no, seriously...

I have long given up on any dreams of fortune – I don't even bother with the lotto – and the thought of exposure to fame fills this very private person with dread. But I would be lying if I said I don’t seek any approval in anything I do, or that I don’t feel the positive affects of a little praise now and then. However, though I can’t say I’m the happiest bloke alive 24-7, I now realise that happiness is the ultimate measure of success in life, and not fame and fortune. People are still able to laugh even though they have nothing and those that seem to have it all often appear unsatisfied with their lot.

I knew nothing of Hamish Fulton other than the news report. It inspired the previous post but it wasn’t necessary to discover anything more about him, his art or the thinking behind it. I wasn't intending to knock Hamish Fulton.

Anyway, afterwards I did a bit of googling and imagine my delight in finding I wasn’t too far off the mark…

A central characteristic of [his] practice was a direct physical engagement with [the] landscape. Fulton's time as a student at St Martin's College of Art in London (1966-68) and his journeys in South Dakota and Montana in 1969, encouraged him to think that art could be 'how you view life', and not tied necessarily to the production of objects. He began to make short walks, and then to make photographic works about the experience of walking.

Tate Online: Hamish Fulton

Art: How you view life and not necessarily the production of objects.

[next week on Sculpting with Soup: Travelling Light; A Rant Against Materialism on the Journey to Happiness]

…only joking.

(no, seriously)


of course, biking is walking first class...
(thanks to Barry Hines: A Kestrel for a Knave)