Salt. Stills

Salt. Film

Alongside my text on canvases, I produced a series of short abstract films exploring separation, and the paradox between chaos and order. I chose to use my mother as my subject, for to me she represents a strong woman yet separated within herself. I filmed her attempting to separate salt; a substance which is near impossible to place into an order. I intend to leave the footage raw without any editing, and to erase any sound the camera picked up.

The feedback I received from my fellow fine artists on my films were very positive. For some, the film evoked a sensory response, and it was interesting to see the salt making no commitment to the canvas upon which it was being divided upon. Overall, I am very pleased with the films, and will pursue the next step in installing both the film and the canvases into my exhibition space.

Embodying Disjunction

As a part of my final major project, I wanted to exhibit my work as an installation, also encompassing the exhibition space as a part of my concept. Thus, I was lucky enough to have been built this large space in which to show my work, with a width large enough to have a film projected at the back, and large enough to allow viewers to step inside. At present, the box does not have a roof, and I am toying with the idea of either building a white boarded roof, or using a light material. At the moment, I wish to use brackets to secure my canvases at angles on either side of the inner boards, to connote a sense of disjunction and separation.

Swimming in the Dark

These are a few close up shots of my first finished canvas. Using the window cleaner, I managed to get the heavy moulding paint to lie smoothly onto the wooden box canvas. I decided not to layer the text, and instead let it read, for the text in itself is obscured by memory blanks and a disjointed recall. For this particular canvas, I did not plan how I was going to impress the text, instead I subconsciously let the direction flow across the canvas. I plan to paint even the back of the canvas white, and install this canvas along with a second one, inside my exhibition space with my film. I feel that in both pieces of work, I am exploring disjunction and separation in different forms, and thus hopefully the two will compliment each other as an installation.

Experimenting with heavy moulding paint #2

When working with the heavy moulding paint, I realised that I had to make sure that the surface of the paint was completely smooth, so that the attention of the viewer would be drawn not to any marks or contours in the paint, but to the text.  Unfortunately, my first attempt at applying the paint to the wooden canvas did not achieve the desired effect I was hoping for, and instead of a flat surface, the paint dried to the contours of the pallete knife I had applied with. As much as the I felt that the contours did add an interesting feature to the piece, overall I was determined to achieve a smoother look. And so, I began experimenting with different tools upon which to apply the mixture; the most successful being a window cleaner in the shape of a squeegee. In addition, I was not sure whether I wanted to layer the text, or to leave it in its own right, still fairly obscured by the white pigment.

Experimentation with Heavy Moulding Paint

After experimenting with embossing wallpaper with metal letter punches and MDF, I researched exactly what medium Idris Khan used in his piece, 'Untitled, White on white' from the Conflicting Lines Exhibition. I then began experimenting with a mixture of heavy moulding paint and white acrylic after it was half dried onto a canvas, and used metal letter punches to make textual impressions. The text I was using was a version of my memories that I had typed out over and over again, and thus my thinking behind this was that the viewer could touch a memory; evoking a strange paradox between stable and unstable.

I found the process of stamping the metal letter punches into the drying mixture much more time effective than the wall paper. Initially, I experimented on MDF, and then went on to use wooden box canvases.

Experimentation with Impressions

In terms of experimenting with making textual impressions onto a surface, I began by hammering metal letter punches onto a strip of wallpaper with a layer of MDF underneath. The results were pleasing, as I achieved a deep impressions onto the wallpaper as well as clean impressions onto the MDF. Unfortunately this process was highly time consuming, and thus I was compelled to find another method of achieving similar results to keep within a realistic time frame.

Visit to... Idris Khan's Conflicting Lines, Victoria Miro April 2015

Without a doubt, my visit to this exhibition was the most influential in helping me to shape my final major project. Idris Khan is renowned for his works across medium including sculpture, painting and photography, all encompassing his layering technique to 'arrive at the essence of the image'. The exhibition. 'Conflicting Lines' held at the Victoria Miro Gallery featured large scale composite photographs made from a series of oil stick paintings. Khan went through the process of overlaying the lines of the writing repeatedly until the text became obscured; a technique which I had previously experimented with. Walking through the gallery, a single piece of work particularly drew me in, 'Untitled, White on white'; a large painting on aluminium, with layers of text radiating from a centre point. The fact that both the writing and the oil based relief ink were a blinding shade of white left the text utterly obscured, and upon touching the canvas, I realised that one could feel the subtle impressions of the text stamped into the relief ink.

