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Evaluation of Semester Two

As I look at what I have produced, i can deduce what themes i have been exploring. I started this semester off with an artist talk from Harminder Judge, i was inspired by how he brought spiritualism into art with performance and sculptural paintings. I then sought to create work that reflected a rejection of materialism in a vaguely street aesthetic resemblance.i did this with my concrete slab experiments, that i planned to eventually make gigantic versions of.

Through the making of these experiments, i found that I had created my first theme through designing the process of creation. i found that as i was making these pieces i was using a creative authority to make them. i then found when i distressed them with a hammer, i was then in fact acting as a rebellious force against the creative authority. the destructive force had no politics where as the creative authority was forming something in its eye. The rebellious force was transforming the objects into something of distorted beauty from these designed objects. The destructive force became as important as the creative force as these objects were made to be destroyed. I find that this process is a reflection from my inspiration from a Buddhist exhibition i attended, and in return learnt of their goals to be spiritually enlightened. One way they would achieve this is to be free from materialism. It is with this concept that i found i could separate my material self and immaterial self so that they could create two halves of a whole.

I felt i was on a path to create large, distressed, site specific concrete slabs for an installation for the end of year show but within a month my intentions were forced to change. This was due to the Covid-19 situation. As you would expect, the change left me needing to change my intentions for a final piece. After a state of pondering I overcame my insecurity of my work getting worse or being absent. I knew I wanted to create something from my laptop as I would be able to let people see it digitally, due to the absence of physicality. I also knew i wanted to create work that had been digitally distorted to continue themes from my physical work in the studios. I then had a light bulb moment when i saw an expensive car totalled on a roadside. 

I immediately linked the expensive car to my concrete slabs. The car was created to be a material item that was carefully designed, then this destructive force transforms this object into something with no material value due to its newly dysfunctional state. But somewhere along, in the design process, they had to design the car to function as protection for the passengers. This means that there is an element of the object being made to be destroyed in the creation process. I then decided this was my new embodiment of materialism rejection and creative+destructive forces. The work I wanted to create was a distorted video piece of cars crashing to reflect this. I wanted to remove the human element from the car crashes, as my focus was on the car as a subject of a material consumer item. The videos I  would soon find were archive crash test videos from a couple laboratories.

After i had found that i was rich with footage to transform into a video piece, I was left looking for what distortion process i would pass the video data through. I then found the process of data moshing, a psychedelic effect that leaves reminisce of every shot behind. Through testing on editing programs I found a stride and cobbled a piece together. The outcome created this abstraction effect that drew on the video as if it was a canvas. I came up with the idea to name it directly as it appears,a ‘Crash Test Painting’.

When i found that the video piece was complete, i thought about how it would be displayed in an exhibition. The video creates this tunnel like effect, so it feels like a journey. I then thought about the size the display would have to be to see details, i concluded that it would thrive as a projection on a wall in a dark room. the uncanny journey feeling the audience would feel, would be boosted by the fact they are displaced from a fathomable space in the dark with the video piece. It was with this though that i had decided the piece would create an atmosphere. The next logical step for me was to add atmospheric sound to the video.

I wanted to establish an aesthetic within the sound for the piece. The aesthetic of the video was this clean and functional setting, cold of emotion. After getting a glass of water from the kitchen at the middle of the night, I found I was mesmerised by the humming of the refrigerator. Then it clicked, the sound was fitting for the aesthetics of the piece. So I sampled and edited it to accompany the video.

I thought about an alternate set up that included two more projectors to exhibit the work on three walls of a room. this would en-robe the audience with immersion in the atmosphere. This set up would be a bit more complicated as i would need to attach three media players to three separate projectors, all while needing them all to play at the same time with the same delay between each looping of the video. A single projector facing two walls using projection mapping to arrange two videos on two walls would be a good alternative that would cause less of a headache.

The next step after this would be to project the video onto smashed concrete slabs to see how they interact. Then if the outcome is pleasing, i would then experiment with sculpting different shaped pieces to destroy and project video on.

The weakness of my work is its lack of ability to communicate with the audience via thoughts being provoked. I would like to research ways to communicate with the audience effectively to create work that grabs and sticks with the audience. The concepts being my intentions are definitely a strength of mine which makes this work I have created meaningful to me. The work effectively establishes an aesthetic and expresses ideas of materials transitioning from state to state.   

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Crash Test Painting

[When viewing in this window, right click and select loop as it is created to be presented in a loop. (: ]

After the creation of my previous photo (The Range Rover Crash), I thought about crash tests. This was because when that car was created, they researched how it would hold up when being destroyed. I then curiously searched around the web to find crash test footage.

I then found a plethora of archive footage from two sites (euroncap.com & iihs.org). I then thought about how i would distort the video the same way i distorted the previous photo. I eventually came to the conclusion i would use data moshing to create a messy psychedelic trip like effect and ave all these car crashes effect the one after it in each succession to eventually create this abstract painting effect a few times within the video piece.

I wanted to capture this automatic painting effect as i had been researching the artistic expression of automatism within my essay. I chose to data mosh the footage that I had chosen but the automatic painting effect was something I had little control over, so this piece is an expression of digital automatism.

The aesthetic of the piece is this sterile and cold, so i decided to sample the hum of my refrigerator and edit it to create an entrancing atmosphere. The controlled laboratory setting is a place designed for these objects to be destroyed. The objects themselves are created to be destroyed. These factors create this alien setting that feels inhospitable to us. 

The objects being created to be destroyed to then create something new entirely here is a beautiful occurrence. This process expresses the transitioning of material states and also the dormant immaterial sense within us of said transition. everything that is destroyed births life into another thing.

