Veronica Lurk

Equivocal high priestess of Neo-Convulsive calligraphic automata, originator of the Enigma Scripts and their associated curiosa, scary femme-fatale Veronica Lurk personifies our erroneous zones – all our innate contradictions, aberrations and incongruities. Diva of Divergence and Digression, she is the very essence of everything gratuitous; everything anomalous and ambiguous; everything anachronistic, fortuitous, ‘off-centre’ and ‘off-the-wall’. Ms Lurk is the reification of singularity – even naked singularity. She is the Princess of Parody and the Patron Saint of Pastiche. As a familiar spirit of deviance and asymmetry, that irregular element always in the background, she embodies the consequences of indeterminacy, encapsulating the absurd in all its mutable, mutating, multifarious improbabilities. Known in Jet City as the Compulsive Beautician, Veronica Lurk is always extraneous – and completely unpredictable!

automatic drawing: Abra Cadavre #30 Veronica Lurk, 1973

 

Elements of Transmission

 

In automatic drawing graphical lines represent transient trace elements of transmission along neural pathways.

In his text The Automatic Message (1933), Andre Breton explained Surrealism's role in the 'determinaton of the precise constitution of the subliminal' but he also acknowledged that the conditions which validate an 'automatic' text or drawing are insufficiently known. Previously (1916) Austin Spare had defined automatism as an 'organic impulse' produced when the mind is in a 'state of oblivion'. By this means, he said, 'senasation may be visualised'. Just as Surrealists argue that Freudian theory helps to disentangle automatism 'from the sphere of spiritualist mystification' (Rosemont) it may be possible, as an extension of this approach, to suggest that automatist spontaneity is a manifestation of a little-recognized principle of self-activation, or self-determination, that is an essential property of reality.

