lily-junoarcher

[lily-junoarcher]

An example of Francis Ritchard’s work that I feel translates particularly well through photograph are her figurative works which she is infamous for. This photo is part of ‘Wetwang Slack’ , Ritchard’s installation at the Curve Gallery. These figures are sculpted out of polymer clay, dressed in an array of colourful clothes and of unknown race or gender.

I really like these figurative pieces because I feel like you can still get the concept of scale and colour, which were Upritchard’s main influences behind the exhibition.

She originally wanted it to be a “rainbow-light spectrum that plays with distortion and scale” before deciding this idea was too vague. However I feel like these concepts are what show through most strongly. I think that’s where I draw the line over whether or not an exhibition translates well over different platforms, If I think it has done so successfully, then it should represent the interests of the artist and their vision, their ideas – these should all still be palpable regardless of platform.

[lily-junoarcher]

Upritchard has created a falsified missing link in this sculpture; viewing It on a screen definitely has it’s limitations as I’m only able to view it from a set angle and height and I can’t look any closer. Unfortunately, this really takes away from the mystery of her pieces for me, that key moment when you’re looking at something and you notice it’s not quite right. At a first glance, this looks like a perfectly legitimate mummified animal body, however supposedly if you look closer, you can notice the inconsistencies, the rings and the all too human hands, the smaller details.

I don’t feel as much is lost visually when it comes to viewing her more colourful pieces, but even then there is still the issue of them being viewable only from a set point.  Her work differs in terms of presentation to JeeYoung Lee’s in that JeeYoung’s work is designed to be photographed. Not only that, but the images (which could arguably be the actual work as opposed to the sets themselves) are carefully constructed. She doesn’t manipulate the images as such as stage them. Upritchard’s work on the other hand seems to be more to experience in person; an installation rather than a set.

[lily-junoarcher]

“Upritchard’s is an art of falsifying information. Appropriating ready-made artefacts, hexing the viewer’s imagination to willfully reinterpret”. As taken from the Saatchi Gallery website.

She creates myths, legends, curses and historical finds out of bits and bobs. In a similar vein to Noemi Goudal, Francis is an illusionist.

Her work is a literal cabinet of curiosities. She’s passionate about the physical process of making and uses an array of different materials.

I really enjoy Frances Upritchard’s work and I feel a strong resonance with my own passion for exploring different textures and concepts. In Unit 3, I was also working towards combining mythology and modern influences as artefacts when I was exploring my medusa concept; this was when I decided that I enjoyed making figurative objects. Upritchard’s work I think translates well online for the most part, however certain nuances are definitely lost. I don’t think her work was designed to be seen only in photo form, but to experience it considering the depth of texture and effort she puts into her sculptures that may not be fully appreciated by camera.

[lily-junoarcher]

Exhibition Critique:

Vivien Suter - she approached her exhibiting process in a very naturalistic way. The pieces are hung vertically, horizontally and many are obscured from view so that you are only able to view them from side angles. She has created a ‘jungle’ or canopy of canvases so to speak; in which the viewer must walk through to even glimpse some of her work – this in turn gives the show a transformative and participatory element. The audience must walk through the paintings in order to see them.  Her artwork combines the aspects of nature she was surrounded by in Argentina, the rainforest, her animals and environmental damage. Her work seems to speak critically of the ‘preciousness of art.

Her pieces are often abstract, haphazard, and as the title of the exhibition ‘Tintin’s Sofa’ says, they are used by her dogs as furniture. I think by doing this she balances ideas of the impermanence of the image, of mutability and humour quite well. I like the ideas around the presentation of her work however I don’t know if this translates as well virtually and in practice. Many of her works are nearly impossible to view and from a straight on angle and as such, you have to navigate your way through the artwork. Virtually of course, this impedes your view immensely as so many environmental factors will affect your viewing experience of the work, your height, mindset, what colours you’re most drawn to and the route you decide to take – all of things are depleted when going through a virtual tour.

In my own work I like this idea of a naturalistic approach, you aren’t too precious about how the works are presented and that every one is in the best position, angle or lighting for its benefit.

However, I would say that this style of presenting doesn’t really fit with my artwork, Since I’m interested in installation and sculptural works, creating intricate standalone pieces rather than a collective body of work, I’m somewhat more precious about the way in which my artwork is presented. I like to hang my pieces from ceilings or suspend them from plinths so that you can view them from every angle.

An artist that I think does this very well is Jee Young Lee. Her pieces are intended to be photographed, but because there is no use of camera manipulation, the sets remain as impressive as physical installations. Of course some of the magic of her pieces can be brought out with camera angles, I think that her work is accessible as both digital and physical pieces is a real testament to her and the way in which our world is changing. It makes sense to create a virtual catalogue of pieces., for conservation of space and reusage of previous materials and also for accessibility. You can view them anywhere in the world and they are seen just as the artist intended for them to be, not a lot of artwork can be seen in the same way. The only drawback with this potentially would be the quality of the device you were viewing the piece on. Because the artworks are intended to be photographed, and that is often the only form they remain in permanence in, the artist can control what the colours look like and whether or not it is true to life. Because they were designed to be photographed, there is much less of a worry, compared to work that isn’t online accessible, of it being degraded or downplayed in image. It retains its quality more than a piece that you would need to be present to view it. In terms of my own artwork I do not do this very well at all, my work almost always looks better in person I feel. You lose a sense of its scale and the colours, and because I do not make backdrops for my work, this aspect is lost and when presented digitally, without a gallery or backdrop, can be anticlimactic. I would really like to take further inspiration from Jee Young Lee and try creating works that encompass an entire room and are accessible for virtual viewing. I think this experience universally of a pandemic has really challenged artists to evaluate the way in which they present their work and how accessible it is to others. How can we make a website feel like a gallery, how can we use video, sound and image to enhance our creations. I think this could be a truly inspiring time for many people. I myself would like to experiment with sound or the moving image; usually within my pieces I focus a lot on texture so you have the ability to feel my sculptures and paintings, but that is all lost through a computer screen, in essence much of the contribution of the audience is lost, any part of the work that needs a physical presence or other to feel or create, unless it’s some kind of digital collaborative  experience, is lost, and we must find other ways to replace this lack of audience participation.

