Immediate Personal Survival

Train Yard by clyfhull
Poster printing by zazzle.ca

In the winter of 2004 I took my first true solitary adventure. I booked a flight from Vancouver to Tokyo and, as a pre-adventure, I bought a rail pass and spent two weeks crossing Canada from Halifax. I'd started a journal (my first travelogue) and, with the second entry, I gave it the same title I'm giving this post. For me it sums up the most attractive (and most terrifying) aspect of traveling. When I go somewhere new, I prefer to go in (almost) cold. Granted, I do still like to bring a travel guide - but I never make hotel reservations. If I've never been to a place, I have no idea in what part of town I'll want to stay. Anyway, the more pre-planning one does, the more they rob themselves of the immediacy of the experience. Traveling isn't (or shouldn't be) like everyday life. Most people (myself included) spend most of their lives in day-to-day routine. They get up, prepare for the day, go to work, eat, do whatever chores need to be done, entertain themselves in some way and sleep. Most people could probably lead their lives in their sleep. There's no real conscious effort (which isn't to say that it is necessarily easy.) When I travel, a good portion of every day is concerned with food and shelter. It is immediate and conscious thought, as opposed to the back-of-the-mind "rent's gotta be paid" and "it's Wednesday - time to go to the grocery store" variety. I think that, when one is too comfortable - when our basic needs are met with little effort, we lose touch with some primal instinct - something which keeps our focus sharp. Of course, it isn't easy to maintain such a focus. In fact, it can get exhausting. The trick is to strike a balance, because, after all, sometimes you just want to be in familiar surroundings and watch your favourite movies all day. That's when you return home (and crash at a friend's place because you gave up your apartment before you left.)

Artist's Statement (photograph exhibition March 2010)

Notre Dame, Paris by clyfhull
See more prints & posters at zazzle

Clyf Hull...hates speaking of himself in the third person.

Nonetheless, Mr. Hull (indeed!) began his artistic endeavors out of high school when he attended the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After exactly one month, he decided that his time and money (especially his money) would be best spent on beer and jazz records - and right, he was. After about two years of drinking and philandering, he decided to get back to the art thing. He moved back in with his parents and, having wonderful senses of humour, they agreed to support him. During the following five years, he divided his time between painting canvasas and illustrating comic stories (and beer - one doesn't get much opportunity for philandering when one is an unemployed artist who lives with his parents. Especially when they live in Isaac's Harbour, Guysborough County.) He had some minor successes - had several exhibitions at galleries in Antigonish and Halifax and sold some pieces internationally. At the end of those five years he was forced to admit to himself that, perhaps his dream of never having a real job was a tad unrealistic. And besides, he felt bereft of inspiration, with little to say. Deciding that it was probably time to actually experience life rather than just imagine it, he moved to the big city and got a job...in a bar (keeping that dream alive!)

Since then, he's left (and returned) to that particular job more times than he cares to remember. His return to painting, however, was only the once. After his first couple of years at the bar, realizing that, perhaps this wasn't real life after all, he decided to do some travelling here and there. One such place was France, where he was employed by a young English family to help renovate a chateau that they had bought. Part of the experience was painting a fairly large number of large scale canvases to adorn the walls. He has not returned since to that particular form of artistic expression.

As they say, "Once an artist, always an artist." Well, they're silly, but that didn't stop our current subject of discussion from buying himself a digital camera in the fall of 2008. Since then, when the bar business will allow (still livin' that dream) he tries to combine his passion for illustration with that of travel. In comparing his previous output with that of his photography, it is ironic (or at least notable) that the style at which he was most proficient was trompe l'oeil ("realism" for those mercifully unfamiliar with art-school jargon), whereas in his photography he purposely avoids a realistic perspective. In fact, some even look like ink drawings, or an impressionist painting until inspected more closely. He does tend to make things difficult for himself. He hopes that people will find in his present work, perspectives that differ greatly from that which we are accustomed. That is to say, that his images make us look at familiar (and even iconic) scenes in different ways. Or, you know, that they're pretty.

Clyf Hull(...is also very full of himself.)

If you are interested in checking out a myriad of products with his designs, please check out his store Clyf Hull Design where you can buy prints of all sizes as well as fully customizable merchandise such as a coffee mug with a picture of the Seine on it. Who wouldn't want to drink out of the Seine?!