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‘Pueblo de Altares’, About to Happen at Contemporary Art Centre New Orleans, March 2017.

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CECILIA VICUNA

After watching the Youtube recording of Vicuna’s guest lecture, I can see directly how the eccentricity of her personality is presented through her artworks. I was extremely interested by her exhibition ‘About to Happen’ which was held at the Contemporary Arts Centre in New Orleans. Her depiction of the effects of climate change through the use of found objects is encapsulating. In her piece ‘Pueblo de Altares’ (Village of Altars) she has spread out manmade and natural objects across a bed of sand. The piece extends to the walls where other found objects are suspended and appear as if they are floating. This effect was really interesting as it forces you to confront the bleak nature of our future if climate change is not addressed. It could be argued the room is reminiscent of the seabed and how our belongings that were one precious but due to our actions would be abandoned and left to float in the places we once called home. The name of the piece translated into English means ‘Village of Altars’ which brings about ideas of climate change being a religious reckoning as opposed to the direct effect of human action. An Altar by definition means ‘the focus of a religious ritual, especially for making sacrifices or offerings to a deity’ bringing about ideas of how relentless and powerful the ocean is. Through the ages, the ocean has been regarded as a powerful entity and often been personified as gods (like Poseidon) so Vicuna’s piece seems to also act as a commentary on how people overlook the relentless uncontrollable sea. Her decision to use a blank white room was interesting as it brings attention solely to the found objects and their relationship together. Even the use of sand. while smart and reminiscent of the ocean, allows for a plain neutral background. It also would have been interesting to see a black background used to present how dark the seabed is as light cannot reach it, and also as a commentary on the dark state of the future.

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“Shit Acyrlic”, Acrylic on cardboard

While exploring the relationship between people and buildings I wanted to delve more into the architecture of people’s lives and how the buildings they live in can have an impact on their decisions, opinions and how they are today. Representing this through physical imagery of abstract shapes helped me map out my experience. I took screenshots of the roads I have lived on through google maps and connected them using photoshop as a kind of self-portrait of my journey as I have grown. The light grey shapes in the background are supposed to represent the boarding houses I lived in while I was away at school. I wanted the ‘road’ to travel over the shapes instead of around because the boarding house was always kind of a pit stop and form of slight stability from the constant moving house and room. Uprooting my life continuously from area to area I found made it difficult to settle or relax even now which was draining. I wanted to use darker, muted colours for the main body of the piece to present this. I tended to feel split between home and school due to how different each environment was and as a result began to feel broken. This feeling is something I wanted to represent through the piece as I thought it was an important commentary on the impact of a lack of stability. Which is why I used gold paint to highlight the journey to me feeling broken, I was inspired by the Japanese art of  Kintsugi ( fixing pottery with gold or silver dusted lacquer to highlight how the breakage is part of the history of the object rather than disguising or repressing it). I decided to use cardboard as a surface for two reasons; the first is supposed to be a commentary on the housing crisis in the UK and the concept of using sustainable materials for homes as opposed to constantly developing expensive estates that sit empty. The second links in with the title of the piece itself, after recently being criticised for using ‘shit acrylic’ for paintings it was meant to show how expensive proper materials are for an art course that does not provide any aid for students. It also shows that we can use any material and still make meaningful art. 

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‘Octopus (Polipo)’ and ‘Night and Day’, Marialuisa Tadei

Tadei’s use of an ancient technique in a contemporary style helped me realise I need to explore different mediums as an artist. While I have been investigating the way relationships to a physical space can be represented through shape and colour, Tadei’s work made me realise there is a certain grandeur missing from my work. I tend to work with smaller staging and surfaces as they are more manageable for student life and the constant transport of works, but I think my work is limited by my own rationalisations sometimes. Despite painting being my main medium this year, it was definitely my comfort zone and as a result I’d like to move further away from this and more into 3D work, perhaps exploring wood and metal as a material. 

