#been experimenting with different colouring styles ang getting his feedback on them

[alwayswanttobemaking]

Self Evaluation Form - reflecting on process of my Visual Disturbances project

Describe what kind of  experimentation you have done with your studio practice.

I have been exploring the  ideas of visual disturbances (specifically my own hallucination-like  experiences). I have been trying out different ways of creating visual  representations of what I experience. This then led me on to try out  different ways of presenting these works, looking for ways to make the images  more immersive and experiential for the viewer. This experimentation with  ideas has made me realise how much I draw on my own experiences to create  art. This experimentation with ideas has also made me realise how much I draw  on my own experiences to create art.  

I have also been  exploring the process of figuration and abstraction, by painting over parts  of photographs in white to show how the world sometimes looks to me.  This process of blocking out sections means that I am having a conversation  with the viewer “Here, look, this is what I want to show you. This is the  important part.” This in turn creates a power dynamic- the artist in control  of how much the viewer can understand, leaving the questioning and uncertain.  In this way I have been looking at relationships between the artists and the viewer,  using artwork as the means of communication.

I have also been experimenting  with colour in this project, looking at the impact of bold harsh colours, and  how they alter the way you see things. As my practice is quite drawing  orientated usually, it means that I’m naturally drawn to the monotone or few  colours, and when I do use colour it is with the purpose of giving depth and  dimension. However in this project I have really pushed myself out of my  comfort zone, using bold and bright colours which are difficult to look at,  and often in block colours.

I have also been experimenting  with immersive instillations, and how they could be used to create an  experience similar to the ones I have. I attempted to build two walls out of  MDF, in which I would paint one of the reduced images I had been working on.  I thought that the larger scale would make it more impactful on the viewer,  hoping that  being in a surrounding  space may trigger these experiences (using lights, reflective paints,  bright colours). However I struggled a lot with the MDF because of the scale,  and the wood buckled in shape, and it seemed that this option was no longer  possible. Instead, I decided to focus on other ways of presenting the images I  had already created. I experimented with including some bright yellow paint  on the walls, with lighting, photocopying the images, and UV lights, and  through trial and error found how I wanted to present it.

Explain how other artists and  ideas are relevant to your practice.

Through working from my  own visual experiences, I have had to consider what prompts these experiences  (bright lights, colour, etc), and this has also got me questioning what  causes these experiences, and if anyone has them. I did some research and  came across Dissociative Disorders, which explains the experience quite well.  By finding words to be able to explain and express the experiences, it has  made it easier to verbalise the experiences and therefore help me to discuss  my artwork.

I researched artists such  as Martin Creed – Work no. 227  (lights on for 5 secs/off for 5), and other 60’s and 70’s conceptual and  dematerialised art. This helped me think about artwork as an experience, not  something that can necessarily be documented, but only really purely  understood in memory. Because I chose to present my paintings in an  instillation style, the space itself would not be the artwork, but the  experience and people’s interactions with the space would be.

This idea of experiential  instillations, particularly site specific ones, was developed by reading  Simon Sheikh’s Postively White Cube  Revisited, in which he explores “[a gallery space as] an aestetic object  in and of itself.” It got me thinking about how work can add to or take away  from a gallery space, create an experience within it, not just cover it with  a canvas or image.

Visiting Katherina  Grosse’s current exhibition (This drove  my mother up the wall) at the South London Gallery inspired me thinking about  the interactions in instillations: a space in which people are enclosed in a  space of art (in which there is no boundary between the two). In her work  there is a very harsh contrast between bright bold colours and the painfully white  areas of floor/wall creating a trippy experience for the viewer. This  helped me progress my ideas of art as something you can be surrounded by.  This is particularly relevant to my current idea, as hallucinations are  something that you cannot escape from, they are all encompassing, and this is  a very good way of expressing that conceptually, but also to create a fully  immersive experience for the viewer.

David Lang’s film work  currently showing at the Lisson Gallery made me think about possible ways  to make a space more immersive as an experience. In his work he used a harsh contrast  of light between the main gallery space and the showing of the film, making  the transition very disorientating. He also used a space that you have  to move through to get to the space that the artwork is shown, with two  black-out curtains you have to move through. These involve very site-specific  ways of working, which I didn’t have time to plan for in the exhibition,  however, in is certainly an idea I’d like to return to. 

Other exhibitions visited- Iconoclasts, Tate’s  swings, Soul of the Nation, Lisson Gallery, South London Gallery

Other artists research,  artist lectures, lectures, theory seminars- Nacho Guzman, Toing Ang, Katherina Grosse,  Judith Butler Vivian Maier, Greenberg, Hannah Sontell, Robert Morris,  David Lang, Daniel Buren, Audre Lodrde, Richard Long, John Berger, Rosalie  Schweiker

How do you plan to further develop your  practice? 

I hope to learn to become  comfortable with choosing when my projects start and ends, and not having  someone else chose these times for me. I cannot choose to be able to do this,  but with time and gaining confidence, hopefully it will come naturally.

I hope to learn how to  interact with peers more just within the studio to gain feedback on how to  improve my work and my ideas. This will begin to happen more as I become more  comfortable with those in my year and being able to ask for opinions, but I  also need to put myself out there more to initiate those discussions.

I also plan to learn new  processes and experiment more with other mediums, such as ceramics and also  casting in other materials. Additionally, because of not having access to  printing studios, I plan to teach myself to become more self-sufficient in  resources- learning how to do printing process, such as screen printing and  lino either in the studio or at home.

Marking Criteria

 How well have you met the criteria?

Research - I have kept detailed notes from the lectures and theory seminars and exhibitions,  then further documenting them on my blog by typing out some of the key points  I’ve learned.

Analysis - Using the blog I documented how I reflect on my own work, as well as  some of the thoughts from critics and peers

Subject Knowledge - I feel I could have done some more research on subject area of  hallucinations within artwork or on instillation art.

Experimentation - I feel I did quite a lot of experimentation, considering lots of  different possible forms and outcomes of the work, also considering how this would  impact the viewing of the work.

Technical Competence - Part of my downfall in the original instillation I had planned was due  to my lack of technical competence in working three-dimentionally and lack of pervious experience with working on MDF in a really large scale. I hope to  gain some skills in this area in the future by working more in the workshops.

Communication &  Presentation - The presentation of my work creates an atmosphere and experience for  the viewer, however the meaning may not be completely clear.

Personal and Professional  Development - I learnt how to be self-disciplined about coming into the studio  regularly to work, and how to work independently within a studio-space. However  I feel I still have to learn a little more on how to interact and get  feedback from peers on a more day-to-day conversational level.

Collaborative and / or  Independent Professional Working - I have learned how to work more independently,  not relying on starts and ends of projects being set for me or mandatory  times to work in the studio.