Gravity: Ben Judd (12/3/15)

http://benjudd.com

Judd started his lecture by discussing the Biunial Magic Lantern by W. C. Hughes& co. c.1890. He described the lantern as being the precursor to cinema, in it's pursuit to create moving image. The magic lantern is live and has a participating element to it, in that for it to work a person has to be present, manually enabling the machine. Whereas cinema is pre-recorded and so although the audience is present there is not a necessity for a person to create the moving image in the moment. 

He then went on to discuss Sea Cadettes and how they never actually go to see. How they rigorously practise these rituals and performances but never have the opportunity to put them into practise.

This links with some of his key interests within his art practise: rehearsal, the propositional and the amateur. This bled into him explaining 'interstatiality' (a state of between-ness) and 'alteration' (oscillating from one position to another).

The first of his works that he mentioned was 'I Miss' (2002) which he briefly explained was a documentary-esk film capturing a group of trainspoters in Doncaster. Then he showed 'I Love' (2003) which was another documentary styled film about a group of amateur "glamour" photographers in a seedy area. He raced through discussing all his works, 'I Will Heal You' (2007): he went to Columbia  and worked with a Witchdoctor even though all the locals told him not too. She said he needed to be "clensed", he felt there was a strange power suggestion, making him wonder if it was real or monitor. By this point I was wholly unconvinced with his workforces, but it got worse! 

'Close To You' (2008) was when he went to a class for amateur physics. 'The Symbol' (2009) worked with a Shaman as he wanted his work to challenge his own belief systems and other people's. To push the boundaries of his own Western atheist familiarity. 

His work has several ethical and moral issues embedded into it, by his borderline insulting approach to challenging his belief systems. He puts himself into situations where we openly mocks what other people believe, and justifies this by saying that in the moment when he is a part of these people's lives he does believe as they do, and then after he leave and he's been gone for a while he remembers that he doesn't believe in what they do? Which makes me think he is either confused or just knowingly lies to them.

He followed on with talking about two other works that link in with his previous works but have titles that sound like Damien Hurst made them up. 'Conversations With The Other Side' (2009) was his attempt to blur the lines of reality and performance. Which involved a woman talking in a dreamlike state in a room in the gallery space, this was projected with a live stream to another part of the gallery space where Judd would ask questions? It was all a bit complicated and I struggled to fully understand. His work then became more of a combination of film and live action with another complicated name of 'Concerning the Differences Between the Delights of Pleasure& True Happiness' (2010) which I felt was awkward and uncomfortable to watch which was apparently intentional...

I felt that the concept behind his works were quite weak really and generally weren't my cup of tea. Although I liked the sense of continuity through his works, at least they were all vague and all linked into each other.

P.A.P LECTURE WRITE-UP Gravity: Emma Biggs (5/3/15)

http://www.emmabiggsmosaic.net/

I found Emma Biggs to be a very good speaker, the enthusiasm and passion she had for her work was infectious. Biggs introduced the lecture by drawing our attention to the equalisation of gender presented in the mosaics and frescoes of the Chora Church in Istanbul. And how it was "strikingly odd" that they would do this at the time in which they were made (around the 13th century).

Of course most churches and cathedrals of the time would depict an image of The Virgin, although this would be outweighed by several images of Christ. Which is why Biggs noted how unusual it was to have such a balance of the sexes within the Chora Church.

Biggs is clearly inspired by classical mosaic, as the craft in itself is very long-established it would be difficult for one to ignore how it was originally used. And although her work is not necessarily religious, she does not ignore the historical context of her artistry.

Biggs drew an interesting comparison from Tracy Emin's 'Everyone I've Ever Slept With' to The Virgin at the exit/entrance in the Chora Church.

