Time Fragments

Missing You

2011-09-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

The simplicity of this drawing by Mundy

seems to enhance the sense of longing it conveys.

THE DROWNED WORLD 9.11.2001

2011-09-10T04:05:00.000-07:00

Mundy created this sunpainting of the New York skyline a few days before the horrors of 9.11 in 2001. We called it 'The Drowned World' after JG Ballard's eponymous novel. In retrospect, it seems to have been well-named, because we have all be drowned in America's grief since that date. Our thoughts go out on this day to the families of all the victims and to our family and friends in USA.

HAPPY HORSE

2011-06-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

Everyone chases after happiness,

But happiness is running after them.

(Bertholt Brecht: The song of the Super-inadequacy of Human Striving.)

Happy Horse – Mundy-Castle, 1969

SPACED OUT

2011-04-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

...which is sometimes where we like to be.

MARRIAGE IN MIND

2011-04-19T03:18:00.000-07:00

Tis the season to get married

Tra la la la la

Ha ha ha ha!

Whereof one cannot speak...

2011-04-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

...thereof one must be silent (Wittgenstein)

DOOMSTRUCK

2011-01-22T03:36:00.000-08:00

Love bears it out even to the edge of doom. Shakespeare

THE KINDNESS OF WOMEN

2010-12-18T01:15:00.000-08:00

Homage to J.G. Ballard, in whose book of the same name he wrote so beautifully on the subject of women.

MONUMENT TO STONE

2010-12-18T00:06:00.000-08:00

If I was a sculptor I would build a monument to the medium. This is the plan.

You may build it if you wish..

THEN THERE WAS LIFE

2010-11-30T07:15:00.000-08:00

Creation, viewed by the artist.

MUSIC PRACTICE

2010-09-27T00:45:00.000-07:00

Where words fail, music and art speak

HOT TO TROT

2010-08-15T02:40:00.000-07:00

Fancy that! Today's Style Magazine in the Sunday Times says that horse-riding is whipping up a frenzy in the fashion world. Horses are the new yachts - status symbols with living beating hearts. Well...perhaps some of the well-booted celebs they feature - Kate Moss, Rosemary Ferguson, Tuuli Shipster, James Brown, Phoebe Philo, and Gucci magnate Frida Giannini (most of whom I have never heard of) - would like to purchase a print of this divine drawing by an octogenarian artist by the name of Alastair Mundy-Castle!

I AM THE ONE

2010-07-01T06:56:00.000-07:00

I am the one,

I'll take the blame.

I dropped the ball.

Was it only a game?

I said I was sorry,

what more can I say?

If that's not enough

let's call it a day.

Voyage to Somewhere

2009-10-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

I encountered this strange vessel on a journey I was making to nowhere. I managed to signal to the people on board "Where are you going?", and they replied, much to my amazement, "Somewhere!"

Voyage to Nowhere

2009-10-25T05:43:00.001-07:00

On my travels in the sixties, I met an extraordinary man, to whom I took an instant liking. His name was Gene Yuss. He invited me to accompany him on a journey, which I immediately accepted. With a carefree flourish he unrolled his magic carpet. Together we stood upon it and embarked on our voyage to nowhere.

Insanity Rules

2009-10-19T08:08:00.001-07:00

Insanity - a perfectly rational adjustment to an insane world.
(R.D. Laing)

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

2009-09-14T01:37:00.000-07:00

Life is a balancing act.
Frank Herbert wrote that there's no secret to balance. You just have to feel the waves.

Contiguity Club

2009-07-09T03:21:00.000-07:00

At the Contiguity Club we're very much in touch with each other.
It's probably all to do with the association principle...or perhaps the
collective mind. Whatever...

Uplifting times

2009-05-16T01:16:00.001-07:00

My life is a series of uplifting times with people and places that put
air in my lungs, a spring in my step, a smile on my face, sunshine in my sky,
happiness all around.

Uno Hoo

2009-03-08T05:14:00.001-07:00

Uno Hoo is back in town. Let's have a party.
Whenever Uno is around Mundy gets all arty.

MARATHON RACE

2008-11-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

In a marathon race the watchers watch the runners run

and the spectator watches the watchers watch.

Prelude to Madness

2008-10-20T09:03:00.000-07:00

In a completely sane world, madness is the only freedom!

J. G. Ballard

Head in the Clouds

2008-07-17T03:29:00.000-07:00

Every day, around sunset I take off on a magic carpet ride. With my head in the clouds I see everything clearly.You can too when you learn how. It's easy...

Close your eyes, sit comfortably on your magic carpet (everybody has one), take off gently, fly around wherever you wish, observe things you see, enjoy the feeling and when you want to return home, gently land again. Then open your eyes. You, too, will see everything more clearly.

Horses for Courses

2007-05-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

When I was alone in America I was introduced to an heiress

who raised horses on a vast estate in Kentucky.

She wanted to marry me and build a spacious studio

where I could draw to my heart's content.

But we didn't suit one another

And I didn't like horse riding enough.

Sometimes I miss the studio.

