QUOTES

“WHY DID YOU BRING ME OUT HERE, GRIZELDA? TO TORTURE ME? YOU KNOW I HATE NATURE! (SHOT OF CAR RUNNING OVER DEAD DOG IN THE ROAD) I CANT STAND THIS SCENERY ANOTHER MINUTE! ALL NATURAL FORESTS SHOULD BE TURNED INTO HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS! I WANT CEMENT COVERING EVERY BLADE OF GRASS IN THIS NATION! DONT WE TAXPAYERS HAVE A VOICE ANYMORE?...”    -MINK STOLE IN JOHN WATERS ‘DESPERATE LIVING’

“IF YOU’RE GOING TO BE AN ARTIST, YOU’VE GOT TO MAKE YOUR WORK YOUR BEST FRIEND. YOU CAN GO TO IT IF YOU’RE TIRED, IF YOU’RE BORED, IF YOU’RE RANDY, IF YOU’RE CRYING - AND HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH IT.”    -MAGGI HAMBLIN

“THE BEST THING THAT CAN BE SAID FOR EITHER THE SQUARE OR THE CUBE IS THAT THEY ARE RELATIVELY UNINTERESTING IN THEMSELVES.”    -SOL LeWITT

“THE MIND IS ITS OWN PLACE, AND IN ITSELF CAN MAKE A HEAVEN OF HELL, A HELL OF HEAVEN.”    -JOHN MILTON

“THE URGE TO DESTROY IS ALSO A CREATIVE URGE.”    -PABLO PICASSO

“I AM ENGAGED IN AN ACTIVITY; IF SOMEONE WANTS TO CALL IT ART, THAT’S HIS BUSINESS, BUT IT IS NOT UP TO ME TO DECIDE THAT.”    -RICHARD SERRA

“WHAT YOU REALLY COLLECT IS ALWAYS YOURSELF.”    -JEAN BAUDRILLARD

“I COME FROM SUBURBIA... AND I DON’T EVER WANT TO GO BACK. IT’S THE ONE PLACE IN THE WORLD THAT’S FURHER AWAY THAN ANYWHERE ELSE.”    -FREDERIC RAPHAEL

“I LIKE PAINTINGS TO HAVE A CERTAIN RELATIONSHIP TO LANDSCAPE, BUT NOT TO BE LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS.”    -ROSS BLECKNER

“ISN’T LIFE A SERIES OF IMAGES THAT CHANGE AS THEY REPEAT THEMSELVES.”    -ANDY WARHOL

“I RARELY DRAW WHAT I SEE - I DRAW WHAT I FEEL IN MY BODY.”    -BARBARA HEPWORTH

“I THINK MY WORK SHOULD BE EXPERIENCED AND ENJOYED FOR WHAT IT MEANS TO THE VIEWER, NOT TO BE EXAMINED FOR EVIDENCE OF WHAT I MAY HAVE INTENDED.”    -WERNER HERZOG

“HE WHO WANTS TO DEDICATE HIMSELF TO PAINTING SHOULD START BY CUTTING OUT HIS TONGUE.”    -HENRI MATISE

“I SEE A PLACE WHERE PEOPLE GET ON AND OFF THE FREEWAY, ON AND OFF, OFF AND ON, ALL DAY, ALL NIGHT! SOON WHERE TOONTOWN ONCE STOOD WILL BE A STRING OF GAS STATIONS, INEXPENSIVE MOTELS, RESTAURANTS THAT SERVE RAPIDLY PREPARED FOOD, TYRE SALONS, AUTOMOBILE DEALERSHIPS AND WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL BILLBOARDS REACHING AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEE -MY GOD IT’LL BE BEAUTIFUL!”    -CHRISTOPHER LLOYD IN ‘WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT’

“AS I LOOKED OUT INTO THE NIGHT SKY, ACROSS ALL THOSE INFINITE STARS IT MADE ME REALISE HOW INSIGNIFICANT THEY ARE.”    -PETER COOK

”I TRY TO SAY SOMETHING AND DENY IT AT THE SAME TIME. I’M A HYPOCRITE AND A SLUT AND I’LL CHANGE MY MIND TOMORROW.”    -DAMIEN HIRST

‘’Unlike many of the artists of the past, Mark Allnutt derives his inspiration, not from Nature, but from its antithesis, the Metropolis.

As a student, Mark had been reluctant to visit New York, but once there, underwent a conversion and the city, particularly when viewed from the World Trade Center became a revelation and an inspiration.

The works are NOT maps, but are intended to evoke the atmosphere  and experience of seeing them, rather than reading them. rather than particular geographic features being represented, the complexity of the relationships of the component units-people, buildings, vehicles, vegetation is conveyed. Taken individually, each is meaningless. Only when connected with the others does coherence emerge and the whole work becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Mark has attempted to express or articulate the confusion and incoherence that is the City and celebrate the synthesis of the myriad units into an independent organism.

The works take a very long time to complete and are clearly a laborious task. Even this apparent tedium has its reward, however and in the words of Gerard Manley Hopkins,

‘Sheer plod makes plough-down sillion shine’ [The Windhover]-the constant abrasion on a plough-share scrapes off the dirt and reveals the shiny metal below.’‘    -JOHN EDWARDS