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Posts tagged ‘Norms’

May 18

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The Daily Sketch: Norms on the Underground

We pay hundreds per month for the “convenience” of travelling by Tube into London. There are some of us who travel to the heart of the great city to speak lawyer talk about human rights. Yet surely the most fundamental of all human rights are in breach when, having paid your earnings away to Transport for London, you then find yourself packed so inexorably like a tin of 50% extra free sardines into the coffin-like surrounds of person squeezed upon person, that the right  to move, read, sit, stand untouched, even breathe is placed in serious jeopardy.

I’ve tried travelling on the tube at all different times, going in earlier, later and in the middle of the rush, just to avoid the humiliating cattle herding onto a train from which i emerge with fresh shirt crumpled, drenched in sweat (both mine and, undoubtedly that of the bloke squeezed in uncomfortably close next to me), gasping to take in air having tried, almost to the point of suffocation, to avoid breathing while enjoying a close encounter with the armpit of a freakishly tall passenger (which always appears to find itself cupping the space around my nose). I’ve even travelled backwards just to come forwards again. But no, it’s the same every day. We are crammed onto these compact capsules, within an inch of our life. Just when you think no one could possibly squeeze into the carriage, another ten push their way into the crowd, like crowd surfers, incongruous to the consequences for the people they slam their bodies into, so long as they get to work on time.

Tube Norms (2012, © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

It’s the same in Norm world of course. Except for them things get even worse. The more their round forms squish together, the more their bodies give way to yet more Norms entering the tube carriage until, unavoidably, the crowd of Norms merge into one, unmoving mass of gelatinous substance, so immovably merged together that when the train eventually reaches it’s destination, they can barely move themselves away from the interlocked mass in order to leave.

Hmm, now I come to think of it, not worse at all. Welcome to London 2012, home of the olympics. And oh, how I look forward to that.

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Apr 13

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The Daily Sketch – Birth of Venus

After the success of my wonderful Rachel Khoo inspired madeleines (and thank you so much Rachel for your kind compliment on twitter – the great chef herself has complimented the “perfect gold crisp crust” on my efforts, woo!!) I’ve been feeling all shell inspired. Not so inspired that I have redecked my city pad in shells and shabby-chic battered wood installations. No, my shell thoughts have been drifting further afield, to the long lofty corridors of Firenze’s ubiquitous Uffizi gallery, home to surely the most famous artistic depiction of a shell in all the world, not to mention the picture perfect Venus rising from it’s pearly-smooth contours. I am of course talking about Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a work full of allegory, beauty, flowing locks and scattered rose petals. What more could you want on a Spring afternoon as you sit down with a cup of tea and a madeleine. And just in case you can’t make it all the way to Florence to see the original, why not gaze upon this Norm take of Botticelli’s masterpiece, breasts, flowing locks and all.

The Birth of Norm Venus (after Botticelli) (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Apr 7

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The Daily Sketch – Easter Egg Norms

Who would have guessed – Norms are born from spotty eggs, just like birds. And so Easter is a special time for Norms – their distinctively Norm shaped eggs are celebrated in all their spotty magnificence, although for Norms, these multi-coloured polka dot creations are just a matter of biological Normativity, developing naturally as the egg matures towards the acme of its gestation, when the baby Norm, feeling the call of the world around him, quivers, shakes and cracks through the delicate shell of his prenatal home.

Easter Egg Norms (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Sadly, for those Norms who don’t make it, this is what happens. Oh dear.

Norm Egg Soldiers (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Apr 6

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The Daily Sketch – Viernes Santo

It’s Good Friday, arguably the most important day in the Christian calendar, and, if you’re not into that kind of thing, an excuse for a day off to do some DIY! I always remember Good Friday with a degree of childlike fascination at an overwhelming morbidity and yet a profound sense of excitement at the scale and importance of the day. In the church where I used to be a chorister, they would hold a three hour service. Towards the end of that service they would strip the contents of the church bare leaving the place utterly bleak. This would mark a huge contrast to Easter Sunday morning, whereupon the church would be bursting at the seams with flowers and a sunny sense of celebration. For many, the role of the church on Good Friday has disappeared, and along with it, much of what made the day special for me in the past has filtered away. I couldn’t even find Ben Hur on the television, which could always previously be relied upon to instal a little Romanic pomp into the day!

