Summary

Through the foundation course much of my work was based around the process and experimentation. Trying to attach meanings and preconceived ideas to my work before I made it only held back my progression. This was very similar to the work I was producing early on in the year.

In these pieces I was focused around completion not progression. I was attempting to include subtle meanings to the work by the choice of text (whether you could read it or not) and I was too conscious on how I was applying the paint in turn it made me over think about every slight detail and it created some very forced and flat work. Although I felt these pieces were unsuccessful, they did make me take a step back and bring my work back down the basics that made my previous work successful.  Once I had taken my work back to being very simplistic and I had removed all preconceptions towards what art I should be producing. My work began to move forward and develop. I started to focus on my process and the relationship between different components within my work.

 The work I've been producing in semester 2 is a commentary on my position as a painter and the position painting holds in contemporary art. Therefore I am creating paintings about painting. When I was producing work in a photo realistic style, there was no place for expression due to my technique. But, when talking about paintings in general, stereotypically you would expect the work to convey a sense of expression. However is there a place for purely expressionist art anymore?  For example if I started making work that was similar to Jackson Pollock my work would seem dated and unoriginal. So therefore it leaves my work and my position as a painter in a state of doubt and unease. Yet to make the pieces I need to paint them with conviction and confidence. So when looking at the brushstrokes/ mark making you are not looking at marks that represent my mental energy or my emotions, but the doubts I hold over the position of my painting in contemporary art. I have created a series of three canvases each being made with a similar formula of structure mixed with spontaneous elements. In each piece I increased the gaps between the shapes in an attempt to further fragment patterns that could be identified if the void between islands of colour were smaller. I have also chosen to keep the width of the white the same throughout each piece so that the pieces do contain a structure. This prevents the work from collapsing into a completely nonsensical bundle of shapes and colour. Now I have completed this series I intend on moving away from this method of working before my work becomes too gimmicky. However working in this way has helped me to convey my ideas and theories through abstraction.

Next year I would like to experiment with similar processes to Gert and Uwe Tobias. This is because when I visited their exhibition in the white chapel gallery, I had an instant appreciation for their work and the processes involved in creating their work. I became very interested in the way grids were used as a consistent foundation when it came to constructing the work. Also the quality of line was not dissimilar to printing which I will be very involved with next year.
I will also continue to strive to keep a fresh feeling about my work and prevent frustration from taking over. Continue the processes I have developed in and out of sketchbooks will be my main focus.

Fragmentation 3

I felt my third and final 5,7ft canvas wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as the previous two and the work became more visually problematic. This painting epitomises the doubt and uneasiness of my position as a painter, however this piece even raises new doubts and debates for myself. I feel this piece is on the cusp of starting to have a negative impact on people who are not educated about art. This raises the question to myself that should art be only enjoyed and understood by those who are knowledgeable about it. But then how do you create and cause the problems that can highlight your viewpoint as an artist without first making a piece that brings up these issues visually?  I feel that this piece is a good point to conclude my work in this area. But also it is the foundation for beginning to convey my own theories subtly through abstraction.

  

Gargosian, Rachel Whiteread: Detached

I was unconvinced by the Rachel Whiteread exhibition. It was very interesting to see her concrete filled negative space sculptures up close, however the exhibition wasn't something that excited me. The exhibition consisted of 3 concrete casts of sheds and resin cats of doors. Even though the pieces themselves didn't engage me, what became interesting were the way the works were displayed and they way the pieces reacted to the surrounding space. The doors were leaned in various positions which I found was a very simplistic but effective way of displaying the minimalist sculptures. The concrete sheds held a presence over the room and the relationship between the negative space sculptures and the surrounding negative space intrigued me. To me the irony of the way two types of negative space work off each other almost came across as humorous. Even though Whiteread's pieces haven't offered any avenues for exploration in my own practice it was still interesting to see at a simplistic level the relationships created by the work.

White Cube gallery London

I did attend a brilliant exhibition at the White Cube gallery. However I have lost the information about the artist I had collected and my tireless searches on the internet have been unsuccessful.
Nevertheless I found the space very dynamic and the exhibition itself was an eye opening collection of variation in abstract art. I found the way the work related to the space and the way the exhibition was composed was something that really engaged me. It was also pleasurable to walk around the gallery without the feeling of being observed yourself. Because I've found in smaller galleries like the Poppy Sebire gallery you are in such a confined and personal space that the feeling of being watched becomes an issue.

Barbican, Geoffrey Farmer: The Surgeon and the Photographer

Named after an essay written Walter Benjamin (1936) Geoffrey Farmer's exhibition of 365 mixed media sculptures that critique the position of photography. Farmer's inspiration was taken from a variety of different essays from several authors. At first I was unsure whether I would like Farmer's work as sculpture is a form that I am ignorant to. Despite this I could not help but overwhelmed by the amount of meticulously crafted figures. What became interesting to me is that it felt that it was not just the figures themselves that were a display of Farmer's collage technique but the composition of the figures felt as though they also, were a part of a three dimensional collage piece. However I felt as soon as the figures were displayed separately, either singularly or in smaller groups they became problematic to me. I felt the pieces held much more strength and visual impact as a group. Although placing a few of the figures on plinths did allow the audience to view all 360 degrees of the piece which was difficult with the grouped figures. The exhibition made me contemplate including collage and mixed media in my work and it was intriguing to see small sculptures control such a huge exhibition space.

Whitechapel Gallery: Gert & Uwe Tobias

Exhibiting at Whitechapel were Gert & Uwe Tobias. The Tobias brother's play with the relationship between geometric design and collage. Their playful use of paint attacks the eye visually while the collaged photo's of domestic objects or animals draw a sense of relation from it's audience. What I found interesting about the Tobias brother's pieces was the way they used a grid as the foundation of every painting. Sometimes it was hidden by layers of paint and in other's they made it clear of the grids functions in creating the work. This way of working comes across as a set formula used throughout their paintings. I feel this is similar to my practice as currently I am sticking to the same formula when creating work to try and obtain consistency within a series of works. Something else that appealed to me was the way the Tobias brothers manipulated the quality of certain lines within the piece. For example in this piece, both the grid and dots that frame the figurative images are fragmented slightly stopping the grid becoming too overpowering. This contrasted with the solid lines used to outline the figurative images produce a sense of depth in an otherwise very flat piece.

 Seeing these pieces has produced a clarity that will help me progress my work forward. The use of geometric abstraction along with the playful gesture of the work is something I wish to expand on more in my practice.

Fragmentation 2.

This second piece in a series of three 5,7ft canvases I felt became more developed than the first. I increased the white void between shapes and became more particular on the types of colour used in each. I analysed previous pieces I had made and took aspects from each that made them successful. However I still included the element of indecision within the work which accompanied with the larger space between shapes made the piece harder to read. I also feel the white plays a more dynamic role in this piece. This is because it starts to become more of a noticeable element in the piece but not so noticeable it renders the shapes inferior. In this piece I chose to exploit the use of vibrant colours much more than the previous piece. This gives the painting a much more vibrant and fresh feel. I wanted to try and keep the aspects of the piece the same but tweak them slightly. I am hoping this makes each piece unique but fit into the series of 3.