alexandrapaigewalkerart-blog

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y07cUg1wUWs

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Padded Cell

play up the crazy with feminist themes.

use wadding... stockings etc. 

pink

noose

depressed words. 

fluffy

playfully dark

fluffy hand cuffs

dangly door things like kendell had

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In Summary

I am glad that I did Studio this semester. Next semester I need to spend more time on on Uni and maybe work less then 46 hours a week. I have a lot of ideas for works next semester and need to keep making over the holidays. I am a bit disappointed in my efforts this semester but I know that I can and will do better. 

I really enjoy the structure of our Studio classes and I have never felt more comfortable to speak openly and show my work which has been very beneficial considering how personal my work can often be. 

Moving forward my goals are:

work very hard over the holidays to make money so that i can quit one of my jobs next semester (and just look after myself)

schedule time to make art! I really struggle to do this because it doesnt always seem productive, even though it is. 

 organise my well documented art works and make a website. 

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Untitled

An exploration of ‘simple gestures’ and allowing the materials flow freely. 

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Snatched

This took the least amount of time to make but the most amount of time to convince myself that it doesn't matter. I could speak about the concept, content, form and process of this work and the objects have a purpose in the gallery. My aesthetic has always been over the top with a lot of time put into sewing, embroidering etc. This work does not involve the same processes as a lot of my other work but the themes explored are very closely linked. 

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Installation Experimentation

These are photos of both my works Snatched and Overparticipation. I like the way the material is draped so the the text is harder to read. When i took off the top horizontal bar off the clothing rack it was less obvious what the original purpose of the structure was.  

I this the geometrical shapes of the white painted metal is a successful contrast to the organic, free flowing form of the material when it is draped over as it had been carelessly thrown. 

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Experimentation

This experimentation ended up being time consuming and unsuccessful. I first ripped the painted canvas off of its wooden base. I then sewed into the painting with different coloured string. I used different types off beads to create patterns and peeled layers of paint off a dried palette. 

I mainly wanted to experiment with tacky materials to achieve a kitsche aesthetic. My aim for this canvas was to add as much to it as possible and go over the top with decoration. This ended becoming very frustrating because i feel as though it became bad done badly rather then bad done well. There is an obviously difference. 

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Self Portraits

I find it very interesting looking at artists ‘self portraits’ especially photographs because they can depict themselves in whatever way they want to. An artist like Tracey Emin often uses their their whole self in the flesh which fits into the broader themes of her practice. 

In a sense all of my works  are self portraits as they are all born from an experience or emotion that lingers enough  to make an art work about it and share. When using myself as the subject matter i feel a lot more vulnerable then when i blatantly express myself through text. 

These images where quiet important for my practice in realising that overcoming this may be the next step in progressing. 

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Too Much- Process Shots

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Snatched

Snatched is a clothing rack that is 1.60m high with a width of 78cm and 43cm from front to back. The two vertical poles on either side are bent inwards and a red one meter long measuring tape is tied around the slimmest part of the rack. The ready made clothing rack has been modified to look hour glass like with the measuring tape acting as a belt as though it is clinching the waist. The title Snatched comes from popular culture slang; meaning thin or attractive. The two pre-made objects used were previously used to hang and measure other textile works. This work is an exploration of the ready-made and assemblage. Snatched is relevant to my own practice as I make a comment on the very universal issue of body image in young women whilst reflecting and researching my own experiences with disordered eating.

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Psychosis

Psychosis is a 3 minute and 41 second video of myself walking and at times running through a dense forest near my house. The footage is shaky and moves with each step, as I look up at the sky and crouch down to explore. The footage was then edited in adobe after effects with a colour stabilizer and multiple time effects which created a blurry and erratic effect.  In adobe audition I cut segments of of dialogue from the documentaries ‘Of two minds’ and ‘Diaries of a broken mind’. I then layered this with other sounds such as traffic and construction and added multiple pre-set effects. When added together the video and sound depicts an exaggerated simulation of Psychosis- paranoia, amplified sounds, hearing voices are hallucinations.

(Still Image from the video)

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Overparticipation

Over participation is a pale pink and white pin-striped banner. The words ‘over participation’ are merged together and are sewn into white satin with gold embroidery string. This is read from bottom left to the top right corner, resembling a beauty pageant sash. The white satin is embellished with various types of pink and white lace. Different sections of the material are ripped or cut with gold tulle sewed behind which looks similar to fish net stockings. A common symptom of bipolar mania is hyper sexuality and although this work isn’t confessional it contributes to my constant exploration or the disorder. More recognizably, the colour and fabrics used in the banner bring feminine connotations  promiscuity

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Sarah Lucus

"During a career that has brought controversy and acclaim in equal measure, Sarah Lucas has made art from the discarded and the unexpected, incorporating such diverse materials such as cigarettes, food, second hand furniture and her own self image."

