Tuesday 13 March 2012

Work In Progress Wednesday!

I'm going to admit straight away that I'm a little nervous about posting my work for you all to see. I know not everyone will like it or 'get it', but that's okay - that't not what I'm worried about. I am nervous because this post is important in that it directly pertains to what has brought me here: art. I'm here in London to study art and make art. A lot of money, time and loneliness (not just my loneliness, also the loneliness of those I left back home) has gone into this endeavour, so the end product should be able to justify that. If it seems I'm just flopping around with a spatula of ink in one hand and some masking tape in the other, then what's the point of all this? I feel like the work I produce needs to say 'hey, I'm worth all this!'. That said, I personally feel that the project I'm working on now is a strong body of work that resonates with me on an aesthetic and intellectual level. I'm excited by it now, and where it will go over the rest of the year. I think it's worth it.

Late last year I was writing an essay for my Modernism class when I found a quote in a journal article by Emily Hage. The article was titled: "The Magazine as Strategy". This is the quote:

"The words in Picabia's mechanmorphic sketch further blur conventional divisions between text and images and the perpendicular printing adds to the disjunctive nature of the page."

The text in bold is what struck me there: 'blur conventional divisions between text and image'. I thought '...how does one do that? I WANT TO DO THAT'. I started thinking about how I could print text in a way that would ask to the viewer to see it as an image, as well as (or maybe instead of) text to be read.  From my visual diary: "I want to explore how recognisable letters/text can incorporated [not the right word] into an image in a seamless fashion - the text becomes the image. < This last sentence is the starting point for a larger, more specific and articulate artist statement that I plan to have developed by the time I get back to Perth and start second semester in June (aka: my final semester for this degree, oh my!). 

One of the first issues I thought about was readability. Did I want viewers to look at my word images and read the letters and understand them as words and sentences... or should it just be gibberish - a random collection of letters? 

skftjfxcnhmlikbmhaaaa
vs.
I just got maple syrup in my hair. [fun fact: I actually just did]

On one hand, if it was gibberish it would challenge the notion that letters are to be 'read', and on the other if  the viewer wasn't able to understand what was written, then they would be quicker to disengage with the work - so maybe readable sentences would be best? I did a quick 'sketch' in my visual diary:
On the left is a random assortment of letters, written over the top of each other, and on the right is a sentence that I intended to be a little whimsical/nonsensical, done in the same layered fashion. I personally found when writing these out that the sentence came more easily. It allowed for a more repetitious flow, my hand got looser as it moved down the page and the writing began to take on a very pleasing fluidity.

I think it was after doing this exercise that I decided my project would have two 'slightly different by related' projects within it: one involving handwriting, the other printed type (which is where screen printing comes in, which is good because I like to think print media is my discipline of choice, with other practices revolving around it). Both bodies of work are related by common themes such as repetition, layering and monochromaticity (hey, I like black, what can I say?).

Now I'm moving on and experimenting simultaneously with sentences that don't really make sense (I'm doing this by piecing together sentence fragments from exhibition catalogues I collect when going around town) and sentences that I've made up myself that have a more personal meaning. Here's what I did today in the print workshop:


This one isn't actually supposed to BE sideways - for some reason my picture folder and Blogger won't communicate and realise I've rotated and saved it multiple times - but perhaps I should consider it a useful glitch and start considering which way my word/images will be read.

This is an underneath shot of the stencil while it was on the screen, midway through printing. As I printed, moved the paper and reprinted, the surface around the stencil gets covered in ink, which results in repeated 'ghost prints' as I continue the process. It's a deliberately messy technigue that I really like and will continue to do within this project. Also, it was really, really nice to be back in a print room, getting my hands messy and feeling productive.

 Stencil making. This was definitely the most time consuming part. I spent 2 hours cutting out the stencils, then less than an hour actually printing them.

Eventually I would like to combine the handwritten and printed images, by writing over prints. I also intend to play around with formatting a bit more. At the moment font isn't of a huge concern to me, but that maye change.

Artists I've noted and find inspirational for this project so far: Aida Tomescu (whose work I love and admire, regardless of it's relevance to any project I work on), Cy Twombly (in particular, his blackboard drawings), and David Shrigley (I went to his exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, which really got me thinking about my use of words). There are many, many other notable artists who work with this sort of subject matter but for now this is my top three.

Thanks for reading this everyone :)

Saturday 10 March 2012

Misc.

I love London. Having been back in town since my brief trip home I've realised how much I'm going to miss this city once I leave for good. I've been rejuvenated by my trip back to Perth, so these past two weeks have been busy, in comparison to how I was spending my time here before. I'm going out almost everyday, either to uni to work in my studio or out to the city to see galleries or seek out delicious food.

It's taking me foreeeeeever to write this post because it's not really about one thing in particular, just an update of what's been going since I got back. Apologies in advance for disjointedness and topic jumping.

A while ago I made a post about trying to make some friends with fellow art students. You know what? It worked! (Kinda). Last Tuesday I joined two people from uni in visiting Yayoi Kusamas' small exhibition at a place near Old Street station. I loveloveloved the sculptures, but was not too keen on the paintings. We then went next door to a gallery called Parasol Unit which had an exhibition based on the notion of 'line', which I really liked. Meaning: I walked around most of the lower floor with an open mouthed-smile on my face, I liked it so much. I'm heading back there... at the end of the month, I think, for an artist talk about the use of scientific methods within an arts practice (or something like that). Exciting! So, socialising: check! Art: check! Good!

I'm starting to get into my art project for uni a bit more. I've changed my personal tutor to someone within print media, and he's a guy who's around a lot more and knows how to respond to an email, so I'm looking forward to having a more active mentor. I'm getting used to just going ahead and doing things on my own, but I feel it's really important, as an artist, to have others that you can discuss ideas and methods with. Art is expression, and art is a process, so I think you need like-minded people around you to give you feedback. Like yelling into a canyon just to see how your own voice sounds. I'm planning on making a 'Work in Progress Wednesday' post for this coming Wednesday detailing my project so far, which will (hopefully) contain an artist statement of sorts, as well as pictures.

Different topic now: I've also started seriously planning (as in, I'm starting to book things, finally!) my Eurotrip for after I'm done studying in London. As much as I'm not ready to leave London yet, I'm also excited to be getting out onto mainland Europe and seeing places I've always wanted to see. Behold my beautifully crafted itinerary map, thanks to google maps and Paint: 

My plan is to have a quick jaunt up to Scotland (Edinburgh and Glasgow, specifically) once I'm done with uni, then come back to London briefly to say goodbye and move out of my place, and then ONWARD TO GERMANY. I've visiting Hamburg, Bremen (just for a night, to see a concert) and then Berlin. I'm super excited for Berlin, everyone who's been there loves it. I then head south to Prague and Vienna before heading back into Germany for some time in Munich. After that I'm going to Verona in northern Italy, across to Milan and then down to my final European stop: Rome. I stay there for a week before flying to Singapore to meet up with my mum and my sister for some good old fashioned family reunion time (aka: mum hugging me for 72 hours straight, while Jane barters with shop owners).

I'm looking forward to the next few months, for many reasons, but I'll leave you with this one: it's springtime!