Illustration: Lucifer Rising, 2006

Bibliography 1968-2009

Bibliographical References 1968-2009


Allen, Tim Emotional Geology Terrible Work 2 1993
Allen, Tim Ladder to the Next Floor Stride Magazine 1-33 Terrible Work 2. 1993
Allen, Tim Two Riders One Horse Terrible Work 2 1993
Allen, Tim Two Terrible Twins from Phlebas Terrible Work 1 1993
Allen, Tim The Xantras Terrible Work 3 1994
Allen, Tim Dream Vortex Terrible Work 8 1998
Allen, Tim Earth Ascending An Anthology of Living Poetry Terrible Work 8 1998
Allen, Tim Colour of Dust by A C Evans Terrible Work 9 1999
Allen, Tim/Kirke, Alexis Trombone Pamphlets Received Terrible Work 8 [listing] 1998
Allen, Tim/Kirke, Alexis Very Recommendable Stride Books Received Terrible Work 8 [listing] 1998
Austin, Dave Letters to the Editor [The Bards 1 A C Evans] The Supplement 18 2005
Barford, Emma In a Desperate Museum 10th Muse 5 1994
Berry, Jake Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Bird, Polly A C Evans Colour of Dust New Hope International Online 1999
Blackstone, Leonard Blackstone's Chippings (Space Opera) TOPS 131 1998
Bowles, Ebenezer Delusions of Cosmic Destiny Planet Clio 2009
Bradshaw, Paul Burning Man Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Bruinsma, Max Exploding Cinema. Rotterdam Film Course Sandberg Institute 1999
Bugle, L Decaying Orbits Nox 4 1987
Callison, J. D Letter to Rupert M Loydell [Memories of the Future] Unpublished 1999
Carroll, Pete Letters to the Editor [Hermetic Art Gnostic Alchemy of the Imagination] Nox 2 1986
Cornford, Michael Exosphere Introduction Unpublished 1983
Dafies, Aeronwy Monas Hieroglyphica 11 and Marginalia Redsine 4 Online [listing] 2001
Daunt, Will Pulsar 40 [Even Anarchists] New Hope International Online 2005
Duncan, Andrew Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Duxbury-Hibbert, Susan A Interview by Susan A Duxbury-Hibbert (Words from Nowhere) Unpublished 1996
Finch, Peter Colour of Dust Buzz Magazine 1999
Foley, Jack Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Fra Enotomy Letters to the Editor (Pandora's Box) [The Nightmare of Rejection] The Lamp of Thoth Vol III No 1 1984
Friend, Sean Russell Alien Autopsy Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Friend, Sean Russell On The Ubiquitous Steve Sneyd Dark Fantasy Newsletter 6 1999
Gimblett, John The Luminous Boat (Work on 2 Paintings by Carl Hoffer) Stride 29 1987
Grimbleby, David The Unmagical Art of Salvador Dali The Lamp Of Thoth 20 1987
Haines, John F Colour of Dust A C Evans Handshake 36 1999
Haines, John F Memories of the Future Handshake 36 [listing] 1999
Haines, John F Outlaw 2 Handshake 53 2003
Hamilton, Michael A Ship To Nowhere Touchpaper 8 1998
Hanson, Matt/ Walter, Shane R J onedotzero3 Film Four/ICA 1999
Haynes, Lara Decaying Orbits Not Dead But Dreaming Vol XII 2000
Healy, Randolph Burning Man An Iconic Narrative New Hope International Review 1999
Henderson, Neil K Letters to the Editor [Woman by a Lake (after Andre Breton)] The Supplement 39 2008
Hooper, Emma An Interview With RML… [Trajectories/Worlds Known and Not] 10th Muse 7 1996
Jebb, Keith A C Evans Space Opera/A C Evans Dream Vortex PQR (Poetry Quarterly Review) 1998
Jope, Norman A C Evans Graphic Work Is Featured… Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman Five Steps Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman Stride 32 Memes 1 1989
Jope, Norman In The Forest of Signs [Occult Connections] Memes 4 1990
Jope, Norman Creative Intelligence is as Evident… Memes 8 1993
Jope, Norman Between Alien Worlds Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Conversation Piece Number Two [Genteel Outsiders] Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Timbers Across The Sun Memes 9 1994
Jope, Norman Kingdom of the (Hairless) Heart Tears in the Fence 24 1999
Jope, Norman Ascended Ravens Tears in the Fence 27 2000
Jordan, Andrew Meaning as Artifice [The Inscrutable World] 10th Muse 7 1996
Kirke, Alexis A Pamphlet To Be Reckoned With [Zones of Impulse] Terrible Work 5 1995
Kirke, Alexis The Inscrutable World by A C Evans & Rupert Loydell Terrible Work 6 1996
Kopaska-Merkel, David C Space Opera Dreams and Nightmares 1997
Lee, Emma Dream Vortex 10th Muse 10 2000
Lee, Emma Memories of the Future Tales of the Burning Man 10th Muse 10 2000
Lenkiewicz, Alice Fractured Muse by A C Evans Neon Highway 7 2004
Light, John Review of The Bards 1, 2 and 3 Atlantean Publishing Online 2005
Lightman, Ira Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Lockey, Paul J A C Evans takes a short surreal train ride… Unhinged 3 [biog] 1999
Loydell, Rupert Interview by Rupert Loydell (The Stride Interview) Stride 20 1985
Loydell, Rupert The Third Alternative [Like the Dark Side of The Moon] Stride 36 1994
Loydell, Rupert Stranger Here Myself (Introduction to Colour of Dust) Stride 1999
Marsh, Jane Jane Marsh Interviews The Poet A C Evans Neon Highway 12 Online 2006
Marsh, Jane Jane Marsh Interviews The Poet A C Evans (The Illustrated Jane) Neon Highway 13 2008
McMahon, Gary Whispers of Wickedness Silence Deathmasques VI by A C Evans Ookami Online 2004
