For the attention of local media, MPs, the village hall committee, interested and appropriate parties, this is background information and serves multiple purposes.
My last public painting was 27 November 2010 when The Duke of Bedford purchased ‘Live At Tattersalls’. At the time I was already contemplating a break from painting. Taking interest in:
01 quantum physics e.g. beginner pack:
http://www.holographicuniverseworkshops.com/,
02 epi-genetics: Bruce Lipton
http://www.brucelipton.com/ ,
Rupert Sheldrake and Bruce Lipton A Quest Beyond the Limits of the Ordinary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXpndnjHvqw
Bruce Lipton and Tom Campbell - Part 1 and 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWUu9BTi3X8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=As-nPkjQJZg and
03 The Creature From Jekyll Island: finance and economics G. Edward Griffin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lu_VqX6J93k ),
.... I hired my local village hall and offered free entry to anyone wishing to discuss life, the universe and stuff.
Whilst in the midst of hiring the hall once a month, I heard an initiative by BBC Radio 4’s PM programme to set up an APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group) on a subject suggested by listeners. This led to ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) urging communities to lobby their MPs to support an APPG on village halls:
http://www.acre.org.uk/news/2013-news/ACRE+backs+plea+for+APPG+on+village+halls
I heard South Norfolk MP Richard Bacon on BBC Radio 4 PM add support to the campaign, apparently first suggested by one of his constituents Chris Perry-Yates, chairman of a small village hall committee in Shelton with Hardwick, a parish in South Norfolk.
http://www.richardbacon.org.uk/news/localism_130704_VHAPPG.html
I took note since Richard Bacon had supported my efforts with The Waveney Springs Collective:
http://www.richardbacon.org.uk/articles/2010/dissexpress100924.htm
Do we need another parliamentary group or is it down to locals to simply use the village hall? My tendency is toward keeping it simple and just booking the hall. However, I appreciate Richard Bacon’s awareness and support for village hall activity. The presence of local village post offices, shops and pubs are in apparent decline. The village hall is becoming a last bastion for community gathering and interaction. For Coney Weston, other than the village hall and church, we have The Swan; then comes Barningham Stores Post Office and Sarah’s Cutz hairdressers. The staff at each are always helpful and welcoming and I do like face to face service. When I was a kid Coney Weston had its own village shop and post office.
While booking the village hall for quantum whatever discussions, art critic Brian Sewell, never one to pull his punches, warned me about my lack of painting activity:
“There is no point in trying to set up your own philosophical group in the wilds of Suffolk... the Enlightenment is over by more than two centuries. I thought you could paint, no doubt others too and perhaps others will, so do something about it.”
Ouch! Brian getting parental on me. In August I heard an interview during which Trends Forecaster Gerald Celente described how:
“Verdi’s main objective in composing the music that he did was to raise the spirit of the Italian people... It was almost a bloodless revolution. It worked. The model exists.
He did it with music... calm the savage breast.”
39:00 mins onwards: Verdi...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXpCx90fuc
Subscriber access only:
http://www.trendsresearch.com/SubscriberArea/gerald-celente-jeff-rense-show-august-14-2013
I love the idea of raising the spirit of people through the power of art; and if Verdi used music, I can use dried paint on canvas. I spoke to Brian Sewell who confirmed Celente’s observations of 1800’s Italy were probably accurate.
This all coincided with an outbreak of rainbow painting in Turkey, a country where I spent several years painting and tried to implement the Rainbow Bridge project:
http://weburbanist.com/2013/09/29/painting-as-protest-rainbow-stairs-spark-guerilla-reaction/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/turkey-rainbow-stairs_n_3895082.html
http://npprainbowbridge.blogspot.co.uk/
I was receiving internet messages asking if I was behind this rainbow painting. No, it was just an organic spontaneous happening, a wonderful outpouring of colourful peaceful protest by the Turkish public. Also, my Atatürk’s Eyes image was being used on T-shirts during recent protests against the same ruling AKP government which informed me back in 2005, ‘the Rainbow Bridge project will never happen under this government’.
A Turkish website
www.NedWorld.org was established in Istanbul and suddenly there is talk of my returning to Turkey to collaborate with a new brand of galleries/cafes/shops using my imagery. I love the East Anglian countryside, yet Istanbul is exciting and I have unfinished business there. Whether I return soon or later, it seemed appropriate to get my painting hand back in; hence these new ‘Coney Weston 221’ paintings.
I booked dates at my local village hall even before my order of fresh canvases had arrived. I started 24.08.2013 and painted to a deadline of 30 September. 01 October I delivered finished work to Studio 5 in Thetford for photographing. I could and may well paint more portrayals of my village, but I set myself a goal and what is done so far is what is.
