Wednesday 27 October 2010

Some Inspiration !

Nancy Graves

I really like this idea of going more sculptural. Maybe even creating sculptures using random found objects which appeal to me and then working onto them with other materials! The idea that the objects I pick to use will be significant to something deeper I’m feeling. I’m finding a real cross over between expressionism and trying to reveal the unconscious, however I don’t want to worry too much about this as I feel that this project is more about self discovery than anything else – whether it’s revealing inner deeper thoughts from the unconscious or simply helping me express feeling onto paper that I didn’t realise were there.

Thomas Hirschhorn

I like the idea of selecting certain imagery from magazines / newspaper that stand out to me and then working into them. Even though these pieces are quite simple I really like them – even just working with the shapes of certain imagery and enhancing it ! I could also include automatic writing if I was to experiment working in this way – or some other sort of automatic method of producing work e.g. selecting certain words from newspapers and placing them together.

Tuesday 26 October 2010

Group Tutorial / Way Forward !

Had a pretty good tutorial yesterday ! Got so much from it. Was really nice seeing some other people’s work and what the other’s had been up to in the studio ! Unfortunately there was only two other people who turned up to our session which was a shame but it meant that we got to discuss things for longer which was good !

Everyone seemed to like what I’ve been up to and the ideas behind my work, and we were able to have a pretty interesting discussion about a few possible ideas for future work which was really inspiring ! Tiril liked the idea of making a long piece which I could constantly add to – like a continuous flow of unconscious thoughts. I like the idea of bridging out from just making pieces on typical sheets of paper / canvas and using more unusual shapes / formats ! Something else that Mary spoke to me about was constructing a piece from cardboard with a wooden surround which I could then attach things to and build upon ! She recommended bringing as much stuff into the studio as possible so then I can use whatever appeals to me at the time and attach it / work with it ! This type of piece would be a lot more sculptural which is something I’ve wanted to explore a lot more !

We also spoke about how to refine my work a bit more as at the moment I seem to be making work for the sake of making work and although it’s easy to make pieces without thinking about them, it can get a bit repetitive ! I plan to go back and look over what work I have done, in particular the “unconscious diary” and see what things jump out to me and try to understand why these specific things do ! I could then work with these particular words / imagery in more detail and begin to really get familiar with them.

Some sketchbook stuff

Although I’ve been trying to work on a larger scale I think having the comfort of a smaller sketchbook is still important to return to when stuck with what to do ! I’ve been using this sketchbook to basically just mess about in and try out some different techniques / ideas – sticking with the same idea of not planning what to produce before hand in hope that stuff from my unconscious comes through.  I haven’t really looked back at them too much yet and can’t really describe what each page means – however I hope to come back to them later and try to grasp what’s going on a bit more ! Like the larger pieces, I don’t know if these are finished / when they will be as I keep coming back and working into them more !

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This one was produced at home whilst I was pretty wasted – I decided to stick it in as I could work into it, however I haven’t got round to it yet as each time I go to I just go blank ! I know I’ve been producing work without thinking so it should be easy but I just don’t know what it is with this one !

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Back at DoJ after a lonnng Summer !

The studio’s are so much better this year ! Feel so much more comfortable in these, especially with my little space set up now !

Had my first tutorial with Mary Modeen which seemed to go quite well ! I showed / explained the “unconscious diary” to her and what my ideas were for starting this semester. She suggested going on a bigger scale which is exactly how I felt and also to try using some different media ! She also suggested some artists for me to look at – Max Ernst, Paul Klee, Alec Finlay.

After having a look at some of these artists nothing really jumped out at me. I just wanted to make some work ! I went and bought some A2 sheets of cartridge paper from the art shop and then collaged onto them back in the studio trying to not think as I was working onto the sheets of paper. After these had dried I then went back to them and worked into them further with paint, and then when this paint dried with other media as well ! These larger pieces we’re produced using the same idea as with the doodles – not thinking about what I was creating (just letting it all come “naturally”) I’m unsure as to when / if these pieces will ever be finished – as I feel I could continue working into them forever ! Each piece I’ve made seems to be different – and this may just be due to how I was feeling at the time and what was going on in my unconscious. I’ve also carried on producing more of this type of work in a a4 brown paper sketchbook – which I’ve found quite comforting when I don’t really want to work on a large scale. It’s allowed me to experiment with different materials / techniques and has been a nice place to go to when I get stuck!