Miettinen, J. S Three Artists (Catalogue Notes Cross Section An Exhibition of Painting) Chelmsford Technical High School 1968
Orange, Thomas M On Authorial Voice [Voices in Denial] Heuriskein Online 2007
Oxley, William Thirty Three Steps Towards Stride (The Ladder To The Next Floor) University of Salzburg 1993
Pearce, Brian Louis Exosphere A C Evans Stride 16 1984
Perloff, Marjorie Responses to A C Evans' Essay Voices in Denial Poetry and Post-Culture The Argotist Online 2006
Poison Quill This Sepulchre Avant-Goth Poems by A C Evans The Seventh Seal 4 2001
Reed, Chris Colour of Dust The BBR Directory 1999
Searles, A Langley Three Titles of A C Evans have recently… Fantasy Commentator 52 [listing] 2000
Side, Jeffrey A C Evans The Bards 1 New Hope International Online 2004
Side, Jeffrey Interview by Jeffrey Side The Argotist Online 2006
Side, Jeffrey Note From The Editor [Voices in Denial] The Argotist Online 2006
Smith, Barbara A C Evans Fractured Muse New Hope International Online 2005
Sneyd, Steve Between Alien Worlds Data Dump 9 [listing] 1994
Sneyd, Steve Mystical/Speculative… Data Dump 9 1994
Sneyd, Steve Flights From The Iron Moon Genre Poetry in UK Fanzines & Little Magazines 1980-1989 The Hilltop Press 1995
Sneyd, Steve Interview by Steve Sneyd (Space Opera An Interview with A C Evans) Fantasy Commentator 47/48 1995
Sneyd, Steve Dream Vortex Data Dump 22 1997
Sneyd, Steve Foreword to Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Sneyd, Steve Interview by Steve Sneyd (Visions by Association) Stride Publications 1997
Sneyd, Steve A Ship to Nowhere Data Dump 31 [listing] 1998
Sneyd, Steve Space Opera Data Dump 25 1998
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans The Stone Door Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Also A C Evans Space Opera poem sequence [Centre of Gravity] Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Colour of Dust Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Memories of the Future Data Dump 43 1999
Sneyd, Steve Swan of Yuggoth Data Dump 44 1999
Sneyd, Steve Two Genre Anthologies…[Fantasia/Death's Door] Data Dump 37 1999
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans This Sepulchre Data Dump 49 [listing] 2000
Sneyd, Steve Only Our Opinion [Colour of Dust] Twink 18 2000
Sneyd, Steve The Burning Man Spacerock Fest Data Dump 45 2000
Sneyd, Steve Fractured Muse Data Dump 68 2003
Sneyd, Steve We Are Glad You Have Come (Sleeping Galaxy) Stark 27 2003
Sneyd, Steve A C Evans SF Poetry Sequence Space Opera [Interview by Jane Marsh] Data Dump 104 2006
Sneyd, Steve Coinicidentally in the On-Line Interview [Interview by Jane Marsh] Data Dump 104 2006
Sneyd, Steve Letters to the Editor [Weirdstuff] The Supplement 42 2008
Sneyd, Steve Matters Arising [Lust for a Vampire] Data Dump 119 2008
Sneyd, Steve Significant Number Issue # 75 of Handshake [Boo Galaxy] Data Dump 129 2008
Sneyd, Steve Term Speculative Poetry has more definitions, perhaps… Data Dump 128 2008
Sneyd, Steve Vespula Vanishes & Other Poems Data Dump 118 2008
Spence, Steve Colour of Dust by A C Evans Scene Magazine 1999
Spence, Steve Wordplay With Worldplay Poetry Quarterly Review 13 1999
Spence, Steve Neon Highway Issue 2 October 2002 Terrible Work Online 2003
Spindoc Fractured Muse by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 72 2004
Spracklen, Jamie A C Evans is an artist and poet Monas Hieroglyphica 10 [biog] 2000
Tennant, Peter Literary Horror Reviewed Unhinged Online 1 [not available] 2001
Tyrer, D-J Old Rossum's Book of Practical Robots Handshake 75 [listing] 2008
Tyrer, D-J Vespula Vanishes & Other Poems The Supplement 38 2008
Unsigned Artist-Poet A C Evans Ixion 6 [biog] 1999
Unsigned Review Adrian's Jazz Catalogue (EWN 12 Oct 1972) [Books on Jazz] Essex Weekly News 1972
Unsigned Review Witty Notes on all the Jazz Books (BWT 13 Oct 1972) [Books on Jazz] Braintree & Witham Times 1972
Unsigned Review Exosphere Unknown Source 1984
Unsigned Review Exosphere A C Evans The Lamp Of Thoth 14 1984
Unsigned Review Decaying Orbits Scavenger's Newsletter 1987
Unsigned Review Decaying Orbits The Lamp Of Thoth 20 1987
Unsigned Review Incisive Exposures [Neon Aeon I-V] Frontal Lobe 2 1995
Unsigned Review A C Evans is both the poet and the artist… Zene 14 1998
Unsigned Review Angels of Rancid Glamour PQR (Poetry Quarterly Review) 11 1998
Vaughan, Vittoria Interactive Patterns Kaleidoscopically… [Zones of Impulse] 10th Muse 6 1995
Weston, D J Letters to the Editor [Displacement Effects] The Supplement 40 2008
Wiloch, Thomas Chimaera Obscura Taproot Reviews 3 1993
Wiloch, Thomas Martin A Hibbert and A C Evans Between Alien Worlds Taproot Reviews 4 1994
Wiloch, Thomas. Decaying Orbits Stride 29 1987
Zine Kat Space Opera by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 46/47 1998
Zine Kat Asphalt Jungle Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999
Zine Kat Colour of Dust by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 59 1999
Zine Kat Handshake Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999
Zine Kat Memories of the Future Dragon's Breath 60 1999
Zine Kat Omega Lightning by A C Evans Dragon's Breath 64 1999
Zine Kat The BBR Directory Dragon's Breath 59 [listing] 1999