                                    

Upon seeing this piece of work, I knew that I wanted to pick up my work with text and take it a step further. In effect, I would be producing two pieces for my final major project; a film and an installation, both of which would have to poetically compliment the other.

Visit to... The Cortesi Gallery May 2015

As a part of my research, I visited the most recent exhibition in the Cortesi Gallery, Mayfair. The work featured was of a very abstract nature, and appeared to be an exploration of illusion and texture. The piece above, entitled 'Untitled, Orange' by Agostino Bonalumi was one of my favourite exhibits in the gallery. The piece, constructed of vinyl tempera on shaped canvas, radiated with both a sense of revelation and mystery; the shape beneath the canvas remaining both in a state of suggestion and in disguise. I especially found the choice of vibrant vinyl to be most interesting.

Separation

After radically changing the direction of my work, I decided to explore my previous ideas of division and detachment through the word 'separation'. It was at this stage in the final major project that I decided to experiment with poetic ways of conveying separation and internal displacement, initially by dividing objects that were tricky to separate. After much thought, I decided to carefully select a subject to film while trying to break apart salt or water; two of the most difficult substances to order. This also ties into my previous idea of the chaos in order, which correlates with my overriding theme of separation and internal divisions. The subject would additionally have to represent separation or division in some shape or form, and thus I was compelled to search for an appropriate individual who was very personal to me. In addition, I may add an audio track to the footage, however I do not want to give the audience a distraction from the film and the installation in which the film will be shown.

Photographic Experimentation

These series of photographs are a reflection of my experimentation with conveying a sense of detachment and disillusion about the subject. Using a pillow case, black leather belts acting as restraint, I put the subject inside an oversize white box and adjusted the lighting to create deep shadows to express a sense of emptiness about the space around the subject. While on the one hand, I am pleased with the aesthetic outcome of the photographs, on the other hand I am displeased with the clichéd feel. Throughout my progress on this course, I have learnt that I am naturally drawn to conveying the literal, as opposed to delving into the world of the abstract; an artistic discipline which I love and admire. Thus, I feel as though I would like to pursue a more poetic way of exploring internal divisions and detachment through film and possibly even an installation. In addition, I want to experiment with not using a subject, but rather focus on either a small aspect of a human subject, but only in relation to another material. I feel that this departure would be less clichéd, and would limit the audience's emotional response a lot less than if they were presented with a subject.

This change in direction has also shown that me that I am able to recognise my own way working, and how I can challenge myself to work outside of my comfort zone; a lesson which was much needed.

Departure from the self. Film

This film features the subject painting in effect a new face over the pillow case concealing them from the world around them. Initially, I expected the outcome of this experimentation be less literal, which unfortunately I feel I did not achieve. Upon reflection, I feel that this piece of footage lacks the poetic fluidity that I want to achieve working with the theme of division, and thus I have made the decision to change the direction of my work. Unfortunately, this piece feels too clichéd and inexperienced, and so I will find another way to experiment with my chosen themes in a less literal, and instead in a more abstract way.

The Release. Film

                                       

Unreason setting free unreason. Film

Photographic Exploration of Internal Division

I decided to line my the room in which I took these photographs with the same luminous green bubble wrap that I used for the binding of the subject. The reason behind this choice was to emphasise the sense of dislocation from the subject and the world around them, by projecting their own sense sense of entrapment embodied by the bubble wrap onto the space around them. Out of the photographs I took, I am most proud of the close up shots, as they hold greater ambiguity, and the attention to detail adds a weird sense of aeshtetic beauty; contrasting sharply against the greater context of the photograph. I would like to further this progression by experimenting with different materials in which to entrap the subject, such as a bed sheet or restraints.

Exploring Divisions with the Self

Having been inspired by the experience of watching an individual engage so vividly with their delusions, I decided to research the ways in which delusion and detachment from reality have been explored within the world of psychiatry within the past fifty years. In doing so, I found a powerful article written by a man whose marriage had been completely reshaped by the mental illness of his partner, titled 'My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward'. Within this article, the controversial argument is raised that ' the behaviour of psychotics was not de facto bad', and that 'perhaps they were making legitimate attempts to communicate thoughts and feelings that conventional society did not permit.' The foundations of this particular argument lie within the book written by R.D Laing, 'The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness' published in 1960, which suggests that 'the cracked mind of the psychotic may let in light which does not enter the intact minds of many sane people whose minds are closed.' In addition, I also began to read extracts of Michel Foucault's 'Madness and Civilization' published in 1964, which explored the tormented relationship between madness and art. 'Within works of art inspired by madness, complex processes operate. Madness is linked to creativity, but yet destroys the work of art. The work of art can reveal the presence of unreason, but yet unreason is the end of the work of art.'

