Installation for Year 2 Assessment

Above are photos of my installation for year 2 assessment.  Rather than a minimal look I have decided to try something new and have gone for an engulfment of colour.  I want the viewer to feel immersed in the vibrancy of the colour and overwhelmed, before taking the time to take in the works surrounding them.  There are works on the walls, floor, in varying sizes from large, medium to small.  In doing this I want to create a space in which the boundary between image and object becomes blurred and where material itself becomes painting.

Let's talk about abstraction

There was an interesting article in the Winter 2012 issue of Artnew New Zealand written by Sue Gardiner.  Gardiner looks at young New Zealand artists and how they see the field of abstraction as ripe for reinvention and compares their journey with that of pioneers like Gordon Walters.  This article also mentions our very own Simon McIntyre, Monique Jansen and Amber Wilson.

The article talks about 'materiality', 'thingness' and 'the process of making'.  There are artists such as Charlotte Watson who I responded to in her thinking as it appears similar to my practice work.  Watson says that abstraction gives her a sense of freedom and she seeks ways to remove herself from abstraction's history of symbolism and contextual meaning, or ideas of slickness and perfection.  She states: 'I remind myself always that I need to loosen up some more'.

Through the process of making I am forever reminding myself to loosen up.  I treat my practice as an experimentation, having to just keep making for work to evolve.  Which I know sounds simple enough, but so often we get caught up in the idea of worrying about what we are making, whether it will be right, what to make, that it can hinder the creation of new projects.  It also doesn't allow us to take chances, which is where the interesting developments can occur. Through the rethinking of the formal I am critiquing the history of art (which seems too large to get away from) and like Watson, the slickness and perfection that was prevalent.  Through the use of vibrant colour my aim is to add playfulness and a sense of humour in an attempt to keep the mood light.

Contextual Statement

I have had a go at writing my contextual statement.  This will be something I will keep updating on a regular basis as my work develops and for the practice of writing!!

Imagine the slippage between painting and object, an image that appears as a floating object, or an object that could read as an image.  Where material becomes painting, altering perspectives and blurring the boundaries between the real and the imaginary.  The object becomes a site in which the nature of materiality is tested through visual and conceptual means.  Can an accumulation of images or objects hold their own or overwhelm as a whole, creating formal lines within the threshold between object and space.  What defines painting?

These are the major concerns in my practice.  Rethinking the formal qualities of painting through provisionality and playfulness.  Taking common materials and utilising these in an unfamiliar way allowing the potential for new readings, both visually and materially to be created.

Aesthetics plays a significant role in my thinking, particularly in the realm of sensation.  Vibrant colour adds a touch of whimsy and the sensation of playfulness and humour.  Through interaction with the work the viewer is made aware of small idiosyncrasies, disrupting the flow of information and knowledge of where and how an image and/or object might normally exist.

Provisionality is explored through the use of found wood off-cuts, producing the sensation of abandonment.  Pieces can be picked up and replaced anywhere and in any configuration.  Components can stand on their own, form a relationship with each other creating more than one part, or be re-used over and over again.  This allows for a relaxed experimental approach, an attempt to remove the burden of perfection.  

Object and Image

Untitled, 2012, Tape on Wood

165 x 120 mm

Untitled, 2012, Tape on Wood

165 x 115 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

250 x 195 mm

 Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood

 Untitled, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
250 x 195 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood
120 x 75 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Wool on Wood

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
105 x 590 mm 

Untitled, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
250 x 195 mm 

 Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood
250 x 195 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
240 x 400 mm 

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood
135 x 325 mm 

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
400 x 240 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood
400 x 40 mm

 Untitled, 2012, Acrylic on Wood
1200 x 1220 mm

As above (side profile)

Above are works I have been making aiming towards end of year assessment.  The focus has been on varying sizes and materials in the works.  I have worked with larger pieces of plywood, allowing the natural grain of the material to show, along with the vibrant addition of colour.  I have used paint or tape on the side of most of the paintings to blur the boundaries between the real and the imaginary and between object and image.

Through the process of the making new ideas arise and fresh works are created.  There is a response to the layers and shapes placed to create images.  Colour relationships are important, whether these be to sit tonally together, or to rest uncomfortably side-by-side - jostling for attention.  Some shapes appear to float on the surface, whilst others seem to recede.

Larger pieces of plywood

The above is me arranging large and small pieces of plywood in my studio space.  Testing out installation possibilities utilising both the floor and wall.  This is in the early stage and plywood pieces are still awaiting colour.

Betty Parsons

Sea Rock, 1979

Summer Snow, 1978

32 x 24 inches

Ladder, 1968

27 x 9.7/8 inches

Untitled

17 x 17 inches

Anna Miles suggested I take a look at Betty Parsons.  

Parsons was both an artist and dealer.  She had established her own gallery in New York and by the time Peggy Guggenheim closed her 'Art of this Century' gallery to return to Europe in 1947, her artists (which included Pollock and Rothko) were keen to be part of the Betty Parsons Gallery.  Parsons represented artists who were to become 'celebrities' in the art world.  But first and foremost her interest was in the new, the creative and the unknown.  (The New York Times)

The above assemblages are made from either driftwood or scraps of carpenter's fragments and remind me of my practice in my utilisation of cut-offs of wood from the 3d Lab.  Even though in the photos above they appear small and delicate, the measurements indicate otherwise.  They interest me for their playfulness and for their seemingly casual arrangement.  This creates a provisionality where they appear as puzzle pieces, ones that could be arranged in any order, still forming intriguing works with a raw energy.