Illustration: Untitled, 1973

Artwork Publications 1967-1999

Artwork Publications 1967-1999

The Imagination Machine print [self-published] CygnusXPress 1967
Sir Modred Courtier Fine Arts [greetings card] Courtier Fine Arts 1968
The Man Who Built The Pyramids I Courtier Fine Arts [greetings card] Courtier Fine Arts 1968
The Man Who Built The Pyramids II Courtier Fine Arts [greetings card] Courtier Fine Arts 1968
The Priestess Courtier Fine Arts [greetings card] Courtier Fine Arts 1968
The Sorcerer Courtier Fine Arts [greetings card] Courtier Fine Arts 1968
Sun And Moon Cross Section An Exhibition Of Painting [catalogue] cover art (CTHS version) CTHS 1968
Concerto For Cootie Books On Jazz [booklet] cover art (CPL final version) CPL 1972
Nocturne Boogie Woogie Books On Jazz [booklet] cover art (CPL final version) CPL 1972
And There Fell A Great Star Sothis A Magazine Of The New Aeon Vol II No II AN LXXIII Sothis 1977
La Destruction II Sothis A Magazine Of The New Aeon Vol II No II AN LXXIII Sothis 1977
Crystal Memoire (Wings Of Midnight) The New Equinox Vol 4 No 1 May 1979 Morton Press 1979
Rictus Sardonicus VI Le Pendu The New Equinox Vol 4 No 1 May 1979 Morton Press 1979
The Great Forest The Daath Papers No 2 Autumn 1980 The Order Of The Serpent 1980
Orthogenesis I Hermetic Art 1/2 [cream] CygnusXPress 1981
Orthogenesis I Hermetic Art 2/2 [grey] CygnusXPress 1981
Bride I The New Equinox Vol 5 Part 3 February 1981 Kaaba Publications 1981
Le Pendu Stride 6 Nov 1982 Stride Publications 1982
Orthogenesis I Stride 6 Nov 1982 Stride Publications 1982
Silence Stride 6 Nov 1982 Stride Publications 1982
The Tower Stride 6 Nov 1982 Stride Publications 1982
Rictus Sardonicus (Proto-Sardonicus) CJCM Vol 1 Issue 5 (Rites Of The Feather) 1983 Conquering Child Publishing 1983
Rictus Sardonicus VIII Deams CJCM Vol 1 Issue 5 (Rites Of The Feather) 1983 Conquering Child Publishing 1983
Rictus Sardonicus XIII Rex (Rictus Sarcasmus) CJCM Vol 1 Issue 5 (Rites Of The Feather) 1983 Conquering Child Publishing 1983
Deadly Nightshards Stride 10 July 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Occultation Stride 10 July 1983 Stride Publications 1983
The Angel Of The Exosphere Stride 10 July 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Transept Stride 10 July 1983 Stride Publications 1983
A Way Of Looking (Une Etoile) II Stride 12 Nov 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Bacchanalia (Beastial Virgin) Stride 12 Nov 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Bride II Stride 12 Nov 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Horus II Stride 12 Nov 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Eironeia Fantastica Stride 9 May 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Rebirth Control I Stride 9 May 1983 Stride Publications 1983
The Dancer Stride 9 May 1983 Stride Publications 1983
Stigma II Velocities A Magazine Of Speculative Poetry 3 Fall/Winter 1983 1983
Alien City Velocities A Magazine Of Speculative Poetry 3 Fall-Winter 1983 1983
Double Meaning Blink (Step 23) Stride Publications 1984
Mist Soul Blink (Step 23) Stride Publications 1984
Resident Aliens Blink (Step 23) Stride Publications 1984
The Way Of All Flesh II Body And Soul Blink (Step 23) cover art Stride Publications 1984
Le Grand Grimoire I Dark Horizons No 27 Summer 1984 British Fantasy Society 1984
The Astral Widow Dark Horizons No 27 Summer 1984 British Fantasy Society 1984
Crystal Memoire (Wings Of Midnight) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Destruction II (The Extraordinary Question) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Eironeia Fantastica Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Horus Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
In The Cathedral (Xezbeth) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Mercurius (Grotesque Head) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Night-Lights Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Orthogenesis I Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Perihelion (The Next Absolute Horizon) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Rebirth Control I Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Rictus Sardonicus VI Le Pendu Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Silence I Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Silence III (The Venus Trap) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Sphinx Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Stigma II Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Abstainers (The Tapestry Of Life) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr Crow Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Astral Widow Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Glare Grows Alarming (Vampfires) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
The Vectors Of Hate Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Tower (The Churches Of The Earth) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Tower Of Silence (Prying Eyes) Exosphere (Step 24) Stride Publications 1984
Orthogenesis I Exosphere (Step 24) [booklet] cover art (Stride final version I) [col] Stride Publications 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Exosphere (Step 24) [booklet] cover art (Stride final version I) [col] Stride Publications 1984
Orthogenesis I Exosphere (Step 24) [booklet] cover art (Stride final version II) [b/w] Stride Publications 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Exosphere (Step 24) [booklet] cover art (Stride final version II) [b/w] Stride Publications 1984
Nuigh Exosphere (Step 24) [leaflet] Stride Publications 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Exosphere (Step 24) [leaflet] Stride Publications 1984
Orthogenesis I Exosphere (Step 24) [postcard] Stride Publications 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Exosphere (Step 24) [postcard] Stride Publications 1984
From Another Star (The Glare Grows Alarming) Formaos Vol 1 No 2 July 1984 Sothis Publishing 1984
Mercurius (Grotesque Head) Formaos Vol 1 No 2 July 1984 Sothis Publishing 1984
The Abstainers (The Tapestry Of Life) Formaos Vol 1 No 2 July 1984 Sothis Publishing 1984
Double Meaning Formaos Vol 1 No 3 Dec 1984 Sothis Publishing 1984
Horus I Formaos Vol 1 No 3 Dec 1984 Sothis Publishing 1984
The First Day (Aratron) Illuminatus Monthly Vol 1 No 1 Feb 1984 The Illuminati Press 1984
Azimuth I Stride 13 January 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Le Grand Grimoire I Stride 13 January 1984 Stride Publications 1984
The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr Crow Stride 13 January 1984 Stride Publications 1984
The Cathedral Of The Future Stride 13 January 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Familiar Spirits Stride 15 May 1684 Stride Publications 1984
Venus And Mars Stride 15 May 1684 Stride Publications 1984
Alien Necropolis (Await Developments) Stride 15 May 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Melpomene I Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Metacropolis Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Saint (Head Of A Saint) Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984 Stride Publications 1984
Satanic Planets Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984 Stride Publications 1984
The Fall Stride 17/18 Autumn 1984 Stride Publications 1984
And There Fell A Great Star Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Death Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Nuigh Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Stigma III Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Tzeth Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Vectors Of Love Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 Stride Publications 1984
Tzeth Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 [postcard] Stride Publications 1984
And There Fell A Great Star Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 cover art Stride Publications 1984
Tzeth Stride 19 Winter 1984/1985 cover art Stride Publications 1984
The First Day (Aratron) The Fellowship Of The Illuminati [notepaper] The Illuminati Press 1984
The Angel Of The Exosphere Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [booklet] Stride Publications 1985
Centre Of Gravity Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [booklet] cover art 1/2 Stride Publications 1985
Centre Of Gravity Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [booklet] cover art 2/2 Stride Publications 1985
The Way Of All Flesh I The Crypt Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [inlay card] Stride Publications 1985
Centre Of Gravity Centre Of Gravity C60 (Step 50) [postcard] Stride Publications 1985
Alien City Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Apastron Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Artaud, 1946 Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Decaying Orbits Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Eros Klastos Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Leonardo’s Wall I Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Neogenesis Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Occultation Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Orthogenesis II Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Poet (Fixation) Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Rictus Sardonicus XIV Death (Ghosts) Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Stigma I Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Stigma III Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
The Circuits Of Nox Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
The City As I Saw It Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
The Fall Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
The Question Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
The Vectors Of Love Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
We Do Not Speak Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Zenith Decaying Orbits (Step 84) Stride Publications 1985
Crypt Variations I Decaying Orbits (Step 84) [booklet] cover art (Stride final version) Stride Publications 1985
Atavism I Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Calligraphic Automata Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Orphic Narcissus Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
The First Day (Aratron) Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
The Heavenly Host Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
The Question Of Identity Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Contact Zero 04 Flesh Eating Beasts Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Contact Zero 05 The Rattlesnake Pit Organ Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Life On Neogaea Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Outcast Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea) Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Unidentified Sources (Inspiration is Sweeter Than Death I) Stride 21 Summer 1985 Stride Publications 1985
Life On Neogaea Stride Postcards [bronze] Stride Publications 1985
Orphic Narcissus Stride Postcards [bronze] Stride Publications 1985
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea) Stride Postcards [bronze] Stride Publications 1985
The First Day (Aratron) Stride Postcards [bronze] Stride Publications 1985
Metacropolis Stride Postcards [grey] Stride Publications 1985
Outcast Stride Postcards [grey] Stride Publications 1985
Satanic Planets Stride Postcards [grey] Stride Publications 1985
The Fall Stride Postcards [grey] Stride Publications 1985
Atavism I Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
Eyes Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
Leonardo’s Wall I Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
Narthex (The Reliquary) Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
Saint (Head Of A Saint) Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
The Cathedral Of Silence (Eros Klastos) Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
The Cathedral Of The Past Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
