Selected Interruptions

I always seem to stumble when asked ‘what do you do?’ The answer I that is so often on the tip of my tongue is ‘Do you want a list?’ I don’t mean that to sound facetious or unkind but it is life – I, like most artists, are juggling various roles to maintain an income, a home, sustain an art practice as well as personal relationships.

I also seem to hesitate when asked ‘what do you do in your art practice?’ So I thought responding to that question in a blog would help the continuing reflection on what I do in my art practice.

I am essentially a painter. I work a lot with paint. Make a lot of 2d images using paint and print, they are mostly abstract exploring shape and colour, but at times my ideas seep into digital imaging, video work and photography.

This week I have been making some new work but also reviewing old work in preparation for an upcoming solo show ‘The Science of Fictions’.

I have chosen this title for a number of reasons. Science and mathematics is a re-occurring theme in my work – geometry and colour being very prominent. I wonder if I had heeded my father’s suggestion to pursue chemistry at school I may have explored the science behind paint and colour from a very different angle. As and aside I am currently reading Philip Ball’s “Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour” and am finding it very informative and fascinating reading about colour in art from a chemists point of view.

The works that I am planning to show suggest a narrative of ideas through images. The art I have made reflects a personal fiction that has accompanied me through recent years. It’s a continuing journey.

On putting this collection of works together I have been musing on the idea that I could presently describe myself as a landscape painter. Not in the traditional sense but I am very aware that my work often is usually a reflection of my environment. I take inspiration from and collect materials from my surroundings. I have been enjoying looking at the differences in the work I made when living in Stratford (pre Olympic frenzy) to the work that I am making now in leafier SE London.

I’ve moved away from scaffolding and building sites to manicured gardens and contained nature. Interestingly it is the angles of the man made structures and interventions that continue to be encompassed in my work. But the shapes of nature iare starting to seep in and I am interested to observe the direction my work will take if I allow it.

Having a solo show is a privilege and one I am grateful for. It also allows me an opportunity to place my work in a new space for a period of time giving me space to reflect on my practice and the direction it has taken. Also it feels like it will offer me a breather from my current work and I am excited about having blank walls for a while to all new ideas to develop.

I had an interesting trip to Munich recently and had the pleasure of visiting the Student show at the Art Academy (Akademie der Bildenden Kunste Munchen). I was wowed by the building and envious of the high windowed studio spaces. As with many student shows the variety of work was impressive.

I had a very good conversation with Ines Weber an art student that had just finished her first year – their summer shows include all years in the exhibition. It was good to hear about her initial experience of degree level education in Munich and on reflection has increased my respect for the art education that I have had in the UK. From a far I had always admired German education and the support that their students receive in making the transition from education into the art world – the grass is always greener. Also German artists would feature strongly in my all time favourite list – Genzken, Kippenberger, Richter, Polke… to name a few. Hence this admiration from a far no doubt fertilized the grass over the fence.

Ines is studying under the Atelier system. I understand from this that she studies under the same artist tutor for her whole time at that institution. Her complaint was that her tutor was often absent, hard to get hold of and sometimes drunk. She didn’t feel that she ever got much guidance let alone teaching and hence is very dependent of her fellow students for her learning and development. However her tutor is a well respected artist practicing in Germany and so seen as a credit to the institution.

She felt frustrated by the macho posturing of this out dated method of teaching and learning – the privilege of a student having access to the knowledge of the ‘elusive master’. She is right to say that her learning has developed through her interaction with fellow students. This is expected at any institution but a tutor is there to facilitate and develop that learning further. Teaching and learning is a multi way practice between the tutor and students.

The students at the Kunste Akadamie show their work as according to their Atelier group – I found this interesting to see how students’ work closely relates within Atelier groups. There was one group of students’ work that I felt very inspired by. They had carefully curated the room even thinking about what viewers could sit on. There was some strong and very professional work; some of it hung high to really make full use of the vast walls of the studios. I couldn’t help but notice that these students were working under a female tutor and I wanted to know if their experience of learning at the Academy was any different to Ines’ – sadly there were no students available at the time to ask.

