Longing……For……For……For……

What new updates do I have for the chairman mao Print?

Well… actually this time after waiting quite a long time to get the third layer stencil prepared, I have now managed to get a successful third layer done in the end.

How did I manage to successfully get the third layer working?

The main problem was that the universities photo emulsion was out of date and was no longer working anymore to expose stencils to the silk screens. So… what did I do? I decided to buy my own photo emulsion on ebay which was the same photo emulsion I used before when it was working at the time and cost me around £27 plus the sensitizer that you would have to add with it in order to work so was a very good price.

Once I did manage to get it I just follow the instructions carefully for the mixing process to try get the formula of the new photo emulsion just right because it has to be a nice green and no more blue colour showing. So after about 5-10 minutes of mixing it was mixed and ready to go on the silkscreen.

Glen Toner – the technician gave me a tutorial on how to lay the photo emulsion across the silkscreen properly without any problems so this would enable me to be more free and do it myself when Glen is not available. Once my stencil was transferred onto the silkscreen I thought that it looked 10 times better compared to the other two unsuccessful attempts with the old photo emulsion. So really to me it was such a great result in comparison and it just taken away that pressure off my shoulders knowing that this time will finally work properly again.

What will I do next?

Well… its not that hard to guess but I will certainly continue the process of my Chairman Mao print and try to get the third layer out of 8 layers completed so then would be 5 more layers to go until finished. At the same time I will be very careful in how I will align my last two layers with this layer making sure it will be a direct print with no miss-alignments. Will keep you updated very soon on how the third layer went.

Meanwhile, please feel free to watch my short 4 minutes on making my new stencil screen and the result at the end compared to the last 2 unsuccessful stencil screens.

What latest updates have I produced for my illness sculpture?

I have managed to make a very interesting start with this project as I have managed to get hold of some more materials which crosses off one of my tasks for this week that I have set myself. I needed to have found a way of making a plinth like foundation that will go under the Chinese squatting toilet that will also cover the sides of it. So I thought about the idea of using bricks which are English so that it would act as a narrative of myself of the cracking and erosion of the insides of my body.

How did I get these bricks?

Well… I always thought that if you do not ask for things then you do not get anything and I just had to ask some of the builders who were renovating the building next to the Ipswich college. I explained to the builders what my work was all about and explained to them its for good causes because I believe that my illness narrative within my sculpture would reflect awareness for the viewers who will see it. I also explained how many bricks that I would need to use to make my plinth that will hold and surround my Chinese squatting toilet.

In the end they agreed to let me use about 40 of their used bricks which was quite a relief for me as I knew from this point on that I could continue my progress with my Chinese and English illness sculpture. So to me this was a good result in good hard work in negotiating and trying to carry all of the bricks back to my MA studio and after all of this it payed off really well and was most eager to start my work.

Were there any problems during this process of using the bricks?

umm… yeah… I think there was a slight miscalculation  within the number of bricks that I needed and I must have needed at least 8 more of the used red colour bricks to complete the setup of the plinth that surrounds my Chinese squatting toilet. So……. I had to return back to the construction yard to ask  them for 8 more but they said no to me :( which was a bit disappointing but I guess that I was asking for too much than I can chew, if that makes any sense?

Anyway…… they did say to me that I could use some other bricks which were 3x the size of the normal red bricks and these bricks that they said I could have were black colour. This made me think very seriously about the way I change my concept and looks of my sculpture and in this way, it had given me another insight into a new meaning for my work.

What new ideas have I gained since having to make do with the black bricks when there were no more red bricks to use?

They let me have the black colour bricks and I got about 7 of them incase I did not have enough and by using these bigger blocks this made me think about in terms of how our body is like the foundation that keeps us standing up strong. The bigger bricks I thought could act as the stronger foundation such as my legs and the smaller red bricks will act as the top half of my body and the cracks will resemble my inner body eroding and breaking down, if that makes sense?

So I thought that this would be an excellent narrative to the intestinal illness that I suffered from and by using this new idyllic concept seems like it makes bigger sense than the original idea that I had in mind and not so obvious towards the viewer .

Does this mean that I will stick to this idea or still try out other methods of presenting this sculpture piece?

Umm… I will still try out other concepts and ways in trying to point out the narrative of my work the best way possible but I do not want it to be too obvious towards the viewer. I want my work to always have a narrative within my work but not in an obvious way and want the viewer to be able to engage with it further. If I did decide to hang some objects about my Chinese squatting toilet it has to be able to work for me but not to be seen as ‘obvious art’ meaning I don’t wish to give away the answer behind my work straight away if this makes sense?

So the answer really is yes, I will try out some different concepts and ideas within this sculpture piece but no idea of mine is for definite until carefully examined to what works best for me as well as the viewer.

What will I do next for this sculpture?

I will certainly experiment more with trying out different concepts within my work, at the same time changing the context of it slightly. By doing this I will start by doing some more drawings in my sketchbook to workout new ideas. I will also keep gathering materials that I will need in order to try out these new ideas from my sketchbook.