Once again I find my thoughts floating towards Spain where, on this “Viernes Santo” they hold the most solemn procession of them all – a wax effigy of a startlingly lifelike dead Christ, and a weeping Mary, while the participants in the parade are dressed in an eery black and, at least in Marbella, there is no band – only silence and a recurring, foreboding drum beat. It’s chilling.

Marbella's startlingly realistic wax effigy of the dead Christ, paraded on Viernes Santo

Since Spain has very much been the concentration of my approach to Holy Week on the Daily Norm, I thought I’d mark Good Friday/ Viernes Santo with the most substantial Norm Sketch I have yet completed – far bigger than the rest and packed full of detail, this is a full on Semana Santa parade, complete with crowds, a tronos, the nazareños, the women wearing mantillas, and the altar boys wafting incense through the air. And below, just so you don’t miss a thing, some detail shots.

Semana Santa (Miercoles Santo) (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Enjoy Good Friday, however you choose to spend it, and see you back here over the weekend.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Apr 4

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The Daily Sketch – Norms do Semana Santa

It’s Holy week around the world, and very much Semana Santa week here on The Daily Norm as myself and the Norms celebrate the lavish spectacle that are the Spanish Easter festivities. From photos and paintings, to sketches, today the Norms put in their two pennies worth indulging in their very own Semana Santa celebration. Thus a great body of costaleros share the burden of the vast tronos upon which a canopy contains a statue of a weeping Mary, surrounded by candles, lanterns and flowers. Here too, a group of Norms dress in the capriotes of the nazareños, carrying the typically opulent accessories of the procession – ornamental lamps, candles sticks and a magnificent crucifix. In the meantime, a group of female Norms adopt the black laced mantilla and accompanying black laced outfit worn by female participants of the parades.

Tronos Norms (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Nazareños Norms (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

Norms wearing the mantilla (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

See you tomorrow for yet more Easter-themed ramblings and artwork.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Mar 28

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The Daily Sketch – Property is puzzling

Property is puzzling – that’s the generally accepted adage about buying or selling a property, obtaining or extending a lease, or dealing with annoying neighbours. And things are about to get all the more puzzling what with the UK Chancellor’s new rises in stamp duty for houses over £2 million, along with penalties for home owners whose home is sealed within a “corporate envelope”. All of this will undoubtedly lead to more and more complex tax avoidance schemes, warped prices, and a mass exodus from the London mansion market. Nonetheless, for the Norms, the most perplexing thing about the property puzzle is where to find the missing piece…

 

Property Puzzle (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Mar 26

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The Daily Sketch: Summertime begins in Brighton

Record March temperatures have been recorded in the United Kingdom, and for most of the population, this means for unabashed sun worship whenever the opportunity affords. And with the start of summertime now upon us, we may even get a little time to sun ourselves after work. For the Norms, a quick trip down to Brighton at the weekend was the obvious choice. For worn out Father-Norm, a restful afternoon in a deck-chair on the seafront promenade  was his chief desire, leaving time for the little norms to engorge themselves on ice creams and candy floss. Ahhh Norms do like to be beside the seaside!

Start of Summertime, in Brighton (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Mar 25

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Sunday Supplement – Metamorphosis: Pond Life in the Afternoon

Spring is in the air in the UK. In fact, ever since the spring solecist on 21 March, the sun has been beating down, and it has felt more akin to early summer than early spring. OK, it’s true, we are going to be punished with a hosepipe ban come 1 April – as they say, nothing in life is free – but in the meantime, I am happy to bask in these early symptoms of summer and, starting from today, lighter summery evenings too.

