July 2014 Review

• Definition of 'The Forefront'
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• Examples of artists at the forefront of my field
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• Thoughts on display and final presentation

• Picnic Interlude

I have achieved what I had planned for by this stage in my initial Gannt chart. I now have thinking time to dedicate to the dissemination of my work.

Picnic Exhibition

As a follow-on from our away day at Hatfield House, Rebecca has set up an exhibition for the M.A Photography group. I am quite pleased she chose my image for the invite.

It was nice to have a day focusing on something other than my FMP. This was fun and positive.

More Labels

The Paper tags do not have enough room on them to record all the detail I want. So I have experimented with my lovely DYMO printing machine which produces labels with a vintage feel. These are reminiscent of dusty old objects in museum cases. I think this will be perfect for the labelling
of all my objects.

I wonder if there might be health and safety stipulations about putting these kinds of materials on public display? Perhaps I should seal the drawers so they cannot be opened?

lightboxes and wallpaper?

Earlier in this blog, I made a lightbox as a possible means of displaying my images.
It was not successful as the individual LED lights showed through the paper and the light was not dispersed enough. Since then I have seen another photographer's work displayed in the Photographers' Gallery which has made me think again.

                                Price 'Saturated' 2014

This artist has made wallpaper from her kaleidoscopic, symmetrical images, then mounted further images in lightboxes over the backdrop of wall pattern. The work in the boxes looks 'finished' and packaged up. That would work with my attempts to subdue and control the negatives in my life: to contain them even further by sealing them into a frame and causing a light to shine through them like on a slide under a microscope.
The printing of images repetitively into wallpaper  creates an overload of pattern, making your head spin with the repetitive design.
Would it be plagaerism if I used the idea of wallpaper with my own designs? In that way, the idea of not being able to escape from 'All my shit' could be expressed. If the room was papered with a repetitive pattern that was overpowering and quite uncomfortable it would give the sense of it being all around me and inescapable. Or would wallpaper diminish the effect and cause the viewer not to examine it in detail, but just see it as a 'background'?
www.thephotographersgallery.org.uk

Another artist at the forefront

Emily Price is a new graduate from Nottingham trent university.
Her work was exhibited at the Photographers' Gallery in the 'Fresh faced and Wild eyed' collection recently. She could be considered an artist at the forefront as she has combined several techniques and processes in a new way. She uses photographs, collage and digital manipulation to create mesmerising patterns that disguise the serious or disturbing subject matter of her images. My heart dropped when I saw Emily's work as it is very similar to my own!

Emily Price 'Saturation' series

In this image, Emily has used images of people from a protest march and manipulated them into an attractive symmetrical pattern. She has then printed a continuous roll of the image onto fabric.

I have also printed large versions of my images onto fabric!

I like the way the fabric is displayed like it is in a shop and the assistant has thrown out a length for the customer to examine!

Beth Coles 'Mother' 2014

At The Forefront

What is it that puts work at the forefront? In art it could be said that nothing is new. But the process of using something 'old' to make something 'new' could be a simple definition of creativity which is what results in work considered to be 'at the forefront' . So work that looks at a well known theme from a new perspective, or that pushes the practice forward with new techniques or technologies will be at the cutting edge, or forefront.

We need to be able to show knowledge and understanding of work in the forefront of our field. We also need to be able to see how that work connects or relates to our own.
I like to think that these criteria are built into the way I work with this blog. I am constantly looking out for new ideas, new techniques, new artists in the creative field, in which light I consider my own work.
I read reviews in journals, newspapers and on social media and go to lots of exhibitions. The photographers' Gallery and University exhibitions are good for new graduates' exhibitions.
 Social media is particularly good for seeing new cutting edge work. I look at curated sites for contemporary artists like www.axisweb.org and flavorwire.com which is a site for cultural news and commentary. Another good source of forefront work is sites for DIY publication of photography like DIYor die which is an open submission site.

