30/10/19

 My friend Emily and I went to the 'Being Human' exhibition at the Wellcome Gallery. I found it extremely fascinating, due to the exhibition exploring various aspects of what it means to be human, and what human beings have done in the world for the world and contributing towards society. Attending the exhibition before starting the project really helped me have a rough idea of what I wanted to work towards- or what even the project further meant due to it giving example works. It helped me understand the different types of themes that I could explore, such as gender and sexuality, AI and virtual reality, diseases and technology, manmade destruction, climate change. 

I was particularly interested in a piece at the exhibition which referenced an astronaut made of various items found in landfills and around the street, carrying a bag of rubbish. I was intrigued by this piece due to me being part of Extinction Rebellion and a massive environmentalist. So I did further reading when I went and read an article about that particular piece: 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/sep/01/being-human-wellcome-collection-exhibition

Is the astronaut a refugee from Earth or is the artwork grounded in the current refugee crisis? “It can be read both ways,” says Barlow. “There’s a strong antithesis going on. Astronauts are cosmic explorers and then the word ‘refugee’ ties it to a very specific context. It pulls together so many different ideas, opening up questions around colonialism and the environment.”

It is with good reason that this work serves as the exhibition’s keystone. “Refugee Astronaut is a metaphor for a post-apocalyptic figure, with his worldly possessions on his back, seeking conflict-free and environmentally clean, greener pastures,” says Shonibare. The work can be read either as “dystopian, or a note of caution” against “catastrophic climate events that will increasingly lead to migration and a scramble for scarce resources, leading to global conflict”.

The astronaut can be glimpsed from any point in the gallery, a constant reminder of the end point, the “ultimate progression”. “Maybe in this future, leaving Earth will be the only answer,” Barlow muses. “It’s a question mark on the end of the collection’s progression.”

NOT MY IMAGE BELOW: FROM ARTICLE

Nancy Burson was an artist that I was inspired by in terms of how she uses layering and composition to create a completely different person or object- whereby you wouldn't even know that this wasn't a real person, and rather a combination of people instead. Particularly this piece above 'Warhead I', Nancy Burson used various facial features of various political dictators and created this mash of facial features to create the ultimate dictator. Again, like referencing old tv makeup, I was fascinated by how we as individuals manipulate ourself into creating a different person in trying to fit into societal norms.

"By the early 1980s she was digitally blending the faces of groups of individuals to produce composite portraits of stock types such as businessmen, movie stars, and assassins. This composite was created using images of five world leaders, each represented proportionally by the number of nuclear warheads deployable by the nation they led: Ronald Reagan (55%), Leonid Brezhnev (45%), Margaret Thatcher (less than 1%), François Mitterand (less than 1%), and Deng Xiaoping (less than 1%)." (Met Museum)

Sadly, I wasn't able to attend the Kiss My Genders Gallery as it finished on the 9th of September, however I was even just inspired by the website that had promoted it for my 'Being Human' project. Specifically LGBTQ+ activist and artist Amrou Al-Kahdi had an image on the website that really inspired me in terms of makeup and layering my images. 

Unlike Old TV Makeup where it was only through black and white that you could see them, and the makeup that was produced reflected an inaccurate image of what the actors looked like, here with this coloured image that Amrou produced above, he does over-exaggerated drag makeup as that is how he wants to express and identify himself. He decides not to fit into societal social constructed norms of 'masculinity' and 'femininity' for either gender, he subverts that and instead reflects his identity as accurately as he wants to be seen by society. A complete contrast to how old tv makeup artists reflected their actors. 

This specific piece by Christian Marclay - telephones, illustrates different Hollywood clips of individuals being on the phone with one another, however it creates a slow sequence of events which makes us invested with this slow moving piece. Throughout this they express a number of emotions all of the actors combined, surprise, desire, anger, disbelief, excitement, boredom and ultimately illustrate to us that everyone is having one big and slow conversation. 

- element of continuity

- fascinated by the editing style - bringing so many clips that are so similar yet so different together to create something that ultimately works all together. 

- mesmirsing - questioning when it will end or stop

Throughout this piece, there is a clear insinuation on media manipulation. It illustrates how the world can be deceiving through it being presenting within the media. Subsequently, it is illustrated how words can be deceiving in the media. The media manipulates us by using consistent words to enable us to live in fear - such as using words like 'terrorist', 'war', 'danger'. It illustrates a different type of world than what is actually occurring in the world. We are told so many different things in the media  - to which some may be fake news. And in this video it is clear that it shows the power of words by using various clips in order to create a speech that would make individuals want to live in fear and create hate crimes or judgements and perceptions against certain issues. She collects various clips from different pieces in order to create a complex whole - which in effect works. Illustrating how the media can manipulate words and news as it seems so simple and realistic - as nearly Lenka was able to do it. 

