Things I find interesting, you probably won’t

I always slightly dread being asked my all time favourite album or greatest influence. I’m not sure if it’s because I’ve never sat down to work it out or because my memory is visual so I struggle to categorise these things. I can know every lyric to every song on an album but have no idea of the album or singer’s name. I’ve also driven partners up the wall on briefs calling Fairy, Flash or Mr Potato Head, Mr Potato Man. So, instead of banging on about what I can’t remember I thought I’d share some odd things that I can because of the visuals or stories they spark.

1. Things that come up in conversation that trigger intriguing visuals. A few I have collected recently are an elephant drunkenly pillaging a vineyard, fondue for one, a room stuffed with 300 microwaves, jelly soup, a pickle dressed for school and a meal that has gone on so long all you can see is a flower and two heads poking out the snow.
2. The worlds that people build for themselves that give you such an insight into their minds. If it ever opens I’m going straight to visit Anselm Kiefer’s studio. It’s 200 acres covered with tunnels leading to a subterranean hospital ward, a crashed aeroplane sprouting sunflowers and hundreds of towers built from shipping containers.
3. The absence of presence and the presence of absence. Sometimes when I can’t sleep I turn them over in my head trying to work out what the difference is. I still don’t know the answer.
4. Things posted on Nextdoor and Freecycle that make you wonder who posted them and why? I read them both religiously like social media. Free postings range from half a packet of lasagne strips to a grand piano. It’s also always entertaining when a neighbour’s garden gnome gets nicked.
5. Visual details in movies that seem odd and unexplained. They set the mood and mean you can watch it over and over and always notice something new. This is always the case with Studio Ghibli movies and Tyler the Creator’s videos/Golf catwalk shows.
6. Crime series/horror movies and who wrote them? It disgusts and interests me to think about the person who wrote the messed up movie I just watched. How did they come to think of this? Are all of their thoughts consumed by gross things? Did they lose their mind in the process?
7. Visual artists that use the world around them in what they create, radically changing the way the viewer sees everyday objects. Some of my favourite examples are AR sculpture, traffic sign graffiti and Christopher Niemann’s Abstract Sunday.
8. Vintage advertising, bottle labels and comic books. Pre-photography everything was hand illustrated making even a kitchen sink ad look sexy. My favourites are ads for illusionists because they are the most intricate. I can’t help thinking about the labour of love that brought them to life.