[lily-junoarcher]

The finished sculpture.

I used an acrylic fixative spray on top of the eye which turned the gold paint even more brassy, howeve I still love the effect and I think it looks even more like metal now.

[lily-junoarcher]

Some photos I took for inspiration. I really enjoy combining artificial and natural textures and exploring shape, colour and texture is an aesthetic passion of mine.

*I want to continue to explore this idea in my future work.

[lily-junoarcher]

Here are some artists that I really like and took inspiration from for this project, Jee Young Lee, Sandy Skoglund and Matthew Ronay.

[lily-junoarcher]

A couple of older photos I’d forgotten to post. The animated photos are screen grabs from the animated TV show Adventure Time which places a pretty strong emphasis on eyes and their symbolism and power. I take a lot of my inspiration from this tv show and also The Midnight Gospel.

The sketchbook pages are  photos I took of my sketchbook when I was coming up with ideas for the offsite show and where I wanted to take my work. I decided that I wanted to work more freeform and stop placing so much pressure on the creative process. I get myself into a psychological wormhole where I don’t make work because I don’t know how or where to start, and I realised that work comes the easiest when I try and make it about myself and from my own experiences rather than an abstract idea - moo matter how well researched and constructed I try to make it.

[lily-junoarcher]

A drawing of an installation idea I that I forgot to post before I started making the eye sculpture.

[lily-junoarcher]

I sprayed the base and flower both gold, the only colours I had access to were gold and neon green because I like these colours; their gaudiness and artificial nature. 

I like the splashes of green because it reminds me of moss, as if the base were still growing. However I wasn’t content with just these 2 colours and it didn’t feel like there was enough going on.

[lily-junoarcher]

I had my one-on-one meeting with Keira over Microsoft Teams and she spoke to me about needing a base for my eye sculpture, I didn’t have much of an idea in mind at this point other than wanting to find something amorphous that resembled natural curves and flesh. On the neighbours house there was a patch of PU expanding foam around their drain pipe and I figured that I would be a good way to try and create natural, ‘blob-y’ forms.

The first attempt failed as the foam took hours to dry and because the can had to be used within an hour otherwise the opening dries up, I didn’t have enough time to wait for it to cure in between sprays. I hadn’t taken this into account so I ended up with a big, flat circle of foam.

My second attempt was using a cardboard box from one of my amazon deliveries and letting it use the box for stability. I had learned from the 1st attempt that the foam doe’s stick to plastic, it simply peels away once it has cured, so I covered my paper mat in Gaffer tape so the newspaper wouldn’t stick to the base.

The second attempt was successful as it kept it’s structure and I decided to keep it lying on its back, but it can be stood upright.

[lily-junoarcher]

In these photos I’d just finished putting 7 or more layers of wall filler all over the sculpture and sanded. The main challenges with this process were,

1) the time it took for the filler to dry because I was layering it on much more thickly than the product was intended to be used.

2) the product was difficult to apply in smaller corners as the spatula I was using wasn’t small enough, it was also difficult to pull the product around curves which is the majority of the sculpture.

3) I didn’t have abrasive enough sanding grits to really make the sculpture smooth. However, I also really like the outcome of the sculpture as it is because it has this rough, polished bronze feel.

I also love how the gold spray paint looks at this point in the process, unfortunately, the paint doesn’t stay this gold as it fades as it oxidises and dries down.

[lily-junoarcher]

//I don’t have a photo of the process of the ‘eye-flower’ before I started adding the wall filler on top, but I will explain below:

The sculpture base is simply balled up newspaper that was taped together into the shapes I wanted, and then covered in 3-4 coats of paper mâché (torn up newspaper and PVA).

I decided that this didn’t give me the effect I wanted. I wanted the look and feel of plaster or metal without the weight and expense of material. So while doing research into one of my favourite installation artists, Jee Young Lee I read an interview where she talked about materials, sourcing and expenses. Since her projects can be time consuming and costly she has to be innovative in the way she works. In the piece pictured above, ‘Broken Heart’ she used paper mâché to make the eggs and covered them with a layer of wall filler before sanding them down to create the smooth egg texture. I decided to give this a go in my own work.

Above is the photo where I had started to layer on the wall filler over the paper using a spatula.

[lily-junoarcher]

I was feeling inspired around images of eyes and I wanted to get out of my head so I decided to repaint and decorate some old shoes.

[lily-junoarcher]

A sketch of what my current idea for what the end result could look like.

[lily-junoarcher]

I thought about what object could represent wisdom, owls and books seem to be pretty obvious visual stimuli for that. So I’m considering using a book as part of the piece but I haven’t decided how yet. Or making owl feet as a feature, perhaps I could mesh the two ideas together.

[lily-junoarcher]

The finished apple after the shape was fully fleshed out and I painted it golden, green and red; I glued the cork into the center.