The new mode of practice that I would like to develop is the creation of interactive public pieces, for example making a sculpture or providing resources on which members of the public can write or draw on. The comments and drawings from the public can then be transferred/recreated/photocopied and left in public areas. For example, I can hang them on tags from trees or write on rocks and walls, etc. I like the idea of letting the spontaneous thoughts of members of the public become the artwork. This idea is very similar to Yoko Ono’s ‘Wish Tree,’ which I saw in the Copenhagen Contemporary gallery, in which viewers were invited to write their wishes on tags to attach to the tree outside. However, I would like to stretch this idea further and perhaps give the public more media to express themselves with, e.g. providing paints, pencils, charcoal and ink, also leaving the topic of writing open. The comments and phrases that I collect can then act as starting points for further pieces of my work.

I haven’t experimented much with text in my work so this is an area of interest to me. Although I haven’t written much poetry, I would like to explore this as I find it really effective when it is left in public places, e.g. written on cut down trees or made into a sticker and left on a lamp post. This interests me as it will be overlooked my many, but some people may notice it and take the time to read it. The public comments and drawings can act as inspiration for this writing, and the poems may not even have to make much sense, instead linking to the spontaneous thoughts.

Queer British Art – Tate Britain

This exhibition moved me like no other ever has, it showcased the works of artists who identified as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer. An exhibition like this has never taken place before, where the entirety of the works involved in the exhibition are created by LGBTQ artists and as I am bisexual: this was very touching.
There were pieces dating back to 1800s, costumes from actors who would dress up as the opposite sex, the prison door of Oscar Wilde and love letters from gay lovers. These gay lovers were called Montague Glover and Ralph Hall and in these letters they’d call each other ‘my darling’ and ‘my dear’. It was very touching to finally see such normal behaviour that usually occurs between couples, being openly displayed between two men.

At the end of the exhibition, the last room was large and square, shelves all around, holding white cards. The idea was, you write how the exhibition made you feel and how it impacted you.
When reading these cards, some were filled with gratification for an exhibition such as this, whereas most were all anecdotes and stories from actual people. Words of encouragement to fight prejudice, anecdotes about coming out, and many stories about love.

I had never experienced such a personal and emotional exhibition and it is one I will never forget.

Bibliography: 
Gay love letters through history: http://rictornorton.co.uk/hall.htm
Queer British Art: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/queer-british-art-1861-1967
Queer British Art review: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/apr/03/queer-british-art-review-tate-britain

The mode of practice I would like to experiment with consists of a combination between painting and installation. While I had made attempts to do this in the past during my A Level practice, I did not have full access to equipment and environments that are on offer to me at university.

I would like to produce large scale paintings of my subject matter and place them in both isolated and public environments to record the reactions of those viewing them. Primarily, I work in vivid oil paint to craft a dramatic impact, however, from ‘The Contemporary’ project, I have studied more outrageous works inspired by the artists Marilyn Minter and Betty Tompkins. The vibrant imagery, colour, and texture overwhelms the senses of the viewer. This could vary in effect depending on where the paintings are viewed. It might be useful to create an isolated booth of which people can view the piece alone as well as in a public space such as a café or shopping centre. Due to the graphic nature of some of my paintings, I would have to tone my imagery down to conduct this type of project; otherwise issues such as public indecency could be raised.

The name of the book I have chosen for this task is Concerning the Art of Glenn Brown by Michael Bracewell. This book was published for the Glenn Brown exhibition, that took place in, 2007. I picked this book simply because I found Brown’s work online and wanted to explore his art further. The book contains a review by Michael Bracewell and his overall thoughts on Brown’s work tends to be that of great praise.
Bracewell begins by describing Glenn Brown’s work as truly original, mentioning the putrid colour palette and the overall dreamlike and timeless nature of the compositions. He then goes onto compare Brown’s art to John Dryden -a descendent of Augustan Mock Heroism – whose poems mock classical stereotypes. However, in this case, his art could be mocking classical art through its ghastly colour schemes and altered proportions making everything look other-worldly. The swirling brushmarks create the illusion of a thick, dense painting, drawing the viewer in closer, then being presented with shock when they realise the painting is flat.
Bracewell comments that Brown’s paintings are ‘psychological portraits’ meaning that they reflect our inner most deepest thoughts. Perhaps subconscious thoughts, not shown through the colours or shape but through the magnificent beauty of the art. I believe that this could also be portrayed through the fluid, swirling brush marks as this could represent the perpetual change in thought processes. Brown’s brush marks personally remind me of the bizarre patterns that appear after rubbing your eyes too much which refers back to the psychological intent.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/john-dryden
https://www.gagosian.com/artists/glenn-brown

Evolving Oil Painting

I would like to expand my photography taken into clear, detailed oil paintings ideally on canvas. The knowledge behind this is to expand my work into different mediums and to demonstrate my inspiration into a variety of outcomes with my main focus being the general public; revealing hidden treasures that would normally be missed without attention being drawn towards it. This practise would be feasible for me as I own a camera and resources such as printing ink and painting materials would be affordable. It is also quite clear that the larger the scale of work the more expensive it is going to be as more materials are going to be used and I would need to be aware of this when completing my study. I would like to develop my work by researching other portrait artists that are relevant to the work I am trying to portray at the time by visiting local exhibitions and using relevant research materials.

