Although I still was not entirely satisfied with the face of my tiger, I decided to leave this area blank for now to return later with a fresh eye, and start instead by working on the complex tonal forms of the body and column. Initially I blocked the entire form of the tiger and column in with white gesso paint and allowed it to dry completely. I was aware that I was working onto watercolour paper and in doing this I waterproofed the top layer of paper and gave it increased resistance to the wet paint medium I was about to apply, I hoped this would decrease warping as the paper absorbed water.
Saturday, 23 December 2017
Friday, 15 December 2017
15/12/2017 - TISSUE COLLAGE STREET TEST
As tissue paper was an entirely new material for me, I was mistrustful of its ability to survive on a street setting. I felt like before I developed these ideas much further I wanted to give them a really solid test run focussing on a few key queries I had with the medium. Firstly, the ability of the tissue paper to adhere to the wall, and to other pieces of tissue paper. Next my concern was the extent to which tissue paper would stand up to the weather. Finally my mind wondered the practicalities of installing tissue paper, and how much it would stand out against a wall surface. These were all things I definitely needed to explore further.
As a simple prototype I cut out an orca silhoutte from black tissue, as I knew this would stand out initially against any light coloured wall, and was also a highly characteristic and recognisable silhoutte. Working to a slightly larger scale than my previous experimentation, it was a little easier to cut the shape, however the fragility of the material was still a hinderance and meant careful, slow handling was essential.
A prominent dialogue surrounding orcas is that of their captivity in institutions such as Seaworld, and their part in performances for entertainment, much to the detriment of their mental health. I thought this was an obvious context to suggest within this piece, so added a small blue square behind the main orca form. Although it was only subtle, this allowed me to give a suggestive didactic nature to the work which could be interpreted in a variety of ways. The nature of the orca's freely curving form spanning widely over the small blue box suggested behind it, hinting towards the inadequacy of such a tank to provide for such a large, complex and diverse beast.
I then went out and stuck the piece up in an alley on the way to a supermarket near my home, as I thought this would make it easy for me to regularly survey the piece for any wear or damage. When placing the work in the street the only technicality with tissue paper was it's flimsy quality. It had no strength against the elements before being stuck to the wall, and flapped wildly in the slightest breeze. For a larger, more intricate piece, getting the work stuck down correctly without bubbles or folds and tears would definitely be a job for multiple people. However even in the middle of night when I installed the work, there felt something inherently different about the act itself. Because of the transience and obvious impermanent nature of the work, it felt almost like a craft based activity instead of an act of graffiti, or even art. Akin to drawing on the sidewalk with chalk, or placing a sticker. It may very well just be myself hardening to the risks of the activity over time, however particularly on a small scale like this, this felt like an activity which could almost be carried out in daylight!
Day or night aside, the real test would come in the following weeks to see how well it stands up on a longer term!
As a simple prototype I cut out an orca silhoutte from black tissue, as I knew this would stand out initially against any light coloured wall, and was also a highly characteristic and recognisable silhoutte. Working to a slightly larger scale than my previous experimentation, it was a little easier to cut the shape, however the fragility of the material was still a hinderance and meant careful, slow handling was essential.
A prominent dialogue surrounding orcas is that of their captivity in institutions such as Seaworld, and their part in performances for entertainment, much to the detriment of their mental health. I thought this was an obvious context to suggest within this piece, so added a small blue square behind the main orca form. Although it was only subtle, this allowed me to give a suggestive didactic nature to the work which could be interpreted in a variety of ways. The nature of the orca's freely curving form spanning widely over the small blue box suggested behind it, hinting towards the inadequacy of such a tank to provide for such a large, complex and diverse beast.
Day or night aside, the real test would come in the following weeks to see how well it stands up on a longer term!
Wednesday, 13 December 2017
12/12/2017 - CURATOR MEETING 3
Claude had brought in a lovely example leaflet which, aswell as boasting lots of information and a neat folded design, also folded out into a fullsize poster. This made the leaflet feel much more like a tangible art object in it's own right, and gave it a permenance as something that could be taken home as a souvenir, for both us, the artists and audience. We decided to use this format instead of supplying induvidual pieces of information for each piece to encourage people to drift through the space and absorb the artworks and information in their own way. This also allowed us to associate larger pieces of information with each piece, which helped as the works were dealing with such a broad range of themes, some of them highly personal and delicate for the artists.Tuesday, 12 December 2017
11/12/2017 - TISSUE PAPER COLLAGE EXPERIMENTATION
I wanted to try working in tissue paper to create collages which could be potentially pasted out onto the street, however I had no idea how such a thin material would stand up to repeated gluing and sticking without the added support of a material base. As an easy theme I chose the recognisable forms of the turtle from my trip to The Deep, and I was also well aware of rising social awareness of ocean based plastics and the harm these can cause all marine life, however turtles in particular are effected as they often confuse floating plastic bags in particular for the jellyfish they naturally feed on. These turtles are a great example of charismatic megafauna, for their iconic and familiar appearance makes them a great poster species to front the ocean plastic awareness movement; their image strikes a chord with people and highlighting their endangerment can be a particularly powerful tool.
Saturday, 9 December 2017
6/12/17 - WHITE TIGER DRAWING
I started sketching from my photoshopped collage onto a large piece of textured paper with soft hand torn edges. I considered this format because I wanted the piece to sit on a raw background, the isolation and of decidedly composed pale tiger and column against an equally pale yet raw background. This then in the further white cube gallery space I think could be quite effective. Both archival and fine art in nature, I felt the thick roll of fine paper was better suited to this than unstretched canavas as it maintained its rigidity, and make the work feel innately more formal.Monday, 4 December 2017
4/12/2017 - CURATORS MEETING 2
For the first of our curation meetings we decided the best way to collect the results of our liasing work with the exhibitors would be to have all the artists fill out proposal forms giving a brief sumamry of their proposal for the exhibition. Tess expressed a specific interest in the writing elements of the project, and so wanted to get involved in the creation of this and a leaflet aswell to run alongside the exhibition. I hoped this would provide an open format for the artists to lay out their hopes and direction for their work and give us all an idea from which to develop as curators. Already some of the group hadn't turned up to the curator meeting however, and it was already starting to show that without timetabled sessions it was harder to keep the group all on track together.
