dominicbcswinchinart

[dominicbcswinchinart]

How the previous years graduates adapted to produce work within the limitations of the domestic setting...

There can be many problems that can arise when the predetermined structure of the Fine Art world is disrupted in some way; it has become sort of a cliché to say that we are currently living in unprecedented times for our modern world, travel and social interaction has become highly restricted as a deadly virus has resulted in the complete lockdown of seemingly our entire society. With traditional methods of displaying art such as museums and galleries unable justify remaining open to the public and holding large shows without being under heavy restrictions, we’ve seen well-established artists today struggling to produce and manage work outside of that framework. However, it is important to remember that we live as artists in the best possible position to take advantage and explore work within the confines of this new world we find ourselves in. Creative minds across the world can communicate with each other without even having to be in the same country, the digital world can allow for exhibitions of work to be viewed by thousands more than if they remained in a gallery space and there is not any set time that the work must be put up or removed. The social and digital infrastructure needed for the Fine Art community to remain relevant beyond the physical have existed in the world for decades now, it is only a question of using it.

What you find with all of the graduates that came in to speak about their work is that all of them had very different methods of handling the limitations they found being pressed on them as they were preparing for their degree show last year. All of them, I feel, was successful in achieving the result they wanted. One of the graduates, focusing on the medium of filmmaking, had to compromise; now being unable to work directly with people outside of his household, utilised his own family as actors, and instead of hiring out a for filming, they snuck into a building at 11pm to get as much footage as he could in one night. He spoke about how typically he hated the process of editing and instead liked to get everything right first time, however, under these restrictions and through some convincing from his brother, found that those methods were simply impractical. A key element of my own painting process has become in a way to allow the materials more freedom through dripping effects and splatter, giving the painting a life of its own beyond what I originally imagined. When I use digital modelling software, I try to play with materials and emissions to see how one shape interacts with that light and how it is all reflected on another shapes surface. So, like my own work when I attempt to explore these visual tricks, the speaking graduate used a method that he was not comfortable with, he had to almost find the art through the mess the restrictions created. This had elevated his work by its flaws, and in turn allowed him to learn a new skill he would not have if he wasn’t forced outside of his comfort zone.

Another speaking graduate took us on a virtual tour of their digital exhibition space. This was a combination of images of real-life physical work along with purposefully low detailed renders and digital objects. These works greatly reminded me of the works of a Swedish abstract artist, Kristoffer Zetterstrand, who frequently uses broken camera physics in video games to create simple yet contrasting compositions, with landscapes abruptly distorted and lost by an empty black void. This would put the viewer into the position of, as Zetterstand called it, ‘an entity looking through the logical construction of the world’, much like how he was a player looking beyond where he was allowed to see at the façade of a digital world, and like how the speaking graduate gave us a look at intentionally unfinished renders and textures which gave each object an almost broken appearance.

Two of the graduates took the idea of dealing with a new restricted world much more head on, with one going as far as to reconstruct the social space she had in the studio with stuffed toys, humorously noting that they were much less distracting than her actual friends were when it came to producing work. The other graduate took a much more therapeutic approach to addressing the situation through setting up a safe space environment where individuals can use a manual typewriter in in the bathroom to keep an account of their frustrations and rants. Because the bathroom is such a universal space, a room specifically designed where people can feel safe, placing the typewriter there both expands off the inherent familiarity we all have with it, but it also ensures that at least one other person will be able to see the writings, giving a sense that as much as the new restrictions may make it feel like we are all going mad, we are all going mad together, trapped in the same domestic space.