The square prints

The geometric shape of the mirrors worked well with the images of the interior space. The prints were positioned partially on the mirror, and away from the centre, so the viewer wasn’t competing with their own reflection when looking at the work.

The silver brackets that secured the work to the wall complimented the mirrored glass. However, I was disappointed with the lack of detail to the tentacles. I felt the drawings and the prints on paper showed more texture of hairs from the tentacles.

The print on the mirrors was good for the general shapes of the images, but failed on clarifying the finer details, because the inherent qualities of mirrors isn’t made for ink to sit on.

The prints on mirrors (General)

It also brings me to the work Clean my Sheets (work in semester one – 25th November in the blog) because of the tensions between the two materials, which in the piece of them mirrors also translate to the tensions between tentacles in a domestic space that is reflected in an institution.

The implication of the viewer, 18th Century portraiture and today

The oval mirrors suggests the history of portraiture, that appeared in France in the 18th Century, where it was installed in palaces and living spaces that symbolised wealth and power. Portraitures were known for the subject being aloof and posing for the painting.

The oval mirrors invite the viewer to self reflect on their pose and stance in a gallery space. This is a physical stance and also a political stance as well, because certain groups are more likely to be in a gallery space as it’s conditioned as a gentrified space.

The domestic spaces that’s printed onto the mirrors is something mimics the gallery space as it has basic aesthetic of a white cube space, and is the template for modern city apartment designs in the present day.

How the subconscious manifests itself in the work

The tentacles invading the space in the form of something undesirable such as hairy tentacles and spiders legs coming out from doorways is suggesting the hiding of that undesirable thing or things in society that people and politicians turn a blind eye to.

Materials in relation to the topics mentioned above

The process of printmaking uses physical labour to make prints that have artistic value, especially when placed onto a decorative surface such as mirrors. The reflective surface forces the viewer to see themselves as part of the work, instead of an alienated item that has external value.