Having fun

Degree show guide, assessments, degree show organizing, and I went off to Cyprus!

I shall first say how pleased I am to be in a-n degree show guide!! have a look at it lots of amazing things https://issuu.com/anartistsinfo/docs/an_degree_shows_guide_2017/10

I would love to say thatI’mm all chill in preparation for the degree show… no I am in the middle of stress but last week I realized I could not do many things in my studio space and could not yet go into my new space to experiment due to level 5’s still being in that space. so I went to Cyprus and did an installation/ mock up of my idea.

as you can see above it went so well! this was not my first idea but due to health and safety reasons, this is the new plan.i may even give you a sneaky peak of it before the degree show.

I think so far this academic year has been challenging. challenging not only in an academic sense with my dissertation it has challenged me in my practice and my patients. I used to do installations so the jump to participation while helping me grow it has also made me realise that each art discipline is very different i still am trying to make work in the range of participation instead of instillation. i am trying to plan my time more and this is a difficulty for me but it is an interesting way of working. another challenger has been the aspect of juggling that i have been performing, i have managed this blog as well as help in the auction and do my artwork. oh and a website (still in development. The best thing that has come out so far is my mark making pieces which i am wondering if i should have these on show as well as my participation of people and balls.

Degree show is getting closer and closer and I have a couple of strong ideas that can kick ass. Such as my idea to cover the room in the traces I have already done. I think this would show both aspects of what I have been doing, physical and conceptual. It will show how much I have already put into this project I’m not sure if I can convey it if it was only my balls. I am wondering if i can convey it with the idea of flying balls with paint on them. It reminds me of Yayoi Kusama where she had white room and let people put dots in it. Imagine that but with balls and paint.

Carsten Höller is an artist that keeps popping up in my thinking and in my tutorials and for good reason. An artist who “often creates experiments in which human participants are subject to behavioural situations.” (Bishop, 2006, p144) one of his experiments being Test Site, where he put slides in the turbine Hall at the tate-modern. He may have been looking at what happens when a person slides and also the effect it has, I am looking at what he may not have ment to achieve which is the fun aspect and the play that happened.

Another aspect that I find exciting is that he has taken a object commonly used by children and brought it to an adult audience. The taking objects out thier original context reminds me of Duchamp’s fountain. The taking of an everyday object and placing it in the tate echos for me Duchamp taking his everyday object and making it art. Martin Creed’s work half the air in a given space also takes an object often seen in the everyday and also often seen in relation to children. Play again while it may not be the aim ends up being part of the work.

Positive vs Negative, optimism vs pessimism, I find that this is a fight people fight their whole life. Being too optimistic can be problematic if they lose touch with reality and believe everything is dandelions and roses but end up stepping in poo because they forgot to be vigilant. I am not saying being negative all the time is good either! You spend all your time looking at dog poo you miss the beauty around you. So a happy mix would work best.

This applies to the art world as well. There needs to be art about positive and negative, both have their uses, pointing out the horror in the world in the art world can make the general public look again and think about the world more.

Goya’s disasters of war, for example, are very gruesome and show the horror that war can bring.

I want to be on the other end of the scale in my work create a bit of happiness to everyone who needs it. In my artwork since I want to be that annoyingly optimistic that it slaps happiness into your face.

Everyday is a very broad term one I find myself using alot. Everyday life, everyday stress, everyday object, everyday action. I use the word everyday to convey how it can be found in the world commonly from day to day.
I covered the everyday object in my dissertation which I called ideas over objects. It may not seem relevant to my work but it does have an aspect of it. I use toys and balls which may not be an everyday object for adults (teachers and parents excluded) but is an everyday occurrence for children to play. I want to someday bring play into the everyday life of adults.