AIM, the artist formerly known as The Iceman
What is The Iceman? Who is he?
Comedian Stewart Lee describes him as “a blank canvas. You project your own ideas onto him: fun, single-mindedness, commitment, a love of life and its inherent absurdity”
As a performance artist, he’s The Iceman. As a painter/artist, he’s AIM – comic Simon Munnery says AIM creates “absurd beautiful art”.
As himself, he’s Anthony Irvine. And he occasionally turns up in this blog.
This week, on Friday, for the first time in ever, AIM will be exhibiting his paintings all based on The Iceman’s performance art.
Well, the exhibition runs from 7th July to 5th August.
The exhibition is called AIM: The ICEMAN PAINTING CLEARANCE SALE and it’s at Guggleton Farm Arts – ‘The Gugg’ -in Dorset.
That’s right. It’s a farm which is an art gallery.
We had a chat about it.
AIM has a penchant for bunging AIM/ICE letters into words
JOHN: As well as the exhibition of your art, you are going to do a ‘big’ Painting there – live…
ICEMAN: Yes, I’m going to do it on site. Maybe find a bit of an old stable or door or…
JOHN: …a horse?
ICEMAN: No. But people can come and watch the progress of it. My idea is to name it PEG IT!
As well as the gallery where I’m going to hang the bigger ones up with bamboo, I’m going to peg all the smaller paintings onto long lines of BT rope across the farm.
JOHN: BT rope as in British Telecom rope?
ICEMAN: I don’t know. I guess so. It was just abandoned next to a litter bin. I thought That could be useful. I’ve got 1,000 paintings. Then I had to buy bulk pegs. A thousand plus.
JOHN: Over a thousand paintings?
ICEMAN: Yes, it’ll take some time to hang them all up with the pegs. The show is billed as A CLEARANCE SALE…
JOHN: I suppose all gallery exhibitions where you can buy pictures are clearance sales…
ICEMAN: PEG IT! Do you like it? It has a double meaning.
JOHN: Sounds like you’re going to die.
ICEMAN: Yes.
JOHN: Well, that’s not untrue. Local Trading Standards can’t complain.
ICEMAN: Over one thousand paintings.
JOHN: They’re all for sale?
ICEMAN: Yes. And there will be a raffle ticket. People have to guess how many paintings I will actually manage to sell and, if they get it right, they get a free painting… though I’m just a bit worried they might decline the painting…
JOHN: Is there an entrance fee?
ICEMAN: No, you just come through the farm gate.
On Friday (7th July) I’m being interviewed by a poet called Roshan Doug – He was Birmingham City’s Poet Laureate.
JOHN: Really?
ICEMAN: Yes. Dr Doug – He’s a doctor of philosophy. (He wrote an appreciation of The Iceman’s work HERE.)
JOHN: Where are you staying during the show?
IDEMAN: I asked if I could sleep in the barn. I was originally going to stay in Sherborne where I do educational work at the International College, but that fell through.
I’m not used to publicising art; I’m more used to comedy.
JOHN: That jacket, that hair, the neckerchief… You’re the biz… What biz I’m not so sure…
ICEMAN: I have a friend in Bournemouth who likes my act and has written a song and I’ve done the chorus: Melt it! Melt It! Melt it!
JOHN: Cool.
ICEMAN: I see what you did there.
JOHN: What is the song called?
ICEMAN: Melt It!
JOHN: Seems reasonable.
JOHN: It’s called Melt It! after the title of your recent book?
ICEMAN: Yes.
JOHN: Very trendy.
ICEMAN: And I’m on Tik Tok.
JOHN: So the Chinese will know about you. Good sales potential…
ICEMAN: I’ll show you one of my Art films on Tik Tok? I’m not boring you, am I?
JOHN: How long’s the film?
ICEMAN: It’s a short. Look. I’ve built a boat out of cardboard. Do you think I could be a film maker? I’m quite amused by the sliding block of ice.
JOHN: You can’t beat a video of a sliding block of ice for entertainment value.
ICEMAN: I think I might get labelled as an outsider, a Jean Dubuffet type. In the text publicising the exhibition, I have put that AIM – that’s my painting name – “declines to be categorised. He just paints pictures of himself with a block of ice”.
JOHN: Again, undeniably true.
ICEMAN: But what if no-one comes?
The Iceman with his book on a train by a toilet
JOHN: If no-one comes, you just say it was a massive success, massively crowded and, if no-one came, no-one knows otherwise and all anyone knows is that it was a massive success. That’s the eternal default position for Edinburgh Fringe shows. If it gets round that you’re a massive success but unknown, you could end up at the Saatchi Gallery in the blink of an eye.
ICEMAN: I’m already on a little website which acquired the name Saatchi Art. No connection.
JOHN: (LAUGHS)
ICEMAN: It looks impressive.
JOHN: I’m impressed.
“I had an old-fashioned kitchen sink and, for some reason…”
ICEMAN: When I first went on it, I put really ridiculous prices: £100,000 or something. But now I’ve reduced them. There are about 70 pictures of mine on it. The one I claim is extra-valuable is the one I’ve called Crazy Larry’s – a painting of the very first block of ice I ever did at a Chelsea club. Rory Bremner and people like that were there.
JOHN: Why Crazy Larry? That’s another name for Wild Man Fischer…
ICEMAN: Crazy Larry’s was a Chelsea club.
JOHN: Maybe it was named after Wild Man Fischer,
ICEMAN: Maybe. It’s no longer in existence.
JOHN: Nor is Wild Man Fischer.
ICEMAN: It was the craziest block I ever did. I had an old-fashioned kitchen sink and, for some reason, I brought that along and I remember being mainly horizontal. People thought I was actually insane.
JOHN: And the strangest thing of all is that you’re not.
ICEMAN: You can buy Crazy Larry’s – the painting – for £3,000.
JOHN: Well, if you like it and you have that sort of money, then £3,000 isn’t a lot. Have you seen The Laughing Cavalier?
ICEMAN: Yes.
JOHN: It’s a tiny little thing. I expected a big OTT canvas. Tiny. Must be worth a bit more than £3,000. Like Kylie Minogue.
ICEMAN: I think my art is definitely different. I’ve called my most recent series of paintings OneOne – I just do one brush stroke. Then I also have TwoOne, which is two brush strokes. But with multiple colours on my paint brush. Big brushes. Then the other series is EightOne…
JOHN: Let me guess.
ICEMAN: Eight different brush strokes.
AIM – Guess the Brush Stroke title…
JOHN: I have to say that sounds totally mad and therefore the sort of thing that the real Saatchi Gallery or someone like that might be interested in.
ICEMAN: Normally I’m very fussy in my paintings. But I think I’m onto something here with OneOne. For me, it’s all a slight game, I want to do the most unlikely thing and sell my Art against all odds.
JOHN: I know nothing about the Art trade but it seems to me the thing to do is to create something you want to do for yourself, then think of some more or less random blurb words that make it sound intellectual. It has to sound intellectual. So you say something like: “It encapsulates a post-Covid re-awakening of post-modernism with the unique twist of icy Brexit cynicism”.
ICEMAN: Mmmmm… Guggleton Farm Arts in Dorset, 7th July to 5th August.
This post first appeared on John Fleming's Blog - SO IT GOES | John Fleming’s Blog: Human Interest, Humour, Humor, Comedy Blog Featuring Eccentricity, Performance, Movies And Occasionally A Few Tears, please read the originial post: here
