I have had another great day in the studio. I feel that all the sketchbook ideas and time thinking about things is really beginning to pay off now.
This morning I ordered more MDF boards, yet more canvas to work on, including a very special one in the dimensions 106cm squared which will be my homage to Malevich ‘Black Square’. I want to do something similar with the neon pink but with layers of depth and darkness and AURA lettering, one letter in each corner, which is also a reference to Walter Benjamins Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. I am trying to say something like What Painting is to me, how painting becomes you, and you become it. Like breathing.
I really feel the dress lady has huge potential. Last night it was annoying me that the neck and shoulders of the dummy were showing and in my mind, the body that wore the dress was no longer there so it had to be removed. I did try to saw and carve it away but after testing, realized it would be better if I were to set light to it, so armed with a box of matches, I did this outside the building this morning. I still need to work on it as I ran out of matches and it is a slow process and gives off a hazardous smoke but the material quite literally melts in front of you if you are patient enough. If my aim is to create the carporeal then it is working. Sinews and melting holes are left, just what I want. I have spray painted the arm areas already and they really work. I still need to work further on the chest area to remove it more but which ensuring the integrity of the structure to hold the form of the dress. It really works in this way and ‘she’ is already becoming an presence in the studio space. I know from audience feed back that I am onto something here. I really need to test on paper what text I will add in due course as I will only get one chance to get it right.
I have spray painted the shoes which are now drying, I am thinking of a text like 1000m – cryptic for walk a mile in my shoes?
Also tested today was the actual books which I have spray painted to mimic the earlier text paintings on the way and the reference to looking like Penguin books. I am really pleased with them although I need some more books and also need to seriously consider how these are presented. After discussion with a couple of other students, we felt the plinth as a form of presentation did not work, but there was a painted white table, that was far more everyday. Also, to have the most powerful book open and readable, that would add another dimension. I was drawn to the story of The Prime of Miss Jean Broadie which is a colourful tale about making your own destiny despite societies limits and the advice of one generation to another about their place in the world. I felt this fitted really well with my message. Overall, the actual book sculpture is about ‘language is political’ and I testing actually adding this to the spraypainted covers but I don’t think that this is actually necessary at all now. It is too literal within the piece but could be used elsewhere in the installation. Each book chosen has a message to women about their various roles in the world. Its about multi tasking in a way.
Then I was doing a little bit of painting, the bit I enjoy the most. I am working on the latest painting as per the picture. I still need to add the figure/figures but its coming on. Really pleased with the painterly-ness of the detail shot below. Suggestion is enough.
Huge Steps.