I tried my best to keep everyone in the loop however, and also work together to set reasonable guidelines for certain things to be ready by so that we all had the same goals to work towards. I wanted to start planning ahead with placements and ideas, but because of the nature of the project, most of the artists simply didn't have fully formed ideas at this stage and it was felt wrong to push them to commit to concepts they didn't fully support yet. This way perhaps we can work out a dialogue in a way which both supports the artists and also gives us a strong idea of where we are headed. Saturday, 2 December 2017
2/12/2017 - WHITE TIGERS EXPERIMENTATION
After thinking about white tigers and considering the conceptual implications of their majestic physicality yet troubled genetics, as well as what they reflect back about humanity and our excesses. I thought this would also be a good area to suggest how badly formed our understanding of nature is, with misinformation so widely spread and many people simply uneducated to the truth directly infront of them.
I wanted to suggest that we as humans had put these creatures on a pedestal of exoticism and rarity, disguised as conservational and in the best interests of all, yet also suggesting to the darker corporate truth that these animals were infact being exploited for their falsely constructed value and used as a promotional tool. Another key theme I wanted to capture was the unnatural nature of the entire situation, and an overriding sense that this is not how things are supposed to be, an accident waiting to happen if you will.
As well as combining these themes into a fine art context, I considered the image of a white tiger balanced precariously atop a classical column pedestal. I thought this could call on many powerful connotations such as humankind's pursuit of aesthetics, something the tigers have truly fallen foul of since the start, as well as almost colonial ideals of desire and acquisition of the rare and exotic. Just as columns are taken out of their classical context and re-purposed for use and abuse as an iconic symbol, so was the tiger taken from its environment and genetically altered to suit our unnecessary cosmetic desires. This also critiques our general right on the whole to obtain and display living creatures, casting wider speculation on our rights to consider living creatures as aesthetic objects of visual interest.
On another level there is also interesting juxtaposition between the realms of classical human achievement in the column and the evolutionary prowess of what is typically a magnificent predator, but this is interrupted when we consider that actually everything within the image is actually a product of human dominion. We are then confronted with the unnaturalness of the scenario, and also a sense of gradually impending uncertainty, as there could be no doubt in anyones mind that this is a poor place to put a tiger and will undoubtably not end well. It is irresponsible to try to put a wild animal into the confines of a very human institution, such as displayed on a pedestal in a gallery, not entirely unlike the irresponsibility demonstrated by selectively breeding in extremely negative genetic traits just because they are 'beautiful'.
Although I liked the sketches, something that was important to me was making the piece look convincing, despite its unrealistic composition, and I felt my initial sketches looked a bit proportionally false. So I had a go at creating some photoshop collages from real images in an attempt to blend the juxtaposing formats together with increased realism.
At first I tried using images I had already found correctly posed and simply sticking them overtop, even attempting to add multiple tigers just to see what it looked like. However I still felt like these images were too static in appearance and didn't really do anything to connect the viewer with the subject. They also werent dynamic enough for the sitaution I felt, and didn't give the composition any fluidity or emotion.
Next I tried to create a collage from lots of similar images to actually fit the form of the tiger onto the plinth. By doing this I was able to contruct the tiger sitting a way which looked much more natural in its place.
When I took these initial ideas to Matthew in my tutorial he was actually very impressed with this final collage in itself, and suggested that this also lended a kind of genetic mismatch, frankenstein quality in itself, which I had not considered. He also likened the collage quality to the black and white works of Peter Kennard and asked if I would consider it standing as an outcome in itself.
Although I agree that I did quite like the collage on it's own, especially now when considering it in a genetic chimera sense, a big part of my enjoyment in my work is the hands on process I go through to create my images. One of the things I am most excited about for this piece is actually getting to work in very close detail on a tiger to create a powerful image, so I definitely want to continue working on this composition further in a traditional medium. However I would now also like to print out the source images I used to create this initially and also create a proper physical collage from the photos. I think this would also aid the visual synthesis of my ideas whilst I work on the motif of the white tiger.
Matthew also suggested I could make the piece into a sculpture, which would be entirely another challenge in itself and would continue to lend a labour intense nature to the work. It would also increase my exploration of the white tiger motif as a metaphor for human desire and excess.
I wanted to suggest that we as humans had put these creatures on a pedestal of exoticism and rarity, disguised as conservational and in the best interests of all, yet also suggesting to the darker corporate truth that these animals were infact being exploited for their falsely constructed value and used as a promotional tool. Another key theme I wanted to capture was the unnatural nature of the entire situation, and an overriding sense that this is not how things are supposed to be, an accident waiting to happen if you will.
As well as combining these themes into a fine art context, I considered the image of a white tiger balanced precariously atop a classical column pedestal. I thought this could call on many powerful connotations such as humankind's pursuit of aesthetics, something the tigers have truly fallen foul of since the start, as well as almost colonial ideals of desire and acquisition of the rare and exotic. Just as columns are taken out of their classical context and re-purposed for use and abuse as an iconic symbol, so was the tiger taken from its environment and genetically altered to suit our unnecessary cosmetic desires. This also critiques our general right on the whole to obtain and display living creatures, casting wider speculation on our rights to consider living creatures as aesthetic objects of visual interest.On another level there is also interesting juxtaposition between the realms of classical human achievement in the column and the evolutionary prowess of what is typically a magnificent predator, but this is interrupted when we consider that actually everything within the image is actually a product of human dominion. We are then confronted with the unnaturalness of the scenario, and also a sense of gradually impending uncertainty, as there could be no doubt in anyones mind that this is a poor place to put a tiger and will undoubtably not end well. It is irresponsible to try to put a wild animal into the confines of a very human institution, such as displayed on a pedestal in a gallery, not entirely unlike the irresponsibility demonstrated by selectively breeding in extremely negative genetic traits just because they are 'beautiful'.
