I recently saw a film by the Norwegian artist Torbjørn Rødland at the Sperpentine Sackler Gallery called 123 BPM (2005). It was made from clips, mostly of trees and plants and a woman doing an exercise routine, all in time with a techno beat. It’s strangely interesting to watch the leaves shake on a branch – which is a very familiar scene – but to a repetitive beat it applies a whole different context. In the film the movement of the branches contrasts with the random movement we usually see in nature. Their movement to the music almost personifies them, compelling the viewer to relate to them in a different way. Because the repetition of movement is continued for most of the film, you start thinking about how the artist captured this movement; whether the branches were bouncing naturally in the breeze, or if it was someone’s job to repetitively shake a branch for the film. I find this thought adds a playful humour to the piece, especially when applied to scenes such as the clip where we’re looking through reeds to two figures sitting in a small two man boat in the distance on a large, tranquil body of water. The boat is central in the frame and directly underneath a pinkish moon. A grey, misty sky merges almost seamlessly into the surface of the water. The scene is calming and picturesque – or it would be if it wasn’t for the single reed shaking vigorously to the stomping repetitive beat. I think this playful juxtaposition is effective and amusing. Seeing the film in the gallery environment made a difference to watching it on a laptop screen because I was far more immersed and focused on it. Being in a dark room with the music loudly emanating from the speakers behind me intensified the whole experience and definitely added value to the artwork. I think it is really important to experience art work ‘in the flesh’ when possible.

Fig1: Untitled

When rescaling work there are a number of factors to consider. The materials used become of increasing importance, can they withstand the process, how much will it cost, will it need structural support, etc. Composition also requires much consideration, when going bigger do you need to account for perspective, is the intricacy of the work feasible when going smaller? Most importantly, does the work continue to say what you want it to say in this new scale?

In order to consider reproducing the work presented ^[fig1] on a smaller scale there are a list of changes that would be required to make. The work was originally painted on cartridge paper, and on a smaller scale, it is easier to overwork the paper and tear it would therefore have to be primed better or an alternative material chosen. In this instance, I would choose to use canvas stretched over board, primed with a fine, gesso plaster mix. This is because it provides a rigidity to it that would help the work survive the screen printing process more. The printing process would have to be applied ore delicately using pipettes to apply inks and soaps whilst applying the printing mediums with small teaspoons.

The work would also need some compositional changes, at a scale such as A4 or A5 the work would become too intricate to reproduce accurately even with 000 brushes when considering my own skills as a painter. Due to this, the composition would need to be suitable simplified, in this case removing some of the finer brush marks. When scaling down cost becomes less of an issue, however if I was scaling this up I would want to consider using acrylic paints over oils or whether or not to use paper, board or canvas to work onto.

My blog documents the way in which I view art and the world around me. It shows how I think, comprehend and understand what I see, hear and feel. Further yet it displays this for other people to see allowing them to understand my views, processes and concepts.

In completing my blog, I have been able to further my understanding of art and the concepts behind it. This includes but is not exclusive to philosophy, theory, politics, appropriation, process and history. It has also developed my research skills in locating, understanding and referencing information.

The blog has allowed me to develop my studio practice skills by allowing me to apply my new knowledge into advancing my concepts and problem solving my processes and techniques. It has opened up a new door of opportunity in which I can now successfully and reliably find and discover new approaches to my work and apply them. It has made me more accepting of alternative opinions and views of art, whilst also allowing me the opportunity to break down these opinions and views in order to develop my own.

Tasks 6 and 7 were of particular interest to me as they allowed me to expand my knowledge and consider period’s art and materials that I would have previously dismissed. In doing so, it has greatly expanded what I would consider to be my areas of interest and my art practice.

Fig1: William Blake, The Ancient of Days, 1794

William Blake’s ‘Ancient of Days’ was first published in 1794 as the front piece to his book ‘Europe a Prophecy’. The work encapsulates Blake as an artist and his religious beliefs whilst also providing a commentary on the French Revolution and British politics of the 1790’s. Ever since a young age Blake had visions of celestial beings and would regularly converse with them. He once stated that his artwork was more popular in the heavenly world he observed. The work he produced depicts the views and beliefs of his own unique religion; the religion of his invention was predominately Christian but also included inspiration from other sources such as Norse and Greek mythology.

