'Background' 2013
In ‘Background’, a pair of figures walk and converse through a series of animated landscapes. The 16-bit representations are of Blandy and his father, John, discussing their respective art practises, wandering past snow covered temples, rainforest and ruined cities, images at once recognisable as the virtual territory of David's practise.
Blandy's on going examination of his cultural and personal influences manifests here as an interaction with John Blandy, to co-author a series of works. John Blandy is a landscape artist, and a graduate of St Martins School of Art and the Royal College of Art, with a commitment to drawing from life. John was involved in helping to run Gallery House in the 1970’s, helping artists such as Susan Hiller and John Latham.
For the exhibition David commissioned his father to produce a series of pastel landscapes, based on appropriated images. This employment of virtual scenes produced by a third, un-credited maker, is distinctly at odds with John's practice and ethos, however John Blandy has approached this source material meticulously, adapting his normal working methods to produce a series of densely worked images.
The corresponding film emerges from this proposition, and frames their respective critical positions, as they discuss particular working methods, their differing attitudes towards collaboration and appropriation and especially the impact that art production has had on their relationship.
