CCTV
2004
emulsion paint on four canvases, four inkjet prints, text handout (see below)
NTU Fine Art Studios, Bonington Building

The below text was printed as a handout for exhibition.

Process

On November 8th 2004 I went to the 24 hour computer room in the Arkwright building of The Nottingham Trent University on Shakespeare Street and logged on to a computer. I accessed the CCTV camera on Milton Street/Burton Street by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml on the internet. I checked which direction the camera was facing and at what time the camera refreshed the image (the camera only shows still images on the internet that refresh approximately every 5 minutes). I took a pre-primed canvas to that CCTV camera near the John Lewis department store. I held the canvas in view of the camera until I thought that it had taken an image with me and the canvas in. I then ran back to the Arkwright computer room, logged on to a computer again and accessed the web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml to see that I was on the image holding the pre-primed canvas.
I then saved the CCTV image on to a 3.5 inch floppy disc. I then enlarged the CCTV image in Microsoft Paint to the degree that I could find the most central pixel of the area of the pre-primed canvas that was in the CCTV image. When I had chosen the most central pixel I used the ‘pick colour’ tool to select that colour. I then opened a new file and used the rectangle tool to draw an area that was a solid block of that colour. I outlined the area with a black rectangle.
I then printed the rectangle on the \\King\A207-COLOUR-A4-REDSQ printer that was approximately 10 seconds walk away from where I was sat. My printer credit was debited by 40 pence.

I then closed down the computer and walked to Homebase on Queens Drive. I pressed a button and an assistant came over to me. I asked him to scan the rectangle with the Dulux paint scanner machine. The machine told the assistant to mix the colour Blue Moon 6. The assistant mixed the colour and a printer printed an adhesive label. The assistant peeled off the back of the label and stuck it on the 250ml tin of matt emulsion paint that had been mixed for me by the machine costing £1.99. I paid for the paint and also a paint roller and tray kit and left Homebase. I walked back to my studio in The Bonnington building of The Nottingham Trent University on Dryden Street. On my way back I walked on a wooden bridge that passed over a canal and paused for a moment.

At the studio I opened the 250ml tin of Blue Moon 6 matt emulsion paint and poured some into the tray. I rolled the roller in the paint and then applied an even layer of paint to the pre-primed canvas that I had held up to the CCTV camera earlier that day. I then washed the roller and tray and left the studio.

On November 9th I went to my studio on Dryden Street and picked up my now painted canvas. I went to the 24 hour computer room in the Arkwright Building of The Nottingham Trent University on Shakespeare Street and logged on to a computer. I accessed the CCTV camera on Milton Street/Burton Street by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml on the internet. I checked which direction the camera was facing and at what time the camera refreshed the image (the camera only shows still images on the internet that refresh approximately every 5 minutes). The camera was facing a different direction to what it was on November 8th. I took the painted canvas to that CCTV camera near the John Lewis department store. I held the canvas in view of the camera until I thought that it had taken an image with me and the canvas in. I then ran back to the Arkwright computer room, logged on to a computer again and accessed the web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml to see that I was on the image holding the canvas.
I then saved the CCTV image on to a 3.5 inch floppy disc. I then enlarged the CCTV image in Microsoft Paint to the degree that I could find the most central pixel of the area of the painted canvas that was in the CCTV image. When I had chosen the most central pixel I used the ‘pick colour’ tool to select that colour. I then opened a new file and used the rectangle tool to draw an area that was a solid block of that colour. I outlined the area with a black rectangle.
I then printed the rectangle on the \\King\A207-COLOUR-A4-REDSQ printer that was approximately 10 seconds walk away from where I was sat. My printer credit was debited by 40 pence.

I then closed down the computer and walked to Homebase on Queens Drive. I pressed a button and an assistant came over to me. I asked her to scan the rectangle with the Dulux paint scanner machine. The machine told the assistant to mix the colour Moon Blossom. The assistant mixed the colour and a printer printed an adhesive label. The assistant peeled off the back of the label and stuck it on the 250ml tin of matt emulsion paint that had been mixed for me by the machine costing £1.99. I paid for the paint and then left Homebase. I walked back to my studio in The Bonnington building of The Nottingham Trent University on Dryden Street. On my way back I walked on a wooden bridge that passed over a canal.

At the studio I opened the 250ml tin of Moon Blossom matt emulsion paint and poured some into the tray. I rolled the roller in the paint and then applied an even layer of paint to a new pre-primed canvas. I then washed the roller and tray and left the studio.

