Kunst fordert Opfer

This print wasn't going to look like this until well into the process.

In fact it started as an idea for a you-can-do-this-at-home video for my Warwickshire Open Studios page. So I hadn't even thought of it getting to a “finished" state.

But having printed the death's head, I was overtaken with dissatisfaction. Not only did I feel that I was no instructor, but the piece itself seemed to be crying out for a purpose, a meaning.

While I was in this state, Feline and Strange recorded an angry punk anthem, unusually for them, in German, decrying the prevailing attitude to art. “Kunst fordert Opfer” translates as “Art demands sacrifice,” though in German “Opfer” also means “victim,” so the word has an extra edge. Anyway, it showed me the way, gave me the words to finish it.

So here it is. A kind of poster. It has now become a T-Shirt!

The video has been transformed, too, into some weird art-poem. Much more me. It'll be ready in the next few days.