24/03/2017 - SAVE OUR SEAS FINAL PRINT

In this final print workshop session I managed to get the rest of my A3 layers printed. By the final print, the four layers of ink were glossy and thick on the very thin newsprint, however it was an effect I quite liked, the heaviness of the print contrasting the thinness of the paper. The slight texture made the work feel tangible and grounded. When finished at the larger size the true impact of the piece was conveyed, and I felt much more certain that the design would grab people from across the street.

I also isolated each of the colours for a single print, and became interested with the way this allowed anyone to see the physical stages involved in creating it. From my research into advertising and it's connections to capitalism and consumerism, I have begun to find that a lot of the problems we face in this post truth age are down to humanities need to seperate ourselves from the base truths of life. We seek to control our environment, and a lot of the time that means distancing ourselves from reality. We build houses to distance ourselves from the reality of the wilderness, just in the same way we buy meat and animal products which have been specifically marketed to distance themselves from the reality that animals have undoubtably felt pain and fear at many points in their lives. We buy clothes from major fashion brands because we seek clothes to feel ourselves, yet distance ourselves from the reality that such affordable highstreet styles come at the cost of millions of children working for pennies in sweatshops elsewhere. Advertising plays a huge role in this farce as it is able to mask the truth behind the way we live our lives, and the costs our choices have to others. However I can't help but feel if there was greater transparency, whilst maintaining the vast advancements advertising has made in terms of social communication and spread of information, consumers could make educated decisions decisions based on informed, realistic self awareness.

I was beginning to have ideas of how to convey this for my final exhibition, and thought that producing induvidual colour seperations could be metaphor here. They expose the process through which the image is comprised, and demonstrate how by using informed amounts of a limited range of colours a full spectrum copy is created. By exposing the induvidual seperations for my work I gave it transparency, the audience can see each step of the process openly and are able to fully grasp exactly the steps I as the artist have undergone. There is no smoke and mirrors, and thus some of the falsehood surrounding advertising is disseminated, the professional illusion is shattered and the artist-audience divide is weakened.

As well as this, I also just found it quite fascinating how four images can be in essence the same, but also differ vastly in legibility and tone. I think there are comparisons to be drawn between this and Warhol's work both in format and media, despite the styles being dissimilar.  I would also like to hope my audience can find interest themselves in this 'behind the scenes' look at screenprinting. As the process of learning and improving my screen printing ability has also been paramount to my enjoyment of the SKILLS 3 workshops, I also think it is important to pay a nod to this in my final exhibition. I have absolutely fallen in love with the methodical but incredibly gratifying process of screenprinting, and want this presentation to be atleast in some instance an homage to that.