The Hanged Man (Le Pendu) II Fisheye No 5 Winter 1986 1986
Atavism I Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 1 Issue 1 Apr 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
The Hanged Man (Le Pendu) II Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 2 Issue 2 Apr 1986 cover art Disrupters Press 1986
His Shadow Lives On II (But His Spirit Lives On) Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 2 Issue 2 Aug 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
Le Grand Grimoire I Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 2 Issue 2 Aug 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
Melpomene I Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 2 Issue 2 Aug 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
Anorexia Nirvana Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 3 Issue 3 Nov 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
Melpomene I Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 3 Issue 3 Nov 1986 Disrupters Press 1986
Aethyr XVII Les Oiseaux de Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 3 Issue 3 Nov 1986 cover art Disrupters Press 1986
Angel With Raiding Party Stride 23 Spring 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Splintered Avatar Stride 23 Spring 1986 Stride Publications 1986
The Cathedral Of The Damned Stride 23 Spring 1986 Stride Publications 1986
The Question Stride 23 Spring 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Unknown Superior Stride 23 Spring 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 01 Contact Zero (title) Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 02 Random 1/Random 2 1/2 Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 03 Random 1/Random 2 2/2 Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 04 Flesh Eating Beasts Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 05 The Rattlesnake Pit Organ Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 06 Target Envisaged Image Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 07 Inside The Pit Membrane Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 08 Reading Writing And What? Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 09 Realism Theory And Practice Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 10 Chimaera Obscura Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 11 Not So Far Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Contact Zero 12 The Membrane Intercepts Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
The Neo Nova Stride 24/25 The Serendipity Caper Summer 1986 Stride Publications 1986
Satanic Planets Formaos Vol 1 No 5 Mar 1987 Sothis Publishing 1987
Aethyr VII Aethyr Of Purity Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 4 Issue 4 Mar 1987 Disrupters Press 1987
Styx Insect III (Social Symbioses On Neogaea) Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 4 Issue 4 Mar 1987 Disrupters Press 1987
Visions Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 4 Issue 4 Mar 1987 Disrupters Press 1987
Orphic Narcissus II Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 2 No 1 Issue 5 July 1987 Disrupters Press 1987
Enclosed Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Fear Of Silence Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Illusion Of Death I Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Illusion Of Death II Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Melpomene II Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Night And Day Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Temptation Of St Sebastian Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
The Eye Of The Storm Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
The Pylons Of Nox Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications 1987
Unidentified Sources (Inspiration is Sweeter Than Death I) Chaos International 4 Mar 1988 BM Sorcery 1988
Zenith Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 2 No 2 Issue 6 Aug 1988 Longship Warrior 1988
Stargate Vision IV (Mortal Coil) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
Stargate Vision V (Sea Eyes Of The Starfish) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
Stargate Wavelength II (No Man's Land) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
Temporal Implosion III (Star War Level) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
Temporal Implosion IV (Another Stargate/Another Room) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
The Eye Of Time IV (Some Other Star) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
The Stargate Question I (The Last Dimension) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
The Stargate Question IX (Hide These Commandments) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
The Stargate Question VIII (Life Is So Cheap On Mars) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
The Stargate Question X (The Grave Of Space) Chain Lightning Apparitions Press 1989
Double Meaning Memes Issue 1 August 1989 1989
Horus II Memes Issue 1 August 1989 1989
Venus And Mars Memes Issue 1 August 1989 1989
Beyond The Exosphere Memes Issue 2 December 1989 1989
The Cathedral Of The Past Memes Issue 2 December 1989 1989
Atavism II Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
Hypnos II Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
Isotope Of Mirror Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
Loss Of Faith Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
Now Is The Time Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
The City As I Saw It Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
The Impossible Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
The Power Of Thought Stride 32 Spring/Summer 1989 Stride Publications 1989
In The Cathedral (Xezbeth) Fractured Issue No 1 Winter 1990 1990
The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr Crow Fractured Issue No 1 Winter 1990 1990
Orpheus I Memes Issue 3 Mar 1990 1990
Decaying Orbits Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 2 No 3 Issue 7 Jan 1990 Longship Warrior 1990
Inspiration Is Sweeter Than Death Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 2 No 3 Issue 7 Jan 1990 Longship Warrior 1990
Unidentified Sources (Inspiration is Sweeter Than Death I) Zeitgeist cover art Dragonheart Press 1990
Resident Aliens Fractured Issue No 2 Spriing 1991 1991
Outcast Fractured Issue No 3 Summer 1991 1991
Triptych (The Abyss) 2 Abyss Of The City Fractured Issue No 3 Summer 1991 1991
Rictus Sardonicus XVIII The Cathedral Memes Issue 5 May 1991 1991
Triptych (The Abyss) 2 Abyss Of The City Memes Issue 5 May 1991 1991
Triptych (The Abyss) 3 Islands Of Time Memes Issue 5 May 1991 1991
The Heart Is The Eye Beyond Self Sad Isn't The Colour Of The Dream cover art Stride Publications 1991
Angel With Raiding Party Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Atavism II Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Azimuth Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Enclosed Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Hermetic Symbols I Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Hermetic Symbols III Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Illusion Of Life Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Impulse VII (Within the Glass) Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Impulse X Impulse Y Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
In The Madhouse Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Message From Entity X Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Misnomer Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Parallel Icon Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Spectral Waves Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Splintered Avatar Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Starry Night Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
The Cathedral Of The Damned Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
The Sceptre Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
The Way Of All Flesh II Body And Soul Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Triptych (The Abyss) 1 Mystic Flower (Inflorescence) Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Triptych (The Abyss) 2 Abyss Of The City Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Tzeth Chimaera Obscura The Phlebas Press 1992
Apocynthion Memes Issue 7 June 1992 1992
Tinguely Cathedral Memes Issue 7 June 1992 cover art 1992
Atavism I 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Azimuth I 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Bride II 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Eyes 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Leonardo’s Wall I 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
The Hanged Man (Le Pendu) II 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Triptych (The Abyss) 1 Mystic Flower (Inflorescence) 10th Muse No 4 Oct 1993 1993
Between Alien Worlds Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
Ruins In Time Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
The Mask Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
The Sky Belongs To Us Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
The Wrong World Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
This Alien World Between Alien Worlds The Trombone Press 1993
The Astral Night The Xantras [booklet] cover art The Trombone Press 1993
Le Grand Grimoire II Memes Issue 9 Apr 1994 1994
Totem II Terrible Work [leaflet] 1/3 Spineless Press 1994
Totem II Terrible Work [leaflet] 2/3 Spineless Press 1994
Totem II Terrible Work [leaflet] 3/3 Spineless Press 1994
Anorexia Nirvana Terrible Work 3 Spring 1994 Spineless Press 1994
Nykticorax (detail) Terrible Work 3 Spring 1994 Spineless Press 1994
Rebirth Control II Terrible Work 3 Spring 1994 Spineless Press 1994
Dream Of Stone The Inscrutable World The Trombone Press 1995
Haunted Landscape The Inscrutable World The Trombone Press 1995
Inscrutable World The Inscrutable World The Trombone Press 1995
Leonardo’s Wall I The Inscrutable World The Trombone Press 1995
Mystic Landscape The Inscrutable World The Trombone Press 1995
Another Great Wave I Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Dangerous Skies III (Luna Corona) Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Flaming World Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Guardian Of The Sun Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Hermetic Space I (This Very Night) Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Impulse Zone Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Seismic Domain Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
The Citadel Of Doubt Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
The Citadel Of Solitude Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
The Inner Eye Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
The View From Planet X Zones Of Impulse The Trombone Press 1995
Externity Forver Process Angles Of Incidence 19th Phase Lung Gom Press 1996
Internal Reality Trespasses cover art The Trombone Press 1996
Winter World II Desire cover art Stride Publications 1997
Angel With Raiding Party Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Centre Of Gravity Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Life On Neogaea Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
The Neo Nova Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
The Question Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
The Scene Of The Crime Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Worker Display Arena Space Opera Stride Publications 1997
Life On Neogaea Space Opera cover art Stride Publications 1997
Le Grand Grimoire II Dark Fantasy Newsletter No 4 Apr 1999 cover art Springbeach Press 1999
Demon Inversus Death's Door Springbeach Press 1999
Luminous Shadow IV Damned In Three Worlds Death's Door Springbeach Press 1999
The Elastic Mirror Death's Door Springbeach Press 1999
Vortex Creature II Sci-Fright No 1 Feb/Mar 1999 Springbeach Press 1999
Dangerous Skies I Sci-Fright No 5 Nov 1999 Springbeach Press 1999