More repositioning and placement...

Plywood now painted up and variously repositioned. Leaving the material of the ply and gesso, showing the layering process and creating rigid lines within these provisional forms.

Playing around in studio...

I have been playing around in studio with some pieces of plywood that I have had sitting around since first semester.  Some I have slightly bent and added colour to, others are only at the gesso stage.  I am interested in the way the ply can either appear laid back hanging-out against the wall, can curve to appear to fit the wall, or in support of each other in a stacking formation.  The grain of the plywood creates its own forms and abstractions, yet colour is still a vital element in my work.

Curate and Critique

Curate and Critique was great for getting us to think more about our own practice and the vital things of interest to us.  The artists, in posts below, Karla Black, Gedi Sibony, Polly Apfelbaum and Patrick Lundberg were the artists I chose to exhibit alongside in our 'virtual' exhibition. I chose these artists as I feel, that along with myself, they are interested in the critique of the formal within art.

I am interested in taking a more relaxed approach than remembered through history to the formal, through both provisionality and playfulness.  Colour plays a large part in the playful, fun side to my work, creating a vibrant and whimsical feel.  This allows us to look at how the fundamental elements of form can emerge in varying roguish shapes and sizes.  In taking a 'this goes with that' attitude I feel this creates pieces that could be picked up and replaced anywhere and in any configuration.  Pieces that can stand on their own, be placed with others, or reused again and again.  

The slippage between painting and object is relevant to my practice and addressing the question of, what defines a painting?  Considering the stage where an objects perspective is altered and it is no longer an entity in itself, where there has been an allowance for the material to take place of painting and it becomes about the material and the formal lines it creates.  This can produce an unexpectedness and enquiring into what it is, as a viewer, you are confronted with.

 

New Piece ...

 Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Pencil on Wood

320 x 138 mm

 Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

207 x 130 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic, Pencil & Tape on Wood

380 x 275 mm

These two works I have decided to place together, as above.  It is almost as though they mirror each other, even though they are not identical, almost like each others missing part.  Again these were retrieved from the wood bin in the 3d lab, pencil marks and all.

My interest in the critique of the formal is evident above.  The red square reminiscent of geometrical shapes found within formalist paintings, but contained within an apparent random shape, abandoned by an anonymous owner, appearing vulnerable and semi-naked.

Gedi Sibony

Untitled, 2008, Carpet & Tape

305 x 107 cm

The constructions from Gedi Sibony draw from the traditions of minimalism in their pared down aesthetics and conception of sculpture as selfcontained conceptual objects. Unlike the highly polished works of artists such as Donald Judd or Ad Reinhardt, Sibony’s objects adopt an impoverished style and are often made from found materials such as cardboard, plastic sheeting, and wood. Through these media, which are associated with both construction and 

debris, Sibony’s work elevates the humble qualities of everyday ‘stuff’ to create instances of poetic beauty. 

In Untitled, Sibony presents a strip of carpet mounted on the wall as a ready-made ‘painting’ picturing a geometric composition made from tape; through its delicate arrangement and tactile surface, Untitled seduces invested contemplation of its precarious form and physicality.

The interest in Sibony for me is in the provisionality in which he works and the critique of form. Sibony manages to disrupt our usual ideas around thinking, by presenting mundane items in, some cases, quite momentous fashion.   Yet, it is the feeling of vunerability, a sense of the potential for things to collapse under their own weight which is intriguing.

Polly Apfelbaum

Feelies, 2010
plasticine and polymer clay

Las Vegas Room, 2009
synthetic sequined fabric
dimensions variable

Polly Apfelbaum stated in an essay which accommpanied an exhibition in 2010 that unlike the minimalists of the 1960s, who tried to make something completely unprecedented, a "specific object" that was neither a painting nor a sculpture, I am interested in making objects that maintain the properties of both painting and sculpture: structure and support, flow and movement, colour and surface, repetition and interval.

I find similarities between Apfelbaum's work and my own in terms of the vibrant fun colours that she uses.  Through these colours, Apfelbaum manages to produce a sense of playfulness and humour.  There is a provisionality to her works also that interests me, as through the forms she creates, there is a feeling that they are pieces that could be picked up and re-arranged in another time and place with varying configurations.

With Apfelbaum's works like that of 'Las Vegas Room' above, it is as though you are physically stepping into and around her paintings.  Allowing for full immersion and sensation.  The viewer becomes an active participant in the work, tip-toeing delicately between the negative space of these fallen paintings.

A few new works...

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
210 x 250 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic, Tape, Wool & Wood

135 x 110 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

115 x 115 mm

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood
120 x 165 mm

 (Side Profile)

Untitled, 2012, Acrylic & Tape on Wood

116 x 160 mm

Above are a few more pieces I have been working on.  These have been created either on or with found materials (again, generally in the 3d lab).  The bottom three paintings have been created from cut-out shapes on pieces of wood found in the scrap bin.  I am interested in the use of other people's cut-offs (hand-me-downs).  This allows for experimentation and play, taking away the pressure of the next work having to be that fantastic masterpiece!  Hoping for a looseness rather than tightness to the work.