Last week, aside from the disappointing events surrounding the Arts Council meeting, have been focussed on finding part time work to support my practice, hence I went for a job interview.
Upon the realisation that I need new reliable childcare, some of my time will now be distracted trying to find babysitters, so I can attend the shows that my colleagues put on in the evening, some of which deal with issues that are unsuitable for children. Besides, the boys hate attending these "dull grown up things", they get bored, as they did when I attended an exhibition by Alexe Dilworth over a week ago.
(I wondered why I'd been invited, but it became clear with the appearance of Alexe's prints of historical German dolls from the Usher Gallery)
Meanwhile, just to put the work into context:
"The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth – it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.
Ecclesiastes" – Baudrillard,J, Simulacra and Simulations United States of America: University of Michigan Press1994
I booked myself for an Arts Council meeting for this evening, however several challenges presented themselves to me.
The first was that although it was advertised in Lincoln, the meeting is actually 20 miles away, in Sleaford.
As I don't drive, this means relying on the train.
5.30 – 7.30p.m. is a very inconvenient time of the day for a parent.
Any earlier and I could've booked the kids into Kids Club, otherwise they'd be at school.
With all my Uni friends moved away, I now have a shortage of babysitters. The one person I asked let me down.
So I couldn't make it anyway.
It would've been extremely useful for my proposal to gain some knowledge of applying for funding.
This is a disappointing setback, but I decided to add it to my blog so that others can appreciate how many additional challenges I face as a single parent trying to find my way.
Outline Proposal
I propose to exhibit a show of works that are interpretations of contemporary art works and contemporary artists themselves, in the form of sculptural soft toy dolls.
The exhibition would consist of an installation of fabric creations, some completed and some currently in progress, which utilise traditional doll making techniques resulting in sculptures that reflect and overtly reveal their handcrafted making process.
Rationale
What initially began as a deconstruction of the stereotyping of children’s toys, with a series of archaeological Barbie and Action Man dolls, (in reference to Baudrillard’s theory of Simulacra and Simulation) has become a continuing theme within my artistic practice, where I create and appropriate doll imagery.
Through making “Manga Magne” and “Minor Magne” dolls, and the creation of a doll effigy of Damien Hirst’s For The Love Of God I have developed doll versions of Duchamps’ Fontaine, and Hirst’s Mother And Child Divided.
The parasitic nature of the works is intended to be playful and alludes to the artistic traditions of mimicry and artisanship which, in the case of these works, can be simultaneously interpreted as homage and parody.
The homemade aesthetic of my doll version of Sarah Lucas’ Two fried Eggs And A Kebab, for instance, could initiate an additional feminist critique or undermine its position as art-world icon.
The soft toy aesthetic physically and visually alters the original art works message and it is this diversion that I am most interested in. What happens for example when I render Lucas’ table, in Two fried Eggs And A Kebab, with floral fabric or remake Duchamps’ Fountain from satin wedding dress material?
Proposed New Work
I am currently extending the project to dolls of artists themselves, including Gilbert and George, Grayson Perry, Tracey Emin, and Van Gogh.
As an installed exhibition I would like to vary the scale of the works, they need not be to the scale of the original art. I envisage Duchamps’ doll “Fountain” as a giant fabric piece that the audience could sit on and climb into.
The series of doll art works may be exhibited as if in a toyshop, in boxes with the manufacturer (the artist) acknowledged on the packaging, corporate logo included.
With versions of Tracey Emin’s Bed, Duchamp’s Fountain and Van Gogh’s chair I would create a whole art doll’s house.
I am currently planning a life-sized Grayson Perry doll with a range of clothes. The audience will be encouraged to dress and undress the artist.
Clearly I will need to seek funding and support for the more ambitious aspects of this project proposal particularly to finance collaboration with upholsterers and seamstresses for the larger works.
This is the working proposal. It is subject to adaptations and alterations as the project progresses.
For more information and images, please visit http://www.helendblackbird.co.uk/Fine_Art.html