Fig2: Appropriated work

I chose to appropriate this piece of work as a continuation of one of my personal projects. I was particularly interested in the dark and effective use of colours within the work and the significance behind the work. In the last verses of ‘Europe a Prophecy’ Blake describes the coming of the apocalypse. I was considering the ideas of what would happen if the book had been written in a post apocalypse dystopian state how would the work have been changed or altered, who would represent god and what would the meaning of apocalypse be after it had already come to pass.

I chose to start the work with an image transfer in order to lighten the work to create an easier surface to work with. God was then reworked to be deformed and mutilated, whilst having a gas mask grown into his face. I felt I needed to darken the image and age it suitably to recreate the depth seen in the original work for completion. The final outcome confers the all the meaning of the original work however brings the context forwards in time leading the viewer to question whether the work is still relevant today.

Bibliography

Blunt, A. (1974). The art of William Blake. New York: Harper & Row, p.353.

Exhibition Review:

11^th Nov 2017 Serpentine Sackler Gallery

Torbjørn Rødland: The Touch That Made You

I really enjoyed a recent exhibition at the Serpentine Sackler Gallery. It was a collection works from the past two decades by the Norwegian artist Torbjørn Rødland (born 1970). I felt that the curation was good, and that the pieces worked well in the space. Each photograph had an element of intrigue; whether it be a photo of a puzzling and ambiguous scenario with a young, topless, muscular boy holding a much older man against a wall by the throat, or a scene where a woman is resisting abduction, the attacker out of the frame and a bizarre juxtaposing brightness to the image. There was also a selection of photos which might be loosely referred to as ‘still lives’. The interest in these comes from his playfulness with the interaction of incongruent materials like fire with flesh or ice, and hair with food. I was drawn in by his photographs, and in the cases where it applied, I felt compelled to try to analyse the expressions of his subjects, to draw more about the context of their situation from them. The way the emotion has been captured leaves the narratives beguilingly ambiguous, and I think this is largely what makes his photos so intriguing.

Fig1: Alex Morgan, Nova Vita, 2017

Bleak, Façade, Austere, Biblical, Forsaken, Semblance, Ardent, Crestfallen, Barbarous, Expectations

The work explores the emotional instability of the artist and the continuously developing problems and issues of his life both physically and socially. Through the considered application of plaster and paint, the artist has imbued the piece with reference to and perspectives on, the complex nature of the human condition. Using the canvas as a body the artist’s deepest secrets have been compartmentalised and scrawled across the work, then protected by a bony wall of plaster.

Each segment of the wall has been constructed from the compositional breakdown of photographs taken at key points throughout the artist’s life encompassing social events, family meals, hospital visits and even the mess of his room. Informed from the embedded memory a façade has evolved, carefully concealing his true self. Drawn over the layers of plaster, a thick skin of paint reveals in depth, colour and hue, the emergence of the artist’s emotional response to the subject of each canvas.

However, these true responses are tinged by the social expectations of a modern society that leaves no room for anyone to be anything but happy.  This distortion results in the large emotional imbalance seen in the applications of red glaze and bitumen.

The innate fragility of the human condition will reveal itself over time.  As the piece ages, the inherent flaws within the plaster will slowly reveal themselves in cracks and chips.  These will slowly penetrate the facade and in breach of self-imposed convention reveal the artist’s true emotions.

In this piece, we therefore glimpse into the artist’s mind and find the nature of the piece unveiled is redemption.

The words I have chosen are my immediate response to my own work with the knowledge and understanding I have over its creation and concept. They display my opinions of the piece and the associations I make with it. I do not believe the work depicts a particularly positive part of my life and these words and the way I describe the piece reflects this.

Book: On Being an Artist by Micheal Craig-Martin

On Being an Artist is a series of comments on the art world. It is interspersed with personal, anecdotal snippets which give an insight into some of the significant experiences in Michael Craig-Martin’s life as an artist. If approached chronologically, the reader will build a sense of the journey that Craig-Martin travelled when becoming an artist and what he has learnt since. In this sense, some of the chapters feel very autobiographical. Due to the fact that each chapter is between half a page and four pages in length it is very easy to dip in and out of. This means if you so wish you would be able to select only the chapters which talk about art in an objective way – the kind of thing you might read in an art history book for example – which would give you a different, far less personal sense of this book entirely. For me, the most interesting chapters are the ones that combine anecdotal experience with conclusive observations. For example, Craig-Martin discusses ideas of freedom and discipline in art school, he first tells of his own desires and expectations, and then goes on to state that in art schools “the aura of ‘discipline’ that permeates most educational institutions is wonderfully marginalized… …It is obviously incompatible with creative activity.” I would say that for an art student, or anyone interested in the art world, his writings are relevant, informative, entertaining.

