New Stuff (Kind of Old Stuff)

Ive been feeling kind of lost at uni because its such an independent course and ive not been too sure where to start. So i thought the best place to start was to revisit what i find interesting, previous work, i do feel im circling a bit but i think if it helps me to just get started then thats just fineeee

Looking through a lot of my old work i looked a lot at texture and the movement the texture creates, i found these old pictures that were just a quick experiment and that at the time i only really saw the sound element that i liked. But from re visiting it ive realised i really like how the plastic seems to disperse and blur the edges of the skin and almost disguise it into the white background, also helps that im almost pure white...

I want to try this effect on the face but with a better white background and lighting. I still do really like the sound element of the material and how low tech it is. Weve been given a video project and i think this in particular is what made me re visit the videos i made and how i could develop those further.

Nottingham Castle

 Had a walk up to Nottingham castle last Wednesday, Id heard a little about it that there was also an art show inside with Craig Fishers work in which i was really looking forward to see. The view from the cafe was amazing, you could see pretty much most of Nottingham from up there...

So i wasnt actually allowed to take pictures but the security guard kept wandering off so...

We also found a kids dress up box and a banana.

We walked round the outside and found some really amazing stuff, my friend told me about the caves at the bottom of the castle so we went to have a look. 

We also found the oldest Inn in England!

Scavenging Challenge Part 2

For the second part of the scavenge challenge we had to re use the material we found and to then create something based around the word curate. When i think of the word curate i usually think of displaying a work that in some way enhances it or gives it a different feel in which ever place its presented. As we only had a designated space to work with we tried a few things out and tried not to be too precious about making it look appealing. We tried different things on a list we were giving such as piling it, collating it, organising it etc. I really enjoyed this task a lot more than the first as i had some ideas on where to go after thinking about previous tasks. 

I liked how piling the work work turned out as it created layers making you able to look through the top and see through each. It also flowed quite well allowing viewers to walk around the piece and look inside.

My favourite and the one we settled on was where we decided to make a vaguely recognizable structure creating walls with boards and glass. We created a slanted roof with 2 planks and put household items inside such as a washing machine, chairs. It worked really well as it lead you around the outside as though it was a path around a house and you could look through the glass inside. However we did leave a few random objects around which we should have cleared away as it was really distracting and the viewers found it quite confusing. 

Scavenging Challenge Part 1

So for this challenge we were given a list of random themes to follow such as collect things that are circular or collect things that look like clues. We were split into teams of 3 and given maps to walk around Nottingham collecting items we could find trying not to cross the boundary between collecting and stealing...

When we started we found it really hard, most items were just actual rubbish like food packets or bottles. Other stuff like leaves and conkers which i didnt really find that interesting. We walked past a broken washing machine but some men took it away plus we though it was a bit too far until we saw teams taking road signs and cones which we thought we definitely shouldnt be doing! Luckily we found some men who were throwing out a washing machine although it was very rusty and falling to pieces. We also collected things like sand bags and planks of wood.

I was actually really amazed at some of the items people had found, stuff that i definitely wouldnt consider rubbish such as chairs and teddies that were in really great condition. We were then given the task to assemble what we had found into one big pile that everyone could then use as a resource. There was some really amazing stuff like metres of blue pipe, beds and wooden crates. 

We tried out a few ways, although we had no theory behind what we were doing, it was really nice just to work freely with materials and not limit ourselves to what we could do and why we were doing it which can be a bit restricting.

Collage and Assemblage

Collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a technique of an art production, primarily used in the visual arts, where the artwork is made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

A collage may sometimes include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or handmade papers, portions of other artwork or texts,photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty.

The term collage derives from the French "coller" meaning "glue".^[1] This term was coined by both Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in the beginning of the 20th century when collage became a distinctive part of modern art.^[2]

When I think of collage, the artists or movement I primarily think of is the Dada movement. They used a lot of collage pieces of literature, illustration using what materials were around as this was shortly after the first war where make do and mend was the main thought.

I also think of the obvious well known artists who use forms of collage (apart from re working used materials) such as Pablo Picasso who created his own images then cut up and reworked them. Collage like this I really dont like, it just looks so dated and arts and crafts type thing that many people do. Although, from this research ive really found a new avenue for collage that Id not really looked at before thats fresh and more interesting to me.

Julien Pacaud 'The Operator'

I really love the contrast between old and new with collage, contrasting black and white with bright graphic lines and marks, contrasting dreamy lines with sharp edges.Theres something really nice about how crisp the lines are when cutting out shapes and layering them over other images. I like the surrealism element or an other worldly type landscape that seems so alien but also familiar.

Ben Giles 'Mystery Jets'

From researching work like this just now Ive realised a lot of my research from previous work has been a form of collage, because its not the obvious collage of cutting up paper and layering, it still is another type of collage. I like how Ben has involved different mediums to mix up the textures and materials, this adds another dimension and a whole new way of using collage. 

Assemblage

I did a lot of research into assemblage in my first year of college and really enjoyed it as I got to rummage around in skips and my house for materials I could rework. I think from this I really learnt how to recycle with my work and spend the least amount of money as possible! I researched artists such as Mark Dion who likes to collect and collate his work very precisely in a very scientific way. I really liked his Cabinet of Curiosities as its a different spin on assemblage compared to piecing all the parts together.

All Fur Coat No Knickers Exhibition

This exhibition was kind of a mixture of some of the artists from F.B.I, it was good to see some of Jons work from what I'd seen in pictures.

I really like how the exhibition was curated and lead you around although it was only in a small space. The performance type piece as you walked in made you look through a window into a room of a girl sleeping heavily medicated. There was another woman dressed all in black with a white painted face sat eerily watching the girl sleeping in silence. One person at a time was allowed in and there was a strong smell of some type of herb or flowe. When I walked into the room I felt instantly uncomfortable and said ohh it smells nice! Obviously no one replied so I felt even more awkward and uncomfortable. The piece was about how you are closest to death when asleep in a strange state of conscious and unconsciousness which actually really made me scared to go to sleep that night! 

Another piece was a really amazing looking cake that made everyone say that they want some, reminding you of birthdays or just the taste of sugar and niceness. Then a hazard sign saying it contained human blood contrasting the grotesque with being desirable. However a lot of people weren't phased and still wanted a piece curious to see what it tasted like, including myself!

I Don't Like To Admit It But...

...My work closely relates to fashion, I dont know why I dont like admitting this! I dont necessarily like 'trends' or make patterns and work with patterns and fabric, but I like how materials interact with the body and change its perception which you could say...is clothing. ARGH! I battled with this a lot during my FMP at college and really wanted to avoid fashion and design at all costs, I really discovered a different type of 'wearable art' that Id never seen before that kind of blurs the line between being wearable and sculpture.

I do reference a lot of fashion in my work but the end product is far from clothing id say...but this does give me another area of research that I enjoy. Heres some fashiony artists Ive been looking at recently, their material manipulation, subject matter and how they work around the body I find really interesting.

Vanessa Schindler