Four year anniversary
It is four years since Dustin did his walk. Dustin is an artist — his full name is Dustin Ericksen. I own a work by him, called 20 November, 2005, London (all the signs on a walk from the studio to ‘The Cheshire Cheese’ to have a drink with Simon English)’. In this blog I have been talking about the visual effectiveness of work carried out according to a controlling principle, or rule. Dustin describes his rule in the title of the work.
He walked from his studio, at that time at the Royal Academy, to the Cheshire Cheese pub in Fleet St (former home of the UK press) photographing every sign he encountered on the journey. His walk passed through an anti-war demo, and there is a pulse of anti war imagery throughout the picture. Simon English — the person he was meeting at the pub, is also an artist. Dustin has done about six similar walks of record. The first was on the 20th November 2001 in Los Angeles. The US was invading Afghanistan, and he walked from Raid Projects, where his work was being shown, to Western Exterminator ( a well known LA landmark sign). This walk became both a picture, and a book.
He also made a walk that became a book called ‘Simian’s Way’, published by Koenig Press for the Sharjah Biennial. The walk took place during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The signs are laid out in a similar way to the large images, but in chronological order.
I would be interested to hear what you think.
Wonderful work. I love the signs piecs. thnks for introducing me to it. I’ll be interested in following what he does.