Returning to the theme of community and cross generational integration, last 08 June I took part in the Botesdale Village Hall 100 year anniversary celebration evening. My invitee June Shepherd and I later discussed the issue of encouraging the interaction of different generations in today’s ‘modern’ world of alternative entertainment options. I relayed to June how I attended a May Day walk lunch at our village hall and though there was full attendance, I think I was the youngest and doubt anyone under 50 was present. This art exhibition is an opportunity for a crossover of generations to come together and take interest in contemporary depictions of their local village: testing the power of art.
I am applying a back to basics just do it approach: paintings on easels, turn the village hall lights on, bring your own tipple if you wish and Bob’s yer uncle, we have an exhibition. I plan to take the exhibition down temporarily Friday evening 25 October to make space for a Conservative Sausage Supper. It’s OK, they booked ages ago and my system is flexible. We may well leave some paintings on display on the stage: community cooperation.
I specifically chose sizes that may be suitable for wall space in local homes and considered a price that was as reasonable as I could offer, hence the local telephone code number ‘221’ seems an appropriate and fun idea. A painting at £221 may be cheaper than a pedigree puppy, last longer, without on-going running costs and provide pleasure for longer. If for example, Istanbul Rainbow Bridge were to happen, £221 for a ‘Ned’ will be a snip and these paintings a wise investment. Of course, if a Coney Weston local can’t afford 221, I am open to an Istanbul Grand Bazaar style chat and negotiation. £221 is a snip with or without the implementation of Rainbow Bridge, but either way, I do not expect a sudden surge of art buyers in Coney Weston. I’m doing this because I can and for all the reasons thus stated. Let’s just hope so-and-so who paid $3,000 for a 50cm x
70cm painting isn’t watching! May I state the Coney Weston village hall
is used a great deal and this exhibition is hopefully an interesting
addition to attract new faces as well as regular ones.
These original paintings depict scenes of the church, The Swan public house, foot path and walkway landmarks, farming activity, the fields, the roads, houses and homes. The photographed collection will be supplied to the local history group to provide a contemporary visual record of the village; to Denny Bros. in Bury St. Edmunds should anyone want to order a reproduction; to Studio 5 and indeed, anyone who wants to use these images. I espouse copyright free reproduction in the name of patent-free health and energy awareness. It is a chosen philosophy and a longer discussion for those interested:
http://nppessaysarticles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/intellectual-property-right-to-become.html
In a nutshell, I charge for original artwork and work done e.g. if I manage the reproduction of an image or provide consultation. Denny Bros. or any printing outlet is welcome to supply as they wish for a price they wish without my interjection or invoicing.
For me, examples of paintings offering food for thought are:
01 Please Drive 'arefully: the ‘C’ has been scratched off. Is it, therefore, please drive awfully or ooh-arrr-fully?
08 Bowls & Beer At The Swan: apparently Mr. & Mrs. Rosier reached the bowls final and gave us the ‘war of the Rosiers’.
09 The Old Football WC Changing Room: as a kid this was the ‘football meadow’ changing room cum WC. Even our dog played football with us. Today there is a sign warning No Dogs.
17 Memorial 1914-18: Bloomfield Brothers Hogg Hogg Hubbard Ollington & Sadd: I wonder if anyone from the village died who is not named here? I ask myself what did they die for? A war to end all war? Hmmm. My policy is simple: No More To War. Bring troops home.
35 Quiet Disturbed: talking of war. The military helicopters are persistently flying over our village. It was never like this when I was a kid. As Orwell states in 1984, war = peace?
I also include paintings of:
Constable produced live at Redgrave Church 2008, since Brian Sewell and I had a Constable conversation and the village hall has always had a copy of the Hay Wain, though Brian does not know this;
Coney Weston resident and inventor of the tin whistle Robert Clarke (1816-1882) painted at the Swan 2009;
a portrait of my Backgammon opponent David Thomas which was created for The Threadneedle Prize in 2010;
Straw Bales Approaching Coney Weston, a small painting produced back in 2010.
Though we are in Suffolk, our border location means we are always involved with Norfolk hence our local shops sell the Bury Free Press, Diss Express, East Anglian Daily Times and Eastern Daily Press. Today, the artist known publicly as Ned Pamphilon lives in Suffolk while Grandfather Ned Pamphilon is buried across the border in Norfolk.
Thank you for your time. I invite support for this local activity.
Best wishes,
Ned
P.S. As a wag once said, ‘The artist must go very far, so that the ordinary man will go far enough.’
P.P.S. Arsenal! (... surrounded by Tractor Boys and Canaries for years!)
