fineart-filip-kramarsic

[fineart-filip-kramarsic]

MA CURATION FT TERM 1 REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

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Almost forgot

I also have a LinkedIn account. I made this account last year when I went to the networking society and learned the importance of networking from Lucy Marks from Norfolk Network

https://www.linkedin.com/in/filip-kramarsic-a80486a2/

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What’s next?

It is hard to believe that this is the last unit of BA Fine Art. In my previous “What's Next?” post, I said I wasn’t sure if I will do MA Fine Art or MA Curation. Well, I have made my mind. I am applying for MA Curation. On March 7th I went to the MA Open Day and met with Caroline Fisher, who explained what MA Curation has to offer. I also told her back then about my plan for the Norwich and Novi Sad, because I was thinking that this project could be implemented into my MA project. I have started, but not finished my application form. Once I finish it and go over with it with one of my tutors, I will apply and book an interview. 

Regarding the NNS Project, I still have things to sort out. The three potential themes for this project could be Agriculture/Environment, Castle/History, and Migration/Minorities. I think the strongest theme would be Migration/Minorities since the UK is going through Brexit and Novi Sad, being the capital of Vojvodina province, has 6 official languages (Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Croatian and Rusyn) for the minorities living within it. I still need to research the listed themes and share them with Sarah Steed and the Academy of Arts in NS and get their opinion. One of the questions that Sarah asked me was, what type of exhibition would this be? I didn’t have an answer for that back then. I would like it to be commercial, to give the opportunity to the students/artists to make some profit and to gain experience. Finally, if the project has potential and funding organisations can see that, then it would be great if this project can become an annual event. I believe that Norwich is well art oriented since the British Art Show was hosted in Norwich, and likewise, Novi Sad was nominated to be the European Capital of Culture in 2021. I believe that both cities could benefit from this exhibition. If everything goes well, then there might be a possibility for me to stay and organise future exhibitions after I finish my MA degree. 

I am also planning to put some of my work on sale at the Degree Show Shop. I went to one of the meetings a couple of weeks back. I was planning to sell digital prints of my zodiac signs. Back at SU Spring Market, I made the same design paintings on MDF boards and I sold none. Maybe it was inconvenient and I underestimated the target audience. I am planning to have them printed externally on a good quality paper in limited series. Since there are 12 signs, possibly 3-5 copies of each Zodiac. Behind the artwork, I will have a bit of information about my practice and the meaning behind the given sign. All that would be nicely packaged in the clear plastic sleeves that can be bought at the NUA shop and I will put my new business card in it as well. 

Like mentioned in my previous post. I am happy with how my final degree piece turned out. At some moments, I felt uncomfortable with the decision making, but my coping mechanism was to make a system. The degree piece is still fresh in my mind, and usually, with my work, it takes me some time to figure out the magnitude of it’s meaning. Within this piece, I believe I covered the majority of the topics I researched throughout my time here at NUA. It definitely was a journey. There would be nights where I couldn’t sleep because of my fear of death. In a way, I had existential crises at the age of 20... But learning more about different religions, history and psychology from Jordon Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, set me to the right path, and I believe I have a sense of meaning in my life. This knowledge that I acquired also helped me with getting over 4+ years of long distance relationship. It was hard at times and I had moments of demotivation, but I tried to keep my mind off it and focus a bit on myself. I started working out and it helped me with my mental health throughout this unit. Lastly, I would like to thank the staff and my colleagues who made my BA Fine Art experience so memorable. 

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Coming up with the final degree show piece took some time to finalise. For some time I had no clue what to make. Initially, as stated in the degree proposal, I was thinking of making a painting or some sort of hard edge collage. Once I tried laser cutting for the first time for the Of Earth Exhibition, I really enjoyed that method of working so I decided to try and come up with something from scratch. In my tutorials, my tutors were very helpful in giving me ideas on how to install laser cut pieces onto the wall, how would it react with the lights and reflection, how to add a playful element to the artwork (even though my previous work wasn’t playful) and how to push myself out of my boundaries. My final idea was kind of a middle ground of all ideas. 

