Tuesday 12 February 2013

The Final Year


It's our final year at University. Sad, exciting, scary, vaguely unreal... 
Post-graduation doesn't seem tangible to me yet.
However, so far I do know I have learned a lot. 
It is very tempting for me to dive into the combined life lessons the past three years have thrown up.
Becoming a 'grown up', moving out, taking on full financial responsibilities, making independent choices about my artwork and knowing why exactly I have made them, new music, new people, new countries and new career prospects - and really getting my teeth stuck into research... so I need to focus.

Like I said at the new year: stay calm, and focus, focus and stay calm.
This post is essentially a review of my third year studio practice. 
The tail end of the degree, but a sound starting point for everything after.

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White acrylic and biro on unprimed canvas.
Capturing fragments, selecting details.

Influenced by a scientific article on the mechanics of sight, I began by capturing segments of detail I was drawn to in conversations and observations of people. 
I began manipulating the form to keep up with the changing movement as my eye was drawn to different fragments of detail.
(I am a big fan of the New Scientist -  they offer a wide variety of topics for an artist to explore. 
Also, they do a fantastic deal if you are a student, though I use the library's collection for inspiration.)

The key factors were visual selection, perception of one another and the translation of digital to tactile in both conversation and artwork drawing upon this topic.

In order to give my work some parameters, I used the frame of a monitor screen commonly used for online communication. My aunt Paula and her husband Ergin met through online RPG gaming, and continued to game together after moving in. It's a modern love story, and an interesting model for this topic. I wrote up some instructions and sent them over to record a ten minute online conversation between the two of them. The setup of their webcams were completely their own decision, which led to an interesting twist to the work...in the  top left corner of Ergin's frame, Paula was in view for the entire conversation on her laptop. This added to the idea of technology manipulating our normal frame of perspective (being able to see yourself in the background of the person you are talking to...).



The resulting drawings have a surrealistic, Bacon feel, but were directed completely through their observations. 

This experience was rendered in biro material, using systematic resourcing and layering. 

I used the last observations at the top layer and worked backwards, omitting layers that would have been covered up by the top layers. 

This was my first experimentation with representing the passing of time within the work.
These were  very small drawings, too, around A5 and referenced to screenshots of the conversation at hand.



I was still testing where this project could lead, so decided to try a video installation of the original feed. The placement of the screens created new physical bodies back into the dynamics, but after a few meditations I decided upon a standard side by side, uniform layout with no audio playback.
The feedback from this strongly noted the colour scheme of the two videos (also uncontrolled) and the slow recognition of Paula in both screens.

Outcome: A video installation with observational plotlines


 At the time I had been interested in William Kentridge and Picasso. From the reactions I began looking more into Bacon and Hockney as key artists of research. I felt the influence and interest in Picasso was most relevant to me in my practice, and didn't want to become too influenced by work very close to my investigations.

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Later Dan Hays, Kusama and Marina Abramovij would lead my research into the 'Pixels'.
Methodical, repetitive, meditative. This was a good outlet for my work - very addictive and all consuming but productive, leaving me fresh to continue my research and drawing. This project looked into our online identities, recreating a tangible presence and dedicating time and attention to those we connect to on networking sites.

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In the third year, I continued with the conversation piece. I decided to keep the same method and change the material I was drawing on. In an attempt to reference the monitor screen or incorporate light into my work, I used architect paper to draw on.




The new subjects, Jake and Adam, used the same instructions, by witnessing this in person I was able to adapt them so it was easier to use. I also gathered more feedback directly from the participants in order to inform my work.


After working in A5 size again, I decided to try scaling up to life size drawings. I had to use pencil only, as colour would distract me from the composition itself.


Outcome: A3 renderings in mechanical pencil



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Taking a step back, 'stills' revisited each frame from the online video feed. I began creating frail, simple drawings of each frame, noting the time of capture in the top left corner. The frailty of the drawings reflected them as fleeting moments. The shadows emphasised taking the stills from the video reel and into a tangible form. 
I started hanging them up in a passageway. The breeze of people walking past forced an interaction with the viewers, as the 'stills' fluttered around their steps.


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Sunday 10 February 2013

Reflections on the interim Exhibition at Artsite


How did the gallery context impact your work?

Removing our works from the studio space changed the impact they had.
By eliminating the walls and noise level, by changing the lighting and colour scheme, the gallery space allowed the works to stand on their own quietly, to take on more dominance of the space.
Working around the gallery, rather than my studio working around me, definitely affected the reading of my work.
The negative impact was the space I used didn’t allow for floor level hanging. Although the lower levels were easy to view, the height of the work couldn’t be effectively engaged with.
I knew this might happen, but was pleased to find people interacting with the lower tiers, leading them to decipher the whole body for themselves. This exposed the importance of space to my work (which, really ties into the very subject matter, and only confirms the preference to display it on ground level to the viewers).


On reflection, was the show curated well?

Bring your elbow grease and cleaning supplies ...
...for an interim white cube gallery!
With three days of intense cleaning, we hung all of the work within two days. The hardest part was the preparation, whilst, as a group and as individuals, the placement of work was quickly negotiated.


When place together, our works communicated in many ways, sharing a balanced array of qualities...


...texture and weight...

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...tonal quality...

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...and size.



...Not to mention how the works communicated with each other through their layout.

With six in the group, working in the space we had, we found ample room to display our works independently and connect to one another at the same time. The placement and assortment of sculpture, hanging work, drawings and shelved works allowed visitors to continually move through and around the dark and light.

This moving framework guided many people in a standard 8, tailing of to their own preferred works. 

What key responses did you gauge from your viewers, including your peers?

Of all the feedback recorded we had two negative comments, which were light remarks upon the ‘lack of colour’ within the room. Otherwise, many found the work unexpectedly challenging and interesting, offering a variety of drawing disciplines in an un-overwhelming way.

What specific strengths will you take forward to develop into your final major project and what weaknesses will you eliminate?

The concept of 'stills' was very well received and insightful.
Informed from this experience, I aim to recreate 'stills' for the final show. Next time, I will realise the use of space needed to allow viewers fuller interaction with the work.
Also, I will have fewer works on show, that I might better gauge how and why they should be placed.
At the interim show, I had intended to test how each of the works would be received, despite this causing the wall to become rather crowded. It was risky for the show, but for the long term gave me better insight into curating tactics as well as multiple methods of hanging works.
Having done this, I can now confidently move forward with works I feel interested in developing for the next show.


See you in three months time!

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