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YORKSHIRE SCULPTURE PARK

As part of our Criticality module in Semester 2 we were able to visit Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The large range of works displayed allowed us to be immersed and inspired by multiple artists and their practices. One piece that stood out to me was Marialuisa Tadei’s ‘Octopus (Polipo). The use of all the different pieces of glass to create a 3D mosaic allows for the natural light to almost move across the sculpture, reminiscent of water. This is reinforced through the many shades of blue used within the piece, perhaps reflecting the creature’s natural habitat. The staging of the sculpture being surrounded by vegetation creates a juxtaposition between the aquatic creature and its environment, bringing about ideas of isolation and estrangement. Tadei intended for the sculpture to explore symbolic and spiritual representation, so we can perhaps insinuate after her studying art at many foreign universities she may feel isolated or estranged by the difference in culture from her home. Another one of Tadei’s mosaic pieces I found interesting was her ‘Night and Day’. Compared to ‘Octopus (Polipo)’, the coin shaped sculpture is arguably more abstract and allows for two different perspectives on the piece depending on which side the viewer is stood. By drawing comparison between mosaic tiles and the pixels in a digital screen, we can see how Tadei has intended to represent the modern human experience through a historic medium . The bright colours of each side seem to be united by branch or vein shaped pathways almost representing spiritual and biological aspects of the human experience at once.

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While Zacharoff’s themes and works may not relate to my own directly, we can see her laboured style of painting to portray these intricate creatures. This time consuming process is something I’ve found rewarding in my own practice. While in previous pieces I attempted to create complicated works in short time frames due to my own procrastination, I realised executing simpler pieces by spending more time on them was rewarding. In my recent studio practice I’ve spent hours painting layered shapes to represent places I have lived and found channelling the feelings that the painting was inspired by into the work allows for a deeper look into my own experiences and how they are still impacting me today. While Zacharoff’s intentions may not have been to directly portray political issues through her paintings, it is hard to ignore in todays current climate. I originally wanted to depart from political work and focus more inwardly on my own life but Zacharoff’s work has helped me realise perhaps we cannot directly look inward and ignore everything when many of our actions today intertwine us with the rest of the world. Even having a phone connects you to thousands without the intention. In my work I want to start looking at the crossover between personal relatioships with buildings and the legal relationship. The difference between owning a building and not these days is often a contract and the idea that affordable, safe shelter is a transaction and not a right suggests there is something wrong with what our government is doing. Especially when over 600,000 homes in the UK remain vacant while the homeless population has grown to 227,000 as of 2021.

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Kvikk Lunsj, 2014, Oil and pigment on canvas

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ANNA ZACHAROFF

I really liked the way Zacharoff’s paintings included themes of aquatic creatures because it helps highlight the unappreciated beauty of the ocean. Zacharoff’s work helps reiterate that only about 5% of the ocean has been explored and suggests how many of the creatures presented through her choice of  watercolours or pastels are only the precipice of what we could discover. Her use of stark beige backgrounds are reminiscent of the seabed and helps accentuate the muted colours of the creatures presented. The background could be seen as a central point to most of her oceanic themed pieces because it makes each paint stroke more deliberate and allows us to appreciate Zacharoff’s intentions. One of which perhaps being to represent the endless expanse of the sea which brings about this idea that people are  not as alone or isolated as they feel. Viewing her paintings while also considering current day topics like climate change, her focalisation on sea life is imbued with this sadness of what may be to come. Her stylistic choice of fading many of the creatures into the background suggest this responsibility we have as people for the slow decline in the animals’ populations. With rising sea temperatures, not only is it causing a drastic change in weather patterns which disrupt our day to day life, it is killing off many sea creatures and making their habitats inhospitable. While Zachroff’s work today reflects the beauty of aquatic life and the vast expanse of the ocean, one day it might be used as a catalogue of extinct creatures. 

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The relationship between humans and buildings is something I have been working on this semester due to having lived in many places. Having been posted around due to the RAF and then being in boarding school I’ve found buildings can be related to memories, experiences and even thoughts. I wanted to study this further and look more inward at my relationship and how it related to the buildings I spent the most time in. I began by creating a painting inspired by places I had experienced love the most in the last year. Taking maps of those areas and joining them together, as a way to bridge the gap between the locations as they’re directly related in my mind and therefore should be in the same postcode. I continued looking at maps and places I had lived and had major experiences in and began connecting them to create a pattern resulting in ‘master-maps’ of places connected through my life. 

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Lara Almarcegui, Enclosed Gardens (installation view), 2004

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LARA ALMARCEGUI

I found Almarcegui’s work eye opening due to how she highlights stories and reveals the potential of abandoned or neglected private and public spaces. Her piece ‘Enclosed Gardens (2004)’ was a great insight into the reckless nature of humanity to create and abandon. The stark contrast of the concrete against the surrounding vegetation allows for this comparison between what the earth was before humanity and what it is now. While it could suggest ideas of how humanity is destroying the planet (a relevant topic), it could also suggest how important the relationship people have to the their constructions are. There’s so many abandoned buildings and projects taking up space which could be used for housing or useful infrastructure rather than just sitting idle. Almarcegui’s work reflects this well by highlighting the sheer amount of waste and abandonment caused by humanity through photography. The choice of a camera was interesting because instead of a piece that could be interpreted a plethora of ways, like a painting. it is physical evidence of many of the viewers’ impact.

