I went into uni today to work on a new ink drawing. The image I used for reference is a real crime photograph of a body which is falling onto the floor, all you can see is the shoes and the bottom of the trousers. I like the oddness of the photograph. It could almost be a picture after a party, where someone has had too much to drink and fell off their bed. I thought back to my mugshots and how quickly I worked. Some of those drawings were finished in 40 minutes. Working that fast made the made the portraits fluid, so I decided to work quickly today.
The finished ink drawing is just a little bit bigger than A4. I think I would have like the work to be looser but overall I’m pleased with it, and it works well with the other house interior drawings I have made.
There is something very creepy about stairs at night. The way they creek and the shadows the bannister makes on the walls. And what is inside the cupboard under the stairs? Why is the door half open?
Alfred Hitchcock taking the viewer for a tour around the Psycho house.
Staircase from The Babadook
I have been looking at the staircases in the films Psycho and The Babadook for image reference for my stairs. The work has taken longer than I wanted, especially as there is so little time left before the degree show, but it’s an important piece.
Here is the process of my stair ink drawings.
Sarah Bale (2016) Stairs [ink and charcoal on paper]
Here is another version of my ink drawing I made using Photoshop and iPhone apps.
Sarah Bale (2016) Stairs [digital layered imagery]
I just found this film made by Jennifer kent. Monster is a short film she made before going on to make The Babadook. It exactly captures the feeling I want to create with my ink drawings and rooms. Do have a watch but I must warn you it’s not for the faint hearted!
Last year I saw the Ai Weiwei’s exhibition at the Royal Academy. His installation S.A.C.R.E.D consisted of six large plain iron boxes. To see inside the viewer has to peer inside small windows which are situated on each side as well as above the box. Each box is a nightmarish uncanny depiction of the brutality of Ai’s time locked inside a cell. What was his ‘home’ for 81 days is shown in perfect detail.
Ai Weiwei (2011) S.A.C.R.E.D [Six-part work composed of six dioramas – Supper, Accusers, Cleansing, Ritual, Entropy, Doubt [fibreglass, iron, oxidised metal, wood, polystyrene, sticky tape] 377 × 198 × 153 cm
Looking inside S.A.C.R.E.D
The outside of each S.A.C.R.E.D room just has a door and the number of the cell -1135. I want the outside of my own rooms to be featureless apart from the viewing windows. However, I do like the idea of putting a house number on the outside, or maybe a house name.
I have experimented with different sized holes and found that to see inside the room you only need the smallest of windows.
The floorboards are now finished and I am pleased with the way they look against the printed wallpaper.
I think I might also add skirting board. The break between the floor and the walls will give the mugshot imagery on the walls more impact. Other things to make are pictures for the walls, a fireplace and a door. I am also thinking of adding in a wall behind which is a secret space.