Biggs believes there is an unconscious connection between the two. The Virgin is positioned over the exit of the church and so when everyone leaves it could be read that they are metaphorically re-born from her loins. She feels this is similar to the open and direct depiction of 'Everyone I've Ever Slept With'. When the viewer leaves the inside of the tent they have come from a very intimate and private place of Tracy Emin. She singled out the explicit nature of both works, how the works tell you what needs to be said. They obviously evoke a response but they don't necessarily have an agenda. 

It goes without saying that mosaics cannot be achieved without the aid of broken pots. When discussing some key aspects of her practise she specified that "handmade and industrial pottery is important to [her] work, not least by its gendered associations". In the respect that crockery is by and large advertised with a clear female slant, reinforcing the old stereotype that women are the homemakers and so kitchenware is singularly appropriate for women.

She spoke of her earlier life when she went to University in Leeds during the 70s and how it seemed as though everyone around her was in a punk band or knew someone in a punk band. She later admitted it was interesting how her current work is almost a rebellion of a rebellion. She went to University and ripped her clothes, started smoking and drinking to kick against what her parents had taught her was appropriate behaviour, only to kick against this defiance by reverting back to a fixation of handmade pottery and mosaic making.

However, before she got involved with mosaics she worked for Vivienne Westwood after leaving University, and found that this was not the right avenue for her within the artworld. She happened upon a group of Italian immigrants that made mosaics in the classic way& picked their brains about the media, as her heart truly lied in the making of a thing. It sounded all very exotic from my perspective but I suppose when you discuss your personal history to an avid audience you may be inclined to romanticise somewhat?

Biggs went on to discuss her work 'Made in England' with is a beautiful mosaic consisted of the underside of pots.

She acquired these pots through various donations made by people from Stoke-en-Trent. As that area of the world was rife with art schools and artists in its day due to the demand for creative people to make pots etc. Stoke-en-Trent obviously suffered from globalisation like China's handmade pottery industry did in the 90s, and 'Made in England' was a small way in which Biggs felt she was giving back to the community. 

 

She spoke about how "content alone is not enough", she had to give depth to her work with context or else it would only have been an old-styled mosaic made in the modern day. After discussing 'Made in England' her talk became much more passionate. Describing how each base of the pots that were given to her have a different texture and artistry with the stamp placed on them. Whether it has been hand-painted/stamped/embossed/lithographed makes a difference in "the variety of tone", and leaves a trace of the makers' working day. This connection with the past was significant to her and the work.

Finally she discussed some of the issues she faces with making artwork. About how "aesthetic content is frequently outsourced by artists to fabrications", which I took to be a criticism of how contemporary art has lost is cogency. Artists are bypassing what is aesthetically sound to create something generic and seemingly aesthetic, but falsely so. In Biggs' opinion "something's been lost and I think we should reclaim it", the humbleness of making something because it just looks good is very much lost in the artworld today. To the point that we have a detached response to the work, a "bloodless aestheticism" were we critique a work avoiding saying anything that just marks the work as 'good'.

I ask, that if art is truly subjective, surely there should be a place for all its forms? Can there not be a time when high-brow artwork can be considered purely based on whether you at that moment think it looks good?



Gravity: Dawn Mellor (16/10/14)

Dawn Mellor comes from Gamesley which is quite close to where I come from; this immediately put me at ease& I thought I might just like her. However, she had a very no-nonsense way of speaking, as if she is always on the defensive and at times she came across as quite rude. But this just made her a captivating speaker and I barely took any notes because I was so absorbed in what she had to say.

She mentioned her book 'Michael Jackson and Other Men’, that she grew up in the 80s when life was fraught with the race riots. This affected her in many ways, as you would expect. Her paintings are from “constructed personas”, showing well known faces destroyed or mutilated in some way giving them a sinister feel which makes you question why they have the right to be in a position of power in their normal lives. After seeing their faces distorted and broken you start to look at them (as normal people) in a different way, what is this obsession with celebrity about?

Mellor believes that her art has a political stance, she called it “derailing the black/white/bad/good”; she intends to blur the lines between these things in order to stop people from thinking in binary oppositions.

