THE DOUBLETHINK PROJECT in WALES

Photographs taken, documenting the The Doublethink Project setting up a batminton net on the Wales/England border.
Have a look at this and other interesting "experiments" on their website: doublethinkproject.com

For my beautiful girlfriend ESME

Esme is the sweetest

electric eel

that I'll ever meet

and I'll ever feel

She is shockingly stunning

but a slippery thing

and she met me at once

with a zap and a zing

She lived in the ocean

I lived above ground

which was difficult at first

until she came around

I persuaded her to stay

in my fishbowl at home

in which I built her a palace

with a miniature dome

I have quit eating fish

and she's quit eating sailors

we dress very alike

but have different tailors

Some say that opposites

often attract

and I'll tell you they're right

take that for a fact

Distortion

Illustration for this years Distortion festival paper.

Alien characters of different thickness

Giving a new pen set the line-test.

The German Douglas Fir Tree Monster

Did you know that Douglas Firs grow straighter in Germany than in USA?
This wonderful fact was told to me by a friend who works for the Danish Company Dinesen.
Dinesen has provided all the wood for the Saatchi gallery..

Space genitals.

I am starting up my blog once again after a very long break.
Stay tuned!

OLGA

Olga was feared
by the strongest of men
she was banned as an outlaw
on the day she turned ten.

An old bandit had come
to steal presents and cake
which he was soon to find out
was an awful mistake.

Because when Olga saw him
about to dig in
She shot off his fingers.
(what a terrible sin)

And so she had to leave town
and live in the wild
although she was only
a little spoiled child

Villum

Villum is short
but he's strong as an ox
he looks pretty mean
and is sly as a fox.

He was born in the cold north
where there fall lots of snow
and where they eat and they drink
he's a viking you know.

He was a master at sailing
so he sailed all seven seas
where he met many wonderful people
both African and Chinese.

Villum loved traveling so much
that before he was twenty
He had seen the whole world
He had seen more than plenty.

So Villum sailed home
happy but tired
wiser than most
twenty-one and retired.

GEORGIA

Georgia was a grape
that hung from a vine,
a Pinot Noir
which was ever so fine.

She looked down on the others
and bragged that one day
she'd be bottled and sold
as a costly rosé.

She never stopped babbling
to the neighboring grapes
who were forced to keep hanging,
(there were no escapes.)

“I will most likely be served
for the Queen and her kind
please promise don't cry
when I leave you behind”

And when that day came
and nobody cried
she was greatly displeased
that no one at least tried

But most sadly for Georgia
it was all just pretending
she was dried to a raisin
and that was her ending

QUETTA

Her name was Quetta
a girl of only eight years
who would spread all around her
both laughter and tears.

She was the greatest sensation
on TV to date.
Prime time was hers
and would determine her fate.

Millions of viewers
every saturday night
followed Quetta
with thrill and delight.

Quick on the button
and smarter than most
she answered all questions
from the TV show host.

But as Quetta grew older
all the people lost awe
it was no longer impressive
she wasn't a child any more.

In her last TV appearance
she said thanks and then cried
and then the people forgot her
heartbroken she died

TILDA

Tilda was a cute little
four-legged toad
who hated the sun
and got ill when it snowed

but in between that
there sometimes was the rain
which Tilda loved more
than mere words could explain.

Her reason for loving
rain droplets so much
was the way that it felt
on her skin when they'd touch

So she decided to move
from her home back in spain
to a city called London
where there's plenty of rain.

SALMAN AND SULIMAN

Salman and Suliman
owned a small shop
near the Newington Green
London bus stop.

Everyone in the neighborhood
knew them quite well.
and that they always had
some good story to tell.

They both seemed to know
all the secrets of life.
The most important one how
to treat your old wife.

And how to get rich and famous
they knew perfectly well.
But still they stayed in their shop
cause they had stuff to sell.

FRANKIE

Forgetful Frankie
forgot his own name
He even forgot where he lived
and didn't know who to blame.

He had kind of a feeling
that something was wrong
but this feeling of his
never lasted for long.

So the scientists said
“let's examine his brain,
and then once and for all
declare him insane”.

But the doctors and scholars
never found out
whether Frankie was bonkers
or just messing about.

Because poor Frankie forgot
his appointment that day
he never listened to others
he always went his own way

HANDSOME-MAN

The super hero Handsom-Man
is blessed with godlike looks
He spends his time ridding the world
of enemies and crooks.

Before a fight he shouts out loud
“not in the face my friend”,
“I couldn't live with scars and bruises
that would be the end”

And so Pimple-Man his nemesis
didn't beat him up
he only game him chicken pox
and spots that wouldn't stop

Now Handsome-Man is squeezing spots
all day and all night long.
And every criminal is bursting out
in laughter and in song

Jumping Needles

Some close-ups from the tattooed bouncy ball installation.

