I am eager to make a start on the files. I shall explore every video and photo (but perhaps not Mary Beard being filmed for a BBC documentary, despite how exciting this was: she had a lovely pink streak in her hair and seemed over the moon to be here), and every audio recording: a squeezebox playing sea shanties, cathedral bells peeling, sirens, street preachers and singing…
Once the videos are completed I shall look to what will make a strong image for a print from the video stills. I intend to create various types of prints: woodcut, perspex engraving, carborundum, collagraph – all huge and probably 120cm in diameter, and then decide which works best.
Whatever I do will be a labour of love, but worth it. Before the physical work though: the editing.
It is important for me to visit the site where the final outcome of the commission will be positioned, to get a feel for the environment it will sit in: next to a park, a thoroughfare for students and businesspeople, in the centre of the city (but away from the shops).
My initial response when I was invited to make work for this space was to take inspiration from local buildings, one in particular that is iconic. I created a lot of footage of this building and took loads of photos, it is a contender for the final piece, but will be manipulated using my usual techniques: abstracted zooms to make a wider statement, i.e. not just a depiction of one particular place.
If I decide to pursue this particular body of work, I am very pleased that the building is in view of the site that the art will stand; the reference will be so condensed though that the viewer will not immediately know the original inspiration, but be aware that the image and details are familiar – almost like a forgotten memory.
It’s been a while since I was asked to do a large commission; the last one was meant to be a series of paintings of the disappearing light over the Hudson river from the freeway in Manhattan – of course it didn’t end up being so specific and the customer understood that the work had to take a different course.
This battle between me and the work is what eventually makes for the strongest pieces. I am anticipating the same struggle with my current commission. It is helpful that the client is happy for the outcome to be led by me and my vision. However, I have been selected on my ‘style’ and also, my approach fits with their brief: Modernist inspired and abstract.
So, I’m on a train to one of the UK’s largest and most exciting cities for a reccie and to record as much of it as I can in 24 hours, using photos and video. Ultimately, I need the work to sum up the genius loci, which reminds me, I’ve been here before: A’ level, Foundation, undergrad, postgrad, then almost every series of pieces I’ve ever made. It is a common project both conceptually and visually demanding. I don’t know what lies ahead and not sure what the outcome will be…
For all posts regarding my Immunotherapy and T-cell project with Oxford University researcher Anina Graedel with the Wellcome Trust, please go to: https://www.a-n.co.uk/blogs/gene-expression/
Evolving from my ‘St Giles’ video shown in St Petersburg recently has been a new series of paintings and prints.
In a new series of paintings I have taken the octagonal motif of the video (distorted lights on a ferris wheel) and repeated it, playing with the gradual build up of tone as each shape overlaps the ones beneath. This is a new direction for my work, and one I think has a lot of mileage. I like the tension between repeated geometric shapes with surface texture and hand-rendering.
As usual, my platform for experimentation is the print room. I decided to experiment with the octagonal shape: I drew the repeated shape in a grid on a large sheet of paper and then twisted the paper to distort the shapes, hence creating a 3D quality of peaks and troughs. I then photographed these and projected them onto plates, the dots were then covered in carborundum, inked up and printed.
The success of these has inspired a new series of “paintings”. I plan to create the dots in relief (made from aluminium disks) raised above a support and displayed with a spot light: shadows will be created, which will move as the spectator walks past. Hopefully the origin of the optical illusion will be unclear. The synthesis of paint and texture will be introduced subtly. I am looking forward to where this slight detour will take me.
