stephaneymanning

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The End of University.

Throughout my three years in university, I have discovered new possibilities, participated in exhibitions and developed my painting and drawing skills. I have discovered many new artists, Alexa Meade, Ryan Gander and Faye Claridge. All inspired me in different ways. Faye Claridge visited the Garage Studios and I was lucky enough to have a tutorial with her. She was very helpful and I received positive feedback on my paintings, feedback that I have worked on, and plan to continue working on in the future. Ryan Gander’s curation of ‘Night in the Museum’ has played a big part in my work this year. The spacious environment, and how well the exhibition was curated and the works that were involved. Works that formed into paintings, which evolved into something new, bringing ceramics into my paintings. Involving ceramics into my paintings gave me the opportunity to recreate an exhibition, but for objects that do not get the opportunity to be in a spacious environment. Alexa Meade is an artist I will continue researching after university. Her work has inspired me to work with portraiture, but with the same method using a photograph. I plan to continue with portraiture after university and develop my skills further. I have been a part of exhibitions within Worcester, Meraki 2016 and TIDE 2017, both giving myself the knowledge of what it is like to curate an exhibition.

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Claridge visited the Garage Studios and I had a tutorial with her. We discussed my practice, and she took an interest in how I painted on my photographs. It was not about how I painted, or the context behind the photographs, but she took an interest in where I chose to paint on the image. Claridge took enthusiasm in my ‘Just a Pot’ painting, original by Ward (1980). The reason she admired it was because it made her look twice, she had to look hard at the painting as she thought it was a photograph. Creating my paintings this year, I wanted the audience to have to have a hard look at what they were looking at, have themselves question what it is. The confusion is what I want to gain from spectators looking at my work.

Work by Claridge (2009) explored certain identities using photography, history and museums. The reason behind this was to discover how personal and national identity are based on tradition and past events. She is an artist, and some of her work consists of taking portraiture photographs of individuals. Such as ‘Morris Men’, covered in paint but only their faces. A series of her work on ‘Descendants of the Unfamiliar (2009) where individuals are covered in black paint, with props in their arms or body with a scenic background, creating her interpretation of the past. Claridge creates work revolving around site-specifically, also involving the public, creating installations and encouraging participation. She recreated ‘Kern baby’ (2015) by making a fifteen-foot sculpture.

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Fiction can be interpreted however we as individuals choose it to be. Each person has their own interpretation of what fiction is, or how they visualise it. It does not have to revolve around images or photography, fiction can be related to films, books, fairy tales, or a fictional lifestyle. Frede is a fictional artist who uses landscape postcards to create a visual narrative. Following the lines of the background, from the old to the new postcards, noticing the change in colour as you jump from decade to decade. ‘Fiction Landscape no.7’ (2014) is one of Frede’s creations. It resembles a book of an individual’s lifestyle, a book with no words. However, with the view of different decades, it is clear to interpret our own words. 

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Mural art is everywhere nowadays, advertisement, graffiti, even house décor. It has evolved since it became popular in the 1900’s, for example ‘Mexican muralism. The murals define ‘mestizaje’, which is the celebration of Mexico’s mixed-race heritage. The people of Mexico found a way to express their passion and culture and to be heard by many people. Speaking of passion, Noir was an artist who painted on the Berlin Wall, he started in 1984 and carried on for several years. According to Wenders (2014), Noir revealed what it was like with death strip guards, and what happened when the wall came down.

‘My early paintings on the Wall were very different to my later style. My style changed out of necessity, because every day hundreds of people would come up to me and ask me questions. So I had to adapt to be quicker, which became my Fast Form Manifesto. The Fast Form Manifesto is a good recipe for people who have to paint fast in dangerous environments, or with constantly interruptions’. Even though Noir knew he was putting himself in a dangerous situation, he continued to paint on the Wall. Perhaps he was making a stand that the Wall should not be a divide, and perhaps the people of Berlin should not to be afraid of the Wall any longer and to come see it as art.

‘Here I am painting on the other side of the Berlin Wall in the ‘death strip’. The photo was taken while the Wall was falling down in 1989 and people were hammering through it. Some holes were so big you could pass through. It was great to paint this side after many years of harassment by the guards. The guards were no longer allowed to shoot people.’ ‘I always painted as long as possible, and at the last moment I jumped back to the West Berlin. It was time to show those soldiers that an era had finished’

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Here are my next set of paintings, titled ‘Revealing the Gander’, photographs were taken in Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017). The purpose of these paintings was to recreate Ryan Ganders ‘Night in the Museum’ exhibition in another environment. Selecting sculptures and paintings I have previously focused on, then manipulating them into my new paintings to detect who discovers whether they are the original photographs. Continuing with people in my images to capture the relationship between a person and artwork. 

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Two Photos taken in Berlinische Galerie, Berlin. The purpose of these two images was to capture the relationship between the spectators and the art.  Possible potential paintings, representing relationships and the space of a museum, how the work is displayed, e.g. on a wall, stand, or in a glass cabinet. 

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This is a wallpaper design I did in my first year of University. The purpose of the project was to create a wallpaper that represented our chosen city, I chose Worcester. Having an interest in floral designs, and colour, I decided to use Museum of Royal Worcester, porcelain and ceramic museum.