When discussing her painting process Mellor said she starts making and then finds problems to solve. This resonates with me as an experimental painter and it was interesting to hear that this problem occurs regardless of your painting style. Furthermore she said that none of the concepts discovered after a show were intentional from the start, meaning that she does not paint to get a reaction and does not intend or predict any response. Although, this is hard to believe given the emotive nature of her work which is bound to evoke a response from the general public, some of which will no doubt idolise the people who’s faces she mutilates.

Mellor went on to describe the challenge she faces between the expectation and demand for her work and her own love of making. As the galleries are always pushing her to produce things that she does not want to produce. Leading her towards what the current market is interested in instead of what she is currently interested in. This was very encouraging to hear of someone standing up to ‘the man’ and getting away with it! She went on to mention that on several occasions the galleries have been known to be wrong, making me think that people are more likely to buy what is in front of them as oppose to demand something different.

Transmission: Felicity Allen, 'Begin Again - Creating a dis-oeuvre' (14/10/14)

http://www.felicityallen.co.uk/

I found her work to be interesting in its origin, as opposed to its manifestation. She admits that her paintings are poor and I have to agree, they are not lacking in character or life but in simple aesthetics; the reason for this being that she had not painted in years. Her work ‘Begin Again’ was created after finishing a position she had held for a long time at a certain gallery (which name escapes me) she decided to pick up her brush once again in an attempt to fall back in love with painting.

In the lecture she said that, “self doubt is common place in the making of art” and although I find this to be very true for me at present, I was greatly hoping that that would disappear with time. However, throughout my first term of University I have only been presented with a handful of artists that ooze self assurance, though on reflection I believe this to be entirely false. Creating art is a difficult and challenging business and when one does not question their process, technique, purpose etc. how can they really create something artful at all? Without the presence of doubt how can someone discover the truth? It is frustrating to only present questions with no straightforward answer, but isn’t that what art is all about?

She spoke a lot about things that inspire her, for example, ‘Three Guineas’ by Virginia Woolf and ‘The Eye’s Mind: Bridget Riley’ by Robert Kudielka. Her points of interest in the lecture bled together at times, jumping from “denarritarisation” to “Picasso is so sexy” to how “females represent nature and males represent culture”! Overall I felt that when she answered questions at the end of the lecture she was far easier to listen to.

Playfulness

One of my favourite pastimes as a child was going to the seaside, combining this concept with primary colours and a total lack of painterly skill I have created this:

I don't know if I will cover the board completely with paint or leave some white space... I think that some writing might be good here, however I would like to keep the spontaneous& childlike vibe of the piece going.

Tbc.

Experiment

I'm experimenting with the idea of not being an artist. I intend to create a series of work that highlights my existential angst as an aspiring artist.

Tackling what is at the core of my beliefs, in respect of what makes an artist an artist, and what is classed as artistic in my own opinion. 

Experiment

I feel that my painting style lacks mileage, so I decided to change it up a little and experiment with the background before I painted.

I used cardboard so I could cut out pieces and then replace them elsewhere to give a little relief. It also encouraged me to change direction of the paint, using the lines that were already there was easier I think than creating something completely new. 

I feel this painting was a step forward in regards to being more confident with the materials I use, but I found I enjoyed cutting into the cardboard more than painting on it. I definitely think I need to be experimenting more with materials and sculpture, using paint to support the experiments.

Discoveries

I've been feeling increasingly hopeless in the studios since my assessment. Nothing I have produced so far has been a new idea, I've just picked up from where I left off in college.

So whilst I was well and truly scrapping at the bottom of the barrel I "made" this: 

During the hours it took to careful wrap this spade in masking tape I solved a lot of problems. There were points when the process was frustrating and seemingly impossible, but I persevered regardless and the finished product was unbelievably satisfying.

 Unbelievable because I have always considered myself a painter and to get so much joy from making a sculpture was a surprise. But I think this is a good thing and I intend to explore objects& masking tape more.