Please feel free to watch my short 4 minutes of commentary of putting together my sculpture and the ideas that I have currently in my mind.

What updates are there with my Chinese and English illness sculpture?

Well… the good news is that I have managed to come by some nice used bricks from the construction site right next to the suffolk college. They were renovating this big building into a new student accommodation or hotel place and they were chucking out the used bricks that once supported the old walling. I asked them if I could have about 30-40 of them bricks and they let me have them for free which was nice of them.

Once they gave me the go ahead to take the bricks from their construction yard, I had to get hold of a trailer thing and put a piece of thick hard wooden board across it. After that I then managed to successfully load the bricks onto it and took some strength pulling it back to the university but managed to successfully do it in the end.

What did I do next with the used bricks?

The next thing was to unload them carefully and stored them inside under the stairs of the MA building before beginning the next process. The next process is to use a chisel with hammer to help knock or take off the cement remains that is left stuck on the bricks. By taking the remains of the cement off will be like making the bricks almost like brand new but still have that nice old age added to them seeing the cracks and worn edges to them which is what I want.

After 2 hours of taking away the cement remains off the bricks I then decided to place them once again under the MA arts building ready for use with my sculpture. Once I get round to using the bricks for my sculpture I can keep you updated of my progress in making it happen.

Please enjoy these short 2 minutes of commentary of how I taken the remains off the bricks and my intention for doing it.

Task 1 – Chairman Mao layer 3 to be completed

Yes… there has been at least a two week delay in printing my third layer for my Chairman Mao print as the uni’s photo emulsion does no longer work… So… Instead of piss assing around waiting and waiting I have decided to order my own photo emulsion with the sensitizer so that I can be able to use the materials that I know best and with any luck no more delays with printing! I should expect my delivery to arrive this Tuesday and then I can print my second layer by Wednesday and the results should plan out good in the end.

Task 2 – Gather more materials for my Chinese & English sculpture called ‘The Possibility Workings Of Inside A Working Man’. 

As you can clearly see on my last post I have made a good start in collecting the essential materials for my latest sculpture and managed to obtain the main counterpart of the sculpture which is the Chinese squatting toilet. Now all I have to do is search around for some used bricks to use as the plinth foundations for the toilet to sit on and then the big wooden board will sit around the toilet on the bricks. I will also try my best to get hold of the thick tubes and funnels to use as my intestines, anus and urinal canal. so hopefully I can obtain all of this by end of next week.

Task 3 – Organise my space ready for Group Crit

Yeah… as my group crit is eventually creeping up on me day by day, I should think about in terms of what pieces of works I will show. Unfortunately I do not have any completed works to show at this minute due to lack of materials but I will explain my ambitions in what I am trying to create and will show my working progress on all of the projects I am currently working on. Hopefully will go ok and may get some supportive feedback in helping me further in my work.

Task 4 – A meeting with the Film students about making a collaboration – experiential game of Mahjong

Yeah… at first I was quite nervous in the Chinese tutor of the film introducing me to his students and they seemed a bit stunned to what Exactly I wanted to do. So by Friday I hope that I can have a little chat with them about making a film of english or Chinese people playing mahjong in the room 101 cafe. I think that because my main artistic theme is based on Chinese and English cultures, I want to be able to recreate the Chinese and English experience by having English people playing a game of Chinese Mahjong. Hopefully the meeting with the film students will hopefully be successful.

Why look into Carsten Holler’s sculptural works?

Carsten Holler likes to make sculptures primarily in sets of two or three which involves ready-made objects to help create his big sculptures. I wanted to look into him because I feel that he relates strongly with my theme of China and England where I try to amalgamate the two cultures together to create my artwork. His sculptures act a bit like my theme where you have the two different clones in most of his works.

What works inspire me the most?

• Double Carousels

Holler’s use of carousels to make his sculptures are quite rememberable and stand out compared to most of his sculptures. The carousels seem to act like doubles or as twins in some kind but they do not look exactly like each other; even though the materials used to make them are the same, they have different colour lights on them. One carousel has red lights and the other has yellow lights as to say they are the same bodily structures but perhaps different species or nationality?

• Double Club

Now his Double Club installation was the most effective for me because he had built two major compartments that make two different clubs with bars, drinks, table and chairs. His work is also experiential which means that this type of installation can house different continental people who will socialise with each other enjoying a nice drink and dancing together.

Although most of the materials are the same to build this installation, the two set themes are still different which also tells me that this is a sign of two different cultures because of the way these two different clubs are set. And the experiential method of this art piece kind of places the cherry on top of the cake because most of his works is all about experience and how the people find their way out of situations.

How does his theme and works relate to my artwork?

In my own working theme of China and English I use objects that are based from the two different countries that look similar in each other. For example my Chinese and English medicines, they may look similar to each other because they are made from the same materials of plastic and cardboard but are in fact different continental languages. So because most of my artworks are to do with cross nationalities of English and China, I strongly think that his works strongly relate to my main theme of the two cross nationalities.