Illustration: Veronica Lurk III, 1975

Non Fiction Publications 1974-1999

Non Fiction Publications 1974-1999

Olivier Messiaen In The Surrealist Context Part One Brio Vol 11 No 1 Spring 1974 IAML UK
Olivier Messiaen In The Surrealist Context Part Two Brio Vol 11 No 2 Autumn 1974 IAML UK
Huysmans Decadence And Dissociation Part 1 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol II No 2 Dec 1981 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Paranoia Magic Of Salvador Dali The New Equinox Vol. 5 Part 3 February 1981 Kaaba Publications
Huysmans Decadence And Dissociation Part 2 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol II No 3 Apr 1982 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Symbolic Art And Sigilization Part 1 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol II No 3 Apr 1982 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Symbolic Art And Sigilization Part 2 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol II No 4 July 1982 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Initiation And Illusion The Nightmare Of Rejection Part 1 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol II No 6 June 1983 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Bond Street Snatches Stride 16 July 1984 Stride Publications
Initiation And Illusion The Nightmare Of Rejection Part 2 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol III No 1 Feb 1984 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Long Corridors And Stained Sheets Stride 20 Spring 1985 Stride Publications
Fantasies Of Displacement Stride 22 Autumn 1985 Stride Publications
Hermetic Art Gnostic Alchemy Of The Imagination The Hermetic Journal Vol 28 1985
Beyond The Reality Principle Part 1 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol III No 5 Aug 1985 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Hermetic Art Gnostic Alchemy Of The Imagination Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 1 Issue 1 Apr 1986 Disrupters Press
Gwen John As Icon Stride 26 The Baden-Powell Shuffle 1986 Stride Publications
The Mysteries Of Ellipsis Stride 26 The Baden-Powell Shuffle 1986 Stride Publications
The Red Switch Stride 26 The Baden-Powell Shuffle 1986 Stride Publications
Only False Keys Stride 26 The Baden-Powell Shuffle 1986 Stride Publications
Beyond The Reality Principle Part 2 The Lamp Of Thoth Vol III No 6 Feb 1986 The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Poetry Of Terra Stride 27 July 1987 Stride Publications
Aftermath Of Enlightenment From The Gothic to The Hermetic Nox The Magazine Of The Abyss Vol 1 No 2 Issue 2 Aug 1986 Disrupters Press
Flyin’ Woodle Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Fortean Times The Journal Of Strange Phenomena Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Objects Displaced By Darkness Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Ponsanooth Surrealists In The Service Of The Revolution Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Punch Lines Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Rhetoric Of Significance Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
The Rorcharsch Test Stride 29 1987 Stride Publications
Visionaries Against The Clever Club Stride 30 A Show Of Hands 1988 Stride Publications
Occult Connections Part 1 Memes 3 Mar 1990
Occult Connections Part 2 Memes 4 Sept 1990
Occult Connections Part 3 Memes 5 May 1991
Alfred Jarry Or Death is Only for Common People The Nox Anthology Dark Doctrines (Nox Vol 3 No 1 June 1991) New World Publishing
Angels Of Rancid Glamour Notes On Neo-Decadence Part 1 Chaos International Issue No 13 Sept 1992 BM Sorcery
Angels Of Rancid Glamour Notes On Neo-Decadence Part 2 Chaos International Issue No 14 Dec 1992 BM Sorcery
The Aesthetic Transformation Of Perception Chaos International Issue No 15 Mar 1993 BM Sorcery
Genteel Outsiders Notes On Character In London Clay Emotional Geology Stride Publications 1993
Karstic Landscape With Added Weirdness Memes 8 Nov 1993
Post-Modern Prometheus Memes 8 Nov 1993
Requiem For Dismembered Plastic Memes 8 Nov 1993
Soundings From Futurity’s Icy Radar Memes 8 Nov 1993
How Few Words Timbers Across The Sun (Introduction) University Of Salzburg 1993
Cloud Assail Memes 10 1994
Intimacy Magazine Memes 10 1994
Ostinato Magazine Memes 10 1994
Subliminal Investigator Memes 10 1994
The Visible And The Invisible Stride 36 Closed Volumes 1994 Stride Publications
Voices Or The Memory The Sensation The Sonata Stride 36 Closed Volumes 1994 Stride Publications
Worlds Known And Not (Rupert Loydell Interview) Trajectories Phlebas 1994
Angels Of Rancid Glamour Notes On Neo-Decadence Angels Of Rancid Glamour (Stride Research Document No 8) Stride Publications 1998
Phantoms Dissolving In Time Colour Of Dust (Preface) Stride Publications 1999
An Offbeat Phenomenon Zest 6 Spring 1999 IDR

Illustration: Veronica Lurk II, 1974

The Stride Interview

Rupert M Loydell interviews A C Evans, January 1985

You describe your work as hermetic art; can you enlarge upon that?

For me the term ‘hermetic’ has three meanings. In general usage it has the sense of ‘obscure’ or ‘impenetrable’, as in the phrase ‘hermetically sealed’. In literature the term 'Hermeticism' was used by the Italian critic Francesco Flora, with reference to the work of Ungaretti. He was placing Ungaretti in the French poetic tradition of Valery, Mallarme, Rimbaud and their precursors, Nerval and Baudelaire. Mallarme was the supreme master of hermetic poetry in this sense. Then, of course, there is the original sense, referring to the Corpus Hermeticum, the philosophy of Hermes Trismegistus, which in the context of traditional alchemy gave rise to a pejorative use of the word to mean a sort of willful obscurantism. Both Mallarme and the Surrealists have subsequently seen poetry as a mode of psychological purification akin to what is known as ‘spiritual alchemy’. I would be quite happy to apply all these definitions to my own work both graphic and poetic - I use the term hermetic to refer to the fact that I do not feel the reader/viewer is obliged to ‘read’ my works searching for ‘meanings’ in the narrow sense. I would hope my work effects people in a surreal, non-rational way. 1 think one has to recognize that any valid modern artwork is only ‘meaningful’ to the artist himself - solipsism is intrinsic to the modernist position, and the prime objective of pure artistic activity should be personal self-transformation, not inter-personal communication.

What physical process do you use to draw?

For equipment I use Rotring Rapidograph needle tip pens of a number of grades ranging from 0.1 which is very fine to 0.5 which is quite broad. I just use a pencil, these pens and some reasonably good quality drawing paper. If I need to work with non-linear black masses I use an ordinary felt-tip pen. I use the Rotring pens to create a number of different effects. The needle tips scratch the surface of the paper making broken lines, as in the drawings ‘Stigma III’ and ‘Vectors of Hate’, which remind me very much of photos of particle tracks taken in cloud-chambers. I can also use them to generate cloudy masses of dots and stippling which can be elaborate, as in ‘The Astral Widow’ (Exosphere frontispiece). I like the harsh machine lines of these pens; they suit the general tone of alienation that characterises my pictures.

How about ideas? What are your Inspirations?

