Longing……For……For……For……

Why look into these artists as part of my work?

Rachel Whiteread and Memory Trace

As part of my ongoing research, I wanted to explore more different artists that play a similar aspect to me in creating art work. The first artist I looked into was Rachel Whiteread who is mostly known for her mammoth size plaster casts such as House and Ghost. The reason why this artist interest me alot with my work is because she makes an artwork from memories and using an old building such as House is a very good example to capturing someone’s pre-existence.

Rachel Whiteread captures an indexical trace of someones life by plastering every room on the inside of the house revealing forensic like traces as a symbol to her work. In her memory capturing way, she uses the traces from someones existence that are traced within a surface and interprets that into her own art work. This is her own way of making her art work from someones elses memories and inspires me to think closely about where my own work is going.

How does Rachel Whiteread Inspire me?

She inspires me in a different form into my work because she uses old buildings and furnitures for her work to express the memories that are carried by them. I express my memories from China with my girlfriend through projection and projecting them moments of time in a dark space which acts as inside my mind.

That darkness in the room is like the loneliness that I suffer when I am without my girlfriend from China and the projections act as a light that brightens my life as well as reliving the moment in time. So in a way Rachel Whiteread inspires me in that memory type way where you show the fragments of past through objects, photos or movies.

Gordon Matta-Clark and Memory Trace of action

I have looked into another artist called Gordon Matta-Clark who is an american sculpture who also uses old buildings to create an artwork. A famously known artwork he create was called Splitting. Matta-Clark would often as not use recordings and photographs to document the moments of dismantling the house. He likes to film and take photos of his process when he is making artwork and these types of medias show a trace of his actions of dismantling the house and generate a memory trace.

Why does Gordon Matta-Clark Inspire me with indexical action?

In a way, Matta-Clark inspires me alot in recording the making of my artwork because it is the fun and interest of creating artwork that I would like to capture on filming. My process is all about capturing that moment in time whether its on filming or on photographs. My process of my working creates that direct imprint of the memory traces in my existence and the discoveries that I have made alongside my processes.

Rosalind Epstein krauss relates photography to memory trace

“On the one hand, the term seems to specify signs on the order of the trace—the footprint, the death mask, the photograph (where the object leaves its imprint on a light-sensitive surface). This type of index partakes of the iconic because the sign resembles the object.” (Krauss. 1977. p203).

Carsten Holler – Double objects relating to my Chinese/English

So as part of my further research towards my development, I decided to look closely into Carsten Holler‘s Double objects in his art works. His use of objects in his art works play a similar role to each other, both very similar and almost very identical like twin objects. I looked into his Double Club art work which consisted of two different clubs in mirrored image form but art in fact different and very much related to each other. Another famously known work he created was the Double Carousel where he stuck two Carousel rides next to each other in another mirror image form.

Why does he inspire me towards my latest artwork?

Researching into his double object art works seems really interesting for me because his use of double objects act like a close relationship like a pair that are different but very similar. These works strongly relate to my Chinese/English art ideas because I try to influence the English and Chinese culture together into my artwork.

I am English and my girlfriend Wei Cheng is Chinese and we are very similar in our own minds and personalities but our cultures are very different. As I have mentioned in my previous post, I hope to build a darkroom as part of my degree show and build a Chinese and English side by creating a Chinese roof and a English roof. Here you have the two different cultural influences which act similar to each other but are indeed different.

Just like Carsten Holler‘s Double Club, I plan on creating my own double culture called The Time Mahjong by building the two different roofs but out of the same wood and having myself and three other Chinese people playing mahjong inside the dark room. Two different cultures meet with each other and having a game of Mahjong, it is like bringing back a memory trace and having two different cultures bound together at the same time in the same time zone.

Why I Drew these sketches?

Ok, so here are some sketches of my ideas on a possible degree show and what materials I may use to try and construct such a monster piece. Now after viewing, studying and making my previous pieces of work, they have given me a lot of valuable ideas and careful thoughts into how I should construct a final degree show.

I decided that I should try do some more accurate sketches in my sketchbook on trying to puzzle together a possible degree show and I think by doing this, I can visualise my thoughts and ideas better this way that will help me a lot more to making my final degree show.

