Just had my AL tutorial with Alexis Harding, he was actually really nice - I dont know why I thought that al tutorials were scary ha.

He seemed open to any work I showed him which was nice. Also bought up something which has been brought up before with my work... how I want it to be seen, how I plan to show it for assessment. Showing the real thing is so much better than photos in most cases. Although our studio spaces are pretty small really. Just speaking out loud to someone really helps to find where you are with work. Mixing found objects with created objects... artificial with real. Showing a relationship with the human body, the physical appearance, the involvement with the body to the work. What do I want to achieve?
I do need to not rely on my own space, (stop being acute and sensitive)... book spaces more.

He suggest an exhibition to me, http://www.madder139.com/ Linda Aloysius. Looking up the work seem really relevant to me. I will definitely be giving it a visit this week!
- my work seems to be leading almost to an abstract manner
- contrasting elements, material/concept
- read up more, looking at artists in depth.
-  process of art, rather than outcome?

Me messing around with creating the skin like texture using latex, I used latex thickener to make it more organic and show the minerals - I was debating the idea of stitching into the latex.. adding in strans of hair

SAM MOYER

I came across this artist, Sam Moyer... he uses bleaching products in his work which strip the colour and have an effect on the material hes working with. This is a similar kind of concept of which I'm working with thermal paper. Also something that develops more so over time. 

When I was at work today (I work on a perfume counter) I noticed that when the perfume sprayed on thermal paper (till roll) it created a really interesting effect... similar to that of aziz + cucher. I decided to experiment more with thermal paper - this really shows the chemicals in perfume... showing the unseen impact on our skin....

       

                     

My scans aren't the best quality... but I'm sure you can see what I'm getting at! I'm not sure where I'm going to take this at the moment either. I would like to perhaps experiment with spray painting the paper before hand - so it doesnt just look like till roll... although I'm not sure if this will coat the till roll making it not have the same effect.

aziz+cucher

this was the piece of work that really caught my attention... this interior design which is based skin. I really loved the detail and looking at the texture of the skin and close up nature of the body. It is really organic feel to this piece. it seems more of an installation to me rather than a interior design. The shape seems almost like entering some part of a body (reminding me of the film Being John Malkovich). This also has a relationship with Mona Hatoum's piece exploring inside the body.

Exhibition feedback!...

lots of detail, tactile show

finding small significant objects

good use of space - interesting architecture

very little chance to hang things flat on the wall

two small teeth drawings on wall - interesting use of space - only things attached to a flat wall - very small in comparison to the wall space

anwars - powerful, good placement - everything has an active and tactile feel about it apart from anwars work - good surface quality - very compelling, well installed piece in conjunction with the rest of the show - plays with the symmetry of the end wall

the whole thing = very lovely balance between how much it gives you and how much you have to find

useage of lighting = quite professional, makes it feel like a gallery space. interesting shadows cast across the floor and walls and other pieces of work. balance of light destroys the symmetry of the whole space - diagonal angle rather than just lighting up the whole room

nice movement - visual reminders of forms, echos of content

both intimate objects and landscapes can be seen as quite nostalgic - space of the landscape contradicts the intimacy of some of the objects

looks like a stage - the lighting and the table - felt like you should just look into it while standing in the darkness at the end by the bar - it is as like you have to walk into it

feels like the shadows are as much a part of the work as the work itself

anwars piece could have ended up looking as though it had taken centre stage, but has somehow avoided that and feels integral

almost seems like a big toy chest - the objects and the architecture combined

the far wall - almost like jesus on the cross and the thieves / murderers either side

crack in the floor leads your eye

absence of people in the landscapes in contrast with the intense human presence (flesh, documentation etc) in the other pieces - no actual bodies, only heads and flesh etc - piees of people

nickys sculpture - quite fleshy - almost a dangerous material, quite fragile - unsure as to whether it would be damp or dry to touch - looks soft but is actually not pleasant to touch

maureece - the fabric adds depth to the image - was lost on the white wall, wanted it higher than the other piece so experimented with ways of hanging - almost like the idea of trying to make a frame that is so infinitive - created a space around it shows an attempt to frame - is it a set of paintings or an installation? the relationship with what was pure image changes. the bricks used with the other pieces echos the stonework of the architecture. the paintings almost look like they have been painted on oxidised metal

use of found objects from the courtyard shows a strong response to the space and the show title - fundamentally changed the work , for the viewer it becomes an integral part of the work

some of the things in here didnt exist at all until we got here - responding to the space, has only existed here

will make us think about utilising a space in the future

trying to understand a space and learning how to adapt to a certain space and shape