Although I liked the sketches, something that was important to me was making the piece look convincing, despite its unrealistic composition, and I felt my initial sketches looked a bit proportionally false. So I had a go at creating some photoshop collages from real images in an attempt to blend the juxtaposing formats together with increased realism.
At first I tried using images I had already found correctly posed and simply sticking them overtop, even attempting to add multiple tigers just to see what it looked like. However I still felt like these images were too static in appearance and didn't really do anything to connect the viewer with the subject. They also werent dynamic enough for the sitaution I felt, and didn't give the composition any fluidity or emotion.
Next I tried to create a collage from lots of similar images to actually fit the form of the tiger onto the plinth. By doing this I was able to contruct the tiger sitting a way which looked much more natural in its place.
When I took these initial ideas to Matthew in my tutorial he was actually very impressed with this final collage in itself, and suggested that this also lended a kind of genetic mismatch, frankenstein quality in itself, which I had not considered. He also likened the collage quality to the black and white works of Peter Kennard and asked if I would consider it standing as an outcome in itself.Although I agree that I did quite like the collage on it's own, especially now when considering it in a genetic chimera sense, a big part of my enjoyment in my work is the hands on process I go through to create my images. One of the things I am most excited about for this piece is actually getting to work in very close detail on a tiger to create a powerful image, so I definitely want to continue working on this composition further in a traditional medium. However I would now also like to print out the source images I used to create this initially and also create a proper physical collage from the photos. I think this would also aid the visual synthesis of my ideas whilst I work on the motif of the white tiger.
Matthew also suggested I could make the piece into a sculpture, which would be entirely another challenge in itself and would continue to lend a labour intense nature to the work. It would also increase my exploration of the white tiger motif as a metaphor for human desire and excess.
Monday, 27 November 2017
27/11/2017 - INTERIM SHOW CURATORS MEETING 1
Ahead of the interim show, every exhibiting artist was required to give a presentation of their work and practice so that we had ideas of where everyone's practice was headed before planning the exhibition.
We then had our initial meeting with Craig Barber to discuss potential ideas. As I know in the past with group projects I can sometimes come on too strong with too much enthusiasm and ideas, or end up doing the majority of the work, so I was careful not to take too much of a dominant stance as I knew a key focus of this project was teamwork and delegating. There were a few suggestions about how we could group the work together, however it was my suggestion; 'Process and Progress' which we ended up selecting as our running theme.
As Craig explained to us that the project would be due the day we got back after the holidays, I was definitely dubious about the time frame of this project. I had a feeling that a large split group project such as this would definitely have been better set in the middle of term, and not spanning over the Christmas holidays when undoubtably everyone's priorities would be with their families. Expecting our curation group to have pulled together a marginally professional group exhibition, ensuring to involve everyone and bring together 12 unrelated artists into a cohesive show, was a lot to ask with no further input from our tutors beyond this initial meeting. But I wanted to be optimistic and attempt to be extra motivated, in anticipation of the 3 1/2 week period of low activity that would occur over Christmas and New Year.
We also decided the best way to deal with the large number of people involved on both sides was to break the task down and loosely organise some exhibitor/curator pairs. I also thought that this was a great way to give everyone an equal opportunity to be involved, and have some dialogue and autonomy within different aspects of curation.
As we had made the choice quickly and unanmiously as a group, I thought that the sooner we let everyone in our exhibiting group know, the sooner we could all be on the same page and getting the ball rolling! Especially as our exhibition was first, I wanted to try and give us as much of a head start as possible. As it was over the Christmas holidays I guessed many (me included) would be feeling the additional stress over that time due to the motivated and self responsible nature of this project, I wanted to phrase the brief in a way which made it relatable and open to everyone, but also gave them a clear concise definitions for what we were expecting.
| Name: | Practice/Key Themes: | Thoughts: |
|---|---|---|
| Emma B | Characterisation - use of representative character. Totemism - Luke Shueh - Fallout Boy Album Art. Series of artworks dealing with mental health and personality crisis through painted 'totem' of anthropomorphic rabbit. Variation in colour and intended as a series as opposed to induvidual. | She seemed very unwilling to consider ideas outside of the format she is already exploring; only suggesting changes in canvas shape and background colour when prompted to suggest further development. I also thought the concept had not been developed much beyond the work of Luke Shueh; just substituting in the motif of the rabbit instead. |
| Jake W | Mans interaction with the environment. Statistical basis. Abstract interpretations of graphs - last 10 years of glacier melt. Using repurposed, found and recycled materials instead of virgin products. Experimental production method which is heavily informed by sourced material. | I really liked his idea about translating difficult-to-absorb statistical concepts into visually stimulating, pictoral formats. One of the greatest problems with the climate arguement is the apathy created by extreme yet incomparable statistics which feel very distant from direct cause an effect. Therefore expressing these concepts through alternate means can be a very effective tool in maximising their effectiveness. |
| Hannah W | Textile construction based - exploring fabric and material compositions and the interplay between organic and synthetic forms and materials. Interested in installation. Also exploring the history of textiles and repetitive methods of weaving and threading. | Hannah's work was one of those I was most immediately excited about as I thought it was both a highly effective concept but also very versatile, allowing us to purposefully control and place her ropes and perhaps construct an environment with them. I was immediately inspired to try and create a space with their placement using a doorway or corner of some kind. |
| Emily G | Archival style work considering preservation, the passage of time and identity. Collograph clothing prints and poetry. 'Time capsule for those who don't exist.' Constructing identity through objects. Salt preservation, growing crystalson objects. | Emily's practice was very interesting to hear about as it was explored across a very wide variety of media, however all geared conceptually towards time, preservation, identity and degredation. Her attempts to grow salt crystals were of the greatest interest to me personally, although I also thought the idea of creating a time capsule for a nonexistant character was also great fun. |