The Purpose? Memory trace Behind This Final Degree Project?

Ok so as I have explained some of my ideas in the last English Roof post already, I will explain in greater depth to why I want to do this final degree project. Ok, the reason why I want to create such a monster looking installation is because I want to express the lost connection between me and my girlfriend. My girlfriend – Wei Cheng is Chinese ‘if you do not know that already’ and myself is in no doubt an English citizen.

Double Objects/Double Cultures?

I want to basically bring China and England together in my final degree show to express that long distance relationship with each other that we both must face most of the time. I want to re-live the liveliness of my memories that I have stored in my mind and the nicest moments that I see, i want to recreate them as a moment in time where scenes get frozen in time.

This is exactly how I want to show this final degree project because it will express my inner emotions and thoughtful episodes that I face when I feel that I am alone without her and that Wei Cheng is my everything to me that I wish to be with forever. The Meal For Two, The Mahjong House and various other art works have indeed inspired me to create the Time Mahjong which will be my degree show name.

The Time Mahjong is a bit similar to The Mahjong House, only this time it will consist of a dark room with an English and Chinese style roof either side from each other. There will be four projected players playing Mahjong on this virtual reality type scene and this will act as part of my brain – seeing a scene frozen in time. I want to take this final degree show to a level that not many people think of doing. More updates of my degree show at a later date!

Why did I make the English roof as a sculpture?

well.. ceedings I have already made the Chinese style porch roof, I thought about also constructing an English style roof as well because I want that cultural relations between England and China. I want to be able to bond the two different cultures together as part of my degree show to show the difference in time zones, culture and the relationship between me and my girlfriend.

Through skyping each other, we almost feel that we are there together but in actual fact we are not there with each other. Its a way of feeling more comfortable in our situation that we must go through many times with each other because of our long distance relationship. This is why I make things like the Chinese roof and the english roof because its a away of us meeting once again with each other, I am the english roof and she is the Chinese roof.

Another memory Trace?

I would say that the memories side of things are very strong in this part of the work I create. When I was on my visits to China I had seen various old roofs and old buildings and all I wanted to do was take a part of that back with me. In my mind I guess I am always taking new memories of me and my girlfriend back with me so at least I would be taking something special back with me.

In a way I wanted to re-create the Chinese scene that I experienced and take that from my mind and then interpreting it in my art work. These experiences that I remember in my mind are the memory traces that I had with my girlfriend and somehow, I want to recreate a moment in time with my girlfriend that is shown in my art work.

I will build my own Dark room that will hold Chinese roof on one side and the English roof on the other and will have doors on each side so that viewers can walk in. Me, wei cheng-my girlfriend, Ting Ting-her friend and another friend will be playing an ancient game of Mah-jong which will act as one of my memory traces. I will be showing some sketches of my ideas a bit later once I have finished editing them to the right proportions from my sketchbook.

What Inspired me by making this sculptural piece?

Well… it all basically started… and I won’t go on talking for too long. It basically started when I was in the super market and again this is another of my memory traces. Me and my girlfriend were in a Chinese supermarket buying groceries along with other things we needed and on our high list were potatoes.

Bringing back a memory trace

Now we british people know so much about growing and eating potato products right? but seems to me that the Chinese know a little more than I bargained for. My girlfriend said that there was a root or flower growing from these potatoes saying they were poisonous when actually I thought you could just peel off the flower head and still cook and eat it. We had a little argument in the supermarket and surprised me so much that I could be wrong with Potatoes in a Chinese persons mind. I thought I knew enough about cultural ways and understanding but seems I didn’t see that one coming lol.

Why use these types of Materials?

So seeing the fruits and vegetable around me at the time had given me deep inspiration into creating a sculpture from a fruit that was big enough to act as a porcelain Chinese bowl. The noodles I decided to make out of wood which replaces the wooden chopsticks and the Porcelain chopsticks that I had given to me, replaces the porcelain Bowl. Its this type of cultural confusion that I wanted to interpret into my art work because not everything seems the way we expect things. China is not just a bowl of noodles but is also a deeper understanding to the cultural habits and ways that the people live and some things are hard to understand for me but getting there.