I feel this whole working with different media has really give me a lot of different ideas. It’s been so long since I’ve had the freedom of producing work with lots of mixed media ! Through just experimenting – work tends to develop a lot easier without having to think (which is completely what I want to do!) and working with different materials and techniques makes this so much easier ! 

Below are some examples of the larger mixed media pieces I have produced and worked into a bit (although none of them are finished yet and some are worked into more than others!).

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This is probably one of my favourite pieces I’ve produced so far. I think it’s the colours and random but almost natural shapes that are within it ! I really enjoyed working into this one after I had collaged / painted over it  - the obsessive circles came into play once again !

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Close up of piece

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Close up of piece

 

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This piece is a bit of a weird one ! It’s got a lot of colour and excitement which I’m not used to ! When going back and working into it I really didn’t know where to start ! The eye began to emerge, and I’m a bit unsure of it ! I’ve always had an obsession with eyes but never been too good at drawing them (especially just from the head!) Don’t know what significance the eye has in this piece but it might be quite an interesting one to work back into at a later date !

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Close up of piece

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Close up of piece

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Close up of piece

 

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I haven’t worked on a black surface for quite some time so this has been an interesting piece to work on ! You can get some really nice effects through working with collage on black paper I think. It’s nice to be able to use white and have it actually show up also ! Again circles come through in this piece and it almost has some sort of futuristic feeling yet quite rustic also !

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Close up of piece

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Close up of piece

 

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This is a piece I’ve only just started working on. It’s yet to be painted over and worked into ! Through producing these pieces I think I’ve gained some sort of process – collage, paint and then working into with other media ! I’m not sure whether this is a good thing or not ! I want a certain spontaneity when producing work were I’m not supposed to have control / thoughts whilst producing ! I started using some plaster in this piece which I thought might be quite interesting to work over !

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Close up of piece

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Close up of piece

Summer Project

After watching the programme on Tourette's ages back I knew I wanted to do something based on the Unconscious !  The brief we got given before leaving for summer was to create an artist book ! Obviously artist books come in all sorts of different shapes, sizes and forms so I had a struggle of thinking what I could do ! The brief was great because it meant that any idea could be applied, however it took me quite a while to come up with something !

I knew I was going to have trouble getting into working over the Summer so I came up with the idea of producing a kind of “diary” This would make me do something everyday and at the same time record what I had been up to over Summer. The idea was to create a daily doodle as well as producing some automatic writing. I would also write a log of what I had been up to on that day to see whether the doodle / writing related to it at all.

Doodles – I began by not thinking about what it was I was going to draw and simply ended up creating random patterns. It was quite difficult not producing similar patterns on some of the days e.g. circles appeared a lot. However I didn’t want to repress doodling these at the same time as they may be significant and be part what’s going on in my unconscious mind ! Originally I wanted to go back and analyse the doodles, however there isn’t really any imagery in them – more patterns and lines which I suppose could be analysed but it’s a lot more difficult ! To begin with I didn’t enjoy producing the doodles so much – I couldn’t really get into them ! However after a while it became a lot easier and it just seemed to flow out of me – I think you can see this progression when you look back at the sketchbook ! I also began to go back and shade in some of the doodles which I think gives them a lot more aesthetic appeal and doesn’t alter anything which I wanted to achieve. I still need to go back and finish all of them for the book to feel complete !

Automatic Writing – This is something I found extremely difficult at first ! To write without thinking about what it is you are going to write is one of the most difficult things to do if you haven’t done it before ! After a while of practicing though it wasn’t too bad ! I was able to just run off words that must of only been in my head for less than a second ! The writing was quite similar to producing the doodles in some ways – the words seemed to flow off each other when writing them down. It’s very strange looking back at the writing. Although some of them are completely bizarre, a lot of them seem to make real sense and are strangely philosophical, with religion seeming to appear quite a bit also which I find very strange ! It’s certainly something I plan to more of !Even though it is difficult to do – the results pay off, it’s very interesting !

Diary Log – This is something I wanted to do alongside the doodles and automatic writing – just to see if they related to one another in any way. Sometimes it relates to the writing – but I can’t really see the relation to the doodles. It is quite a nice thing to look back on however and to see what I had been up to !

I know the brief was to make an artist book and I simply filled a sketchbook but I feel that it’s very relevant to my idea and what I was trying to get from it ! At first I was worried about constructing some sort of crazy sculptural thing, however I think this would’ve been silly with what it is I wanted to explore ! Some pictures of the “unconscious diary” are below – doodles on the right, automatic writing on the left in the centre and then the diary log is the writing around the automatic writing !

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