Firstly, I would admit that after two years of responding to module briefs, I have found self-directing quite a challenge; knowing where to start, fear of pursuing the wrong lines of enquiry and balancing the dissertation work have, at times, been over whelming.
I enjoyed relative success with various experiments in ‘chance’ which included introducing ink and paint onto appropriated images however, I don’t find this a satisfying way to work and felt the resulting work didn’t really come from me; it didn’t speak of my interests and felt disingenuous
Despite my aversion to digital work I enjoyed some success with smaller modified works achieved in photoshop. I pinned these in my workspace but I think they went largely unnoticed, mistaken perhaps for research. The original images were appropriated from vintage Sotheby’s Art at Auction catalogues.
I worried for some time that I wasn’t settling on one particular medium or theme but have found encouragement in studying artists such as Ryan Gander who seem to be very successful in their own eclecticism
My exhibition work is situated within the practice of collage and painting and nods to both pop art and conceptual art. My painting “Ceci n’est pas un collage”, is a replica of my collage, itself titled ‘vile bodies’ after the Evelyn Waugh book cover, featured at its centre. The painting took on the title ‘Ceci n’est pas un collage’ to prompt the question of whether a painting is more valid or weighty a work than a collage and references Magritte’s and Foucault’s ‘Treachery of Images’ exploring the comparison between representation and actuality.
Emerging from the exhibition is my proposal to combine future collage with painting and also with shallow depth and three-dimensional assemblage. In the first instance it is my intention to make wall hanging combines, that have a lineage within Pop Art, both British and American, and further explore the concept of representation versus artefact. Contextual references include Joseph Kosuth, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, amongst others.
Please see image album for more images described in this text.
