay tablets, the Gutenberg Bible, the birth of hip-hop and DNA sequencing. Out of Nothing gives its odyssey a human face through its narrator, a blue-skinned, green-eyed time traveller who is as happy waiting in a sea of blackness for time to begin as she is talking about the world wide web with Tim Berners-Lee.
Her account celebrates humanity’s attempts to explore the world around it and the great beyond, from cave paintings and lion totems to scientists and astronauts. Darkness (whether the Manhattan Project or existential nihilism) lingers around the edges, but this is a mostly breezy account, fuelled by the good stuff – campfire companionship, creative leaps and symbols that talk to us across the centuries.
A sequence from Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke with David Blandy.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Worldwide wonders … Out of Nothing by Daniel Locke with David Blandy.
The book looks great, mixing human drama with deep-green forests, magnified cells, vibrant stars and wine that seems to hover in the glass. Stories that celebrate storytelling are nothing new, but Out of Nothing shows they can still feel as fresh as a daisy.
• Out of Nothing is published by Nobrow. To order a copy for £14.44 (RRP £14.99) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of £1.99.