The MA is all over, but I wanted to make a few posts to round off this blog before starting a new one, whilst I am in this ‘inbetween’ phase that I have found myself in. During the MA show, we did a tombola crit, where we were paired to write some feedback on another artists’ work. Here is what Fiona Grady wrote about my work/me:
“You have been through a war.
Your work embodies the trials and tribulations we face daily as artists. We are asked to measure our abilities through success vs failure. But what if your work is about failure is it possible to succeed?
It Still Stands, It can Still Make It encourages the viewer that yes the artist is conscious, he struggling but he is trying. The leaning tower stands strong in the space echoing its predecessors as it reaches to the Heavens. It highlights the architectural features of the space activating the slats of the ceiling and cements itself to the ground casting light and shadow in the space. The lamps gently warm the room as the paper and tarpaulin rustle with breeze creating a calming ambiance. Combined with the work of Katie Goodwin the room starts to transcend reality moving into an unknown space and time.
But what is the key to the work? I think it is the metaphor – the tower is you. It embodies your ambitions and emotions, it exists, but it is also fragile and precarious. The burst of energy in which was created reflects your determination to push the boundaries of your knowledge whilst indulging in your dreams. This emotional involvement heightened the challenge to build and complete the work as much as you can tend to something nothing is ever really finished. As you assert it stands, it tries; but can something so personal ever be complete?
The grand plans of your work were seemingly scuppered by the separation of the towers and the following collapse. However this split allowed you to part the towers and view them as individuals. The frustration you felt in compromising your work gave you the power to let go and this release of misery can be felt in its cataclysm. Despite Our Greatest Efforts… became ruptured, it was disowned and therefore you broke, kicked and destroyed it without feeling the precious empathy of the artist. There is no limit to this piece it is the death of the idea, the fracture of your ambition and in turn dystopian.
But have you won the war? In war no one is really a winner but you learn from the fight. You have asserted yourself, pushed your boundaries, relinquished some control and liberated yourself. The work is more powerful than you imagined and it has opened up the possibilities of your practice.
You are an artist and your work has a future.”
Fiona Grady
