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Project Statement - Personal Language

This semester I have explored the project brief “Story” through the theme of Personal Language. Personal Language to me, means the personal and unique connotations we have (for things such as objects, words, places, times) and how these associations indirectly tell the story of our lived experiences.

I have drawn from my own Personal Language through poetry, old photographs and objects with sentimental value. In particular, I have focused on cut-out poetry (cutting words from magazines and rearranging them) because I feel it clearly captures my concept; taking words with existing meanings and rearranging them to reflect my own unique connotations.

I have used various mediums in my work such as oil pastels, digital collage, watercolor paint, charcoal, pen and inks.

I have taken inspiration from artists such as Dorothea Tanning and Paula Boon.

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Research

You can find my research HERE , or by searching the tag “research semester 3”.

Ideas Development

You can find a presentation of my ideas development HERE.

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Combing my cut out poetry with existing artworks from this semester (including some blind portraits, bottom).

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Artist Research - Paula Boon

Paula Boon is a contemporary American writer, editor and artist who is known for her found-word poems and collages. Her work has appeared in magazines, newspapers, radio, academic papers and book-length manuscripts.

I came across her work a few weeks ago and was inspired to make the cut out poetry I have posted bellow. I was already interested in using words in my project but I feel that found poetry ties my concept of personal language together even better (as I have explained in the posts bellow).

Boon’s method of work also reminds me of the Dadaist artist, Tristan Tzara (1896 - 1963). Cut out words are also a prominent feature of Tzara’s artwork.

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My Words Arranged

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My Words

Cut out words from a fashion magazine I’m going to arrange into poetry.

I think cut out poetry perfectly captures my concept; taking words written by somebody else and re-assigning them new meanings using my own personal connotations.

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I missed Eoin’s second still life workshop so decided to try out the exercises in my own time but staying with portraiture. In order: Oil pastel digitally edited, None dominant hand 7 min, 1 min sketches and blind drawings, single line drawings and original 20 min oil pastel.

I really dislike the oil pastel and have tried to digitally edit it into something a bit better (top image).

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A personal language spoken through symbols

“Shame”

Oil pastel drawing. I’m not sure if this is 100% finished but i’ll post it for now. Exploring associations unique to me. I struggle with oil pastels, especially with details like hands but i’m happy with the rendering on parts of this. I also kind of enjoy the ridiculousness of these two subject matters merged

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Artist Research - Iris Van Herpen

Iris Van Herpen is a Dutch fashion designer born in 1984 and known for fusing technology with traditional haute couture craftsmanship. She opened her own label Iris Van Herpen in 2007 and has since continuously exhibited her new collections at Paris Fashion Week as well as being included in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York and the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.

Herpen is an inspiration of mine because of how her pieces appear to bend reality, transforming the human form into abstract flowing shapes (similar to how Dorothea Tanning depicts her subjects after 1955). In particular I am a fan of her 2018 collection “Syntopia” based on “the new worlds that arise within synthetic biology and the intertwining relationships between the organic and the inorganic.” By building up her clothing in intricate ways such as thousands of individual laser cut pieces, she can create movement that appears liquid-like and flowing.

(Two garments from her collection “Syntopia”)

Here is a mask also made as part of the above collection which reminds me of my own painting and collages exploring layering of faces:

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Artist Research - Dorothea Tanning

“Notes for an Apocalypse - 1978″ Dorothea Tanning (25 August 1910 – 31 January 2012) was an American painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet. Apart from 3 weeks spent at the Chicago Academy of Fine Art in 1930, Tanning was a self-taught artist. The surreal imagery of her paintings from the 1940s and her close friendships with artists and writers of the Surrealist Movement have led many to regard Tanning as a Surrealist painter, yet she developed her own individual style over the course of an artistic career that spanned six decades.

I admire the dreamlike, symbolic subject matter and the painterly brush strokes in Tanning’s earlier paintings like Birthday - 1942   ,The Magic Flower Game - 1941 and Tableau vivant - 1954 (Above). Although theses pieces are beautifully and realistically rendered, my favorite of her art is her later work (below). In her words "Around 1955 my canvases literally splintered... I broke the mirror, you might say"  and she began producing more abstract paintings, with strange angular shapes and suggestions of human forms with flesh like surfaces.

Murmurs- 1976 (left), Heartless - 1980 (right)

Tanning is a potent inspiration for me. Not only do I find her paintings visually stunning, she embodies many areas I am personally passionate about; in particular, painting, poetry and textile manipulation. I also love her strange subject matter; beautiful, sensual, organic mixed with grotesque, jarring and other-worldly. Below are some of her “soft sculptures”, three-dimensional works in fabric.

Hôtel du Pavot, Chambre 202 (Poppy Hotel, Room 202),  1973

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Watercolour painting inspired by the collages I made of old selfies. For this piece, I wanted to reflect how lost and half remembered memories feel.

Also including my scrap page because I find them beautiful.

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In the first painting workshop of this semester, I gravitated towards using text (specifically poetry) in my drawing and this is a method I’m drawn to continuing through out this project.

I’m very inspired by free verse poetry as It’s what gave me the idea of “personal language”; words with hidden meanings only you understand built up from personal experiences. I’ve compiled some “notes” i’ve taken over the last year or so that I’m considering working into my visual art.

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Experimental collage using old photos of myself. In essence, my project revolves around identity and personal history so I was inspired to do something with these older photos. Perhaps source imagery for a painting?

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I’ve been struggling to capture colour effectively using acrylic paint and think it might be partly due to my very low quality materials. I decided to try out some digital painting as I can at least use any colour I need then.

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I’ve decided to begin with simply drawing some of the objects I’ve collected. Hopefully this will give me a foundation to start developing my concept around.

In order: Ink painting, Ink painting, marker sketch, acrylic study.

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Personal Language

I’m interested in the personal connotations everyone has for things such as certain words, objects, seasons etc. These connotations tell the hidden stories of our identities and life experiences.

I lack a strong sense of identity and have many blurred memories so I’m using objects I’ve collected over the years (some examples above) to write my own personal and secret history; only I can piece together the symbols, telling a story that is beyond words, expression, coherence.

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A sample of work from this morning's painting workshop with Eoin. In order, 12 minute portrait, continues line, blind portrait, ten 30 second portraits, blind still life and 12 minute still life.

I found it difficult to stay focused after Easter break but none the less this was a really enjoyable class. I hope to continue with more of these exercises this evening to get me back into the working mind set.