In celebration of the onset of the British Summertime, in today’s Sunday Supplement, I focus on a painting which I created in May 2008, Metamorphosis: Pond Life in the Afternoon. The name of the work, and the imagery, were both created in anticipation of a solo retrospective exhibition of my work in Belgravia, London, during which the collection of work on show hoped to demonstrate my evolution as an artist over 10 years – from more naive figurative work to deeper, more thematically sophisticated representations. Thus, in this painting, a number of features make reference to my former body of work.

Metamorphosis: Pond Life in the Afternoon (2008, acrylic on canvas) © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown

At the top of the canvas, naively painted colourful trees are planted amidst simple plants, recollecting paintings such as Orange Square painted in 2002. Next come the Norms, who dominated my work in 2005 and who here are shown enjoying a summer afternoon in a pond. Around them, game symbols of dominoes and a dart board reference my 2005/6 paintings – the Joie de Vivre collection, Tragic Conflict: Sophocles’ Antigone and La Foret des Jeux, in which game symbols dominated. As we travel downwards through the canvas, the work becomes more precise, from simple trees above to more delicately painted peonies and cakes.

In the meantime there are two representations of my life at the time of painting the work – the birth of my nephew, as shown floating around in a large cup of tea, and a group of tabloid newspapers featuring stories about me – I had at this time just appeared in the popular TV show, The Apprentice. 

The over all setting is English garden life on a summer’s afternoon – playful games in water, and afternoon tea complete with Victoria Sponge, pancakes, strawberries, jam tarts and fondant fancies. The title “Pond Life” also refers to the tabloid press however – since pond life in English slang, also means “scum”. And that represented my feelings for the press at the time. Meanwhile “metamorphosis” refers not only to my artistic changes, but also to the changes and growth within nature, hence the tadpoles and bees, representing fertility and rebirth in this garden of delights.

It is ironic perhaps that only days after this painting was completed, I was involved in a life-altering accident which changed my artistic style forever.

Metamorphosis: Pond life in the afternoon (detail) (2008 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown)

I leave you now to enjoy a hopefully sunny Sunday. See you next week.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Mar 22

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The Daily Sketch: Norm gets attacked by a serious case of Kusama Polka dots

Is it just me, or is this Norm, and his lounge, and the view through his window, and all of his possessions covered with spots? Norm is thinking the same, hence the general look of concern on his face as he falls victim to a hideous case of the dreaded Kusama Polka dot disease. It spreads fast and wild, and is super contagious, or it was at least in the mind of Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, whose work is currently the subject of a solo retrospective at Tate Modern (as reviewed in my post, yesterday). Relentless were the dots which covered Kusama’s world, and persistent too are the little spotty blighters as they invade the home of Norm. I’d seek to comfort him with the promise of an antidote for this contagion. The problem is, Kusama’s work doesn’t show any signs of becoming spot free, ergo Norm may need to get used to his new look. At least the new Kusama Louis Vuitton collection will fit in well…

A serious case of Kusama Polka-dots (2012, © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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Mar 20

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Norms do… Amsterdam’s Red Light District

Before I had even booked my trip to Amsterdam, I couldn’t help but plan a Norm representation of what must be Amsterdam’s most renowned attraction: its red light district. Some people see Norms as being child-friendly. This painting may persuade them otherwise. Here Norms are dressed in sex head to…err…round base, with lacey bras, thongs and other revealing lingerie. On their hands, acrylic nails to tap against the glass windows help them to attract the attention of their shy customers, while heavy makeup and perfectly coiffed hair complete a carefully manicured look. As for the customers, they come from all walks of life. Here is a business man, skulking away from work, hoping for a “quickie” before he goes home to his affluent home, his wife and children. There too is a sailor, desperate after weeks away at sea for a lady’s touch. And finally we have the Norm chav, covered in tattoos and a dirty vest – he can’t afford these classy scarlet women of the night, but he can stare, and wish.

Norms in Amsterdam's Red Light District (2012 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, acrylic on canvas)

The canvas is a box canvas, so I have painted around the sides to feature more buildings, and a few more of those lovely ladies. You can see the sides, and some detailed shots of the canvas below. Enjoy!

 

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2005-2012. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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