Firstly I designed the cutouts. I went for geometrical shapes because of their universal language and because they played a big role in my practice. I brainstormed and came up with 9 basic shapes which I made bigger and smaller, making it more diverse. I also decided to try laser cutting on acrylic, because I saw in the laser cutting room that it’s possible. So I decided to order almost all colours of acrylic that the website provided. Speaking of colour, I remembered that last year I watched a video on how some indigenous tribes don't have words for certain colours, and that topic could be found in this artwork too. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMqZR3pqMjg)

The main concept behind the work is the probability, that’s why I have decided to name this piece “Contingency”. I used probability to make my decisions for the first time back in Year 1. There is something very therapeutic when working within parameters of the system that I create. When people asked me before the installation how my degree piece looks like, I told them “I don’t know”. The fact that time is the only constant in this universe is mind-blowing. What makes this piece unique is the fact that it’s unpredictable and also unreproductive. Everything that happened on Monday morning contributed to the creation of this piece. One of the big revelations that I had back in the foundation year was when we were asked what art is, my answer was “Capturing a moment in exact space and time”. Back then I thought of that as painting a picture or taking a photograph or making any marks in a “traditional” manner. But now, looking back, I think I did just that. That’s why I decided to make a timelapse of the instalment, to have the evidence of how that time period was captured. This video is currently unlisted, which means that it can’t be found on my youtube channel, but can only be seen if you have access to the link of the video. I will make the video public on the opening of the degree show so that the audience will have a better insight of “Contingency”. And because the video is short, it will be a perfect trailer on my Instagram.  

The final outcome was nothing like I expected, but similar to the sketch I drew in my sketchbook. It was very interesting to see the reflection of the windows on the acrylic cut outs. Usually, when I paint I always go for a matt look, even though Joel kept telling me to try varnishing with a glossy medium, I never had the courage to do that. But there is the first time for everything. There is something about the acrylic sheet that makes it so artificial. It’s definitely something new, but I like it, and now that I have pushed the boundaries, I feel encouraged to keep on pushing them.

I had a few technical difficulties, even though it was laser cut, and I tried to reduce the risk of human error, some things are unavoidable. Firstly, the pieces after they were cut out, I kept them in a box, and when I was mixing the pieces inside the box to make the results unpredictable, the sharp edges of the pieces scraped one another, which even though, not seen from the distance, still made me very irritated. Secondly, the fingerprints and dust were visible, so I had to make sure to wipe them clean after everything was put up. And lastly, I used double-sided tape to attach them to the wall. On Wednesday, one piece fell off, which worries me if the tape will be able to hold the pieces on the wall for over 2 weeks... I will keep an eye on it, and always bring double sided tape in case there is an accident. 

The last thing I also remembered was my Year 1 summer project, which was to make something from within a room. For that project, I decided to photograph the corners of the room I was in and to make a collage of all the corners. Whilst installing the degree show piece, I was pretty much doing that exact thing. I tried to make a spiral. Making a line out of geometrical shapes, the only thing that didn’t quite fit in was the circle, but it still worked. 

-Year 1 Summer Project (I wish I took a better photo)

Speaking of the spiral, I used a projector to give me a guideline to follow when installing the pieces. Because I used photos from the internet, I didn’t pay attention and only at the end realised that the spiral was going anticlockwise. My plan was to have it clockwise, but I am not too fussed about it. 

-Spiral as a guide

Lastly, I wanted to say that the curatorial team was very helpful and communication was clear. After everyone installed their artwork, the SG62 space really looked good. There is a nice consistency in colours and materiality of the works. I am very excited to see the final outcome of the exhibition. The diversity and ranges of works are really astonishing.

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NNS emails pt. 2

The first two photos are emails that I exchanged with the Novi Sad Art Academy. To summarise them all, they were initially asking for more clarification. CC in the email was head of the Fine Art department as well. We briefly mentioned possible funding and having to make an estimate of the costs. I haven’t heard from them since April. In the meantime, Sarah and I made an estimate of £14,200. Sarah also suggested a few more organisations that could be potential funders, but that would depend on the selected theme of the exhibition. But after the hand in I will make sure to finalise the theme proposal and catch up with the Art Academy of NS.

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NNS Project pt.1

Sarah’s been very helpful in establishing contacts. She directed me towards Doug Underwood (chairman of Norfolk and Novi Sad Association) and Richard Everitt (Regional Director Education and Society, Wider Europe (eastern European countries to be exact)). I haven’t met Mr Everitt yet, I will probably after I come up with the theme of the exhibition. I did manage to set an appointment with Mr Underwood and Peter Beckley who is an Honorary Citizen of Novi Sad and Chairman of the Board of Trustees The British - Serbian Benevolent Trust. In the email screeshot, you can see some of the topics we discussed. Mr Underwood and Mr Beckley told me a bit about themselves and what their association is about. Interestingly, Norwich and Novi Sad collaborated way before 1985 but only became official in 1985. Overall the meeting went really well. I explained to them the proposal and they seemed happy to help out. I am not sure if people in Norwich and Norfolk even know that Norwich is in twinning agreement with Novi Sad. 

Sarah also told me that our university has textile collaboration projects with Armenia. 

