I have a minimal maritime connection - my father and brother were in the Royal Navy. Sandy Guy was keen to big-up this aspect in a project we did together
I have a small collection (3) of ships flags, bought as cheaply as I could from Ebay. Prices have skyrocketed recently. They are so beautiful on the wall… large, simple, complicated, hidden meanings. They remind me of my favourite paintings (pareidolia again?) by Ellsworth Kelly et al. They can be rolled into a tiny ball or opened out large - they look massive inside my house. Years ago in the Lisson Gallery London I saw an exhibit of a piece of masking tape on the floor which was the width of an international football goal mouth. The sense of scale indoors was impressive. I have Googled this piece but can’t find it. I hope it wasn’t just a bit of tape on the floor. One thing can mean another, and of course flags can be problematic.
International Marine Signal Flags are signals used by ships at sea. They can be used to spell out short messages, or more commonly, used individually.
Flags in order…
W (Whisky) (Scots spelling) also means ‘the boat has a medical emergency and needs help’
Nautical 9 (means nine, possibly)
Nato D (Delta) means ‘keep clear of me; I am maneuvering with difficulty’
I suppose this handy sequence might interpret as ‘Emergency - drank nine whiskies and maneuvering with difficulty’.
I was interested to discover Ellsworth Kelly’s plant drawings quite recently. Too recently. I should have known about these already. Less flaggish. Rekindles a debate we have often had in Edinburgh College of Art… What is illustration?
https://matthewmarks.com/exhibitions/ellsworth-kelly-plant-drawings-05-2017
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