OPERATION BOUNCE

OPERATION BOUNCE

JUMPING NEEDLES (2010)

By What To Name Your Children
(Carl Lund & Esme Chapman Jones)

Collection of Tattooed Bouncy Balls


Carl began collecting bouncy balls in late September, exactly 9 months before the 'birth' of the final show. Esme later joined in the effort, and without really having a clear idea of why they were doing it they began obsessively collecting bouncy balls (on average one a day) from all over London. Feeling the thrill and excitement of the surprise combination of colours that would appear once the 20 pence coin had slipped into the machine. Along with this there was the anxiety of the idea of paying for something else with a 20p coin, thus letting another bouncy ball remain imprisoned, the disappointment of getting the same bouncy ball twice or the machine at the local Cost Cutter running out. These feelings became so strong that it propelled the project to comically dramatic proportions.

Both Esme and Carl have in some way been collectors all their lives. They noticed between them that all the collections they have had themselves had never served a practical function or at least were far from the function they once served. They realised that there were two main types of collecting they were capable of: One served as a nostalgic mechanism, a kind of travelogue. Memoirs to revisit at another time. The other was just collecting for no reason: they fondly remembered collecting Coca Cola bottles and sweet wrappers when they were young and up until 'project bounce' had not practiced this kind of arbitrary collecting for some time.

Once they had collected a sufficient amount of bouncy balls they began to explore the potential of giving these objects a new function within the realm of fine art. They experimented with creating dinner party set ups and food plates entirely of bouncy balls.

They thought about how they had inadvertently taken away the original meaning and value of the bouncy balls. This was comparable they thought to people collecting original Star Wars figures only to keep them in their original packaging. These children's toys were being taken away from children and now served a new 'function' . The accessories had been degraded to the realm of items of collection and the whole idea of play was lost.

One of the initial ideas was a 'bouncy ball prison' where they put bouncy balls in a small cabinet: separated from each other and in a very confined space. This represented the diminishing of the real fun in bouncy balls but on another level the displeasure of both pupils at their inability to deal with the structure and restrictions that their creative institute had moulded. Aethetically they made a link with the Artist Joseph Cornell who was himself an obsessive collector. He was famed for his assemblages set in boxes. The artist would often display his piece at child's height and would serve soft drinks at cake at his private view.

In the end the two decided that the bouncy balls would benefit from some kind of human personality. After both receiving tattoos from a friend with a tattoo kit, they thought it could be a good idea to attempt to give a few of their bouncy balls tattoos, using only the most common and clichéd tattoos, Carl began tattooing the bouncy balls for their final presentation in the main building.
The result is What to Name Your Children's first artwork, Jumping Needles : an injection of comedy and absurdism into the gallery space which they are very proud of.

Chess Pieces

Here are some pictures of the chess piece designs that I am currently working on. All the pieces will be based on the many different characters from my still not finished story about Antonie and The City of Rulers.

Curious Carl

Young Carl was born
with a curious soul,
And so inventing new things,
became his life goal.

And every day
for an hour or two,
he'd walk around and do things
you wouldn't normally do.

In his workshop at home,
no one was ever allowed,
And his doings were mystic,
of which he was proud.

One sunny morning
Carl came out of his room,
His face was all clear,
it was bright as the moon.

His experiments had shown him
a strange apparition,
Carl’s mixing and maxing
had been a clever decision.

Carl named it the fantastical
magical potion.
It was sticky and purple
and smelled of hand lotion

He was sure of his genius,
and was delighted to know,
that he was the first person on Earth
to have made a human being glow.

But Carl never sold the fantastical
magical potion,
he never got wealthy or famous,
it was never his notion.

Instead he's now living in peace,
outside the city,
and he's tremendously happy
and never feels pity.

So if you'd find where he lives,
you'll see him at night,
still smiling and glowing
so wonderfully bright.

Yawning Yvonne - For Lucy's mum

Yvonne was born yawning -
a chronic condition,
Her yawns changed her face
beyond all recognition.

It was all she could think of,
and she felt like a fool,
So she wrote down a poem
and this poem was cool:

"I yawn when I dance,
I yawn when I eat,
I even yawn
all night long when I sleep."

I yawn when I'm tired,
I yawn when I'm not,
I yawn when I'm bored
and I’m bored quite a lot."

She tried out all sorts of different
and dangerous cures.
She tried medicines, diets
and self-help brochures.

But none of it worked
on this tiring disease,
And she was worried her face
might not stay in one piece.

One day a boy named Pierre
came her way,
He had a big fancy hat,
and French biscuits on a tray,

Yvonne was happily surprised
to see this strange man,
She even heard her heart whispering
“I’m his biggest fan”,

She followed him always,
and hoped he'd say hi,
But Pierre payed no attention,
he seemed a quite busy guy

Finally one day, she caught him
on the train traveling south,
Pierre’s tray tipped, and the biscuits
landed right in her mouth.

When Pierre saw her eyes,
he winked and said “Belle”,
He kissed her for hours
and now she is well.

Bibliography

Visual presentation of bibliography.

WORMS (details)

Some close-ups of "WORMS".

WORMS

Pictures from just before the "STILTED" private view last night. Last day on tuesday, so you can still see it!

Pictures of work for "XHIBIT"

Come watch my orange airplanes! 

XHIBIT 2010

University of The Arts London have selected one of my works for the prestigious annual student exhibition "XHIBIT". The works will be displayed at London College of Communication 8-25th of March. I hope that you can make it! 

Goodvibes  - Carl