On November 10th I went to my studio on Dryden Street and picked up the second painted canvas that I had painted the day before. I went to the 24 hour computer room in the Arkwright Building of The Nottingham Trent University on Shakespeare Street and logged on to a computer. I accessed the CCTV camera on Milton Street/Burton Street by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml on the internet. I checked which direction the camera was facing and at what time the camera refreshed the image (the camera only shows still images on the internet that refresh approximately every 5 minutes). The camera was facing the same direction as the day before. I took the canvas that had been painted with Moon Blossom matt emulsion paint on November 9th to the CCTV camera near the John Lewis department store. I held the canvas in view of the camera until I thought that it had taken an image with me and the canvas in. I then ran back to the Arkwright computer room, logged on to a computer again and accessed the web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml to see that I was on the image holding the canvas.
I then saved the CCTV image on to a 3.5 inch floppy disc. I then enlarged the CCTV image in Microsoft Paint to the degree that I could find the most central pixel of the area of the canvas that was in the CCTV image. When I had chosen the most central pixel I used the ‘pick colour’ tool to select that colour. I then opened a new file and used the rectangle tool to draw an area that was a solid block of that colour. I outlined the area with a black rectangle.
I then printed the rectangle on the \\King\A207-COLOUR-A4-REDSQ printer that was approximately 10 seconds walk away from where I was sat. My printer credit was debited by 40 pence.

I then closed down the computer and walked to Homebase on Queens Drive. I pressed a button and an assistant came over to me. I asked him to scan the rectangle with the Dulux paint scanner machine. The machine told the assistant to mix the colour Blue Moon 6. I decided that I would not buy a new tin of Blue Moon 6 matt emulsion paint as I still had enough left from November 8th. I then left Homebase. I walked back to my studio in The Bonnington building of The Nottingham Trent University on Dryden Street. On my way back I went to look at animals in ‘Pets at Home’ and then walked on a wooden bridge that passed over a canal.

At the studio I opened the 250ml tin of Blue Moon 6 matt emulsion paint that I had bought on November 8th and poured some into the tray. I rolled the roller in the paint and then applied an even layer of paint to a new pre-primed canvas. I then washed the roller and tray and left the studio.

On November 11th I went to my studio on Dryden Street and picked up the third painted canvas that I had painted the day before. I went to the 24 hour computer room in the Arkwright Building of The Nottingham Trent University on Shakespeare Street and logged on to a computer. I accessed the CCTV camera on Milton Street/Burton Street by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml on the internet. I checked which direction the camera was facing and at what time the camera refreshed the image (the camera only shows still images on the internet that refresh approximately every 5 minutes). The camera was facing the same direction as the day before. I took the canvas that had been painted with Blue Moon 6 matt emulsion paint on November 10th to the CCTV camera near the John Lewis department store. I held the canvas in view of the camera until I thought that it had taken an image with me and the canvas in. I then ran back to the Arkwright computer room, logged on to a computer again and accessed the web page http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml to see that I was on the image holding the canvas.
I then saved the CCTV image on to a 3.5 inch floppy disc. I then enlarged the CCTV image in Microsoft Paint to the degree that I could find the most central pixel of the area of the canvas that was in the CCTV image. When I had chosen the most central pixel I used the ‘pick colour’ tool to select that colour. I then opened a new file and used the rectangle tool to draw an area that was a solid block of that colour. I outlined the area with a black rectangle.
I then printed the rectangle on the \\King\A207-COLOUR-A4-REDSQ printer that was approximately 10 seconds walk away from where I was sat. My printer credit was debited by 40 pence.

I then closed down the computer and walked to Homebase on Queens Drive. I pressed a button and an assistant came over to me. I asked him to scan the rectangle with the Dulux paint scanner machine. The machine told the assistant to mix the colour Blue Moon 6 again. I felt guilty for not buying a new tin of matt emulsion paint on November 10th. I wanted to buy a new tin every day as the receipt from the purchase would state what time I was at Homebase and this would be interesting to me in relation to what time I was at the CCTV camera near the John Lewis department store earlier that day. The assistant mixed the colour but a man was quite carelessly sticking a screw driver into the side of the printer that printed the adhesive label so the assistant had to write the name of the colour and the date on an adhesive label with a ball point pen which he tore and then stuck on the 250ml tin of Blue Moon 6 matt emulsion paint that had been mixed for me by the machine costing £1.99. I paid for the paint and then left Homebase. I walked back to my studio in The Bonnington building of The Nottingham Trent University on Dryden Street. On my way back I walked on a wooden bridge that passed over a canal.

At the studio I opened the 250ml tin of Blue moon 6 matt emulsion paint and poured some into the tray. I rolled the roller in the paint and then applied an even layer of paint to a new pre-primed canvas. I then washed the roller and tray and left the studio.

On November 12th I went to my studio on Dryden Street and picked up the forth painted canvas that I had painted the day before. I went to the 24 hour computer room in the Arkwright Building of The Nottingham Trent University on Shakespeare Street and logged on to a computer. I accessed the CCTV camera on Milton Street/Burton Street by going to http://www.bbc.co.uk/nottingham/webcams/city_jamcams.shtml on the internet. I checked which direction the camera was facing and at what time the camera refreshed the image (the camera only shows still images on the internet that refresh approximately every 5 minutes). The camera had stopped refreshing. I stayed for approximately 40 minutes and the image still did not refresh. I logged off the computer. The fifth pre-primed canvas that was in my studio in the Bonnington building of the Nottingham Trent University on Dryden Street remained primed and was not painted.

115_img1499.jpg
 studio image   recovered from a digital camera 
115_cctvimageone.jpg
 one of the cctv images