On the 3rd of November, I had the chance to have a tutorial with an artist Ann-Marie James. The possibility to have a tutorial with another artist than my lecturers was really helpful as getting a fresh view on my work could give me new ideas and possibilities. From the start of my tutorial, after mentioning my interest in Cindy Sherman in my dissertation and her influence on my work, I was recommended watching the movie Breathless by Jean Luc Godard for its amazing aesthetics that relate to Sherman’s work in the visible field (mostly connecting to her untitled film stills).
After that, I received the question about the expressions and how they connect to myself. The answer to it was my try of coming back to my theatre background, wanting to use expressions in my work to speak without using words (although the words would be added to the pictures afterwards). Ann-Marie then recommended me trying also costumes and masks to wear or paint on my face and see how it could work in my practice. Sherman used quite a lot of masks to hide herself under a different gender/identity for her self-portraits.
Here is my take on it. This work is titled Oh my Cindy I and Oh my Cindy II.
I used a borrowed camera from the university and some makeup and props that I found in my room. I did not put too much thought into it as I wanted to keep it as raw as possible.
With another reference to an artist called Amelia Ulman, whose practice was based on creating a fake self, fake identity and fake life. She convienced the whole instagram that she is a wealthy woman travelling and eating expensive food and living a luxury life, meanwhile she was struggling with money herself and was buying all the designer clothes from charity shops and living in motels. That whole just left an amazing impact on me as I myself enjoy instagram so much. She saw an opportunity and took it as her own thing. Which is inspiring.
And of course there was a mention of Michael Borremans and his “eating the beard”. The painting kind of connecting to my work and a reference for a book to read.
MICHAEL BORREMANS
Michael Borremans is a Belgian artist that has a very innovative approach to painting which combines technical mastery with a subject that defies a straightforward interpretation. His works are known to have a contemporary relevance.
https://www.davidzwirner.com/artists/michael-borremans
One of the first times when I came across his works was in my first year as I tried painting with the exclusion of a face. Here is the painting I am talking about.
Novotna, M. Untitled (2019)
A thing that seems to be reappearing in his work is exactly that. Missing faces, paintings of people that have their back turned et cetera. A painting titled Oblivion (2002) Oil on Canvas, 69.5 x 60.3 cm has a very close reference to my work.