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Norwich - Novi Sad Proposal (NNS Project)

The idea of making a group exhibition between NUA and Novi Sad Art Academy came up when I was talking with Jodie Smith whilst we were installing the Interim Show. I can’t remember how we came to the topic, but I mentioned that there is a friendship bridge between Norwich and Novi Sad at the riverside. (Novi Sad is the second largest city in Serbia in the north of the country.) So I gave the idea some thought over the Christmas break, and when I returned to the UK, I booked a meeting with Sebastian from the Ideas Factory. After the brief presentation, he told me he is going to have a word with his ‘boss’, Sarah Steed. He returned shortly after and told me the project ‘has legs’. I was really surprised by the quick response. When I met Sarah, I told her the concept of the project, she told me she knows people from Novi Sad and even met the city’s president. She even learned a bit of Serbian, which took me by surprise. She gave me a few contacts and was very helpful. I never organised any exhibition, and this potentially being my first exhibition was all new to me. 

The reason why I think this would be a good collaboration is that there are many similarities between the cities, the counties/provinces, and not just that, the history between the two countries go way back. The UK and Serbian royal families are related, for example, Queen Elizabeth II is Aleksandar's II (Crown Prince of Yugoslavia) godmother. The two countries were allies in both World Wars too. But most importantly, what I would love to see in this collaboration is the artwork that the students from both art universities could develop. 

-Prince Aleksandar II dancing with his godmother Queen Elizabeth II

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Bishop’s Art Prize 2019

Since my practice involves topics such as religion and spirituality, the Bishop’s art prize brief appealed to me. I wanted to take a more secular and universal approach to this project. The idea that I came up is ‘rays’. There is a sense of direction, a guide. A guide to lead mankind to enlightenment and spiritual harmony. Like in the proposal and the brief, the key word is hope. Hope is not materialistic. Can it be considered a feeling? 

I interpreted the quote in the brief very metaphorically, and likewise, I would like to make my artwork metaphorical as well. The point in the middle of my painting should be where the eye is drawn into. Hopefully, the illusion of the rays would bring the audience to think inwards. To make them think about hope and to ask themselves what they are hopeful in life. It doesn’t matter if you are religious or not, I believe it is important to be aware of yourself and your soul. I personally consider myself agnostic, but I can value religions to be a moral guide to society. One of the things I came to the realisation (now I can’t remember if I heard it from Jordon Peterson or not) is that heaven and hell don’t have to be necessarily physical things after we die. They could be emotions. If I was to steal something, my consciousness would tell me that was wrong, and the burning sensation (what if I get seen, what if I get caught, what will the other person think and do if I steal this item...) could be labelled as hell. But If I was to live a guilt-free life, if I was to help my neighbours and my community, if I raised my children properly, then your consciousness would be clear, you would feel happy and your life would have a meaning. And that feeling could be labelled as Heaven. That’s why I believe that Heaven and Hell are just emotional metaphors. One of the things I believe why all communities around the world throughout history had developed religions, doesn’t matter if they are polytheistic or monotheistic, is an attempt to answer the topic of Death. Nobody knows what happens to us when we die. We do know what happens physically to your body, but what happens to the thing we call Soul? One of the ways to soothe people from the fear of dying is to give them meaning in their life. Having meaning and having hope is what religions, in my opinion, should promote, but the reality is a bit different, unfortunately... 

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Shirazeh Houshiary

Since rising to prominence as a sculptor in the 1980s, Shirazeh Houshiary’s practice has swelled to encompass painting, installation, architectural projects and film. “I set out to capture my breath,” she said in 2000, to “find the essence of my own existence, transcending name, nationality, cultures.” Veils, membranes and mists are leitmotifs in work that tries to visualise modes of perception, spanning the scientific and the cosmic while drawing on sources as wide-ranging as Sufism, Renaissance painting, contemporary physics and poetry. Houshiary finds succour in the transformation of material: Arabic words, one an affirmation the other a denial, are pencil-stroked onto canvas so lightly, and clouded over by finely wrought skeins of pigment, that they morph in front of the naked eye and defy reproduction. So too, aluminium armatures and elliptical brick towers, charged with dynamic tension, appear different from every angle, as if negating their own presence; her commission for the East window of St Martin in the Fields, London, presents a cross, warped and spanning from a circular motif, as if reflected in water. “The universe is in a process of disintegration,” she says, “everything is in a state of erosion, and yet we try to stabilise it. This tension fascinates me and it’s at the core of my work” (2013).

https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/shirazeh-houshiary

I can’t quite remember how I came upon the works of Shirazeh Houshiary. Even though she is a multidisciplinary artist, I find her sculptures most compelling because of their geometry. Contextually, I see similarities between her work and mine. What really fascinated me, when researching her work is the term Sufism. Sufism is a mystical form of Islam, a school of practice that emphasizes the inward search for God and shuns materialism. I wish I knew that term when I was writing my dissertation. I resonate with that term. I also think Houshiary did a good job in materialising those ideas. Her use of geometry is very unique. I really respect how she transformed shapes such as octagon and hexagon. Those two shapes, not only do they play a big role in Islam, but also in other religions and spiritualities such as Sacred Geometry and Taoism. 