| Hannah D | Emotional and physical exhaustion. Nude painting over the course of a traumatic breakup. Photographs and film of documentation. Catharsis, fatigue, pushing oneself further. Panic frequency, anxiety. | What I like about Hannah's work at this stage is the fact it is a single exploration available in a variety of potential formats. We have the 10m painting itself, rolled and stuck togeteher at one end like an unfinished conclusion, as well as footage and photographic stills from the event itself. As well as this Hannah suggested she could also potentially do a live performance to complement the pieces. This versatility means we have a lot of possible options for how best to convey her work. |
| Harriett S | Colour and emotion. Using unexpected colours to subvert expectation. Lines, movement and mark making are key themes in her practice as well as automatic drawing and expression through movement and creation. | By this point I was starting to notice definite themes surrounding process and materiality tying at least several practices together. I induvidually proposed links between graffiti and tagging and Harriet's work, as the multilayered spray style has lots of different line qualities, not unlike the many layers built up after years of tagging. |
| Giverny D'A | Food, sexuality, fetishisation. Suggestions of a video or semi-performance. Auto-biographical. Perhaps an edible sculpture or something to invite and intice the audience yet simultaneously repulse and confuse them. Bodily functions, x rays of people eating. The everyday in a way never seen before. | Giv's work was one of the ones which really interested me to see what exactly she decided to produce for the exhibition as she involved unconventional ideas and media. Our tutor was quick to warn us however that there could be length risk assessments involved in the presentation of real food. |
| Joe/Evan/Harry | "Originality of thought." Collaboratory work between the three boys examining their creative process, their collaboratory relationship, positive reinforcement and their ability to affect and deform their environment. | Although I really like all of the work they produce, and find some of the found objects they implement to be quite original, I worry that they focus too heavily on their collaboration and concepts such as 'authenticity of thought' which causes them to occasionally forsake or overcomplicate the originality of their outcomes and concepts. I also wonder whether working as a group of close friends in collaboration will help or hinder their productivity. |
| Helen I | Considering concepts of erosion and shelter, safety and family as well as space and emotional as well as environmental stewardship. Worn down bricks and driftwood, bricks ground down into red powders and dusted over stones. Thorough exploration of hard wearing materials and different ways both we and time can deform them gradually. Playing with ideas of permenance and impermenance. | The work of Helen further reinforced my exhibition theme idea centerring around process, materiality and creative action upon matter. I really liked the thorough experimentation she undertook on her materials, chosing to explore them from every possible angle; painting the stones, sculpting the stones, grinding them to powder. She had also given the materials interesting conceptual basis, likening bricks to shelter as a building material, and with concepts of home and place. |
We then had our initial meeting with Craig Barber to discuss potential ideas. As I know in the past with group projects I can sometimes come on too strong with too much enthusiasm and ideas, or end up doing the majority of the work, so I was careful not to take too much of a dominant stance as I knew a key focus of this project was teamwork and delegating. There were a few suggestions about how we could group the work together, however it was my suggestion; 'Process and Progress' which we ended up selecting as our running theme.
As Craig explained to us that the project would be due the day we got back after the holidays, I was definitely dubious about the time frame of this project. I had a feeling that a large split group project such as this would definitely have been better set in the middle of term, and not spanning over the Christmas holidays when undoubtably everyone's priorities would be with their families. Expecting our curation group to have pulled together a marginally professional group exhibition, ensuring to involve everyone and bring together 12 unrelated artists into a cohesive show, was a lot to ask with no further input from our tutors beyond this initial meeting. But I wanted to be optimistic and attempt to be extra motivated, in anticipation of the 3 1/2 week period of low activity that would occur over Christmas and New Year.
We also decided the best way to deal with the large number of people involved on both sides was to break the task down and loosely organise some exhibitor/curator pairs. I also thought that this was a great way to give everyone an equal opportunity to be involved, and have some dialogue and autonomy within different aspects of curation.
As we had made the choice quickly and unanmiously as a group, I thought that the sooner we let everyone in our exhibiting group know, the sooner we could all be on the same page and getting the ball rolling! Especially as our exhibition was first, I wanted to try and give us as much of a head start as possible. As it was over the Christmas holidays I guessed many (me included) would be feeling the additional stress over that time due to the motivated and self responsible nature of this project, I wanted to phrase the brief in a way which made it relatable and open to everyone, but also gave them a clear concise definitions for what we were expecting.
Saturday, 25 November 2017
24/11/2017 - TRANSPARENT SILHOUTTE EXPERIMENTATION
25/11/2017 - FURTHER TRANSPARENT EXPERIMENTATION
After an initial experiment with silhouttes and transparent layers inspired by my trip to the Deep, I wanted to try experimenting further on a seperate occasion. This time, unlike previously with my Green Sawfish piece, I wanted to enter the task without a specific outcome in mind and instead let the colours, shapes and experiences of my trip inspire me creatively.
Whereas my first attempt had tried to capture the blue hues and ethereal silhouttes of the large 'Endless Oceans' tank, I thought in this second work I could instead take inspirationg from some of the submariums more colourful and populated environments, those of the coral lagoons and shores.
Wanting to avoid specific predisposed intention, I sketched out some bright and playful coral-like shapes which I remembered from previous research for my 'Calcify' piece. I had fun playing with these for a moment before deciding I needed a stronger background layer to give the sense of underwater depth of field. This is where the qualities of the film once again came into it's own, as I was able to lay down some ink with my pens and then scrunch the film itself to distribute the colour in a distressed, filtered way.
