Supermundane

0:14[Applause]

0:19hello I I didn't expect to be on last so I'm a little tiny tiny little bit drunk just a little bit.

0:24But then I hope I hope a few of you are as well so um oh there you go that's me. And this is the first so I just had a a show a solo show called Everything connects and that involves involved paintings prints printed Tesla and tiles words and typography and so all the various parts of my practice and which is why it's called Everything connects as well as other things.

0:52But I'm just going to concentrate on one part of it which is empty slogans and this shows the the installation which is this wall but you can see down the corner there. There was some musical instruments because on the opening night I did a performance which this ♪

1:16happened but we're not going to talk about that we're just going to forget about that forget you ever seen it just move on everything's going to be okay and so what the the empty slogans came about originally as this booklet and poster which is still available in my shop by the way and but that they came about with where. I was I was writing these things. And I'd finished this type face which had started ridiculously 15 years ago and and I haven't been working on it for 15 years that'd be ridiculous.

1:45But I I only just Revisited it. And it's called protest and it. And it it's it started from an idea I had back then called freedom for facial hair which 15 years ago believe it or not a lot of people didn't didn't well a lot of men didn't have beards most women didn't have beards I think I think mustaches were maybe illegal I don't know somebody could probably check that but but I don't know if that's true and if you if you did have a beard you have thought of us being a lazy unclean pervert which which which we weren't obviously there's a few lazy unclean pervs that gave us all a bad name I'm very aware of the fact that says pervert now.

2:30And that's I'm going to move move on from that so here's here's the wall of the empty slogans and I and I called them this partly because I didn't want it to be too worthy because there's a few political things in there there. There are a few things that just don't mean anything. And it's very difficult to make slogans or or statements and you know because you get things on online quite a lot now which say things like oh it's if it's going to be it's up to me or oh it's everything's going to be okay and just in nice time type so I tried to get away from that so tonight because I've only got 10 minutes to talk and I can really ramble on if I if I'm giv the chance to I'm just going to take a few of these out and elaborate them more and give you a little insight into how I think which we we'll we'll see we'll see how that goes and so the first one is stop talking during gigs if any of you talk during gigs yes thank you there's a clapping over there this I didn't expect that but let's let's have that I I I hate this. And I went to a gig not that long ago from a neighbor and friend Ryan who's also rival consoles who I've done covers for his albums and stuff and there's a couple standing next to me and they talked all the way through the gig about how much they liked the music they were they were giving me a commentary about oh my God I love this bit this bit's coming up it's God it's amazing it's like and and because I have a problem with confrontation I obviously didn't say anything I just seeed inside and I thought about I could maybe make a patch out of this and have it on my back.

4:00And then I could I could when somebody's talking I can scratch and point in a very passive aggressive Manner and I don't know if that would work we'll see work is not natural you might think it is but it really not like paid work isn't it just isn't and there's I've been reading a lot about post capitalism recently it's a too much to go into in now I've got probably 8 minutes 7 minutes and and so I can't go into it now. But if you want if you're interested there's some great publisher out there Zed books and Verso and stuff and look into it it's something to think about maybe not right now.

4:38But it's useful to those in power not to for those in power for you not to think I I wrote this before the brexit happened and then I woke up at about 5: in the morning and saw that we you know leaving Europe I was very upset and annoyed and I put this up on my Instagram page and it's not called a page is it whatever it's called and and now I I've calmed down a little bit now. And I think that we all we all need to think a bit more we all live in our little Bubbles and we all kind of look at the world in a very inul way.

5:14And it' be be a lot better if you CED things a lot more and not kind of think well you know everybody within their little world believes that they're right. And we're in all our little world. And we've just been you know we love typography don't we and no a lot of people don't not a lot of people think that typ faces just exist don't think people design them they just exist so anyway questions things but with that in mind I've got a bit of fact fatigue and this is more about I mean obviously we need facts I'm not against facts but that'd be ridiculous.

5:52But I in terms of creativity I think we need to have the space I mean I think like the creative world exists in the border between fact and fiction. And sometimes everything needs to be so Quantified and proved that the factual elements punch out here we go there's me with a fact written on my fist for illustrative I haven't got a tattoo by the way you can see that and and I think sometimes I feel like I'm pummeled with this I want I I work in quite an instinctive way and and if you can't if you have to prove everything then it becomes very tiresome. And it and it it becomes very hard to produce or to make mistakes to produce something.

6:35That's new but on the other side of that we got the lies fist which isn't as alliteratively nice to say as fact fist but but but I I don't know how it's happened but we are now in a place where it seems that it's okay to lie and as long as you just keep hammering that lie home as much as possible people will either either you kind of go well. Actually I've said it so many times that I believe it or it just hurts too much. And I want to stop so I feel very much like I'm in between somebody punch me on one side with the lies Fist and somebody punched me on the other side with the fact fist I'm just the middle going I just want to have a nice life and have fun is that what people want bad people need Brandon too I'll just leave that with you just to think about I think therefore I'm sad it's the after effect the side effect of thinking unfortunately not today but not tomorrow either. That's never it's never going to happen it's not happening cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats for the people who like cats there seem to be a lot of people like cats logos logos logos logos logos logos the people who like logos sex sex sex it's just nice to say sex sex sex sex sex sex sexx sex I can I say it all day sexx sex modern life is all password and charges I'm old enough to be to remember when I didn't need a password to buy something or a charger to use the telephone they did they didn't ever didn't wouldn't even plug I think they were run on on electricity the and now obviously technology is very much is a freeing thing.

