Robert Brook

Selhurst Triangle, 2021

Wandsworth Road, 2010

Waterloo, 2021

Golden Square, 2021

Gordon Square, 2021

Fitzroy Square, 2021

Sloane Avenue, 2018

Albert Bridge, 2018

University of Southampton, 2016

Brighton Yard, 2018

Brighton Yard, 2018

Strutton Ground, 2018

Pimlico, 2018

Pimlico, 2018

Pimlico, 2018

Victoria, 2018

Victoria, 2018

“Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia.” H. G. Wells

When someone is asked to explain what their art is, the questioner either is asking a practical question, or an antagonistic one.

The practical question is “how did you make this?” and perhaps even “what does this mean to you?” a little later.

The antagonistic question is “why do you think I should enjoy this?” or even “why do you think I should consider this to have artistic merit?”

Why must art speak for itself, justify itself? If you don’t like it, don’t worry about it.

There’s bad art, I suppose. Or, is there? Do we mean art which might provoke bad outcomes? Then bad art sits with bad food and bad anything. The thing is only as bad as the outcomes it provokes.

It also seems quite acceptable for art to be a provocation - including a provocation by means of inexplicability.

Sometimes an artist might simply make a thing and consider it pleasing to them alone. I like how it looks.

You don’t have to like everything.

“I do not wish to spoil this perfect thing with comment.” G. K. Chesterton

This striving becomes understood completely as an end in itself—to such an extent that it appears as fully outside the normal course of affairs and simply irrational, at least when viewed from the perspective of the “happiness” or “utility” of the single individual. Here, people are oriented to acquisition as the purpose of life; acquisition is no longer viewed as a means to the end of satisfying the substantive needs of life.

Max Weber

Victoria, 2019

Durham, 2022

Durham, 2022

What is “compassion for one’s-self”?

Durham, 2022

Durham, 2022

Clarity first, then consistency.

Battersea, 2018

Battersea, 2018

By Tower Bridge, 2011

“The encouragement of mere consumption is no benefit to commerce; for the difficulty lies in supplying the means, not in stimulating the desire of consumption; … production alone, furnishes those means. Thus, it is the aim of good government to stimulate production, of bad government to encourage consumption.”

Apple’s ‘Live Photos’ are great: “your iPhone records what happens 1.5 seconds before and after you take a picture.” As far as I can recall, Apple’s camera app on the iPhone defaults to Live Photos on.

What if you don’t want to always take a Live Photo? “From the Camera app, tap the Live Photos button to turn off Live Photos. A slash through the Live Photos button means that the feature is off.”

“[But] The Camera app turns Live Photos on again automatically.” “[Thankfully] To keep Live Photos off permanently, follow these steps: Go to Settings. Tap Camera > Preserve Settings. Make sure that the switch next to Live Photo is turned on.”

The information here about Live Photos is from Apple’s support page: Take and edit Live Photos.

Guildford, 2022

“[Matthew] Holness walks into a Taiwanese teahouse in Soho wearing the shirt, glasses and expression of a geography teacher.” Catherine Shoard profile, The Guardian, 2018

Waterloo Bridge, 2011

The Tower of London, 2011

Tower Bridge, 2011

The Thames, 2011

Somerset House, 2016