Throughout my second and third year, I have been looking at objects within a museum, and how they are displayed within their surroundings. Researching Museum or Royal Worcester in my final year, I created paintings from their ceramics collections and from that, I decided to include them into my newer paintings that focused on an open space museum. The reason for this is because ceramics are so delicate and fragile, therefore they are displayed in a glass cabinet. I placed them in my paintings freely, representing an open space. Also to find out whether the audience would discover if they are in the original photograph or not.

Alongside my paintings of the different museum spaces where the ceramics were painted in, I am going to display this wallpaper in my Degree Show. The reason being highly influenced by museum objects over the past two years, and the patterns in the wallpaper have been used for various sketches and paintings throughout this year. Therefore the wallpaper was my starting point of my three years in University, without myself knowing.

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This was an experimental piece, where I painted on top of the photograph, then carried it on to the wall. Preparation for my solo show, I wanted to create something different, something new. Which is where painting onto the wall came from.  Sean Scully’s painting within the image was extracted onto the wall, I wanted it to be the main aspect of the painting. Mainly because it was hidden within the background, therefore I tried to bring it forward. 

The brush strokes of white acrylic paint around the male individual was also experimental. As I continued Scully’s painting further along in the image, I was debating whether to paint his painting white. The colour white, to represent the colour of the walls within the exhibition in the photo. I opted out to the white as my main focus with this painting was Scully’s work. 

If I were to take this process further, my aim would be to carry on the painting around a room. Continue on the walls until it meets the other side of the painting. 

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Solo Show

22-2-17

Today I had my solo show, where I displayed my work in my chosen environment. The work needed to be able to hold the space. I felt as if my work did, but I would have preferred the space to have been fuller. For example, more and bigger paintings. This is something to work on for the Degree Show.

I decided to present two A1 paintings, opposite each other, then my two sketches framed on the same wall. In a way, it was a mini exhibition of an exhibition. Unfortunately, the frames were made incorrect and could not be altered in time before my show. However, the frames were still in a good condition to present in the solo show.

I was very happy with how the overall show went. The conversation flowed, and if we had more time it could have gone on for longer.  There were some very interesting comments from the audience about the work, for example someone mentioned how everything gave them the experience of a museum, and how they wanted to ‘stay’ with it due to the little ‘tricks’ in my paintings. A positive remark, however it was not intentional to create that feeling but as it was successful it is something I want to consider for future work.

 The audience picked up on the details in the paintings, even the little details, which is what I wanted from today. I wanted them to question what was paint and what was the photograph, and they did. A pot I painted in that was not in the original photograph, seemed to captivate the audience into thinking it was part of the original image.  Almost as if the work is mesmerising the audience into confusion.

 This one comment has stuck with me and could potentially be something interesting. Amy said she sees the work as ‘looking’, different levels of looking. By that she meant when looking at my painting, she could imagine myself looking at her and taking a photograph of that moment. Then painting the captured moment of Amy looking, on top of the painting in today’s show. Then capturing another moment of someone else looking at that painting, doing the same process over and over. Perhaps it is a portal of a never-ending painting.

 Pottery is presented in a confined glass cabinet in a museum, away from the human touch. Being an everyday handheld object, it is almost ironic how they are kept away from the audience. The photograph material of the painting was taken in an open spaced exhibition, the ‘Night in the Museum’ exhibition curated by Ryan Gander. Where you could get close to the sculptures and paintings, even touch them if you could get away with it. Therefore, I wanted to add pottery into my paintings as it is unexpected to see them in an open space.

It was mentioned that the pottery gives the paintings an Alice in Wonderland feel to them. A possible painting opportunity to create the mad hatter’s tea party in an unusual environment.

 As for the sketches, they were additional work after the photographs were taken and mounted. It was mentioned that they could have been separate pieces to the A1 paintings. Also, the audience was curious as to why the pottery were not in the sketches. I did not include them into the sketches because I wanted to recreate Ryan Ganders exhibition, and the pottery in the A1’s was my own version of the exhibition.

Overall I am very happy with how the show went. It gave myself plenty to think about for work in the future, heading towards the Degree show.

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Solo Show. 22-2-17

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Tina Berning

Berning is another artist discovery whilst in Berlin, the photos above are of her work displayed in the Jewish girls school. 

Berning’s work stood out due to my interest in painting, and her use of material. The colours are always different in each painting, but you can see she sticks to a similar colour choice. It looks like she paints freely and whatever she desires. After my trip to Berlin I did some research on her. It seems that a vast amount of her work is of people, mostly women. To me they came across as fashion icons. 

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Solo Show Preparation. 

Photograph  ‘Night in the Museum’ exhibition, curated by Ryan Gander. 

Mounted onto 10ml plywood.

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Cornelia Schleime

I recently discovered Cornelia Schleime whilst in an Art Gallery in Berlin, Berlinische Galerie. Above are some of her large portraiture paintings. She uses animals frequently in her paintings giving them a vibrant feel to them. 

I was instantly attracted to her work, mainly due to the large scale and her use of colour palette. Each aspect of the painting has been finely detailed, almost resembling an abstract photograph. She uses thick layers of paint, therefore I can see a lot of time in her work.

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More sketches and experimentations from sketch book.  Images taken from the Museum of Royal Worcester. 

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Some drawings from my sketch book, focusing on the pattern surfaced.

The Beginning 

The Worcester Porcelain manufactory was founded by fifteen businessmen in June 1751.  Dr John Wall, the most influential founder, was a prominent local figure. He was a professional man and occupied most of the time, but for leisure he was an accomplished amateur artist. 

Information found in Museum of Royal Worcester.