Finally found the artist whose name I couldn’t remember!
Anne Wilson. She’s an artist who uses hair a lot within her work which I feel i’m reflecting in my work at the moment. She uses the technique of sewing her hair into material similar to that of what I have been doing. I really like her work now I have began looking more into her work and as i’m creating something similar its really captivating me. Hoping this is going to inspire me to create better work using my hair and explore this as fully as I can.
Hair when it is removed from the body appears to be a really interesting subject. Everybody has hair fall out of their head but when its yourself I suppose you do not take disgust at it as you just discard it off you. You don’t actually intentionally keep it and collect it all. Then when this hair is put onto, or woven through something it appears to have this different form which everyone is automatically disgusted about. Is this due to the fact it shouldn’t be there? It is just waste after it falls off your head? Or is it the fact that that persons hair is woven into something? That it leaves a trace of that person behind in an eerie sort of way. This really intrigues me.
In our group crit today, Josh commented on how it made his stomach churn when he first realised what it was. Maybe this could be an element I could push further? Maybe my collections of me don’t actually have to be that obvious and clear at first. Maybe they can be more subtle, hidden and makes the viewer have to study pieces closer until they realise.
Talking of studdying pieces closely before realising what they are has just reminded me of a piece of Damien Hirst’s work I saw last year at The Tate called ‘Black Sun’. I remember going up to the piece and seeing the rough texture not knowing what it was. I got closer and closer trying to figure it out before realising it was infact a circle full of thousands and thousands of flies! Once realising this it automatically made me jump back due to the intial shock of these dead flies I had got right close to. This is something that has now really interested me and I want to take further.
