Delineating the linear
27th October 2015

I am a piece of meat - we are all lumps of meat. God forbid I am those 2 rashers of bacon or a single sausage! My childhood mealtimes and illicit sarnies make the man (or woman in my case) ... Bowel cancer here I come.  Digression complete, perhaps picture yourself sandwiched between transparent plastic sheets which compress your flesh and suffocate, packaged and processed like a chicken. 

Take a look at 'Shrink' the work of Belgian artist Lawrence Malstaf. 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LrkjOpe16TM, perhaps you could be immortalised in metal - the work of the Korean artist and sculptor Seung MO Park illustrates this: http://www.seungmopark.com

Or perhaps you become smothered in fabric, breathing it in, so the textile becomes as a second skin; the curves and structure of your body masked in a maelstrom of limbs and nipples, as with the beautiful photographs of Ukranian photographer Vadim Stein  https://500px.com/stein

Using my own life studies and drawing inspiration from these artists, my thought processes concerning the figurative and linear are, I believe, an attempt to 'make flesh', to translate my life drawings into a more three dimensional format using a combination of methods I can control ie. Silkscreen and Linocuts, combined with those processes I find challenging and unknown, ie. Large scale Projections and textile hangings. 

 

METAMORPHOSIS

19th October 2015

"The naked body is frequently the physical terrain artists traverse in the face of inner turmoil, guilt or anger. How can an artist represent loneliness, love, sexual yearning, wrath and shame? Drawing from the self or life model, from reproduction or the imagination, has provided artists with the freedom to explore such emotions and anxieties". 
Quote by Kate Macfarlane 'A wild presence' from 'The Nakeds'.

I read the quote and held those words in my head. We all have skin which we inhabit; flawed, smooth, textured, mapping our emotions, like words on paper. Interpreting the idea of self or the individual using the drawn line, with my life drawing as the starting point, for a personal journey 'under the skin' would be the initial realisation of this concept. 

My sketchbooks and life drawings are haphazard in their compilation, with each study ranging from the massive to the miniature using a variety of media. Spontaneity and fluidity seems to be the thread permeating most of my work.

I have looked at a range of styles which mirror my own and am starting with a range of contemporary and traditional figurative studies which have inspired me. German Expressionism,  Schiele, Heckel, Kokoschka, and latterly artwork involving projections and simplistic video art - Maurice Binder and Robert Brownjohn. It is the combination of light and line and the transparent layering of different media that I am intrigued by. 

Experimenting with the theme of human distortion using my linear approach. I am finding the malleability of the drawn line can be translated not only onto the surface of lino to recreate the chunky, dark Expressionistic style, but also onto fabric and smooth paper using silkscreen and digital textile print.

I have begun with my simple lino cut figures, twisting and mutating. I am hoping that these simple Organic forms will evolve into work more complex, more 'Kafkaesque' once printed on a variety of surfaces and melded together. 

“I cannot make you understand. I cannot make anyone understand what is happening inside me. I cannot even explain it to myself.” 

Franz Kafka - The Metamorphosis

GERMAN EXPRESSIONISM AND ME

"Now I'm getting the word..."

October 11th 2015

 

Despite a positive tutorial, deciding on a print direction or creative path to enhance my own practice has been a challenge. Reminiscent of the psychic Clinton Baptiste from Phoenix Nights  www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIU4-PWRyw4
I have been "getting the word..Angst"...  The series of mixed media organic themed canvasses I began late August 2015, where a heavy linear style caused me to look again at German Expressionism, have yet to be resolved. However, my initial influences: Lyonel Feininger, Erich Henkel and Olga Cechova (see blog October 2014) are becoming the springboard ideologies for a series of initial Linocuts. 

Olga Cechova - Die Weisse Figur

With this in mind, the expressionistic approach within this work could be seen as a presentation of my world from a subjective perspective - any organic or figurative form I reproduce visually, the immediacy or spontaneity of the drawn line, is evocative of my emotional response to that specific subject. 

According to Dr. Mark Bunyan http://artblart.com
Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality. Therefore the term is sometimes suggestive of Angst.

I think perhaps what I am attempting to evoke is an emotional response in the viewer and a spontaneity to my drawing that is reminiscent of 'life' and energy. Let's see if I can maintain the momentum.

My initial Linocut ideas working from my own life drawings

DEVELOPING PRACTICE

1st October 2015

Today's the day for my Tutorial with the Dream Team - Paul Laidler, Sarah Bodman and Ian Chamberlain, after last week's Developing Practice and Professional Practice introduction. I'm due to discuss my creative direction and also attempt to work out my own 'Developing Practice', which at the moment is limited to a fuck load of life drawing, enormous mixed media flower canvasses and Harold the Helicopter.

As far as I can make out 'Developing Practice' is meant to be a springboard for the 2nd year, looking at the last two modules and seek out areas of affinity with one's own practice and links to developing this. Making mistakes is almost mandatory which is a good thing as I am awash with self doubt. Tutorial sessions, therefore are vital as is challenging yourself to try a myriad of new ways of working.

My Tutorial time was 10.45am. Waiting outside the door I glimpsed Chris Watkins (as tall as a willow and brighter than a brain pie), who had brought his life's work with him, snowdrifts of work, or so it appeared.  I had nothing to 'bring to the table' except myself. However, there was no need to fear, Sarah (enigmatic and objective) and Ian (old blue eyes) were as comforting and supportive as a hug and Paul said very little but looked impressive. 

