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.