I feel bombarded with ideas all the time. I’m often inspired by words and phrases like ‘freezing fog’ or technical terms like ‘xerosere’. Words like this may conjure up an image or spark off a chain of word associations, which become the basis of a poem. I have drawn inspiration from scientific photos from the extreme ends of research - high-energy astrophysics, astronomy. Often a poem or picture will relate to a specific historical or political idea, like ‘The Cathedral of the Future’, which was a kind of warning - I hope not a prophecy. Other artists often inspire me, and some poems relate directly to my emotional life - drawings rarely do.

The drawings seem connected, have you created a mythical world or is it just style?

Most of the drawings are interconnected. I often work in cycles of related motifs. To begin with this is just a stylistic exercise and the interest lies in manipulating the same motif in different contexts.
I regard this as a form of unconscious scanning; it’s rather like looking down a microscope, watching related images float into and out of view. The procedure then becomes more developed. Certain motifs remain with me for a long time and operate like a form of pictographic language. These interconnections do become the basis for, what could be called, a ‘private mythology’. Sometimes this mythology appears to take on a life of its own, with named characters (Xezbeth, Nyktikorax, Scabra Sanguinea, Tzeth, Nuigh) and places (Jet City, Metacropolis, Nylokeras Charontis) providing the setting of the poems - for example ‘Jet City’ and ‘Mock Transcendental Notes’. All of this should be distilled in order to avoid direct, literal interpretations.

Do you use things symbolically or allegorically in your work?

Both: in a drawing like ‘The Cathedral of the Future’ almost all the motifs are allegorical - the monumental tower is an ‘allegory’ of theocratic oppression, and refers to a Tarot card - but I try to preserve a form of ambiguity which gives the entire picture a ‘symbolic’ aura. Again I do not think the viewer needs to realise all this - although it is interesting - it is all a tactic, a technique, to create the ‘hermetic’ effect.

Do you regard your work as frightening, eerie?

I rarely set out to create horrific effects. However I am aware that the reader/viewer may react as though I have set out to do just that. ‘The Astral Widow’ has been used in Dark Horizons (British Fantasy Society Magazine) to illustrate a horror story, and also a drawing called 'Le Grimoire' - these are examples of overtly weird/macabre images finding their rightful homes. I think it is true to say that all my work is imbued with an atmosphere of unease or the uncanny. I have occasionally produced brutal images, which some people may find repellent. If someone found my work frightening I would say that it is because I use material which is ambivalent and borders on the non-human. My own term for this type of effect is ‘grotesque’.

Is the work negative or is there a hope lurking somewhere?

If you are suggesting that there is a spirit of hopelessness in my work I would say that this should be seen as more a sense of outrage - I view the entire human condition with a sense of outrage. But I think the negativity of this can be mitigated by humour - black humour as in Beckett or Andre Breton.

Stride only ever sees photocopied work ready for use, what size is the original work?

Almost always A4 size, or smaller. Large works are difficult to store.

Do you sketch different versions of the same picture?

A visual work may exist in a number of different versions. Usually it starts off as a pencil sketch - sometimes a naturalistic life study, sometimes a quasi-automatic calligraphic expression of a non-naturalistic idea. Some drawings like ‘The Tapestry of Life’ are based on collages. Most drawings are pieced together from different sketches that come together by chance – ‘Atavism’ for instance is a combination of three different sketches.

How long would one piece take on average?

An elaborate piece can take a number of days. Simple linear compositions can be completed in a few minutes.

Do you exhibit the originals?

Never.

Does your writing relate very closely to your drawings? The poems often have picture titles within them.

Yes. I regard prose writing as a sort of dredging, trawling exercise; a way of sorting out my aesthetic ideas. I will often use lines from poems as picture titles, or incorporate picture titles into poems in an aleatoric way. A good example is ‘Filigree Paintings Explode’. The collage was made at least two years before the text was written but seems to illustrate it quite well. The poem itself is a cut-up. This sort of intersection is the Burroughs-Gysin ‘Third Mind’ effect. I am extremely interested in the borderland between writing and drawing - the two activities overlap in areas like callig¬raphy, glossolalia and ‘nonsense’ poetry. I quite often use a form of calligraphic automatism that can be a sort of half-writing, half-drawing.

What are your literary tastes?

I like Burroughs, Beckett, Borges and Pynchon. On the whole I find the English tradition rather tedious, although I greatly admire Lewis Carroll and Thomas De Quincey. I am much more at home with Mallarme, Rimbaud, Artaud and Baudelaire - I read them all the time. I also read quite a lot of literary criticism and non-fiction.

Do they effect your visual and written work?

Yes. Direct influences are Huysmans, Baudelaire, Mallarme and Antonin Artaud. Also Andre Breton and the poems of Max Ernst. I am very interested in the Dada and Simultaneist poets.

What about your tastes in the art world?

Many artists I like are direct influences - the Surrealists: Matta, Tanguy, Ernst and Hans Bellmer. Bellmer particularly. I am also interested in the contemporary Fantastic Realists, like Ernst Fuchs, or H. R. Giger, who did the designs for the film Alien. Other art historic influences would be Bosch, Schongauer, Durer and earlier, medieval Gothic artists like Villard de Honnecourt who made beautiful drawings for the cathedral-builders. My earliest influence was Aubrey Beardsley. The drawing Sphinx in Exosphere is a Beardsley tribute. I am very at home with fin-de-siecle artists like Toorop, Klimt and A. O. Spare.

Do you see illustration as separate from fine art?

I find the term ‘fine art’ unacceptable. It relates to what I would call the ‘art industry’, an institution based on obsolete concepts of art trading and co1lecting. ‘Illustration’ can be stimulating. Beardsley was an ‘illustrator’ though Wilde didn’t think his Salome designs were literal enough. Wilde’s definition of ‘illustration’ was rather limiting. I rarely produce illustration from specific works and if I do they tend to be disastrous. But I am always very happy for my pictures to be related to other people’s stories, poems, tapes etc. This often generates unforeseen interconnections of word and image. The drawing ‘Stigma II’ was used in Velocities (a US magazine), in conjunction with a poem by Ivan Arguelles containing the lines:

names scattered in the perfumed air shining like the lights
used to code the various ancient constellations

For me this sentence matched/illustrated the picture perfectly - but who is illustrating who? Third Mind effect again.

Any artistic aspirations?

My overriding artistic aspiration is to be as hermetic as possible.

What are you working on at present?