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David Burrows

David Burrows is an artist and writer who works across an array of mediums such as painting, video and installation. Taking influence from concepts of the new in sacred, mass and avant-garde cultures Burrows creates scenes of metaphoric potential.

David is known for works that combine a variety of techniques and forms to address the production of fiction as a transformative process, including colorful layered cut card collages. The works explore notions of impermanence and immanence, and often describe disorientate landscapes occasionally interweaved with elements of familiarity. Simultaneously representing the unfamiliar and the familiar David subtly addresses concerns of violence, destruction, crisis and disorientation as structural elements in popular, mass, avant-garde and utopian cultures.

http://www.imagemusictext.com/artists/david-burrows

David Burrows was another painter I was advised to look up when I had my tutorial. Burrows’ selection of mediums is interesting. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen his work in person, but judging on the photos, I assume it is quite an experience seeing his work, especially the work from the 3rd photo (liquid/free form cut-outs). I do find his work compelling, but the fact that everything is scattered around and laid out chaotically, it messes with my head a bit. Yet again it makes sense to be chaotic when you look at it from the perspective of what he is trying to convey and that is “violence, destruction and crisis” like mentioned in the quote. But in general, I found his work to be informative and it’s worth taking into consideration of different ways of displaying cut-outs. 

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Ruth Root

Ruth Root’s large scale geometric panels draw from the lineage of non-objective painting. Evoking reference to Piet Mondrian, Ellsworth Kelly, and Olivier Mosset, Root’s playfully orchestrated compositions engage with the fundamental principles of formalism while simultaneously interacting with contemporary modes of interpretation. Rendered on shaped, ultra-thin aluminium sheeting, Root’s paintings corrupt the idea of pre-fab form. Confined to the curvilinear borders of her canvas, Root’s componentized swatches of colour reveal an unorthodox organic quality transgressing the tradition of the grid as sigmoid fields, and allowing the seamless application of her paint to slightly bevel at the sharply cropped edges. Root’s paintings are often exhibited flush to the gallery walls, creating an allusion to decaled logotypes and an optical intervention with architectural space. Though primarily concerned with the tautology of painting itself, Root is often inspired by the phenomenon of urban experience. Her bold industrial colours and aesthetically ordered geometries invoke cityscapes, product design, and 1960s technographics. The liminal quality of her paintings elicits dialogue with digitised media: the consummate flatness of her paintings condenses the illusions of solidity and space into virtual fields, compelling in their dynamic assertion and physically insubstantiality.

https://www.saatchigallery.com/artists/ruth_root.htm

Ruth Root was one of the artists I was recommended from the tutorial. Her works definitely stand out and resonate with me. Not only is the composition of her work very interesting, but also the pattern that she chose to fill in those segments. I haven’t thought about implementing the pattern in my work. I can see that she balances three types of ‘pattern’. There are flat monotone fields, there is a hard-edged, straight line and then most interestingly she has free-hand-looking patterns that add a bit of chaos. It’s interesting to see how these patterns could be seen as metaphors of some of the philosophies I been looking in the past. One could say that these three types of patterns in her work could symbolise the Holy Trinity. Or the three material states, solid, liquid and gas. It is very open to interpretation. Another intriguing thing about her work is her choice of material. Aluminium. I never tried painting on metal before. It would be interesting to see how the paint reacts on metal, and what are the limitations of painting on metal such as aluminium. 

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Business card variations pt. 2

After Fraser showed me his initial designs, we then sat down and discussed what worked and what didn’t. Whilst working, I remembered the golden ratio. Fortunately, Fraser has experience with the design of the golden ratio and made changes really effectively (3rd photo onward has a golden ratio implemented). The last photo was the final design that both of us were happy with. The design seems simple, but I don’t think I would have been able to come up with it by myself. I believe this short project was beneficial for Fraser too because he can now show in his portfolio that he can adapt to different products. Overall it was a good collaboration, Fraser helped with the typography, design and gave advice on the printing.

Fraser’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sir.zer/

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Business card variations pt. 1

When it came to designing the business card, I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do but didn’t have much knowledge in the software to make it. So I decided to ‘hire’ my housemate Fraser King from BA graphic design. I gave him the contact details and the Adobe Illustrator file of the geometrical shapes from the Secular painting. 

These were some of his initial designs. There are some very good elements in them. I really like that he understood the minimal aesthetic.