Once this was dried I could then use pencil and eraser to carve away at the ink, which gave some really interesting mark making effects in it's own right. It was amazing how the small difference of having a wipeable surface suddenly opened up a whole host of different techniques and ideas, and suddenly got me thinking entirely differently about how I could build up my image. Just like before, I was also really enjoying the depth of control I was affording by using the transparent layers in this way. Arranging each layer and component of my image almost gave a childlike sense of play to the activity, and I felt reconnected with the creative experience in quite a fresh way. 
However the beauty of this method allowed me to very simply trial adding in a silhoutte to the middle. Following on from the facts presented by the Deep, I thought having the typically colourful clownfish captured in black and white against their vibrant surroundings I hoped would also give a sense of absence and disconnection, but still tie the piece down into a distinct visual narrative.
Another effect I really liked at this point was the physical distance between each of the layers. Shown in the below image, the seperation of each layer produced some beautiful shadows between the elements, and gave my work spacial depth. For an underwater image this was particularly effective, but also got me thinking about ways I could intentionally seperate layers of an image to generate this effect purposefully. 
Finally I just wanted to add a lighter edge to the bottom of the work, and was given a flash of inspiration when I saw this layer against a black background. Against black the qualities of the opaque Posca pens really came to the forefront, making intricate almost wavelike forms. This made me immediately want to try working with transparent layers against a black background. I thought back to the moments which had particularly stuck with me during my visit to the Deep, and remembered the jellyfish tank which made me feel a bit ethically uncertain and unarguably illustrated the restrictions we put on these creatures when we bring them into captivity; even in the relatively unconscious case of the jellyfish.
I also wanted to test how other materials would work with the film, so decided to try using acrylic paints for this piece. I prepared a piece of paper by painting a black square onto it and then experimented with wiping and scratching techniques on film to create a blue swirl to go overtop. I found in fact that paint actually adhered better to the film surface than posca, and allowed colour mixing and tones to come through better on a single layer.
By juxtaposing the circular swirl with a white roughly drawn box overtop, I contrasted the wideness and freedom of the ocean with the restriction of the white rectangle. Again the reflective qualities of the film came into its own as it had during my first experiment yesterday, and gave a sense of captivity to the work. The mixture of hard geometric and soft natural forms demonstrates the stark comparison between the normal lives of these travelling animals and the environment they are placed in at the Deep.
I really liked working with the film mainly because of the way it enabled me to arrange and compose my images, not unlike the way I often work in photoshop to manipulate works. I also remembered back to the collage lion piece I created for the IMAGE - PAINT workshops at the start of first year and how happy I was with the arrangement of this piece, due to the collage I had used to create my source material. Film also allowed physical distance between layers which I was actually more drawn to than when fully stuck down flat. However the works were very difficult to photograph as they were so shiny; light becoming increasingly diffused and reflected between multiplying layers. Also I was aware of the environmental issues raised by working with film. So I feel it isnt the best material to marry with my practice, however the method and control element is what holds the most interest.
Friday, 24 November 2017
21/11/2017 - HULL TRIP - FERENS GALLERY
I joined up with the university trip to the Turner Prize shortlist exhibition at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. I was glad I had preorganised to go ahead of time in the end, as not only was the trip late but also as I had visited both the uni gallery and the Deep in the days before, I was already feeling quite inspired by all the material I had already seen and was ready to absorb more.
The layout of the gallery impressed me. Hull had been awarded City of Culture for 2017, so all of the arts projects in Hull had been given a major push, and I had definitely felt many reflections of this during my time in the city. The gallery had produced a promotional two part newspaper detailing features of the exhibiton which was presented in the central information room. From a curational aspect I thought this was a great way to get word out about the artworks in a relatable format. I had seen it used before effectively at Boomtown Festival, where they produce festival newspapers to inform festivalgoers of events going on around the event, but had not considered it in a gallery format. There was also something visually appealing about people wandering around a gallery, browsing newspapers while taking in the artworks.
As well as the shortlisted Turner Prize artists there was the Ferens Collection, a selection of classical paintings, and a curation of works from the Young British Artists. There were a few paintings from the classical collection which particularly appealed to me, particularly one of a beautiful arrangement of oranges into a still life by Pieter Janssens. I read that artists would disrupt household objects in this way to test themselves against a variety of surfaces and textures. If they could accurately capture an object in such a visually complex setup, it demonstrated their skill as a painter. As a viewer however what I found so captivating was the patterns exposed by altering the fruit, and the unique cross section represented, unchanged there as it would be in an orange of today.
There was also another painting by Daniel de Blieck which stopped me because of the beautiful way he rendered perspective. When reading further I found out that this was actually potentially a combination of several churches from around Rotterdam where Blieck was thought to have worked, and was exaggerated for effect to increase the presence of the architecture.
My favourite artist of the entire gallery was Hurvin Anderson, one of the shortlisted artists. I really liked the way his large canvasses capture plantlife, incorporating flashes of unnatural colour which somehow still appear entirely organic and suggesting half formed branches and leaves which twist in and out of legibility and leave the eye to only half assume their form. The painting to the left interestingly blended aspects of nature and industrialism which let nature remain at the forefront of the subject, bordered only by subtle markers of civilization.
It didn't surpass my notice that I was once again feeling drawn to work which relied heavily on suggestion and silhoutte to produce connotations based on instinctive recognition of natural forms and colours. I felt like this was definitely opening up onto a new angle for experimentation in my work. When I read the information about Anderson it only served to inspire me further.
I learnt of how he occasionally undertook preparatory works with transparent paper, onto which he layered and arranged all the elements of his painting before starting. This explained to me how he was able to suggest so much form with only the minimal components, due to to slow process of reduction which allowed him to catch the balance of abstraction on a knife edge of suggestion.
