Engage Artist

John A. Blythe

Artform:
Light, Time, Material and Gesture
Year:
2021-22
Location:
Oxford
Email:
info@johnblythe.com
Social link:
Project summary:

My practice is situated in and beyond the realm of light and time based image making. My interest is as much in the processes as in the product.

In my current work I focus on exploring photography as ‘Inframedium’, playing with the boundaries of the photographic object, its material ‘nature’ and the visual possibilities that exist within it. Stripping away the ‘Apparatus’ of the camera and usurping the notion of light as an essential element, thus stepping out of the arena of the technical image, I am exploring gestures with which to reveal the material’s phenomenological potential.

I completed a PGDip(Ed) Artist Teacher Scheme in 2016 and a Master of Fine Art in Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University in 2019. From 2013-2017 I was Module Leader of Photography at Bellerbys College Oxford and currently teach at d'Overbroecks College. I have also spent the last year working with Fusion Arts to establish a community darkroom in east Oxford.

My work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections worldwide. I was awarded a professional development grant by OVADA and AOFS in 2017 for my work 'A little light' which lead to a two-person show at The Old Fire Station Gallery where I presented the installation 'The speed of light, the speed of me'.

The AA2A scheme allows me to continue to develop my research approach and to contribute to the energy and dynamism of a creative art school environment. My creative process has very much been driven by the playful curiosity generated by genuine academic discourse. It affords me the time and resources to thoroughly explore my practice and bring into being a body of work that furthers the possibilities of what would otherwise remain discarded and redundant photographic materials. Within the AA2A placement I aim to develop research materials and outcomes that can be exhibited in a range of contexts to engage audiences, both within and outside academic environments.

My practice is situated in and beyond the realm of light and time based image making. My interest is as much in the processes as in the product.

In my current work I focus on exploring photography as ‘Inframedium’, playing with the boundaries of the photographic object, its material ‘nature’ and the visual possibilities that exist within it. Stripping away the ‘Apparatus’ of the camera and usurping the notion of light as an essential element, thus stepping out of the arena of the technical image, I am exploring gestures with which to reveal the material’s phenomenological potential.

I completed a PGDip(Ed) Artist Teacher Scheme in 2016 and a Master of Fine Art in Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University in 2019. From 2013-2017 I was Module Leader of Photography at Bellerbys College Oxford and currently teach at d'Overbroecks College. I have also spent the last year working with Fusion Arts to establish a community darkroom in east Oxford.

My work has been exhibited internationally and is held in private collections worldwide. I was awarded a professional development grant by OVADA and AOFS in 2017 for my work 'A little light' which lead to a two-person show at The Old Fire Station Gallery where I presented the installation 'The speed of light, the speed of me'.

The AA2A scheme allows me to continue to develop my research approach and to contribute to the energy and dynamism of a creative art school environment. My creative process has very much been driven by the playful curiosity generated by genuine academic discourse. It affords me the time and resources to thoroughly explore my practice and bring into being a body of work that furthers the possibilities of what would otherwise remain discarded and redundant photographic materials. Within the AA2A placement I aim to develop research materials and outcomes that can be exhibited in a range of contexts to engage audiences, both within and outside academic environments.

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