Saturday we went visiting around South London galleries. I enjoyed the work that we saw more than East London, and there were some really interesting spaces.
I particularly enjoyed “Necrospective” at Danialle Arnaud Gallery curated by Thomas Johnson. The works all address our relationship to technology as it has become inseparable from everyday existence, in different way to pieces highlighted the uncanny in the anthropomorphization of technologies.
http://daniellearnaud.com/exhibitions/exhibition-necrospective.html
I found this weeks walk more encouraging, felt like I could see my work fitting into several of these galleries
The last two days I have had time to get some more drawings started in the studio, although maybe not as much time as I would have liked due to being really tired.
It is amazing how taking in all this new information, meeting new people and getting work done can use up so much energy. I am recharging my batteries tonight with some comedy (Russell Howard), woop!:)
I am finding the dedicated time to be in the studio, without the usual everyday worries of work, usiness admin and domesticity has brought my ideas on leaps and bounds very quickly and I have drawn more in the last two weeks than I would in two months at home.
I am drawing imaginary curbside shrines and their unseen energies. There are no figures but the overwhelming presence of human influence. The constructions are nothing but the rearrangement of natural materials but start to hint at a deeper significance. I am enjoying putting together the starkly functional with the purely indulgent, illogical creations of occultism.
And thank you to JG Boson for that insight into what I am doing.
www.geniusloki.wordpress.com
Wednesday was the last day of presentations, we saw Seetha Alagapan, Karolina Magnusson-Murray, Ventiko, Charley Peters and Zoe Fudge
Seetha works in collaboration as Moorland Productions. She has exhibited widely in Europe and participated in many residencies, so it was really useful to find out about her experiences of these.
Karolina presented some really powerful work exploring father/daughter interactions in really brave and poignant performances and films. It was inspiring to see the sensitive way she includes members of the public in her work.
Ventiko takes photographs that have the gorgeous asestic of Renaissance paintings, they are beautiful and layered with meaning. She has lighting skills that I would love to learn and hopefully I will have time to see her shoot and light.
The approach to drawing in Charley’s work I find really interesting, she often uses time intensive systems to produce an abstract drawing that is beautiful in it’s simultaneous complexity and simplicity.
Her background as an architect informs Zoe’s work, giving it precision and grace. She makes abstract constructions that still hold a functional quality with out being directly intended for practical use.
www.moorland-productions.com
http://www.karolinamagnussonmurray.com/
http://ventiko.com/
http://charleypeters.com/
http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/219697-zoe-fudge?tab=PROFILE
Yesterday we started the day but talking about South London galleries and answering some questions about galleries in general and how to approach them which was really useful.
We had time to do some studio work over lunch and I experimented with my non-functional electricity pieces (pictured)
I the afternoon we heard from four more of our fellow artists again: Caroline Halford, Hannah Futers, Susanna Thornton and Sarah West
Carolines’s work has a wonderful spontaneity and formal aesthetic. She almost curates found objects in a way that give them a new power.
The sense of play and potential in Hannah’s work was really inspiring, she reminded me that sometimes we can become comfortable in our skills base and forget to learn new things. And how important that is.
Susanna’s Photography is very beautiful, she take quite abstracted pitures of night time, being more interested in colour and composition than the subjects of the photos. She made me want to get out the medium format again!
I’m fascinated buy the formal process Sarah engages in with her work, making composite painting from banks of hundreds of drawings from magazine sources that come together into a new fractured world. The value she puts on process and ritual within her work gives it an real integrity
http://www.susannathornton.com/
http://www.sarahweststudio.com/
A personal reflection:
One of the reasons I decided to take part in this residency was to make some important decisions about where to take my art career, and to make a solid plan of how to move forward.
As it stands, with the jobs and interests I have I can see three clear routes for myself ahead: Arts education as an organiser, arts education as a freelance artist, or working as an artist.
I would like to always keep these things in my portfolio of activities, plus add other things, but I feel I need to focus my energy and make some clear goals.
At the moment I am really drawn to concentrating more on promoting my own artwork but want to keep a strong link with arts education because I love being involved with it so much.
and this combination in many ways would be perfect; it would allow me to keep my art practice pure in it’s vision but at the same time exercise my passion for promoting engagement in arts.
So, now that is decided it is time to start thinking of a plan…