I myself happened to have brought a roll of clear acetate from Tiger during freshers sales and immediately felt inspired to experiment with this idea. As someone who is quite meticulous with presentation and arrangement in my work, I think this could potentially prove to be very useful within my artistic practice. It also got my head thinking about ways to combine this process with my source material gathered at the Deep, to start experimenting with underwater subjects and see what interesting things come up.
As well as this there were some large woodcut prints presented by Andrea Buttner which impressed me mostly because of the extent to which I have learned about the printing process lately. The prints were very large and even, which was a feat in itself when working with plates of wood this size. Seeing something that we had already practiced on such a massive yet well executed scale made me really appreciate the resources available to high level artists. The series contained rudimentally depicted beggar woman, their identities concealed and only their state of begging maintained. I felt that the process at this unusual size could have been contextually highlighting the plight of the homeless, using basic raw materials blown up and magnified to un-ignorable scale.
The layout of the gallery impressed me. Hull had been awarded City of Culture for 2017, so all of the arts projects in Hull had been given a major push, and I had definitely felt many reflections of this during my time in the city. The gallery had produced a promotional two part newspaper detailing features of the exhibiton which was presented in the central information room. From a curational aspect I thought this was a great way to get word out about the artworks in a relatable format. I had seen it used before effectively at Boomtown Festival, where they produce festival newspapers to inform festivalgoers of events going on around the event, but had not considered it in a gallery format. There was also something visually appealing about people wandering around a gallery, browsing newspapers while taking in the artworks.
As well as the shortlisted Turner Prize artists there was the Ferens Collection, a selection of classical paintings, and a curation of works from the Young British Artists. There were a few paintings from the classical collection which particularly appealed to me, particularly one of a beautiful arrangement of oranges into a still life by Pieter Janssens. I read that artists would disrupt household objects in this way to test themselves against a variety of surfaces and textures. If they could accurately capture an object in such a visually complex setup, it demonstrated their skill as a painter. As a viewer however what I found so captivating was the patterns exposed by altering the fruit, and the unique cross section represented, unchanged there as it would be in an orange of today.
There was also another painting by Daniel de Blieck which stopped me because of the beautiful way he rendered perspective. When reading further I found out that this was actually potentially a combination of several churches from around Rotterdam where Blieck was thought to have worked, and was exaggerated for effect to increase the presence of the architecture.
It didn't surpass my notice that I was once again feeling drawn to work which relied heavily on suggestion and silhoutte to produce connotations based on instinctive recognition of natural forms and colours. I felt like this was definitely opening up onto a new angle for experimentation in my work. When I read the information about Anderson it only served to inspire me further.I learnt of how he occasionally undertook preparatory works with transparent paper, onto which he layered and arranged all the elements of his painting before starting. This explained to me how he was able to suggest so much form with only the minimal components, due to to slow process of reduction which allowed him to catch the balance of abstraction on a knife edge of suggestion.
I myself happened to have brought a roll of clear acetate from Tiger during freshers sales and immediately felt inspired to experiment with this idea. As someone who is quite meticulous with presentation and arrangement in my work, I think this could potentially prove to be very useful within my artistic practice. It also got my head thinking about ways to combine this process with my source material gathered at the Deep, to start experimenting with underwater subjects and see what interesting things come up.
As well as this there were some large woodcut prints presented by Andrea Buttner which impressed me mostly because of the extent to which I have learned about the printing process lately. The prints were very large and even, which was a feat in itself when working with plates of wood this size. Seeing something that we had already practiced on such a massive yet well executed scale made me really appreciate the resources available to high level artists. The series contained rudimentally depicted beggar woman, their identities concealed and only their state of begging maintained. I felt that the process at this unusual size could have been contextually highlighting the plight of the homeless, using basic raw materials blown up and magnified to un-ignorable scale.Wednesday, 22 November 2017
20/11/2017 - THE DEEP - HULL
Ahead of the uni visit to the Turner Prize shortlist I headed up early to spend a few days with my friend who was studying at the University of Hull. On Monday we visited the Deep, which apparently held the worlds largest 'submarium', an aquarium filled with many varieties of species together. As well as this their website also suggested a deep running thread of Conservation through the heart of their business practice, literally stated their slogan; 'For conservation, not profit.' At £10.50 for students, the Deep offered a year's membership, allowing visitors to return as many times as they wished within that year for free. With this they are able to initiate a prolonged relationship with their visitors, and encourage them to return. This allows them more chances to reopen dialogue with their audience and attract them back for new projects and developments. A clever strategy which encourages visitors to actively get on board with their ongoing work, whilst also letting them feel like they have gotten better value for money.
On the walk over to the Deep we pasted the Hull Tidal Barrier, raised into the sky not unlike a sculptural work in itself. Directly opposite the Deep, my friend Dan told me that twice a year the barrier was lowered to protect Hull from the rising tides which would otherwise flood close to 20,000 homes along the river. It got me thinking about mankind's interesting relationship with both the ocean and nature on the whole. Without this massive and ongoing show of human engineering, human development itself would not be able to exist here in stability, yet just one hundred metres away was a gigantic building dedicated to spreading awareness of mankinds massive impact and the instabilities we are causing the ocean. There was something both attractively ironic about the whole setting which definitely prepared my artistic mind to begin to absorb my experience at the Deep.
In the entrance section we were greeted with a metaphor for the life cycle of our planet when presented with a long railing running the stretch of a multi level gallery where every 1.5cm was representative of 1 million years. (see above photos) This really went some way to contextualise our place as a species on the planet, and began to ask questions of exactly how we could be so dramatically upsetting the balance of a planet which has already been existing and evolving for millennia mostly uninterrupted. The railing spanned across the best part of two floors before finally a small plaque appeared denoting the arrival of early human life, and then ended at the present tense, before opening out onto a larger space dotted with large vibrantly glowing tanks. Again I thought this was another cleverly constructed introduction to the ocean conservation debate, as it not only made visitors aware of the extent of earths development over history, but also that the ocean was infact the brewing pot of all life on earth where everything began. It was a humbling and impressive display and I could tell great thought had been put into developing a program which would have the desired effect on the audience.