KLEON, A. (28/02/2012) Steal Like an Artist, New York: Workman Publishing

The book ‘Steal Like an Artist’ aims to help guide individuals to creative outcomes within the digital age; Kleon covers a variety of topics within the book, mainly based on how originality comes about, the main point being that nothing created today is considered original because everything has been done. He includes quotes from various artists, including, Jessica Hische, Pablo Picasso, and T.S. Elliot to help iterate how successful artists have had to ‘steal’ ideas in order to excel. This book is not only for aspiring artists, but it is also written to appeal to anyone who is trying to “inject creativity into their life”. Essentially, the message Kleon is trying to communicate is that you have to be open to putting yourself out there to discover new ideas and to allow yourself to be influenced by previous ideas in order to be able to create your own. He makes a point at the beginning of the book (pg.2) “all advice is autobiographical”; by this, Kleon means that when people give advice, they’re attempting to stop others from making the same errors that they have.

As a multidisciplinary artist I like having the freedom to experiment with different ways of working depending on which one I think will have the greatest outcome.

Recently I have really enjoyed using photography as my main mode of practice. I really like the idea of capturing an ephemeral moment and preserving it. However I wanted the viewer to connect and experience the photo in other ways than just by looking at it. Because of this I have been combining sculpture with my photography to add more texture and life to the photograph.

For example with one photo I took of some clouds in the sky I wanted the clouds to be 3D. So I used a cotton wall ball and tore little pieces off of it and stuck it to the photo with some double sided sticky tape. I showed the final outcome to a few class mates and their reactions were really positive.

Another photo I did this with was a photo I took of some autumn leaves on the ground. For this one I decided to stick a small leaf over some of the leaves in the photo.

I really enjoy this way of working and it is something I will definitely carry on practicing in the future.

Muntean / Rosenblum Untitled [Everything was as it had been a minute ago…], 2001 [painting]

There is a sense of awkwardness within the poses that the three characters are in, and reading the text below implies this awkwardness was intended.

Two out of three of the characters are looking directly at the viewer – as though we are onlookers, unwelcome in the environment. The overall feeling from this painting is that something unwelcome has just happened, whether its a secret becoming known or an unwanted act, and suddenly the fourth character (the viewer) has walked in, unannounced, and created the suspension that the text describes.

When discussing the exhibition that this image belongs to, Rosenblum says, ‘We are fascinated by, and investigate, how far you can go with the construction of the gesture of the figure. Because, we think the more artificial it gets, the more moving it is, even though, in the normal sense it is the natural that is the thing that moves you’.
This passage represents the image because the male character is squatting on the floor in an odd manner, representing Rosenblum and Muntean’s approach towards artificial stances. This adds more to the awkwardness in the painting because the context is now known that the artist’s were pushing the boundaries about what is relatable, and not only do the positions of the characters reflect this, also the viewer is the forth character adds a strong relatable aspect to the painting.

Bibliography:
Rosenblum quote: http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/art-now-munteanrosenblum

During a recent trip to Trafalgar Square in Central London, I decided to check out the National Gallery. The gallery houses a collection of 2,300 paintings from the mid-13^th century to the 20^th, and was founded in 1824.

Whilst in the National Gallery I found myself surrounded by the impressionistic artists of the late 19^th century. For the first time I noticed a few paintings that I hadn’t paid much detail too. This was the case when I came across ‘Bathers at La Grenouillere’ painted by Monet. Although I had seen the painting online when researching him in the past, I never really cared for the piece. However, seeing it within the gallery was a real eye-opener for me, and allowed me to see why it’s in the galleries top 30 highlighted paintings.

First thing I noticed was the scale of the piece. As mentioned, from seeing it prior to the gallery visit online, I imagined it to be bigger than what it was (73 x 92cm). upon reflection however, many of Monet’s works were around this size. From being within the gallery seeing the painting first hand, it put everything back in to proportion to me. This almost forced me to get close to the painting to appreciate it. Once doing this, I noticed how free-flowing this piece was compared to some of his other paintings. Upon looking at the piece once more online, I’ve discovered it says;

“The exceptionally free handling of Monet’s painting may in part be due to the canvas being a sketch for what was to be a more ambitious composition painted back in the studio.” (1)

This stuck out to me because although the piece is highly praised within the gallery, it isn’t the traditional way Monet created his paintings. The artist is famous for painting in a ‘Plein Air’ (the act of painting outdoors) style, which contradicts how Bathers at La Grenouillere was created. This is something I may have not noticed or pondered upon if I didn’t see the painting first hand.

Bathers at La Grenouillère
1869, Claude Monet

Bibliography

(1) https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/claude-monet-bathers-at-la-grenouillere

During a recent trip to Trafalgar Square in Central London, I decided to check out the National Gallery. The gallery houses a collection of 2,300 paintings from the mid-13^th century to the 20^th, and was founded in 1824.

Once inside, I instantly noticed why it’s one of the most visited art museums in the world. Panning around every wall you see the works of many great artists, a few being; Van Gogh, Matisse, Renoir and of course, Monet. Being an impressionist myself, the area where Monet and other impressionistic artists where being held drew me in. This area was most memorable as although these artists are categorised within the same genre, they all gave a unique flare to the style. To think that when these artists first began making their art, they were rejected from galleries is truly beyond me. How wasn’t this style favoured compared to the realism movement beforehand? From seeing more realistic approaches to painting the landscape within The National Gallery, such as Alexandre Calame’s painting of a solitary pine tree – ‘At Handeck’, I noticed how abstract the impressionistic movement really was. Once walking among the works, I started to understand that this rejection to the impressionistic movement, accompanied by the backlash of work that Monet etc. produced, is the reason why impressionism was a turning point within modern art. Within the gallery it gave me a sense of appreciation for not just impressionism, but for all approaches. The beauty of it is, although the sheer size of the gallery can be overwhelming, the high volume of work allows you to take a journey back through the ages, as I did, and reflect upon how styles have changed. You can even do this with the building itself, which can be argued as a notable structure of the 19^th century.