Dashkin, M. “Sarah Lucas.” Library Journal. REED BUSINESS INFORMATION, August 2003.

Old masterish subduedness

brown

grey

offwhite 

lemon-yellow, 

dingy red.

Her main themes are representations of gender... not what it meant to be male or female but how people come up with symbols that represent gender difference. 

These symbols tend to be crude and confronting for most people. 

He first solo exhibition in South London didnt seem particularly theoretical or even overly feminist, though it did seem very alert to modern life, especially the 'sleaziness' of it. 

Viewers commented of the brute unsubtleness of her work. They also commented on the fact that she didnt seem to have any overly theoretical ideas to make up for her llack of skill in the work. 

Her work is presented as symbols of modern attitudes of sex and gender which can be  interpreted popularly as playful but also quiet critical.  about how sexual identity gets encoded in objects, how men and women relate to each other through everyday items and images, and what our expectations might be of the kind of objects and pictures a male or female artist makes. 

Her subject matter was serious, but cleverly refracted through the “raucous, boozy prism” of unreconstructed sexism and consequence-free hedonism sanctioned by that decade’s pop culture.

 Her work often displays a feel for traditional artistic concerns; sculpture and materiality, weight, composition. 

“It’s a combination that pissed off all the right people” – those who thought found materials should speak of the ‘poetry of everyday existence’, or some similar “mawkish sentiment”. 

Then, around a decade ago, the work seemed to run out of steam. Lucas’s deft use of prosaic materials – cigarettes, beer cans – became heavy and humourless. Bad sculptural puns – cigarettes arranged in the shape of, say, a coffin – seemed to suggest her knack for interesting material juxtapositions (not to mention juxtapositions of subject matter) had gone to seed and given up. Which is possibly why her first London solo exhibition in two years was so surprising. 

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Symptoms Of  Bipolar Disorder-  Hypersexuality

Basco, Monica Ramirez, and Celis‐De Hoyos, Cintly E. “Biopsychosocial Model of Hypersexuality in Adolescent Girls With Bipolar Disorder: Strategies for Intervention.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing 25, no. 1 (February 2012): 42–50.

There is a symptom of Bipolar Disorder or specifically a symptom sometimes synonymous with Mania that many suffer from, a challenging, difficult and perhaps embarrassing symptom that often does not get the recognition or attention it deserves. 

Sometimes we ourselves may be reluctant to speak about it for a variety of reasons, perhaps because of our religious beliefs, our values and principles or simply because it is so frightfully awkward to talk about or alternatively sometimes it is the professionals who shy away from the subject, perhaps uncomfortable themselves for a variety of reasons in opening up intimate discussions about such matters.

“Regardless of one’s perception, this symptom is not going to disappear, it is not going to flutter away conveniently so as to hide ones blushes, it is not going to be forced into submission due to ones ingrained beliefs or values and it certainly is not going to remove itself because ones Psychiatrist is facing an area that makes them cringe, an area that will result in the patient informing them of their deepest desires and fantasies, their overwhelming sexual appetites and the resultant insatiable lust filled escapades that they may have participated in. This symptom exists, it does need discussing and it certainly needs bringing out into the open, if only to raise awareness and allow more research into this area to be completed, which at the moment is fundamentally lacking.”

Hypersexuality is the “increased need and often pressure for sexual gratification that can arrive with an episode of Mania.” often one will seek out sexual relationships or experiences with other people, sometimes to an excessive degree. 

It is not uncommon for happily married individuals to suddenly have affairs, affairs that may come as a complete shock to their partners or for once conservative individuals to suddenly begin having one night stands or random sexual encounters with strangers. 

One can suddenly find themselves attracted to people who they normally wouldn't associate with or becoming obsessed with the idea of 'forbidden sex'.

not everyone who suffers from Bipolar Disorder will suffer with Hypersexuality 

 It is a serious issue and a challenging one, for the consequences of hypersexuality, which are not always understood at the time due to the lack of inhibitions accompanying Mania and a lack of awareness with regards to the consequences of ones actions, can result in marriage and relationship difficulties, the breakdown of relationships, family problems.

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textiles 

sewing

embroidering

colour

organic form

stitching

layers

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Overparticipation

Hypersexuality

promiscuity

pink

black

trashy

cheap

degrading

easy

feminine