Ben Aston | benaston.com

I joined London’s first Cow Club because I like mmmeat.

The concept is pretty simple; get a crowd of mmmeat eaters together, buy a cow, get someone to chop it up, and get it delivered to your door for a bargain £10/kg.

OK, so on the face of it, it might not be a bargain, but this was no ordinary cow.

The Cow Club mmmeat was locally sourced; a Sussex Bullock, native to the South East. These beauties are exclusively grass fed which means they taste better and are healthier too – with lower overall fat content & higher Omega 3 fat ratio. Not only that, but when you compare it to the competition, it stacks up pretty well financially too. After 20 months of chomping on delicious grass, the happy cow trotted just three miles up the road to a small family run abbattoir, hung around for 28 days, and was then transformed into a selection of  delicious mmmeat pieces.

Game.

Going dancing with grupo corpo, originally uploaded by benaston.

In a bid to be cultured and that sort of thing, for the second time this month I trotted along to Sadler’s Wells, this time to watch Grupo Corpo; a Brazillian comapny who have been “reinventing classic ballet since the Seventies.” Not sure what that means but it certainly sounds like an awful lot of re-inventing.

I chose this show mainly because they looked like they did a lot of prancing about, combining ballet with a sprinkling of Riverdance; styles which I’m proud to say I’m quite good at too.

I’ve got no idea how to assess whether or not it was a good performance or not. I think it probably was. The sychonicity, flair and athleticism of the dancers was outstanding and I even had to concede that maybe they were better than me.

On the downside, there was a bit of confusion half way through when the show ended and the dancers started bowing, seemingly a bit prematurely. But after getting over the awkwardness of not really knowing whether or not it was time to leave, we were glad to find out that it was to be a tale of two halves; not just Ímã but Onqotô too.

It was only after the show that I realised just how much it was beyond me. Apparently, “Ímã is inspired by the scientific law of magnetism as particles either repel or attract one another”. Erm, right. Didn’t get that. Nice idea though.

And Onqotô tackles the origins of the universe through, a football match in Rio. Hmm, didn’t quite pick up that bit of the story either. Retrospectively of course, it kind of makes sense. It’s art. And it’s good to watch. Apart from the naked man bit.

Bonafide. 9/10.

Family portrait, originally uploaded by benaston.

This begins the first of what I hope will be a series of portraits.

What, at first glance, might be mistaken to be a poorly composed and exposed picture, is in fact, just that.

But you’ll see that Steepfun in the background holds up a green canvas which adds to the intensity of Claire’s ‘green-ness’. This is a metaphor for the role of the husband in affirming his wife and giving her a green light, to be the woman she is meant to be.

The cupcake reflects the couple’s love for food.

So there’s more to the picture than that.

Photogrart.

But what else? What layers of complex meaning in this rich tapestry do you see?

Harry Hippo and the House, originally uploaded by benaston.

After the rioting of the last few days, you’d be forgiven for wondering if your abode was loot-proof. To be honest, it probably isn’t. The looters are so small, they can get into big houses like yours in a jiffy. What’s more, if you’re not a Sikh, you probably haven’t got a sword to wave at them when they get in. So perhaps you’ll be interested in my loot-proof house?

The picture above brings the idea to life; combining a small but robust house with a large hippo (Harry, in this instance), lurking in the shadows, ready and willing to pounce on any potential looters. The benefit of the small house is obviously to make it difficult for looters to actually get in. The hippo, although giving the appearance of being menacing, is actually quite friendly, but should do the job at biting anyone that tries coming in through the rear jardinerie.

Admittedly, right now it’s just a concept, but it’s probably going to be massive when the meeja get hold of it. Maybe even Inspector Corbett will ask me about it: she still hasn’t got in touch about breaking my bike lock the other week.

But should they go to auction as single items, or as a pair?  Would anyone buy these pieces of art history?

L’arte comme L’argos.

Harry the Hippo, originally uploaded by benaston.

I often forget I’m an artist at heart. Thankfully, when I went to visit Granny this weekend, I chanced upon what is perhaps one of my more iconic pieces; Harry the Hippo.

It’s a solid, robust piece, but asks serious questions of the viewer – what is a hippo? At the time of Harry’s birth (circa 1990), I think this was probably a very pertinent question and one that’s yet to be fully resolved.

Nonetheless, Harry provides an interesting discourse on the hippo; friend or foe? A passing glance allows you to lock eyes with his haunting cross-eyed vacant gaze. The visual feast then unfolds. You’ll find yourself exploring the vast cavernous extremities of the hippo’s mouth and lose yourself in the blancmange deepness; so pink, yet so dark. An enigmatic beast.

Arty.

p.s. I think someone has probably still got a coil pot I made (red and yellow) from 1992 that I could ebay if anyone’s interested? Also, available for commissions and stuff if you like my work, pottery or lino printing, that kind of thing.