Unit Two Research Festival and Unit Three Proposal
Unit Three Proposal
I create works that oscillate between sculpture and painting using images culled predominantly from the realms of National Geographic magazines. My works explore the circulation of pictures across various conditions and mediums throughout contemporary social networks, and embodied experience, devising intricate techniques to make this state of flux tangible. I use a variety of visual techniques—including reflective surfaces, inanimate objects, and collage—to distort and even disable the compositional relationships that underpin traditional modes of perspectival representation in painting. My paintings feature inanimate objects (like pipes and acrylic plastic) that pique my aesthetic interest, and as a result, they veer between historical medium and superfluous commercial merchandise. For the Unit Three exhibition, I would like to display my three paintings: Going to See a Man About a Dog, Don’t Make a Monkey Out of Me, and A Pipe Dream as I am particularly interested in seeing how the works create a dialogue as the works come into contact and embody parallel ideas. I created a Photoshop mock-up, as seen in the below image, to help me imagine how these pieces may connect. The larger painting is 101 x 131.5 x 6.6 cm and the two smaller pieces are of the same scale at 24 x 32.5 x 5.5 cm to the frame.
However, since my practise is predicated on the objecthood of painting with the frame and physical extensions that play with virtual and actual space, I hope to extend this with an investigation of the framework into a curated installation rather than separate coexisting works; I am interested not only in questions pertaining to where the works intersect but also in the spaces in between, drawing connections between the positions of artwork, audience, and architecture. The work I intend to put in the show addresses a duality in the way we receive and consume information by integrating and emphasising different types of sensory experience. It investigates the enigmas of aesthetic practises and the appearance of implicit subjectivity. utilising space causes us to reorient our focus and pay closer attention to the world around us. It also encourages us to look with our entire body, necessitating some non-passive engagement; as you move around the artworks, you take in new angles and viewpoints through a perceptual experience. In order to visualise how I want to expand the framework and include acrylic plastic or mirror to engage the site of the exhibition, I have included an illustration of a mockup display that I developed in Photoshop. I have some doubts about the viability of a standalone wall, and I think I need to have further discussions about this with my lecturers and technicians, but I enjoy the notion of having a freestanding wall to highlight the curatorial components of an exhibition with a frame to the same height that engages the space. The mock-up below is just a visual representation that may alter with more exploration of framing in space.
In addition, I contemplated the utilisation of multiple frames, wherein one would be oriented vertically towards the wall and another would be employed to encase the former, thereby imparting a dual layer of intricacy to the visual perspective. However, I have reservations that it may be overwhelming and that I may not have sufficient space to accommodate it. This inquiry has not solely facilitated my investigation of framing mechanisms for painting, but also aided in the curation of the exhibition area; The viewer's physical presence is integral to all of these varied approaches, as I establishes a correlation between artwork, audience and architecture that surpasses the limitations of individual mediums, functioning as a peripheral performance. It is hoped that an investigation of the framework's application can facilitate a perspectival shift.
Research Festival
As part of my contribution to the research festival, I had intended to conduct a painting workshop. This was motivated by my contemplation of the professional landscape that awaits me as an art practitioner upon completion of my masters programme. Specifically, I sought to explore opportunities for freelance work that could provide a sustainable means of supporting my artistic practise. However, I do not feel at ease giving the full draught accompanying publishing at such an early stage, so I will only provide some screenshots of the source material I have prepared to demonstrate my painting approaches and the foundations of colour and value.The workshop will exclusively focus on imparting knowledge pertaining to the alla prima technique of oil painting, with a specific emphasis on achieving realism in painting. The proposed approach will guide the learner through a triad of fundamental painting principles, namely Line, Value, and Colour. The Line principle will impart the skills necessary to draw in proportion, while the Value principle will underscore the significance of colour theory and value in surmounting optical illusions and achieving realism in artistic expression. Finally, the Colour principle will equip the learner with the ability to blend natural colours to create realistic photo-paintings. The recommended approach involves commencing with a preliminary examination of an ocular structure utilising a restricted range of hues, subsequently advancing towards executing a comprehensive depiction of a full portrait.