forced to come up with a solution of having very little flat wall space

key theme we found was space - topological relationship

engaged within the work and physically within space

very strong and colour link with colour

srong sense of the work being pulled down and grounded - something to do with the shape of the space? feel of tension of gravity on the work

maureece - one work feels tied down, the other feels a lot freer. feels a lot free-er when viewed from the front in the light

nickys chair - felt quite heavy

anwar's 'beautiful image being held down by rocks' - wire pulling it down

suspended - tonally light and physically light. could have suspended everything, making it light and airy, but seems like not all the work is not light and floaty but some are being pulled down and grounded

rosies painting - feels quite corpse like but that could be to do with the other bodily objects

overall character of the show - important sense of gravity, islands of occupation that have significance to somebody - strong sense of attachment - both with objects and the time passed

increase sense of connection and discovery

rosies collages - feels like a separate area - feels like an after thought but there is a lot to move through with them - almost missed them and had a sense of relief when you found them

a lot of the pieces link to this idea of discovery and finding - what you miss and what you find rather than playing out a coherent narrative

nickys sculpture - almost inviting people to spend time with the work rather than just pass by it - contemplate it, investigate it

(average time people spend looking at a painting is 40 seconds)

could have had a barrier and prevented people to enter the lit space, only look into it, making them want to explore it

SARAH LUCAS@SADIE COLES

I had been meaning to go to the Sarah Lucas exhibition for a while now.. but I finally went. I thought that the work there was great. A large variety of her work there, not just the typical pieces I'd been looking at previously. I would really advise going there! 

Exhibition

I made these piece of work on site at the gallery space, as I found a few bits and bobs around the place. I painted toilet roll tubes and unrolled them placing them onto this grill which I found outside. I decided to place it with the drain cover, so it would have a relationship with the space - it was also the same shape & size. 

The clingfilm which I painted I had planned to hang up within the space. Although we found this old looking chair which someone had left with in the space and thought it looked better. This also shows more of a presence of the body. 

My fibreglass insulation sculpture in the space. Again was unsure of where to have this positioned although I knew I wanted it to have to option for the viewer to walk around it and investigate it - hoping to have a relationship with the materials.

These are my 'found objects' from Baker street station, I haven't actually posted them on here before (they were inside my latex skin though) I though they reminded me of limbs - similar to Sarah Lucas actually. I decided to place them on the floor underneath a large photograph so they were there for people to be found as I did. 

A photograph of the gallery space with all of our work in it. I think our work all worked really well together actually. Considering we were all so relaxed and didn't really know much about other peoples work.  We all had around 2-5 pieces of work on display as well. Which was a bonus that we had enough work to fill the space. Especially with a space like the Sassoon Gallery, we managed to use the space really well as not everything was just based on walls or the floor, we had different eye levels going on throughout the space. Also using interesting ways to present the work and using objects which we had found on the day when we set up the exhibition. 

As the Gallery space had limited lighting due to the shape, and our private view was happening in the evening we thought it would be best to have some spot lights. These created some really interesting shadows and really added depth to the space. 

Heres some work from the others in the exhibition... 

Maurcee's work: 

Emily's work: 

Anwar's work:

Rosie's work:

Through out the exhibition we had the sound of the trains going over the top of our space. This really added to our theme - the idea of being inside//out. We had some really similar themes, when we was putting the exhibition up we found a really common theme was the use of fleshy tones actually, pinks and oranges in particular. 

Not the best photos....

But I decided to add more paint to my clingfilm piece making it longer. 

Finally finished my sculpture, literally a day before the exhibition! ha. 

It looks a bit more rough than I intended it to... but it looks tactile which I think it a good quality. 

Packed up and ready for tomorrow. Have fun carrying this on the bus.... 

exhibition flyer

Experimentation of creating skin

I decided to experiment with creating a skin-like material, so I decided to paint on top of cling film as this added a thin delicate style to the piece. 

Although once this started to dry it began to crack/peal off of the cling film. Although this added an interesting effect - but I liked it better when it was wet as it seemed more flesh-like. 

Klara Black

I really love these sculpture they remind of skin similar to the fashion pieces I was looking at perviously. 

jacci den hartogh

spray painting some insulation

I figured that if I really wanted to try out working with pink insulation the easiest way would be for me to buy some pink spray paint and spray it! I kinda liked the effect it had - as it wasn't a full colour and seemed more organic,... a similar trait to the actual pink one. I was worried it would just look really fake and obviously spray painting but I think it had an interesting effect.
Although it makes it slightly less tactile, compared to how fluffy and tactile it usually looks.