One of the earlier impressive tanks was the 'Lagoon of Light', designed to display the interesting habitat created where tropical forest meets the sea, with a selection of live mangrove trees and coral populated by colourful tropical fish, rays and sharks, two of which had been bred within the aquarium as part of the Deep's contribution to the European Monitoring Program for Zebra Sharks. It was at this point that more obvious conservation material began to appear, cleverly interwoven to remain relevant to the engaging animals displayed. Facts and information were worded in relative terms, and broken down into easily accessed sentences which held direct links to everyday practices to make them more generally relateable, and also make proposed solutions feel domestic and achievable.
So far it appeared the Deep was really striving to frame climate issues in a way which made them accessible to visitors of all backgrounds, ages and circumstances. By doing this they reframe the ecological argument and suddenly solutions seem altogether attainable. The question changes from why should the oceans need sustaining, to wouldn't you want to to sustain them?
By cleverly pairing aquarium exhibits with examples of how the contained animal's habitats are being directly affected by human industry, the Deep is able to maximise the effectiveness of it's message by forcing people to directly 'face up' to the consequences of our lifestyle choices. A bright engaging tank full of clownfish is quickly followed up by an information section on Ocean Acidification which outlines how increases in acidity affects the clownfish' ability to navigate and identify their home territory, causing them to potentially become lost at sea. Suddenly the further reaching effects of the abstract 'Climate Change' which people are forever hearing about are suddenly made real, and it is affecting even the most iconic of creatures such as little Disney Nemo...
One tank in particular made me feel a little weird about our
place as humans to hold these creatures captive in the name of education and
conservation, and it was perhaps filled with the least emotionally aware
creatures of all. A circular tank was filled with large jellyfish, which were
being pumped around in gradual circles, seeming to drift in endless motion. As
they got close to the pump, they were blown for just a second quite forefully
around and onto their next spiral, endlessly. In the wild ocean jellyfish would
roam over thousands and thousands of miles, controlled by the gradual ebb and
flow of ocean currents and blooms of phytoplankton. Although these creatures
are almost entirely unaware of both themselves and their surroundings,
something about the visual appearance of the blobs being bumped around and
funnelled this way and that way around a tiny circular tank, when compared to
my knowlege of how these wandering creatures should disperse across the entire
oceans, just seemed kind of ethically uncomfortable and a bit disrespectful, particularly in such large numbers.
There was one final installation which really struck resonance with me for the effectiveness with which it conveyed its message. There was one aquarium which, despite not being particularly big or impressive or containing a single living thing, was perhaps the most thought provoking of them all. At its surface floated a thin layer of trash, bottles and plastic bags while the deeper levels were choked with gradually swaying discarded fishing nets and plastic wrap. It was particularly sombre because from afar the softly bobbing packaging could almost have been a living regular exhibit, and it was only upon closer inspection that it became clear things were dramatically wrong.
Just as each tank was a mocked-up framing of a particular habitat, this tank provided a unique and haunting snapshot into a future where oceans become overrun with ill-managed plastic waste. In this case unlike every other example, it is not the life contained within which makes this exhibit so impressive, but the complete absence of life instead.
Finally we reached the 'Endless Ocean' tank, the jewel in the crown of the Deep, containing 2.5 million litres of water and 87 tonnes of salt and the true 'submarium' of the site, containing many species of fish, turtle, ray and shark all living together peacefully.
With many spectacular viewing points it provided an amazing opportunity to view these aquatic creatures from all angles and get lots of firsthand photos to use as resources in my practice. One thing that I was noticing in particular was visual emphasis on silhouettes in these underwater worlds, particularly in such large tanks containing considerable quantities of water. Figures would drift into view initially as darkened shapes which were yet somehow intuitively recognisable.
The suggestibility in these visuals was beautiful, and I tried to capture that in my photography. I think perhaps this could be a good gateway to increase the interpretability of my works, and make them more emotive, as has been brought up repeatedly in tutorials. I also loved the effects a larger body of water has on light and tone, and think this could potentially be combined with my artistic practice to create something very exciting. Although I have already done work discussing ocean life, I feel like this trip could well inspire a fresh body of work, particularly taking into account current social media interest in the South Pacific Trash Isle and programs such as Blue Planet 2, I feel like public speculation is currently fixated on these issues which could make it fertile grounds for garnering further awareness.
Finally there was a glass lift which cradled the edge of the Endless Ocean, which provided a sweeping view of the entire tank as it rose, really immersing visitors beneath the surface. The most interesting moment for me however was when the lift broke atop the water and we were given a brief glimpse behind the scenes into the nerve centre of the operation. Behind the organic face of the environments of course was a great deal of logistical work and high level operation. Although it was clear the Deep was absolutely striving to increase public awareness and responsibility for our environment and oceans, I was altogether reminded that this was indeed a human business institution when confronted with it's industrialised face. I had no idea within this building whether I was above or below ground, the lights which from below water had seemed to my human eyes so natural, were clearly now large bulbs and a small grey dinghy bobbed against the side. Any simulation I had previously been affected that these were natural circumstances was shattered, however perhaps this honest snapshot into the working reality of a large scale aquarium was the best thing about the Deep. They recognised that these circumstances were far from ideal, however were honest and minimised these factors where they could, using it also as an opportunity to educate, conserve, propose and push for something which could be better for those environments on the whole, onwards into the future.
On the walk over to the Deep we pasted the Hull Tidal Barrier, raised into the sky not unlike a sculptural work in itself. Directly opposite the Deep, my friend Dan told me that twice a year the barrier was lowered to protect Hull from the rising tides which would otherwise flood close to 20,000 homes along the river. It got me thinking about mankind's interesting relationship with both the ocean and nature on the whole. Without this massive and ongoing show of human engineering, human development itself would not be able to exist here in stability, yet just one hundred metres away was a gigantic building dedicated to spreading awareness of mankinds massive impact and the instabilities we are causing the ocean. There was something both attractively ironic about the whole setting which definitely prepared my artistic mind to begin to absorb my experience at the Deep.