"The line between love and obsession can be blurry, as evidenced by the hit Netflix show You, which is about a stalker who uses a woman’s social media accounts to surveil and manipulate her. The simplicity of watching someone go through the motions of their day may seem romantic or creepy, depending on context, but to turn this ordinary act into art is a job for the artist. The art of following and seduction were significant practices among artists of the 1960s and 1970s, especially the conceptual artist Sophie Calle." (Dailyjstor) 

I was fascinated with Sophie Calles work, as from the article it depicts that she does test the limit of surveillance and stalking, and how far someone can go to creep up on someone. I was interested at first with how one can upload a photograph or a video, whether it be something sexual, or even a picture of a dog and once its uploaded to the internet, it can go anywhere, to any website and to anyone. Within that, there is an element of stalking, and Sophie Calle depicts this perfectly, whereby she illustrates as well how easy it is for any of us to be stalked and to be considered a victim. 

"The quotidian nature of her photography is what makes the art feel intimate. Art historian Giuseppe Merlino writes, “The intimacies she recounts, with texts and images, are not the results of encounters, attractions, or affinities, but of an accumulation of observed details from the programmed obsessiveness of a collector-voyeur.” For example, in another piece, The hotel (1981), Calle took up a job as a chambermaid in a Parisian hotel where she examined and photographed guests’ belongings." (Dailyjstor)

"In Calle’s work, love and voyeurism intermingle, depicted in black and white imagery with the point of interest far enough into the distance that the love transforms into voyeurism, even obsession. Love looks like a row of shoes and suits placed neatly on hangers of someone we don’t know. Perhaps more intimately, it’s a photograph of the contents of a guest’s trash bin. To know a person completely is to watch how they live, or at least pretend to be interested in how they live." (Dailyjstor)

 I was highly intrigued by Jocelyn McGregors piece that she had on her instagram which I follow. The emerging legs which are made of 'Jesmonite' illustrate a realistic but also doll like expression of her legs. 

With her work, I was inspired by also the process of how she made her work, the way she uses alginate and Jesmonite to create a depiction of something that you can't interact with physically. This idea of not being able to be in touch with the work or be with it physically due to it be emerging through the wall and not movable, illustrates some form of constraint and possibly makes the audience frustrated- sexually or in terms of pity. 

On one hand it can also illustrate how us as a society use the internet and technology to find satisfaction whether that be through pornography or any other form of sexual desire through technology. We would rather immerse ourself into something that isn't real, and rather hide away behind a screen due to the fear of rejection, or the fear that we have limited control in reality. In a screen, we are able to immerse ourselves and choose what we want to watch and when, making us feel a lot more in control over the situation that we are in. 

Furthermore, one could denote that an eerie vibe is emitted from these legs. They illustrate that the woman has no control over herself, she is merely depicted as a puppet some may say and that pornography depicts women as objects. 

"Sherman was always interested in experimenting with different identities. As she has explained, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character.”¹ Shortly after moving to New York, she produced her Untitled Film Stills (1977–80), in which she put on guises and photographed herself in various settings with deliberately selected props to create scenes that resemble those from mid-20th-century B movies. Started when she was only 23, these images rely on female characters (and caricatures) such as the jaded seductress, the unhappy housewife, the jilted lover, and the vulnerable naif. Sherman used cinematic conventions to structure these photographs: they recall the film stills used to promote movies, from which the series takes its title. The 70 Film Stills immediately became flashpoints for conversations about feminism, postmodernism, and representation, and they remain her best-known works." (MoMA)

"Sherman has continued to transform herself, displaying the diversity of human types and stereotypes in her images. She often works in series, improvising on themes such as centerfolds (1981) and society portraits (2008). Untitled #216, from her history portraits (1981), exemplifies her use of theatrical effects to embody different roles and her lack of attempt to hide her efforts: often her wigs are slipping off, her prosthetics are peeling away, and her makeup is poorly blended. She highlights the artificiality of these fabrications, a metaphor for the artificiality of all identity construction." (MoMA)

"While she sometimes portrays glamorous characters, Sherman has always been more interested in the grotesque. In the 1980s and 1990s, series such as the disasters (1986–89) and the sex pictures (1992) confronted viewers with the strange and ugly aspects of humanity in explicit, visceral images. “I’m disgusted with how people get themselves to look beautiful; I’m much more fascinated with the other side,”² she said in 1986. At the time, images of ailing bodies were painfully on view in the news during the AIDS crisis; these added poignancy to her investigation of the grotesque and of various types of violence that could be done to the body. In these series and throughout all of her work, Sherman subverts the visual shorthand we use to classify the world around us, drawing attention to the artificiality and ambiguity of these stereotypes and undermining their reliability for understanding a much more complicated reality." (MoMA)

Off the air is something that I have been watching a few times on YouTube, however these three specific videos have some connotations towards the work that I am producing currently in datafied. They all look at the aspects of how technology is a thriving source, how none of us have the ability to be in a state of privacy or environment where all of our belongings on the internet and in our daily physical life are not owned by us anymore. I found the aspect of data that isn’t owned by us to be fascinating through these videos. Each video and clip within the video are not related to each other by story or art style. But the word of the video is related to each clip that is immersed in it. 