8:09But it's also I feel very Shackled by the fact that I don't go through a day without worrying about whether my laptop or my phone has run out of batteries or I have I forgot my charger God my charer what am I going to do if you got to charger and I'm asking that's a rhetorical question I' answer that um and then and putting in passwords I go putting a password it's the wrong password and he's like I'm I think it was the right password I'm pretty sure and I put it again said you know it's the wrong password I I I definitely put in the right password but so sometimes I just wanted to take my computer and telephone and throw it at the window and go and run and hide somewhere if you can you can come with me if you like if you if you know anywhere to go and hide cuz I don't know where it's good to go and hide so just come and see me after it' be fine banana banana banana it's like who who I don't know who called a banana or banana but how did they know to not call it banana or a banana na it's like why did they when do they stop with the na these are important questions we just leave I am naked under these clothes all of these clothes I don't have anything on at all just is just well it's just a fact thank for one whoop and while we're at it stop getting angry about other people's clothes there's a lot of things to get angry about other people's trainers aren't one of those things let's let's focus our anger on things that are important about like the government for example let's do that Pink boys and blue girls this is I'm I'm a big I hate dogma and rules or man-made rules and this is just swapping around the blue is for boys and pink is for girls but it's quite distur unsettling pink Boys Blue girls just think about it kindness is only a weakness to the cruel and I'm obviously quite a left leaning kind of person in my way I think and I honestly don't know how we've got to a point where being worrying about other people or think thinking we should all be equal is seen as some sort of oh Pie in the Sky you're crazy or I've seen the term libtard now.

10:24And it's like I don't know the the the that doesn't even make sense it's just not like it's not even a pun I don't know how just the right seem just plunk words together and go yeah that's that told you.

10:38So anyway so if kindness is a weakness I'm happy to be weak equal is not the same as same.

10:44So this comes from having conversations with men about feminism and if you just men and if you bring up feminism in a group of men first as a man they' go why why why is he doing this this really weird why is he talking about feminism and then very quickly they bring it around to being about men so it's like would you I don't know people don't I don't know anybody speaks like this.

11:09But I've got to do it in this this way it's like well they want to make us like them or they want to control us make us wear skirts that we want do we something like that.

11:17And I have to go like well it's just about being equal isn't it and equal is not the same as being the same and and I'm I'm obviously a white man and and white white men are very good at bringing things around to everything being about them so does the black lives matters thing is what does my life matter that's my that's my white man voice again and feminism is like well it's we do just want to control this or do whatever. And so it's a weird world where like white men have had such a privileged lifestyle for so long that anything anything that threatens that is seen as something to be scared of anyway let's make websites fun again I remember you probably I remember when websites started and they were lots of fun and maybe I don't know where these fun websites are but that's not even you're making it sound Sinister by that slight giggle through there but or maybe that's my interpretation of it.

12:15But anyway let's just let's do that why not and enough enough enough enough that's just enough of me so actually what I'm going to do rid ridiculously is a not even a segue It's s like I'm going to sing a song to you.

12:30And it's called a kerning song it's about kerning we're in the right place for it thank God at last I've done weddings B Mitzvah so now for once people are know going to know what kerning King is and it comes from it's called close but never touching and my a boss of mine that was his preferred kerning style and I thought it it's quite sad it's quite sad this idea of these letters being close but never quite touching so uh and this involves me I've got I've got to get into a slight outfit such a slight one because it takes quite a lot to stand in front of a load of people and sing a song so hold on a minute I've got I've got something in a bag starting to feel like I'm a child's Entertainer the glasses is just so you can't see the fear in my eyes that's okay.

13:44So this there's no musical accompaniment to this and there's no there's no not you know that if you've ever watched somebody sing on on a TV like breakfast TV they put like a Reverb over their voice to make them feel a bit better there's none of that.

14:02This is this is just this is brutal okay here we go I think I need can I just get a drink of beer I've got a I've got a very dry dry voice this could be very okay I'm last it's okay I've gone over my time it's fine all right here we go close but never touching it's a shame.

14:36But it's beautiful they say to be close but never touching it's such a shame.

14:43But it's not always been that way in the '90s we were all over each other but wasn't legibility a problem are H we didn't care we were crazy and carefree sometimes you could find me squash between an A and A KNE and I was a c Ace but now it's close but never touching it's a shame.

15:07But it's beautiful to stay close but never touching oh it's a shame.

15:15But it's beautiful they say if you're Lowe so when I was upase te I would shelter you you could come underneath me they call it kous people don't understand it. But if you get it wrong you could end up in the sheet oh B but now it's close but never touching it's a shame.

15:44But it's beautiful they say to be close but never touching oh it's a shame. But it's beautiful that way hey yeah hey ♪

16:03[Applause]