Don't look too closely

2007-05-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

The full title of this picture is "If you look too closely

it's designed to make you go mad",

which I once heard a viewer say

at an exhibition of my drawings at an

underground gallery in Cape Town.

But what is madness?

Curves

2007-05-01T06:47:00.001-07:00

One day I was enjoying Irish coffee

with a beautiful woman

whose body, in my eyes,

was shapely, sexy.

I imagined what she would look like

without clothes.

I sketched this picture on a paper napkin

so that I wouldn't forget.

I remember the woman

but I can't remember her name.

"See you in Poona!"

2007-05-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

When I was a child

in Tonbridge, England,

I always yearned

to travel the world

like my mother

who was never at home.

I wanted to go to Africa, India

and dive for pearls in the

South Sea Islands.

"See you in Poona!"

my mother said as

she waved goodbye

and set off on her travels.

I planned to meet her there.

IT Girl

2007-04-29T08:33:00.000-07:00

It girls are pretty and thin
and have names like Tara Smedley-Bottome.
Sometimes they are clever,
but they don't have to be,
because their fathers get them fancy jobs in media.
If you're an It you're in!
You get invited to all the best parties
so you can wear transparent, floaty frocks.
Occasionally Its are even paid to go to parties,
where they talk in high tones
and pretend to drop their aitches.
And their knickers.

Ooh la la!

2007-04-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

The French have an indescribable charm.

It is not easily encountered, but when you do

it is sheer delight. French women

exhibit no false modesty and what they

reveal can be quite breathtaking.

I was once adopted by a warm, attractive woman

at a party on a beach in Marseilles

and was instantly transported to

Ooh-la-la-land.

Yvette would take me driving along the coast,

constantly encouraging me to speak

her language. Then we would return

to her home and indulge in

wonderful French feasts, seated at

a vast table with family members

of all ages.

I was taught more French in that week

than I ever learned at school.

Magic Mushrooms

2007-04-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

There is a growing awareness of mushrooms in the city

Their location can be somewhat obscure

and shrouded in mystery.

One needs to employ a mushroom snuffler

(my pretty pink pig on a diamante chain?)

that can lead you safely to their habitats.

But beware the Phallus rubicundus, the

Psilocybe Coprophilia and other inedibles.

You'd be crazy to partake.

I knew a man who spent a lifetime exploring

the underside of mushrooms.

He called himself a mycologist.

His friends just called him mad.

He's dead of course.

The swing of things.

2007-04-24T06:20:00.000-07:00

Golf is for people who like clubs.

Most businessmen try their hands at golf.

When they're not knocking around a ball they're

aiming for a contract

I've never taken to it myself,

but then I'm not a businessman,

although I have been known

to sink a pint at the 19th hole.

Virginia and Vita

2007-04-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

I have always been
interested in women's
relationships and once
had an intimate encounter
with a delightful lesbian.
I wonder what goes on
between them?
I read a book
about Virginia Woolf
and Vita Sackville-West,
but it didn't say much
about that side of things.

"Mouse ahead!"

2007-04-21T09:54:00.000-07:00

You see strange things when you live in London.

In Brixton I saw a man

with a rat wrapped around his neck.

I imagined what the rat would do

if it came across this woman

with a mouse on top of her head.

Would they fight or would they fall in love?

LOVE FOR SALE

2007-04-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

In times past, when women were sold at markets by slave-traders, they would try to make themselves up to look really good. Then they were paraded before prospective buyers whom they hoped would pay lots of money for them and always treat them nicely. In return the women would love them and be good slaves.

So what's new?

Envy

2007-04-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

As children we would sing a chorus that went

"Envy, jealousy, hatred, pride,

These in your heart should never abide"

But when we grow up we forget the songs of childhood.

Which is a pity, because growing older messes with your

head as well as with your heart.

He who is not

2007-04-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

The other day upon the stair

I met a man who wasn't there

I met him there again today

I wish that man would go away

Animal Farm

2007-04-19T08:39:00.000-07:00

If I had a farm I would keep animals that were part people and people that were part animal. Of course I would only choose the best parts. And what might those be? Simply look and you might be able to see.

Dogwalkers

2007-04-19T08:29:00.000-07:00

Some dogs are very strange. Some dog walkers are also very strange. Stray dogs, like the one in the corner, are not so strange, especially when they blow kisses to strangers.

Portrait of a young man eating words

2007-04-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

I have always devoured the writings of James Joyce. I gorged on Finnegans Wake from beginning...riverrun, past Eve and Adam's... to end...A way a lone a last a loved a long the
Ullysses, too, opened up another world where dying mothers pick buttercups off quilts. One can thrive on a diet of Joycean words like excelsissimost, dumbillsilly, trinkettoes and trippetytrappety.

New Book

2007-04-18T07:35:00.001-07:00

Actually, as you can see from the date on the picture, it is, in a sense, an old, ongoing book. I have written it throughout my several lives using pictures drawn while living in many countries with a variety of wives.

It has been a life filled to overflowing with a fascinating array of people and happenings, both curious and conventional. Perhaps you will meet some of them here.

Many people have difficulty 'reading' my pictures. Perhaps words help.