I am passionate about teaching and learning and believe that a good art education can really stretch student’s way of thinking, problem solving, analytical and interpretation skills. I am aware that I received a good art education – I had a variety of tutors to refer to while studying and so wasn’t just influenced by one train of thought. All my tutors were practicing artists but also dedicated to teaching and learning – they were available and were not jetting off to their next big exhibition mid-term. I hope that the future of art education in the UK is not threatened by the increased fees due to hit students and Universities this Autumn – there are some good teaching practices here and it is sad to see them being cut. My trip to Munich has encouraged me to reflect on the impact of a good teaching practice and has renewed my commitment to learning in my own teaching practice.

It has been a while since I blogged. Life has been in flux and at busy times it is hard to make time to gather thoughts into written words.

Things are settling and I have had time to make work and review some of my previous work. I have been photographing some recent work and some older artwork to review my portfolio. There is nothing like someone asking to see a portfolio of your work to make you get your act together to review work and pull it together in a coherent and presentable form.

It is such a useful process. I have found it interesting photographing work and have blogged about that process on http://lisamuten.wordpress.com/2012/06/16/percepti…

I am enjoying the decision process of presenting work and how choices are made sometimes depending on who I am presenting work to and for what reason. The work is the same – it exists in its solid state as a painting or drawing. But how it is presented changes its meaning and context so much.

I am looking forward to an opportunity that I have later in the summer to show a lot of my work together in one space. It is rare that artist have this opportunity given to them. For me I think it is integral to a practice to be able to put up a series of work to enable it to create a dialogue or narrative. I am beginning to understand that my current practice isn’t just about producing single pieces of work but it is how these individual pieces work together to raise questions over painting, drawing and methods of display.

For this reason I have stalled on applying to many of the open calls this year. I have felt that sending in 1 or 2 jpgs of my work isn’t sufficient to capture where my practice is. For example this year I have moved between painting birds and then into abstract shapes – individually these works may not make sense but when they start working as whole the links become visible and an interesting dialogue emerges.

Maybe once I have the opportunity to view my work together in a public space I can then capture the work in a jpg and send it out there. In the meantime I attached an image from the current portfolio.

I saw two really interesting shows this week – Hanne Darboven at Camden Arts and IC-98 at Beaconsfiled, Vauxhall. Both of which I have reflected on in my entry ‘Marking Time’ http://lisamuten.wordpress.com/2012/03/04/marking-…

It was my first visit to Beaconfield. I admit this art venue hadnt been on my radar until someone recently mentioned it to me. What a fantastic space and great place for coffee and cake in the cafe. I was very impressed by the current show and the animations of Markus Lepisto. If you do a chance to go I fully recomend it for an afternoons viewing.

I did have the privilege of viewing the animation ‘A View From the Other Side’ almost in my own private space. The main work is being shown in a large railway arch. It is dark and dramatic and the rumbles of trains overhead adds to the experience. I left feeling that i had been transported to another place far beyond the bustle of London. A much needed escape in busy times. Thank you Beaconsfield. http://beaconsfield.ltd.uk/projects/

David Hockney at the RA surprised me. I was fortunate to go with the Leighton Project students who I work with through Action Space. We had such a great day thanks to the RA running access workshops. The exhibition was packed making it hard to negotiate space to work with students with but on the whole everyone was very accommodating for the short time we spent in the gallery.

The amount of paintings on show is overwhelming and I was pleased that the workshop organisers focused on just four works to make the day manageable.

The overload of colour that Hockney works with is joyous and for a grey January day truly uplifting. I enjoyed seeing the Californian landscapes in comparison to those in Yorkshire.

Hockney’s delight in the landscape comes across. His time spent working in and looking at his surrounding landscapes is detailed in the changes in season and perspectives captured on the canvas, prints and video work. I think his work encourages us to look at and appreciate our landscapes in more detail and in a different way. We all see places and colours so differently and Hockney is celebrating this and challenging our preconceptions in his work.

Hockney acknowledges how much our memory and experiences influences our vision and therefore we see and interpret the world in our unique way.

“We see with memory. My memory is different from yours, so if we are both standing in the same place we’re not quite seeing the same thing. Different individuals have different memories; therefore other elements are playing a part. Whether you have been in a place before will affect you, and how well you know it. There is no objective vision ever – ever.’ (Hockney 2009 in interview with Martin Gayford, RA)