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One thing I struggle within my work is how to present it in an exhibition space. Moore’s staging of McKenzie’s work by using lots of empty space to separate each group of pieces from one another is creative as it allows the audience to compartmentalise each idea. Using such a small exhibition space allows for the audience to focus on a few pieces at a time rather than being overwhelmed by a large body of work. I was interested to see if this was common in McKenzie’s exhibitions so I went to view her work being displayed in the Tate Liverpool. I found a larger body of work, that while allowed me to immerse myself in McKenzie’s ideologies of understanding the past, it was distracting and found myself having too much to look at. Researching a curator as opposed to an artist, while more challenging’ helped me reflect on how adaptable any space can be. Having not been involved in many exhibitions, it has inspired me to seek out exhibition space options within the city as I feel having my work viewed my strangers will not only give me experience on displaying my work but will also elevate my confidence as strangers would be viewing my work without feedback. While it is good researching curators and exhibitions online, as an artist without in person experience of both, it is hard to grasp an understanding of how to so it effectively. 

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Pádraic E. Moore

Overall, Moore focuses on the influence of esoteric philosophies upon the literary and visual arts making the way he curates exhibitions for a plethora of artists intriguing. This is because the exhibition ‘Tour Domas’ exploring Lucy Mckenzie’s ‘Love and Crime and Collaboration’ in Dublin 2021 was so unique. The use of the window in the exhibition space of Temple Bar and Gallery was innovative as it allows passers by on the street to be confronted by Mckenzie’s ideas of understanding the past and how ideologies and aesthetics of those times can intersect. Which in turn will peak interest from those who may not have considered even entering the gallery. The staging and decision to use specific pieces by McKenzie (such as chairs and tables) was also interesting as it resembles a shop window. Perhaps this could be exploring ideas around peoples’ obsession with commercialism and how the only way to expose more people to new forms of art is to trick them into being a part of the audience. One of the pieces that helps explore ideas of appropriation, authorship and the hierarchies between artforms is the replica of the dress from Madeleine Vionnet’s cubist inspired ‘L’Orange’ painting (1922). By emulating and displaying work from the past, we can see how McKenzie and Moore have worked together to highlight the importance of art from the past and how it can still be relevant and inspire other artists today. By making a dress inspired by one from a century old painting, we can see McKenzie’s respect for past artists and her appreciation of their work. Moore’s use of the dress for the promotional image of the exhibition sets the tone effectively, also setting a precedent for audiences choosing to view the work.

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Uddoh’s commentary about the education system interested me greatly due to my own experience. Being the so called ‘guinea pig year’ and often feeling helpless in a system supposed  to support us was frustrating and something I wanted to represent within my project this semester. Decisions made by Politicians affected our education drastically and I wanted to present this through a form of political cartoon. This medium always interested me because its a form of art that ties directly into news and politics by reflecting our current political climate in a way that's accessible for all ages due to the use of cartoons and short text. Being included in documents such as tabloids and Newspapers also allows the message to be seen by thousands which greatly widens the audience.

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Including both my own perspective and those of other people has always been a significant part of my art work. I feel like this is important as it allows my pieces to be accessed by a range of audiences. The topic of the education system is something that has always interested me because as a student who experiences constant change and were often called the ‘guinea pig year’ due to us usually being the first year to experience new exam formats, I have never felt listened to or represented. Furthermore, the constant disruption of our exam period due to Covid-19 was not helpful and as a result we were given grades based on our predicted and mock grades. This provided some backlash around our year as some politicians claimed we were being handed them and were going to be underqualified for future jobs (despite the decision being out of our control). It represents how often as students, we are told what is good for us and not listened to despite probably having a useful insight due to experiencing the education first hand. Which is also frustrating when the Politicians and public figures making decisions about our future have not been a part of the education system first hand since their childhood. 

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‘Practice Makes Perfect’ - Film, Rosa Johan-Uddoh

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 ‘Practice Makes Perfect’ - Installation, Rosa Johan-Uddoh