DEVELOPMENT, DISTRIBUTION, PRODUCTION AND RESEARCH
This term I have been trying to reinvigorate old techniques. Last term I focused on accuracy, straight-lines and scale. This was a fun challenge but I wanted to work freely again. I decided the most freeing place to start would be studying emotions and I let that lead the way.
I began by doing quick line studies. I drew people walking past me in town and my flat mates - I was interested in how their expressions changed when they had ‘zoned out’ and thought they were un-observed. These drawings relaxed my work and helped me create pieces without obsessing about the outcome.
This term’s drawings look unnatural - it’s possibly my unconscious rebellion against last term’s work, when I drew lots of ‘straight’ formal man-made items focussed on purpose. As I worked I spent time looking at surrealist artists such as Dali and Ernst, focussing on their use of form, perspective and shape. I found myself increasingly appreciating the unnatural in the natural and their art gave me confidence in myself.
These ideas inspired “Tommy has a primal urge to hit things with sticks and doesn't understand why”. The name plays with its conflicting appearance and is a nod to the lack of control we often have over ourselves. I wanted to play with the piece’s initial childish appearance. The primary colours play on innocence and the bright lines suggest youth. I created it with no planning - I wanted to see where it took me. But I started with the demonic placement of Tommy’s arms and eyes as, irrespective of the lack of planning, I wanted to create an element of threat.
I thought the piece succeeded, and I decided to take the window-motif forward into future work, using metaphorical connotations that epitomise other-ness, the outside and a gateway for the dead. I researched the origins and mythology around tarot cards and used this inspiration in working towards more satanic themes.
Motivated to create my own surrealist work, my research led me to the work of the surrealist artist Kay Sage who created a lot of bleak paintings with a recurring theme of window panes and emptiness.
Intimidated by the prospect of creating my own surrealist pieces, I started by drawing various interior still lifes from pictures I’d taken of items, or compilations I’d created. I worked on them in a collage-technique trying to add surprising objects, colours and shading.
This led to the creation of “The lights are on, someone is home. The lights are someone's home.” This piece’s composition feels effective although I wasn’t happy with my technique and the tones / colours. I was low on paint and uncertainty and the new-ness of the type of work may have contributed to its flat, rather lifeless outcome.
“Angus concealed a lemon under the floorboards….” was the result of my following experimentation. I loved the ‘regalness’ of the curtains added to the previous piece. I tried adding items and objects associated with the devil such as a bull’s skull and a snake. The cello was the result of a conversation I overheard about fake-sympathy brought on by someone’s perceived self-pity (“bring out the tiny violins”) . It made me think of the image of the devil playing a huge violin, aka, a cello.
My final exploration of the devil was: “Fans available now. Keep cool”. This piece has a graphic-design presence and I find it effective - I think the colours work well together. I plan to develop it into a monochrome lino-print. The inspiration came from a conversation about my ‘sinful’ habit of binge-eating cheese and developed into a self-portrait - of kinds!
Following this I hit a dead end. I thought again about windows, creating a simple three-colour piece inspired by Edward Hopper called “Blue Condition”. I like the effect the simplicity brings creating a feeling of emptiness and solitude in the painting.
“Empty Homes, full streets' ' was inspired by a neighbouring house. I left the windows blank, similar to a blanked-out-eyes painting I had been working on, following the trope of eyes being the window to your soul. Researching this led me to Yves Tanguy’s bleak paintings. His technique intrigued me, as I struggle with the concept of a piece being ‘complete’. I found the bare emptiness of his work compelling. Taking inspiration and courage from this to allow emptiness into my own pieces felt liberating.
This led to my exhibition piece, portraying relationships using manikin heads. The three-part layout alluded to classic cartoon strips. I re-interpreted my term’s recurring imagery: the pointed potted plant, wine bottle, white-washing and the manakin. Since the exhibition was on zoom I wanted to find a benefit of the zoom format. I edited out the middle manikin head so it flickered back, as if you’d blinked. I liked the composition of the piece but I felt the painting lacked direction and I felt it didn’t have enough energy in the brushstrokes.
I sought to create a (potentially-mocking) piece in response to my exhibition. I replicated some motifs (the wine bottle) and created a sad figure clutching a disproportionately-sized bottle, reflecting me and my disappointment with my exhibition piece. The scarf’s colour reflected my life in Liverpool. I think the composition is effective but the execution, less so.
Finally, I created “Aretha could now find her way out the woods” aiming to maintain the same whimsical elements and colours. This image is of a joyous dancing lady in a graveyard. Half-way through the painting I took its photo, and I realised that I prefer that to the completed piece. I need to be confident about when a piece is ‘complete’, and learn to have the courage to trust myself, and stop trying to ‘finesse’.
This term has been about freedom and realising that I need to trust myself, my instincts and my art. Next term I want to be braver, to liberate my imagination and not be bound by expectations. I am going to free myself and let my hands do the talking.