Hope You Are Well

Part 3 of my creative jaunt into the Nostalgia Realm for First Fold Records' 'Premier Pli' publication.
The brief for 'Premier Pli 2' is to fill four pages with words and/ or pictures based on the theme of 'Nostalgia'.

With two more pieces to complete for this assignment I have to admit that I have been struggling to make any ideas stick, any thoughts to manifest as sketches that will finally be sent out into the world as finished items as part of my contribution to the 'Premier Pli 2' publication. Some of the underlying threads of my 'collection' are films from my childhood and the "... fan-fetishism associated with film props ..." A list of films formed as I scratched my head, a list of films that I thought would inspire interesting objects. Amongst the movies on the list are 'Predator', 'The Goonies', 'Ghostbusters', 'Stand By Me', 'Robocop', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and 'The Temple of Doom'. For some reason non of these films excited my creative brain into action.

And so I finally did it. I knew I would. The 'attic' being such a mystical place I decided to ascend to that not-so-dark and not-so-dusty place to see what I could find to use or inspire the final two objects for this project.

Going through a huge box I discovered an original Corgi 007 Austin Martin DB5 (from Goldfinger), numerous sketchbooks filled with tiny little pen drawings of strange objects and a handful of my old school books from the eighties. One book (1985 - 1986) was entitled 'Creative Writing' filled with some amusing and disturbing work with titles such as 'Body in a Boot Car Chase', 'The Key To Another World', 'Prediction' and 'A Happy Home'. Awwww ...

I happily sat and read these messages from the past, from a past version of me, flicking through pages of this stuff until I came across a letter I had penned to none other than Steven Spielberg (or 'Mr. Spielberg' as I refer to him in the letter). And then the light bulb in my head came on and there it was - I had it. I had the idea for my next object.

Spielberg features heavily in my list of films that I loved (and still love) from childhood and I am sure he would feature in the lists of many people my age. 'ET' could have featured as could 'Jaws' and 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'. Spielberg's stamp is right across my childhood and even now he still remains an incredible film maker ('Super 8' (as producer), 'The Adventures of Tin Tin' etc) and where others have become jaded or faded away he retains his quality and talent.

These admirations are echoed in my letter dated 28th February, 1986:

"Dear Mr. Speilberg,

I am writing to you because I admire your talent at directing and producing films. I have seen The Goonies and I thought that it was brilliant ..."

Spielberg didn't direct 'The Goonies' (Richard Donner did) but he did produce it and has a 'Story By' credit on the film. I thought this letter and the reference to 'The Goonies' would be a great starting point for a sculpture/ object about nostalgia.

Sometimes chance just throws something unexpected your way and it sticks.
'The Goonies' plot  (according to IMDB):

"A group of kids embark on a wild adventure after finding a pirate treasure map."

The kids discover the map in the attic of Mikey (played brilliantly by future hobbit Sean Astin) - much like me finding the letter. This was too good not to develop into something.

My idea developed quickly. I take the letter, set fire to it, take the ashes and place them in an urn. The urn is decorated with a vintage style tattoo with the words 'Hope You Are Well' (the last line of my letter to Mr. Spielberg) emblazoned across it.

Sticking with my premise of using craft items and processes from childhood I have made the urn from papier mache. The urn's stopper is a papier mache skull based loosely on the skull that tops the 'i' in 'Goonies' during the opening titles of the film.

The final piece may or may not feature a framed photocopy of the original letter. We will see.

Phocopied and framed - all that remains.

So that's it, the object is nearly finished and I am very pleased with it. It works for me, for the ideas, for the publication and I can't ask for much more than that. 

"Down here it's our time."