Work that I have been looking at recently is in new exhibitions. For example:

Gilbert and George have launched a new Exhibition 'Scapegoating Pictures for London' at the White Cube Gallery. They act like modern day Hogarths in the way that they document and represent the modern urban environment of London, where they live.
In the curator's notes at the White Cube Gilbert and George's work is described as having a 'Tireless, emotional and profound engagement with the viewer and the modern world'
Although these two have been making work for decades, they still remain at the forefront as they produce fresh perspectives with every exhibition. They represent what is happening in the streets around them and record changes and new trends, like the changing demographic of the residents, drug use and violence.

This image features the two artists looking on at what they see in their neighbourhood: the typically 'English' menu at the Astro Star cafe, the women in burkas, and the laughing gas canisters thrown into the street. This image is set out in a rigid grid and is manipulated into a balanced, symmetrical form.
In my work, I force symbolic objects from my own life  into a symmetrical pattern on the image. It is almost a way of controlling the unpleasant or threatening elements, making them submit. I can draw this similarity between the work of Gilbert and George and my own. Another similarity is the idea of using a subject and materials that are taken directly form our personal surroundings.

Archiving Objects

I have discussed how it seems important that the viewer has an understanding of the objects within the work and their significance\ symbolism.


                                                  I am thinking about how my objects could be  displayed and explained.      

I have bought some little acrylic drawers and am experimenting with using them to display objects. The  transparency is useful and the way they suggest perhaps archival material in the store room of a museum.

The clean, clear acrylic makes it easy to see the contents and against a white background, the colours look bright and vivid.
It might be interesting for viewers to look at the objects, then try to spot them in the images.

                                                     I would like viewers to be able to open the drawers and look more              
  closely at the contents. However, there may be health and safety issues (particularly with anti-psychotic drugs!)

I would also have to consider that young children may be present and might want to put beads and other things in their mouths(or pockets!)

Perhaps I could leave the drawers accessible for the assessment and external examiners, then super glue them closed.


At the moment, the bright shiny objects look attractive and draw
        the eye.

But when their significance is known, perhaps the bright, seductive colours and shapes will serve to mock the attraction as they represent negative, depressing events and conditions that plague me.
This jewellery has lost its lustre as it has a coating of soot from my house fire. It is interesting to take out and handle.



What might the less attractive substances look like displayed in this manner?



Drugs look like sweets. They also have a lure that appeals to a childhood sweet tooth and curiosity.

But how about feces?
It still looks quite contained and clinical.
This would definitely need to be glued safely closed!

The other practical issue I would need to consider is that of unpleasant smells. I think that mildly assaulting the viewer's sense of smell as well as vision would add more meaning to my work. After all, I am dealing with a difficult and unsettling subject, so a nasty smell would add strength to that message.

Here is one set of draws with different objects in each layer. I would have to display them at an optimal eye-level. 

Would I attach them to the wall? 

In that case whatever was used to attach them might show through the acrylic-spoiling the effect.

Perhaps a narrow shelf along the wall under the images would be better?

The next question is that of explaining a little about each drawer of objects.

A little label might be in keeping with the museum idea. I love the beautifully written labels in museums like the Foundling Museum, where each object brought in by the mother with her child is carefully labelled in copperplate script.

The label in the above image does not match the contents. I would have to plan what to write on each label, as there is not much space to write on to deliver a meaningful message.

Indexing All my Shit

As well as forcing objects representing negative things in my life into abeyance, I thought it might be interesting to catalogue them too. I have found a perspex card indexing box, with alphabetical dividers.

If I write a detailed, informative paragraph about each object used in the work it will add to the sense of recording and preserving them. It might help me to feel that they have been logged, forced into submission in an image, catalogued, and put away in a little box. Maybe this process will be cathartic in helping to lock away bad stuff and move on in a lighter frame of mind??

 Many artists such as Yayoi Kusama, Louise Bourgeois and Tracy Emin used and use their work as therapy. So I am following in their footsteps.

Picnic Interlude

Rebecca Thomas organised a picnic shoot for all of us in Hatfield House gardens.