The fact that each clip isnt related to each other illustrates the disconnecment within my work of the individual experience physical relations with a sex doll in themselves. Subsequently, even each style of work is so drastically different from each other in terms of art style- depicting something that is so different from each other- there are many things which illustrate disassociation and emotional attachment. One can be attached to the meaning of the work which is illustrated with the name of piece- however, there is a degree of not being emotionally attached to all the videos due to it being drastically different types of artwork all related with one another. 

Contextual Review: Foundation ‘Art and Design’: Fine Art

At first coming into the ‘Foundation: Art and Design’ Fine Art course, I was feeling nervous but excited about creating new projects and ideas- however; I was still holding myself back in the beginning in wanting to experiment with other mediums. However, surprisingly towards the end I was feeling more confident with experimenting with different mediums and trying out various ways of presenting work and different materials. These changes were significantly contributed by the projects that I was given throughout the course which all explored a range of materials and ways of working.

‘Altered Space’ was the first painting project set for us; within that we had to look at how we can present altered space in any paint medium we wanted to. At first, I knew for a fact I wanted to look at confined space- thus generating ideas for this project was okay in comparison to some later projects. I didn’t however use the workshops throughout this project, and I feel that I could have definitely improved my skills further if I had done so. The main process that I used for this project was self-expression. I wanted to test my ability to work independently and see how my ideas wonder and developed. In addition, it made me question a lot more independently on the positioning of my work, the colour schemes, medium and presentation – whereby being more independent was a skill that I knew I wanted to work on for a while. I sort of felt demotivated for this project, as I think it’s because I knew exactly what I wanted to achieve – but the outcome wasn’t coming out as I wanted it to.

‘Material News’ was the sculptural project that was assigned to us as well. Like altered space, I knew that I wanted the project to be consistent about the Arab-Israeli war. I had created work in GCSE and my IB Diploma based on this politically contentious issue, and I thought it was a good opportunity to express it further as it is something that I am passionate about. That’s what I would say was good about the project, I was passionate and driven with the theme that I wanted to explore- thus I was willing to try and experiment with different mediums and ways of presenting. However; the one thing I would improve about going through this project would be try to mix different mediums together- so have some form of audio or video or even a painting within my sculpture which could have made it a stronger piece and would enable me to experiment more.

The 4D projects ‘The Self’ and ‘The Sonic Witness’ that we were assigned were both one-day projects whereby I had to create a 4D piece. ‘The Self’ was a group project whereas ‘The Sonic Witness’ was optional to be in a group or have it as an independent project. Personally, I realised that working in groups is quite stressful- having other ideas clashing sometimes benefitted in the sense of gathering different perspectives on the presentation of the work and the themes and content of the piece, however I found that working independently on ‘The Self’ project made me be able to not have too many conflicts with ideas and content – considering it was a one day project.

Doing these one-day 4D projects made me realise that I wanted to specialise in 4D. I hadn’t explored this too much previously in my IB Diploma, and surprisingly it was a pathway that I began to find a lot of passion in. My passion of 4D is further showcased in the ‘Collection’ and ‘Place’ project.

Within the ‘Place’ and ‘Collection’ project they were both projects where I had the freedom of choice to use any medium I wanted to and present it in any way I wanted. From the first and last project, I had developed my skills further within 4D and my confidence in art grew immensely. Previously in my IB Diploma and GCSE I had never touched doing a video or audio piece – and throughout this time in the Foundation course I became more confident, specifically with 4D, in wanting to try different types of mediums and ways of working and get out of my comfort zone. My strengths were mostly utilised within these two projects, due to the fact I had the freedom of choice and I wasn’t afraid to test out new mediums which I never worked with before.

Subsequently, being based in London has given me incredible opportunities to access exhibitions that influence my art or influence future projects that I want to pursue. Shana Moulton is one that I resonate with a lot – with her ideas of exploring feminine spirituality and sexuality is inspiring to me. Furthermore, having the access of Damien Hirsts ‘Mandala’ works was incredible – as it enabled me to think about the ethical decisions in art- again, something that I would love to discuss and portray in future works. 

Bibliography

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Goldin, N., 2000. Nan Goldin: The Other Side. 1^sted. Scalo.

Burn, G., 2001. On the Way to Work. 1^sted. Faber & Faber.

Ito, J., 2010. Uzumaki. 1^sted. VIZ Media. 

Collings, M., 1997. Blimey. 3rd ed. 21 Publishing LTD. 

Vartanian, I., 2010. Artwork: Seeing The Creative Process. 1st ed. Chronicle Books

Koos, D. W., 2018. Think Like an Artist Don't Act Like One. 2nd ed. BIS Publishers

Berger, J., 1973. Ways of Seeing. 2nd ed. Penguin Books. 

Watts, A., 2017. Out of Your Mind: Tricksters, Interdependence, and the Cosmic Game of Hide and Seek. 3rd ed. Sounds True Inc. 

Exhibitions:

The White Cube, London, Harmony Hammond, 11^thSeptember 2019

Chalk Farm, London, Shana Moulton Exhibition, 12^thSeptember 2019

Damien Hirst, The White Cube, London, 19^thSeptember 2019

Ascot Berks Fine Art Exhibition, Surrey, 20^thSeptember 2019