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

Playing with an Accident

While I was painting onto the fabric pinned against the wall, I noticed that the acrylic paint had sunk through the material and had made prints onto the white wall. The marks made were reflections of the marks on the fabric but in reverse, which produced incredibly abstract and distorted shapes. I took advantage of this 'accident', and it was suggested to me that I draw upon the associations people will make with the marks on the wall by asking a number of individuals to write what they see against the shape. Excitingly, this tied in perfectly with my idea of memories and somehow making the intangible appear tangible. It was most interesting to observe what others saw through their own eyes, and often two or three conflicting perceptions were written around the shapes. Upon reflection, I wish I had pinned the fabric I painted on, onto a canvas board so that I could have preserved the marks left on the wall. However, I am pleased that I produced a small photographic study of the 'accident'.