In the entrance section we were greeted with a metaphor for the life cycle of our planet when presented with a long railing running the stretch of a multi level gallery where every 1.5cm was representative of 1 million years. (see above photos) This really went some way to contextualise our place as a species on the planet, and began to ask questions of exactly how we could be so dramatically upsetting the balance of a planet which has already been existing and evolving for millennia mostly uninterrupted. The railing spanned across the best part of two floors before finally a small plaque appeared denoting the arrival of early human life, and then ended at the present tense, before opening out onto a larger space dotted with large vibrantly glowing tanks. Again I thought this was another cleverly constructed introduction to the ocean conservation debate, as it not only made visitors aware of the extent of earths development over history, but also that the ocean was infact the brewing pot of all life on earth where everything began. It was a humbling and impressive display and I could tell great thought had been put into developing a program which would have the desired effect on the audience.
So far it appeared the Deep was really striving to frame climate issues in a way which made them accessible to visitors of all backgrounds, ages and circumstances. By doing this they reframe the ecological argument and suddenly solutions seem altogether attainable. The question changes from why should the oceans need sustaining, to wouldn't you want to to sustain them?
By cleverly pairing aquarium exhibits with examples of how the contained animal's habitats are being directly affected by human industry, the Deep is able to maximise the effectiveness of it's message by forcing people to directly 'face up' to the consequences of our lifestyle choices. A bright engaging tank full of clownfish is quickly followed up by an information section on Ocean Acidification which outlines how increases in acidity affects the clownfish' ability to navigate and identify their home territory, causing them to potentially become lost at sea. Suddenly the further reaching effects of the abstract 'Climate Change' which people are forever hearing about are suddenly made real, and it is affecting even the most iconic of creatures such as little Disney Nemo...
One tank in particular made me feel a little weird about our
place as humans to hold these creatures captive in the name of education and
conservation, and it was perhaps filled with the least emotionally aware
creatures of all. A circular tank was filled with large jellyfish, which were
being pumped around in gradual circles, seeming to drift in endless motion. As
they got close to the pump, they were blown for just a second quite forefully
around and onto their next spiral, endlessly. In the wild ocean jellyfish would
roam over thousands and thousands of miles, controlled by the gradual ebb and
flow of ocean currents and blooms of phytoplankton. Although these creatures
are almost entirely unaware of both themselves and their surroundings,
something about the visual appearance of the blobs being bumped around and
funnelled this way and that way around a tiny circular tank, when compared to
my knowlege of how these wandering creatures should disperse across the entire
oceans, just seemed kind of ethically uncomfortable and a bit disrespectful, particularly in such large numbers.
There was one final installation which really struck resonance with me for the effectiveness with which it conveyed its message. There was one aquarium which, despite not being particularly big or impressive or containing a single living thing, was perhaps the most thought provoking of them all. At its surface floated a thin layer of trash, bottles and plastic bags while the deeper levels were choked with gradually swaying discarded fishing nets and plastic wrap. It was particularly sombre because from afar the softly bobbing packaging could almost have been a living regular exhibit, and it was only upon closer inspection that it became clear things were dramatically wrong.
Just as each tank was a mocked-up framing of a particular habitat, this tank provided a unique and haunting snapshot into a future where oceans become overrun with ill-managed plastic waste. In this case unlike every other example, it is not the life contained within which makes this exhibit so impressive, but the complete absence of life instead.
Finally we reached the 'Endless Ocean' tank, the jewel in the crown of the Deep, containing 2.5 million litres of water and 87 tonnes of salt and the true 'submarium' of the site, containing many species of fish, turtle, ray and shark all living together peacefully.With many spectacular viewing points it provided an amazing opportunity to view these aquatic creatures from all angles and get lots of firsthand photos to use as resources in my practice. One thing that I was noticing in particular was visual emphasis on silhouettes in these underwater worlds, particularly in such large tanks containing considerable quantities of water. Figures would drift into view initially as darkened shapes which were yet somehow intuitively recognisable.
The suggestibility in these visuals was beautiful, and I tried to capture that in my photography. I think perhaps this could be a good gateway to increase the interpretability of my works, and make them more emotive, as has been brought up repeatedly in tutorials. I also loved the effects a larger body of water has on light and tone, and think this could potentially be combined with my artistic practice to create something very exciting. Although I have already done work discussing ocean life, I feel like this trip could well inspire a fresh body of work, particularly taking into account current social media interest in the South Pacific Trash Isle and programs such as Blue Planet 2, I feel like public speculation is currently fixated on these issues which could make it fertile grounds for garnering further awareness. 
Finally there was a glass lift which cradled the edge of the Endless Ocean, which provided a sweeping view of the entire tank as it rose, really immersing visitors beneath the surface. The most interesting moment for me however was when the lift broke atop the water and we were given a brief glimpse behind the scenes into the nerve centre of the operation. Behind the organic face of the environments of course was a great deal of logistical work and high level operation. Although it was clear the Deep was absolutely striving to increase public awareness and responsibility for our environment and oceans, I was altogether reminded that this was indeed a human business institution when confronted with it's industrialised face. I had no idea within this building whether I was above or below ground, the lights which from below water had seemed to my human eyes so natural, were clearly now large bulbs and a small grey dinghy bobbed against the side. Any simulation I had previously been affected that these were natural circumstances was shattered, however perhaps this honest snapshot into the working reality of a large scale aquarium was the best thing about the Deep. They recognised that these circumstances were far from ideal, however were honest and minimised these factors where they could, using it also as an opportunity to educate, conserve, propose and push for something which could be better for those environments on the whole, onwards into the future.
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