We all joined in for a group shoot for Lisa, then did our own things.

I played around with a  Polaroid camera with very little success. The shutter through which the exposed image slides was not narrow enough. So the emulsion did not spread across the image enough.



I then set up some insect tea party sets. I was looking at the annoying occurrence of insects invariably spoiling the picnic! These plastic ones don't look too threatening though!

After I had finished with the food, I did a 'Mash up' set after Cindy Sherman's series of food and vomit images set up on the beach. I believe she was commenting on self-loathing and eating disorders.

From a section of this image I made a multiple kaleidoscope image.

I love the way any kind of mess can be made into a neat, ordered, attractive image. This again represents what I am trying to do with things that vex me!

Here are are couple more multiplied images:

The sense of balance and control work well in this image I think.

 A neat and precise picnic where those insects will never be able to eat the jam tarts.

In this one I used the area of shadow under the glass cake stand. Combined with a section of the paper doily, it makes a calm swirling, flowing pattern.

Childwickbury Art Fair

Collating and Documentation

At this stage of the development process towards my final work, I want to record and 'fix' the materials in my final pieces. As was discussed in the M.A symposium recently, there seem to be natural points in the development process when a mark needs to be made and documentation recorded.

This is a more detailed interpretation of the symbols I have chosen for the still life images. As McLuhan said, documentation is a process that extends the memory, which is very necessary for me!. This blog also makes my private thoughts and processes public, which I have found difficult, but important  to do.
As I have said before, my work acts as a form of therapy. In a similar way, Yayio Kusama felt that her work kept her sane.

Cigarette Buts and Ash.
I am trying to show the invasive, sickening effect that having two smokers in my life has on them, their bodies and ME. The butts are dirty, twisted and stained with rain seepage. The filters show dark staining where the chemicals have been drawn through, into the body. I have sprinkled the ash over the plate and the flower, to show how this habit has a far-reaching effect on my life. I am worried about the health of my loved ones, but on a more superficial level I hate the all invading smell, the sight of cigarette ends in the garden, and the anti social craving the addiction causes.

Slugs and Snails 

These are not life-threatening, but are a constant cause of annoyance in my life. I don'y like to use strong pesticides, so I go on 'snail patrol' every morning, while there is still dew, and collect slugs and snails in a bucket. Then I walk down to the end of the road and tip them over the fence into the woods.

I read that they have to be dumped at least 20 metres away or they just come back again!

I keep a tally in my head each day, and the average is about 12 of the little blighters. I have lost whole plants like hollyhocks and delphiniums, so I have to remain vigilant!

Ear Plugs

These represent my insomnia. Anxiety keeps me awake, then wakes me again in the night. I have got into the habit of writing in my notebook whenever I wake so at least I feel there is something positive about it. I have had some good ideas this way, and remembered things that I couldn't the day before.

I am a very light sleeper, so any sounds, like snoring wake me up straight away too. Lack of sleep is a terrible strain on my energy.

Meat, Blood and Bones

These represent what Julia Kristeva has defined as Abject. The things that remind us of our mortality and so try to ignore and push away. For me they represent physical problems I have; particularly a degenerative spine condition caused by my active and accident prone younger life. I enjoyed hockey, lacross, athletics, gymnastics, riding, climbing, skiing, canoeing, sailing, diving, dancing. These activities made me very happy and satisfied a craving for excitement and challenge. I am now severely limited to boring lengths in the pool and hours of cycling to keep fit. 

My Poor body is damaged and can't be repaired and that makes me very sad and frustrated.

The organic matter also represents physical abuse I have suffered, causing broken bones and lots of blood.

Beads

When a necklace is constructed, colours, shapes, sizes and materials are selected to go well together and compliment each other. This reminds me of friendships and relationships with family. When a necklace is broken, the beads are scattered and are rarely found and put back together again. I lost my best friend in the Tsunami and my first husband to manic-depression. The beads represent those losses and the memories of loved ones.