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I took a photo of a Rand Rover that had crashed into a shop front on my way to the supermarket. i deduced that i was compelled to take a photo because this item that is worshipped by consumers has been reduced to a useless pulp of metal, rubber, glass and plastic. it is within this act that we recognise that the esteem this object carried comes from within us, the consumers. when the object goes through this process we see it was always an object to be destroyed. this is in fact a beautiful epiphany that allows us to see through the capitalistic fog we have in our minds.

I solarized the photo and changed the colour levels to make the photo more aesthetically in tune with the theme of the subject. By doing this, the nature of the piece has become this derelict, rose tinted destruction.

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The french poet Paul Valéry wrote “Un ouvrage n’est jamais achevé…mais abandonné.” Later on, both Gore Vidal and Oscar Wilde adapted that quote to make a similar argument. You might know it best as, “A work of art is never finished, merely abandoned.”

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Reconsidering Drawing FP

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Day 18 of Covid-19:

Today I have been thinking about what I am to do with my practice now that I don't have access to any large space to create in. I am now limited to a size which is portable.

I thought back to my practice last semester where I looked at the duality of digital and physical self. And how now I am using very raw and physical materials and looking to making more experiments with sound in the near future. So the question I have been asking myself is; how do I take my current practice and turn it into something digital and/or portable?

My answer: focus on soundscape experimentation and make illustrations within the same aesthetics.

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This piece exists as a by-product of the process as more of a performance piece as I recorded it to solidify the steps taken to it's creation.

I recorded myself as the authority and the rebellious entities. The gold hammer is sprayed with gold paint before each blow to the piece. This is painted gold as it is the key tool for the destruction to create the piece. The hammer becomes this holy tool because it is so important. It's great force and influence leaves gold residue on the piece.

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I added some colour to my earlier pieces so that they would resemble the streets aesthetic better

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This piece is a by-product of the performance piece I recorded to document the process I go through. I did this because I realised the way I have created my previous works have performance elements.

The gold hammer here acts as a catalyst for the creation of the piece. It is a tool that is integral to the creation which is why it is painted gold to resemble something expensive. The act of using this "expensive" looking tool is an act against authority it's self. The gold paint is applied to the hammer freshly as it falls off after each blow to the piece. The wet gold paint is left behind as a remanence of the harsh force applied by the key tool.

It will be another week before I can edit the footage together because of some difficulties involving Covid-19 stopping me.

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Here is another piece that I made impulsively with spare materials at hand. I made this piece keeping in mind the idea of creating authority and then an opposing force. In this case, the metal fence containing the concrete as a material. Then the concrete as a character escaping.

The canvas is a place where a concept can be expressed, like a stage. So taking this concept here with these materials lets them do their own things with their properties.

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Day 1 of Covid-19:

I have been preparing to pack up and leave my studio space indefinitely due to this pandemic. As a result of me gradually getting more excited by my work, I don't want to put my work on hold. So today is the first of three days where I will be making work that utilises the studio space.

Today I have poured concrete into a mould for a larger slab to damage. I will paint on it before I smash it a little to give it a more purposeful look. I found that I made too much concrete mix so I decided to make a piece on a canvas I hadn't used yet. I made this by splatting a pile of concrete on one part and then using that pile to make things on other parts of the canvas.

I did this instinctively which is interesting because it looks quite primal. The on and off symbol is something that we instantly recognise as two words in our minds despite it not being a symbol from any language other than binary. The circle element represents 0 and the line represents 1, in binary this is simply an empty signal and a full signal. this is interesting because we treat this symbol as an action inherently.

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WET SLIT - Donna Huance

This solo exhibition by Donna Huance was site specific and used imagery of skin and vulnerability that made me feel a sense or mortality. The smell of Palo Santo, a holy wood native to South America, fills your nose with this chemical cleaning product like smell which warps your perception of the work, making you feel rejected by the cleanliness of the air.

I liked how the experience filled the gallery, the second you walk in you're greeted with this unique aesthetic that lives from the ceiling to the floor, draping down the walls. I feel as if I am transported to a place that I am not familiar with yet I feel there are elements I recognise, this is the kind of experience I want to create for my audience when I am able to be more ambitious.

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The Dancing Plague

"The dancing plague of 1518 was a case of dancing mania that occurred in Strasbourg, France, in the Holy Roman Empire in July 1518. Around 400 people took to dancing for days without rest and, over the period of about one month, some of those affected collapsed or even died of heart attack, stroke, or exhaustion."

-Wikipedia

The reasons why I have decided to quote this as I feel it is a real historical event that could be considered as much dark comedy as it is interesting. And because in this political climate (Covid-19) it is a very modern thing to dance away our worries (e.g.: people getting pissed and going on a boozey night out). In a sense we like to tarnish dark things like disease, death and depression with something light hearted like comedy, escapism and suspension of disbelief to keep our morale up.

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The Dancing Plague

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This is merely a drawing I did to express what it would look like if u added a full figure to my current work's aesthetic. This piece is kind of a visual ramble. I just wanted to jam all the visual ideas I had been dreaming of onto a piece of paper to manefest them into reality.

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I wanted to transform a doodle drawing of a head into something that has visual evidence that a lot of effort has gone into its creation.

The idea of creating something so haphazardly and then to manefest it into a tough sculpture that looks as if it has purpose is fascinating to me.

This is made from a breeze block and I shaped it by using a hammer and chisel (a very noisy process). There is something romantic about this very traditional approach to sculpture.