PROJECTIONS, PATTERN & PRINT

Photographic Studio Sessions

Let me give you a glimpse inside my head...think Martha Graham dancing with Gary Hume and Mat Collishaw hovering above Jean Christo. This was the inspiration and strange starting point for a series of large scale projections which I hoped I could use in print or painted form or a combination of both.

Therefore, it was with the taste of fear in my mouth and wearing my creative 'grown up' face that I booked a photography studio with George, who is a consummate photographic professional. Seductively scary. This included organising a maelstrom of technical ephemera - projector, SLR camera, tripod, hard drives and clamps for 9.30am Thursday 19th November. 

I hired Rhyannan my life model, elfin and lithe, who was as excited as I was by the prospect of being bandaged in spandex, covered in bubble wrap and possibly rolled down the stairs in F block. I had, in preparation, photographed a series of my own eclectic organic and figurative images created using a variety of media - acrylic paint, pastel silkscreen, lino cut and photographic - to use as large scale patterns. I needed to produce as much pattern variety as possible, having no idea how the final projected images would look. 

The original idea in my head was to use the human body as my canvas in order to mirror my own figurative work (both drawn and printed) by projecting an eclectic range of 'pattern' onto a variety of visual surfaces including flesh ie. different textiles - spandex, silk, net, gauze to create alternative 'skins' and replicate the nature of the human form. Using metres of semi transparent white pearlescent spandex as my 'projection screen' I photographed Rhyannan in a series of poses whilst projecting onto her body and onto the fabric. The final photographic images highlight the curves, bumps and familiar features of the human form melded with strange, uneven distortion caused by the tension in the fabric.  

The resulting figurative projection work, where I took inspiration from the photographs of Vadim Stein and the wrapped sculptural forms of Jean Christo but in miniature, looked truly amazing. Rhyannan's strikingly beautiful sculptural form and intuitive modelling enhanced the 'humanity' of each projection and the vibrance of the colour from each pattern when projected onto pale and transparent planes (skin, silk etc) became even more intense. There is an abstract beauty to each image and when dissected (using a viewfinder) I have been able to produce a myriad of alternative figurative shapes for further projection or print (see a selection below).

I have no idea of the direction for this "body" of work (..see what I did there?) but this could be the start of something big, although Im going to need a much bigger projector and fuck loads more bubble wrap.