I am working on a set of collage-poems in the wake of ‘Random 1/Random 2: The First Hermetic Poem’ (Stride 19), trying to assemble an anthology of pictures and texts which has the working title Ambiguous Signals and I’m writing some poems - of which ‘Filigree Paintings Explode’ is an example - under the general title Ethos Mythos. No drawings for 1985 yet...but I have some ideas.

You worked on the artwork for the last Stride compilation cassette; does music interest you, or inspire your work?

I am and have been influenced by music - although I have a very ambiguous attitude towards it - sometimes I think we live in a society of melomaniacs. In the field of ‘classical’ music I like Olivier Messiaen, Schoenberg, Webern, Debussy, Wagner and Scriabin, among others. ‘Word Music’ was a tenet of late nineteenth century hermetic symbolism, of course. I think most of my poems use words in this ‘musical’ sense, they can have an incantatory quality and are intended in many instances to be read out loud (by someone other than myself, I hasten to add!) I listen to a lot of rock. I’m totally addicted to Bowie and always have been - he’s head-and-shoulders above all other chart-orientated performers. I also like all the early Roxy Music albums and anything by Brian Eno...other likes would include The Banshees, Bob Marley, or jazz musicians like Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. I find rock lyrics very inspiring: almost any line from a song by Lou Reed, for instance, is streets ahead of conventional poetry.

Do you want to be famous?

If I became famous I hope I would take it in my Stride.

Interview from Stride 20, 1985

Illustration: Hopes Lurking Somewhere, 1985

Alchemy Of The Mirage

Thematic symbols atomise, scattering trace elements across a light-sensitive plate hovering between your eyes and your hands

Now in the elemental darkness alien storms shatter a mirror ball into a thousand winged fragments

Bright vision suddenly, in a trance, you can see across tracks of time – satin finish, clear droplets – alchemy of the mirage

Illustration: Trace Element, 2006

Nowhere Imperfect

A Provisional Cosmology

There are secret motions, out of sight, that lie concealed in matter – Lucretius

How can a self-activating universe emerge from nowhere?
Activity in the cosmic substrate (quantum vacuum) involves an indeterminate relationship, governed by the Uncertainty Principle, between the complimentary quantities of energy and time. The Uncertainty Principle is not an intellectual construct but a fundamental characteristic of phenomena.
This uncertainty relation allows for the transformation of ‘borrowed energy’ into a particle called a pion. At a subatomic level pairs of such exchange particles or mesons, provide the attractive intra-nuclear force between protons and neutrons (nucleons) within the atomic nucleus. These ‘virtual’ particles are the objective source of The Casimir Effect, a phenomenon that confirms the existence of minimal energy entities in apparently ‘empty’ space.
There is no absolute void and no such thing as absolutely empty space, even though the Uncertainty Principle ensures that subatomic activity in the void, or quantum vacuum, cannot be described with precise exactitude. A field of absolutely empty space cannot ‘exist’ because the Uncertainty Principle prohibits a field fixed absolutely at zero. In the quantum universe no field can have both a precise value (zero) and a precise rate of change (zero) simultaneously, consequently there will always be a minimum level of uncertainty, a certain level of irregularity, slight fluctuations in the density and velocity of particles. These non-uniform perturbations would be as small as they could be, but would, nevertheless, lead to anomalies in the otherwise smooth regularity of any emerging points of space-time generated by such irregular fluctuations through friction.
The Big Bang event can be understood as the explosive after-effect of an extended chain of irregular perturbations among fluctuating virtual particles generated by borrowed energy comprising the indeterminate pre-cosmic substrate at the quantum level. The density fluctuations already present in the initial space-time singularity, and observed in the CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background), formed the basis of subsequent physical irregularities in the early material conditions of the universe and eventually gave rise to all the astronomical features of the observable cosmos.
These astronomical features are the by-product of a quantum eruption, much as the material expelled from a volcano is the by-product of a violent subterranean event. The outcome of this ‘eruption’ is an expanding red-shift universe of galaxies in space-time that, in due course, having exhausted its propulsive momentum, will revert to an original quantum state. In the interim, over immense periods of time, complex chemical chain-reactions, together with the interplay of forces and the synthesis of stellar elements, will engender all the phenomena of organisation and animation humans call ‘nature’, including living organisms such as bacteria, plants and animals on diverse planets. Notwithstanding the vast time-scales involved, ‘existence’ as experienced by these organisms, is as transient as the universe itself – a universe tending to disorder, reflecting latent chaos and where time is an emergent property arising from the red-shift expansion.
There is no substantive role for intelligence, imagination, self-awareness and other capacities of sentience in a value-neutral and non-purposive universe, although the development of sentience in humans gives rise to anthropomorphic interpretations of existence. Such interpretations are based on a false identification of structural organisation with thought. Even though these capacities – survival strategies of evolutionary adaptation – are of great value to physically weak organisms, they have no intrinsic significance. The same is true of all metaphysical speculation which, being a by-product or side effect of self-awareness, is disconnected from the factual basis of actual reality.
A condition known as the ‘no-boundary condition’ applies to both the manifest universe and the pre-cosmic quantum vacuum. Thus, just as there is no such phenomenon as ‘empty’ space, there is no possibility of any ‘edge’ demarcating either the physical macrocosm, or its quantum substrate, from any form of ‘outside’ above or beyond the manifest sphere.
Even taking into account the possibility of ‘other’ dimensions or the possible viability of the hypothetical ‘many worlds’ interpretation of quantum mechanics, the substrate and the cosmic totality are indivisible and coextensive. There is no exterior or transcendent sphere of existence, just as there is no possibility of ‘non-existence’ because there is no absolute void: total nothingness cannot exist.
The answer to the perennial question of origination (where does the universe come from?) can be answered with reference to the quantum vacuum. But if we ask how this vacuum in its turn can exist and from where it derives its existence it must be said that the answer cannot be formulated with absolute exactitude. This failure of exactitude is the natural consequence of the Uncertainty Principle governing indeterminate relations between complimentary quantities, ensuring that the ‘given’ substrate perpetuates itself. Furthermore, this self-perpetuation cannot be seen as a 'genesis' or 'birth', or mode of becoming, for such an idea would imply that a void lacking a space-time continuum emerged from a state prior to its own existence – an outlandish and superfluous assumption.
The Uncertainty Principle also explains how, through non-uniformity (anisotropy) and the process of ‘borrowed’ energy, the quantum vacuum may give rise, from an imperfect ‘nowhere’, to any number of expanding space-time universes of finite extent .

Illustration: Spontaneous Creation, 2007