Bones
The first Chinese calligraphy has been found carved into bones and tortoiseshell. This gave me the idea of using actual bones, soaked in Chinese ink to form characters. Each large bone forms a stroke and the smaller ones resemble the way that the image fragments as the ink in the brush runs out at the end of a stroke. The origins of the written language are being used to form modern characters meaning bones.
The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal by Matt McCormick, narrated by Miranda July. I love this amusing film.
Ai Weiwei’s Sunflower Seeds installation at the Turbine Hall in Tate Modern. A wonderful piece of artwork by one of my favourite artists. This film has a weird comical atmosphere though as it seems to be as much about photography as it is the artwork!
Make apparitions emerge, dissolve, arise. Make talismanic, totemic or iconic images. Make your passions visible and tangible. Go for material that exalts and inspires. Convey your spirit, your magic, your trance. Make meaningful motifs out of slim evidence. Find a reliable order in the midst of chaos. Pay special attention to birth, death, and rebirth. If all else fails, tell a tall story.
From a blog I enjoy The Painter’s Keys by Robert Genn.
He is paraphrasing The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art by David Lewis-Williams
I really enjoyed being a part of the Park ‘09 exhibition of site based art works in the beautiful Cannizaro Park in Wimbledon. This year the event was curated by Sarah B Davies who selected projects from proposals by BA and MA Wimbledon School of Art students. The exhibition was a great success in spite of the pretty dicey weather. I’d considered the British weather when I came up with the idea of my piece so I not only had somewhere dry to sit whilst invigilating it, it also had a certain poetry to it.
I felt that this “Umbrella Den” would be ideal for Cannizaro since it fits in with attributes of the park such as dens, tunnels and shelter. The suburban park relates very closely to the umbrella since both are part practical, part ornamental. One is unlikely to spot either a rose garden or someone sporting an umbrella in the wilderness. In the park, or under an umbrella, events take place which can be semi-obscured: a lover’s kiss, a conversation, family bonding. I also intended a wry nod to the sea of umbrellas at Wimbledon tennis.
In my studio work, I have been looking at how objects are used and reused; their functionality redefined. I enjoyed the opportunity of exploring this theme within the larger arena of the park and observing how the public negotiated these visual questions. I am intrigued by the relationship between man and nature and their constant interplay so this work embodies this. The man-made umbrella used as shelter is blown inside out and broken by nature’s elements then redefined in a suburban setting amidst trees as a structure using both natural and man made elements. A shelter made from smaller umbrella shelters beneath the larger trees which also act as shelter.
Pylon Idol, my sculpture for Away Day by Post Artists
This photo was taken by a lovely photographer from the Wimbledon Guardian with his fish-eye lens.
The wonderful Terry Smith, who has lots of really interesting shows going on right now, has invited me and 8 other past and present Wimbledon College of Art students to show ‘Propositions’ alongside his performance event ‘Drunk and Disorderly’ at the ICA this Sunday! Please come along to the Lower Gallery any time between 12 and 7pm and see what we’re up to and the work we are showing. This forms a part of David Gryn’s ‘Live Weekend’ of performance etc at the ICA starting from this Thursday with an incredible line-up. All events are free. Check out the listings on the Facebook page.
PROPOSITIONS
Propositions is a project selected by Terry Smith that brings together a diverse body of work by nine current and past students from Wimbledon College of Art.
Chris Agnew, Jenny Baldock, Fiona Long, Russell Moore, Lauren O’Day, Helen Newhouse, Charlotte Turton, Nicholas Quenzer, Sam Wilkins