Craig-Martin, M. (2015). Michael Craig-Martin. New York: Art / Books.

In the past narrative has paved the road to success for some of the greatest artists in history. The works of the Old Masters play on extracts from the bible, the romanticist’s took on classical mythology while baroque depicted heavenly glory. Dinos and Jake Chapman use the narrative of a children’s tale to comment on the ongoing social changes that are taking place around us in their book ‘Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights II (XI)’.

Fig1: Jake and Dinos Chapman, Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights II (XI)

The book provides illustrations for variations of iconic Victorian cautionary tales. The rewritten endings inevitably result in the appearance of monsters or the death of the characters involved. Through this, the artists states that by doing anything that is considered socially unacceptable you convict yourself to a painful death. The artists criticise the increasingly prevalent PC social movement in which everyone is prevented from harm with extreme levels of health and safety or the removal of true freedom of speech.

The use of Victorian moral tales is very important to understanding the work due to the social status of the time. In which the health and safety of an individual was their own concern. Children’s tales of the time period reflect this notion. The work suggests not to fully revert to this state but to prevent the bubble wrapping of individuals that is currently prevalent before it becomes too extreme.

Bibliography

Jake and Dinos Chapman, Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights II (XI), 2012. (2012). [image] Available at: http://Bedtime Tales for Sleepless Nights II (XI) [Accessed 2 Dec. 2017].

Leo Steinberg (b.1920) from Other Criteria pp. 61-98

The extract taken discusses the changes that occurred in art during the 1950s onwards. Steinberg argues that during this period there is a distinct change in painting style from vertical to horizontal perspectives. He defines vertical painting as any form of work that uses illusion to create depth and perspective and considers it to be a continuation of the ‘Old Masters’ principles and celebration of the natural world over the man made. Consider this to be any work in which the artist aims to portray what he see in front and around him whilst in an upright position. Steinberg argues that this is outdated and that in order to move forward art has to accept the idea of a horizontal perspective in which the painter aims to obtain a flat surface such as the floor below his feet or the top his desk. This new form of art should be adaptive and react to the new man made environment it is surrounded by.

Richard Serra (b. 1939) from The Yale Lecture

This extract comments on the change in sculptural art that took place during the 1980’s. Serra suggests that sculpture has stagnated since the coming of the modernist sculpture and has failed to adapt to the industrial and social revolutions of the time period. He argues that other industries such as construction and architecture have seized on these opportunities’ to use new materials such as steel. In reaction to this, he suggests that sculpture should move towards more site-specific constructs using modern materials and techniques. Serra believes that sculptures built in a studio fail to react to their final environment properly and thus the viewer will always fail to envision the artist’s concept correctly. However, Serra recognises that installation and site-specific artwork relies on corporate funding, as it is not commercial enough to be sold independently and therefore has to be commissioned. As a result the artist believe that is site-specific artwork is prone to the manipulation of its funders in order to relay a message of desire and one that the artist does not stand for.

The two texts both reflect on how art should be adaptive to its time period and that what is radical at the time soon becomes old. As a result, art should always be changing to represent the most prominent or most important movements in a way to support the artist’s views and ideas and to create a greater change.

‘Defining a Woman by Her (Body) Hair’ 2017

Perspex dry point plates

This piece is called ‘Defining a Woman by Her (Body) Hair’. My project was based on social expectations and gender inequality. I refined it to focus on the theme of female body hair. The project was heavily research based and I was really invested in the whole process. I designed a survey to hear people’s opinions on body hair and I recorded numerous informal conversations . The responses were really interesting. I felt it was important to investigate this specific topic because of the emotional effects that prejudices surrounding female body hair have on women and especially young girls who are essentially taught to hate their natural bodies and that they must remove all body hair in order to be valued in our society.

I considered painting or drawing the body hair on a canvas for my final piece. Then I came across an etching by Kathe Kollowitz. In the image ‘Mother with Her Dead Child’ 1903, the shading created by the fine lines of the etching had this strange ambiguity between hair and shadow which I really wanted to try to harness. I experimented with dry point and found it a very effective way of depicting hair. I continued to work with dry point and decided to use it for my final piece. Due to technical issues when printing I decided to hang the inked up Perspex plates instead of printing onto paper. Overall I am really happy with the outcome and have had lots of positive feedback about my art work. Women have told me that my artwork has given them the confidence to accept their natural bodies, which I think is great.