During the process of my research, I decided to experiment with the use of film to communicate the divisions within ones self. I also decided that I wanted to use an installation, whereby the film would be projected inside. The thought behind this would be that the enclosed space would help to embody a sense of disjunction between the audience and the outside world. Using raw footage, I experimented with a variation of camera angles in order to capture the sense of displacement about the subject. I used luminous green bubble wrap and basic masking tape as my initial mediums to experiment with the process of 'binding'.

Link to 'My Lovely Wife in the Pysch Ward' - http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/lovely-wife-psych-ward-95567

...'Showtime'

Contortion of Body and Mind

 These are a few photographs I took of a contortionist pefoming outside of the National Gallery. It was most interesting to me the way in which the performer embodied the role of both the puppet and the puppetier with such violence.

Visit to... The National Gallery April 2015

As the Final Major Project approaches, I thought it best to observe some of the classical Renaissance paintings featured in the National Gallery. Interestingly, I gained the most inspiration in travelling to and from the gallery, and took the opportunity to document what took place between the gallery visit. I came across many street performers, where a hard reality was sharply contrasted to the humour which laid the foundation of the entertainment. What caught my attention however, was an experience on a bus returning from the gallery. Sitting at the front of the  bus was a man in deep conversation with the empty space beside him. The absolute clarity of his delusion was not only poignant, but strikingly beautiful; he sounded as if he was reciting a lyrical verse of poetry. Having been so lucky as to have witnessed this, I began to think about the clarity in madness, and the projection of the inner voice onto the outside world.

I Sat Smiling. Untitled

I Sat Smiling. Negatives

In this photographs, I really like how the usually illegible text has become blasted with a startling clarity.

I Sat Smiling.

Using Photoshop, I inverted the positive tone of the photograph to a achieve a negative capture. In doing this, the positive memory trapped in the glass test tube becomes visually amplified, which contrasts against the cold darkness of the context. I would very much like to blow up some of the photographs from the series to the size of a poster, and perhaps plaster that poster into a public, where my memories were visible to all.

Fragility of Memory; I Sat Smiling.

While exploring the 'Romance of the Fragment', I embarked on a highly experimental continuation of my work with memory, and making it physical. Progressing from working with metal, I began to write sections of my memories from the layered text onto kitchen towel, and immersed the strips into water and ink. I chose to photograph the memories being immersed in ink so as to symbolise the ink as embodying the meaning of the text. In exploring this, I came across the idea of using ambiguity as a material, rather than solely as a notion. Thus, the photographs and films I produced all have in common materials and fixtures that communicate a weird ambiguity; stripped of all context.

Thoughts

While visiting the INIVA gallery, I came across this written feedback sheet which made me think about the value that is placed on film and photography within the world of fine art. I actually found the films on display in the gallery to be far more affecting than the painted works, and thus I was encouraged to think about the status of film in comparison to a painting or an installation, and which is often celebrated more so in fine art.

Visit to... The Saatchi Gallery 2015

On one of my most recent gallery trips, I visited The Saatchi Gallery. The gallery in its entirety had on display some of the most weird and wonderful contemporary pieces of art; the majority politically charged. The pieces that I found to be the most encapsulating were those that appeared to preserve. Having been recently given the project title 'Romance of the Fragment', the installations that captured a particular sentiment or moment in their simplicity proved be a great source of inspiration for me.

Object, Antimatter and Literature

During the process of my research and simultaneous to my body painting, I began to explore memory, and how something as unstable can be make tangible.  Giving myself a day, I recalled and repeatedly typed four different memories, overlaying each version of the memory on top of itself to gradually illustrate how memories are malleable, and are distorted over time. By printing each new version of the same memory on top of the old version written prior, I was left with an incredibly distorted piece of text which was hardly legible. This also served to reflect the subject matter of each memory; two being very painful to recall, one a recollection of a night whereby my memory was compromised, and the last a happy memory which in hindsight had many flaws. At this stage I have only been printing and experimenting with paper, however I would like to make these memories more 'physical' by printing onto a surface which will leave an imprint, such as metal.

I was also inspired to use the technique of using literature and layering text by the work of Idris Khan.  I love the extent to which he has distorted the lines of the text; engulfing the text in layers of photography.

Photographic Study