Curtain Hooks

Growing up, I had the same bedroom for about 18 years. The curtains were hung on a 1950s wooden track, with sharp curtain hooks attached to wooden balls  travelling along the track. Except they didn't! They got stuck every day and I had to balance on the bed and move each one individually to get the curtain to open or close. The hooks would prick my fingers and the whole process was very annoying!!

My mum sent me some of the old hooks when she finally modernised the track, so I have included them as one of the annoying memories.

Rotten Fruit

With reference to the still life paintings of the Dutch Masters, I have included this element to represent decay, ageing and death. It is a memento mori to remind me that I have to make the most of life, but also that my death and that of my loved ones is inevitable.

Jewellery

I have included some jewellery that has survived a fire which started in my bedroom two years ago. I lost a lot of precious things and had to go to hospital for smoke inhalation. My face, clothes and hair were black. The objects are bent by heat and blackened with soot. They represent survival and  endurance. But also loss.

A White Flower

In this case, a white orchid.

Very corny, this. But with reference to Elizabethan symbolism, the flower represents purity; my 'will' or 'spirit'. We all need to be strong to face adversities in our lives and keep moving forward, finding joy. Although the flower is knocked and damaged by the other elements in the still life, it is still beautiful. 

Drugs

Again, these are symbolic of the misery of Mental Health problems that have plagued my life for the last 30 years. 

Grey Hair

Another inevitable sign of ageing, which I have decided to embrace by no longer dying my hair.

Sometimes it gets me down that I am older than I feel and I hate my reflection in the mirror. I feel that life has been unkind to me and I would look better if I had fewer stressors-less shit in my life. But that's just vanity.

Human Waste

Representing the abject and encapsulating the message of my work now. I have a lot of shit to deal with on a daily basis. And just like the human process of ejecting waste, it is constant.

Insects

When I was researching disgust and what humans found most disgusting, insects came high on the list as they were considered to be carriers of disease. I have used insects as a symbol of decay and the inevitability of death, as did the Old Masters.

Background

Finally, I use two kinds of doily in the background, beneath the glass plate. These represent my attempts to keep up appearances and try to hold everything together in my roles as Mother, Wife, Friend, Daughter, Teacher and Student.

Using the Polygon Tool

Sometimes I make hexagonal shapes, by cutting triangular sections from a still life image, then fitting them together.

When I first started to do this I didn't know how to cut out a perfect triangle (60') using photoshop.

My hand-made solution was to measure a perfect equilateral triangle using a protractor, then cut it out from a sheet of acetate. I had saved  lots of sheets of it from when we made overhead projection slides.

I then marked each point with a blob of nail varnish so that I could hold it onto the screen and cut round it with the select tool.

This method was not very accurate and caused me to delete work that was going too 'wonky' after hours of working on it, which was frustrating!

I showed one of my students, Felix,  my 'Heath Robinson' way of working, that I was quite proud of,  and he burst out laughing and showed me how to use the Polygon tool in a matter of minutes.

As he was Dyslexic, he explained each stage carefully and explained what it would look like if I had gone wrong, and how to correct that. He was so patient and generous with his time.

You just select the tool which is shaped as a hexagon icon…

Then you select '3 points' in the little boxes at the top of the page. This pre-sets your selection into a triangle shape.

you place the curser into the area you want to cut out, move it to the desired size and angle and select.

I have reduced the opacity, using the slider in the right hand panel, so I can see the section I am selecting.

I then copy the triangular shape and paste it onto a new page.

After making 6 copies of the shape, I start fitting them together in a circular pattern, using 

Image--Transform--Flip Vertical/Horizontal.

In this simple and accurate way, I can build perfect hexagons in a fraction of the time and effort it had taken me before. This was such an  exciting learning experience for me. It felt similar to ordering my shopping online for the first time!!

However, because of my bad memory, I did get Felix to dictate some fool-proof instructions, which I check as I am working. I find I have to make a hexagon now and then, so I can remind myself of the process. I love it!