I’m very happy this afternoon after receiving an email response from none other than David Batchelor. I emailed him only a few days ago about my dissertation, asking his opinion and if he had come across anything relating to the subject during his personal research, or any of his publications (namely Chromophobia and the Whitechapel anthology Colour- Documents of Contemporary Art). Not only was his email helpful, he actually seemed interested in the idea, and asked me to let him know if I “come across anything really good”.
He mentioned how he has noticed that few texts and essays deal with individual colours, and said “There should of course be a book on pink, and I think so far only black, white, blue and mauve have received that treatment”. I may be silly in beginning to feel that my ideas have validation- they aren’t simply the whims of someone (slightly) obsessed with pink!!
http://www.davidbatchelor.co.uk/
Aside from an almost 3 hour board of study meeting, today has seen me finishing some pieces to be submitted (tomorrow!!) to the 15x15x£15 exhibition at Avenue Gallery. This years theme was ‘Open’, so my submission explores the notion of open as being defined as without boundaries. The three pieces see screen-printed brush marks spill across the edges, while blocks of photographic print, layered over one another, jut out into empty space, escaping the limitations of the traditional frame.
The exhibition runs from 6-15th December at Avenue Gallery, admission is free, and anyone is welcome!! :)
So today is a dissertation day…which means tackling my introduction. I’ve been avoiding it so far…not being sure what bits to include. Is now the time to make the connection between colour and femininity, not to mention all other aspects I am going to associate with pink? Or do I devote another (mini)chapter to that, leaving the intro to what I am covering, and where the colour appears???
I’d be happier leaving this until last, when I know exactly what I need to include, however Mike, my tutor thinks that writing it now will give me more of a structure to stick to. Makes sense for my topic, I know, but doesn’t mean I’m happy about it…
My work attempts to bring together ideas of traditional, expressive painting with contemporary processes and reproduction, to create an image that deals with both imitative depiction and abstract, gestural mark making. My paintings often play out as a battle between these two opposing concepts, encouraging the onlooker to question what they’re seeing, and explore surfaces that aren’t necessarily what they seem.
My work sets to critique the grounds of representation, commenting on ideas of appropriation, originality and imitation.
My paintings are about process and expression, yet I like to hide the process, and play with images that need unpicking. I aim to remove the evidence of hand-made gesture, leaving a painting devoid of any trace of human intervention, and denying it’s own physical presence. In view of this, I would like my painting to be seen or read as a photograph or digital screen.
My work also explores pink- a colour more closely associated with emotions that any other, and which directly impacts on our behaviour. The stimulating aspect of working with pink is it’s inherent ambivalence.
No other colour embodies such widely differing emotional characteristics and culturally encoded qualities. Nevertheless, in contemporary art, pink is not taken seriously. Colours play an important role in our daily life. it is society that defines colour, establishes it’s uses, constructs, codes and values, and determines whether it is acceptable or not. During centuries of fine art tradition there gave been many outstanding works that have drawn attention to the colour in a notable way, however, today, it is disregarded, and not seen as a serious, sophisticated colour. My dissertation is an exploration into these ideas.