I have been working on large scale canvasses with a newspaper collage twist, to try to incorporate print. Sarah asked the question "Why"? It has made me feel it's ok to make work using whatever medium I choose and then decide what to do with it.  A relief and not just in the printing sense. Ian suggested having a look at 'The Big Draw' and so I have contacted Lucy Cox Senior Careers Advisor to arrange the possibility of voluntary work in this area. I know I am an energetic and imaginative facilitator - I just have no clue what to facilitate now.

Areas could include fabric and textile print which I love and the idea of projections.

Check out: Robert Kaufman, Skinny La Minz, Michael Miller and Blackpop. 

Dehydrated Food and Drawing in the Dark aka BLOW ME       

24th September 2015

It was the first day back to Bower Ashton for the second year of my MA Multi-Disciplinary Print course with the introduction of the new module 'Developing Practice' looming and I was feeling like death. I had a temperature, headache the size of Alaska and a voice not unlike Barry White's smaller brother (no beard to speak of though). These ailments, combined with my lack of creative direction, did not fill me with confidence for the start of the new term. So wracked with delerium my mind began to wander back to some of my art based endeavours over the summer and as I have been away from my blog for what seems a century, let me enlighten you.

Over the summer the artistic enthusiasm i had built up had leaked from my body like an ice lolly melting on the hot pavement, however, still being a "Spike Associate", I took advantage of the variety of seminars and exhibitions on offer and attended the 'Fluid Medium' performance and life drawing class at Spike Island. The performance workshop was preceded by a tour of the gallery and the other exhibitions. 

Reto Pulfer: Gewasserzeiten 

4 July - 20 September 2015

The first exhibition was a large scale multi faceted symphony by the (self taught) artist 
Reto Pulfer. http://www.retopulfer.com  Gewasserzeiten literally meaning water-times, was an eclectic mixture of styles and environments, with a large fishing net structural installation alongside hanging bells, ribbons, dehydrated food (yum), textured ceramics and watercolour paintings. 

Reto Pulfer - Gewasserzeiten 2015

Pulfer's Raku pottery collections were rather unpredictable in texture and quality, appearing haphazard, but were a colourful and unusual interpretation of this Japanese ceramic technique.

The technical standard of his work, particularly that of his hand drawn imaginary and recollective watercolour maps, I found challenging, but these subtle colour pieces were again intensely personal (parts of this work using paper sword sculptures made when Pulfer was a child). This exhibition culminated in sensory overload when accompanied by Pulfer's own ambient soundtrack.

The Foundation Patrick Staff (2015)

Patrick Staff: The Foundation

4 July - 20 September 2015

The second exhibition was 'The Foundation' by Patrick Staff. http://www.patrickstaff.co.uk His new film installation exploring 'queer-ness', was inspired by the work of 'the Tom of Finland Foundation' the legacy of Finnish artist Touko Laaksonen (1920-1991) and his catalogue of homoerotic art in a post-war gay culture. 
The Foundation's ethos is "to educate the public to the cultural merits of erotic art and in promoting healthier, more tolerant attitudes about sexuality".

Staff's work was challenging in the extreme. Imagine the scene - one walks through large black rubber curtains to be confronted with a large scale grainy film of an older man being fellated by a transgender youth. Staff used staged and documentary film footage which was cut together to give, in my opinion, disturbing depictions of intergenerational gay relationships.

Following the bombardment of angst, cocks, tongues and attempting to find inner peace, it was time for the life drawing and performance to begin. I was using my Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey, dumb and dumber 2003) thumb sucking mantra 'find a happy place' by now. 

Susie Green: Fluid Medium

31st July 2015

Fluid Medium was presented by the artist Susie Green http://www.susiegreen.co.uk. 

She was a participant of 'The Syllabus' programme (a partnership between Wysing Arts Centre, Eastside Projects, New Contemporaries, S1 Artspace and Studio Voltaire and a self confessed 'introvert' by her own admission.

Susie Green, beautiful and curvaceous,  stood in the middle of the room and talked of her life as an artist and life model and of her lack of confidence. It appeared that her artwork was an attempt to 'get inside' the mind of the woman who was being drawn naked, with her secret thoughts and who appeared to the audience as an object but who didn't wish to be objectified.

Therefore, with my memory of the enormous blowjob still burning onto the back of my eyes, I found myself in the dark with a group of strangers. I was embarrassed to the point where my toes began curling up like the feet of the dead witch trapped under Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz. We had to snuggle up close to Green and trace the outlines of her body in the air using our fingers. Then using the person next to us as an easel, we taped paper to any vaguely flat bodily surface and drew her figure with charcoal (the soundtrack to our tentative scribbling was the artist with her microphone appendage, gently explaining how she felt whilst we were capturing her on paper eg. what she had done the night before, who she had slept with, shopping lists etc.etc.).

Once we had all been 'the easel' and 'the artist', we all then produced a paper cut-out of a part of the artist's body (think Matisse - but leaves never looked like this baby!). 
All of the stencil cut-outs were piled on top of her whilst she lay in the centre of the room. It looked like a crazy iceberg. I made a torso, which was placed on top of the recumbent model and her microphone, where I assumed her torso was. I couldn't tell. She then asked if one of us would like to draw on top of these segmented jigsaw stencils to tie the pieces together. Picture this scene, in the darkness the room lit by a spotlight, I am straddling a naked woman with a microphone trying to work out her arse from her elbow. At one point (and I'm not proud of this), I squeezed a lump which was sticking out and asked if it was her head to which she replied 'No, that's my left breast".

My memories of that day still haunt me. I can see the relevance and the excitement of using a variety of mechanisms to capture the human figure and as a collaborative and immersive workshop it was experimental. However, I doubt I'll be drawing in the dark for a while.

Fluid Medium - Susie Green 2015  (Me as an easel -left)