Juno Doran [open studio]

i am starting to feel really fed up of internet social networking sites. facebook, myspace, etc.
you’d think they bring people together? they did in the beginning, years ago, when only a few of us used them, and there was a bit more of a sense of global community. i met great people that way, people i’ve actually met in real life too. these days, though, every cat and dog is out there, virtually mirrored, somewhere buried in a long friends’ list. friends list? i don’t know who half those people are. all i know is the more people i come across online, the less people i get to know. even friends are becoming strangers. even family. they’re just links, linking to nothing, nothing accomplished.

i want real life.

i’ve started writing letters to people. letters are more like real life, and that’s something i can smell and touch.

the truth is that i am disappointed with internet culture. you’d think great things would come out of it, people from all sorts of places would get together and overcome borders? all the internet has done is to reinforce them. London people are still mostly befriending London people, same for New Yorkers, and Germans, and French, etc. people still function within the kinship principle. and i, an idealist, i thought it would be different.

people are just hiding behind the internet curtain. good for celebrities who can rant till the cows come home yet be just as accessible as before. a sort of pretend accessibility. ooh so i have Alain de Botton in my friends list. well does he ever talk to me? no.

and little people like us who still butter our own bread, we still avoid each other like the plague, unless of course we’re protected by virtual words and images. we have each other pastiched in our network list but we might as well be wallpaper thin. we are closer than ever, yet more scared of each other than ever.

i say, bollocks to that. i want real life.

i saw this short film at a friend’s house years ago and it really stayed with me ever since. just found the whole thing on youtube. the filming technique inspired Gus Van Sant’s own take on the Columbine murders in his film with the same title: “elephant”. watch it if you can. i think the imagery and stills are amazing. it’s in 4 parts, in order:

work in progress, this is part one of two small canvases which i’m still working on. this part, though, is done.

work in progress, untitled, now finished.

and our chickens are finally free range. Left to right: Daphne (aka dafty), Edith Piaf & Marie Antoinette. the little one isn’t ours, she just likes to visit.

2 paintings i finished recently: Soho (1) & Soho (2).

Daphne, our new Light Sussex hen

i’m addicted to boxes. but not enough secrets to keep in them. so in this one i’ll just keep me pencils.

woke up at 4 this morning. as the summer approaches, 4 to 6am is my favourite time of the day. i feel like a ghost, observing the slow awakening of things around here. and after the party’s over i go back to bed.

David & Amanda came over to spend the weekend with us but the weather has been so shitty all we managed as an outing was a couple of hours in Kendal visiting Abbot Hall and going for lunch somewhere with really crappy overpriced shite. i made a little film about our lunch. it’s a bit fast.