With the ‘insomnius’ series as an ongoing project , i have come to a realisation, i feel that by making the sheep in a repetitive way, that i have actually lulled myself into a dreamlike state as everything i am doing keeps repeating and i almost feel restricted by it.. it has lead to a pause in the proceedings and reminded me of what Nicole; a visiting lecturer from the Royal College of Art said to me when we had tutorials “maybe this is a work that doesn’t need to be finished..? maybe its about the process, the learning from the process, so maybe it doesn’t need finishing..?”
With the quote from Nicole i also had written in my sketchbook other things said that i noted and this quote was from the other of the two RCA visiting lecturers who was called Reka; “be reflective and relax, see where it goes….” So i have been reflecting (and wrangling with computer probs..’not relaxing ) i don’t know enough about computers but thats ok, i can learn, it never stops……………………..
I will put here, a short quote written about Anya Gallaccio’s work which rings true with me. You will have to bear with me as i will elaborate in the near future about an artist whose work i not only admire, but enjoy……., and enjoyment brought on by art, that feeling of a link of some kind, or recognition that there is a common ground whatever the emotion is, is what makes us all part of being human. This common ground i will also elaborate. So here is brief quote about Anya’s work.
“Not only is much of her work site-specific and temporary, it often evolves and changes over time. This ephemeral nature that runs through Gallaccio’s installations and sculptures has been a hallmark of her art;….”
Quoted by Karsten Schubert whose London gallery hosted a project ( utilising chocolate ) by Anya Gallaccio.
More to follow..
As i previously mentioned, sometimes thinking too much is not a creative way to go about things.. I tend to have so many ideas on the go that sometimes i end up not doing them, sometimes it has even kept me awake… which lead me on to another idea for a series of work titled ‘Insomnius’ as that was how i was getting.. There is the notion that counting sheep in your minds eye will help you to fall asleep, i tried it and just ended up planning how i could portray that feeling of sleeplessness .. It was this that led me to cast a number of plaster sheep, using the same mould over and over, with the idea being to eventually create the same amount of sheep it took with counting to fall asleep, traditionally a hundred.. when i had created ten sheep in plaster i would make a box mould around the ten and use vinyl moulding material to create a duplicating mould so that i could cast ten plaster sheep at a time. well its still ongoing and i have learnt a lot from it………
The actual process itself due to the repetitive nature of re-sealing the mould and casting the next sheep of the ‘founding’ ten has become in itself a slow motion counting .. actual time is passing as each one is cast trimmed, sanded and added to the growing number needed to continue and finish the work.. I am literally and figuratively “counting sheep” with a goal in mind., whether to count, and reach the goal of sleep or the goal of realising an artwork, counting has become part of a repetitive process whatever the end goal. Theorizing about ‘time and the actual act of, ‘making’ is itself a temporal, and then historic activity, and in itself takes up time. Not finished yet……
