University Campus Suffolk

Almost finished maneouvering my work into place. If it wasn’t for the University being really anal, then it would have been finished tonight. Oh well.

Anyway, providing some pictures of the hanging in progress. Decided on a different format for my works than my original ideas, with some help from one of the lecturers, although I am more pleased with the layout than if I had gone along with my original plans.

The paintboxes are now in two vertical rows instead of one long one, which I believe works much better than having them in one row. This way, the viewer can get a much better look into them all and also encompasses more of the wall space, which I was worried about.

The other works have been arranged around each other to allow for a balanced layout which flows.
For example, the blue painting/object I have hung at the same height as the top of the red painting/object. Initially I was thinking of hanging this at a traditional height, but, as someone pointed out, hanging at a lower height than normal exemplifies the context of the work and the collection of works as a whole, that it is not strictly a painting and as such, does not need to be hung as a painting would be. Also, it almost seems somewhat less imposing; it is directly infront of the viewer, rather than glaring down at them.

I have also changed slightly the way that another piece was layed out. The blue and white piece. At first, I had the sloping piece with the greater amount of white paint at the bottom, but on mulling it over today, it didn’t seem right. I asked a friend what she thought, and she gave me some good advice, whereby we changed it around so that the sloping piece had white dripping down towards the floor. Just reversed it basically, (pictured.)

Also, thought it would be quite good if I also carried the white paint onto the floor, to emphasise the point, but also, because the floor paint we’re using is way too purple, and who the hell likes purple, this would detract from the horrible colour.

Been meaning to do a blog about this for a little while now. Don’t think I’ve really gone into it too much before, but I could be repeating myself a little, so perhaps this is more for my own peace of mind.

I wanted to explain the reason for painting one of my frames white. Unfortunately, the pictures aren’t that great for a comparison, as I stupidly didn’t take a photo of the unpainted frame displayed on a white wall.

However, I’m sure I mentioned why I painted this one monochrome blue, so i won’t go into that, it is literally the frame that changes the whole dynamic of this piece.

There have been conflicting opinions on doing this and I did have my reservations going ahead with painting it, but I think it completely works this way rather than being unpainted.

I guess with this piece, the definition I’d use is one of muddying the boundaries between painting and object.

If it were an object, it would generally be unframed, but as a painting, it would generally be framed. Painting the frame white and allowing this frame to be absorbed into the surrounding wall space makes it unclear. You have to look a bit closer to see that it is actually there, especially in the photos, and this allows the monochrome surface to sink in and out of being objectness and vice versa, painting.

Recently hung my paint boxes in different ways to see which looks best.

Firstly I tried a single row which was my first vision for hanging these when making them. Then I tried a box consisting of nine, (I have ten in total).

Then I tried a vertical stack which was my other favourite option. Both the vertical and horizontal display are Judd influenced and I will use one of these for the degree show.

At the moment, thinking that the horizontal or vertical displays work the best and will be most suited to the space that I have to show them in.

I also tried a two row display with five on each row.

The vertical and horizontal are the ones which pack the most punch looking back at them in the pictures. These occupy the space much more than the box one or two row one which both feel quite small and claustrophobic.

(And yes, I did stand on a god damn table to hang these, so stuff you health and safety)

Tried some more arrangements of the pigment cups friday.

Think the tonal hue arrangement ones work quite well.

Still not sure whether I prefer more or less, perhaps verging on the lesser filled ones.

Cut some small pieces of wood to raise the cups outwards from the setting of the frame, however, although these are painted white, some of the thinner, lighter toned cups allow the wood to show through, which takes away from the aesthetics. Not sure how I can remedy this…

Prepared some frames recently to display these cup things in.

Have been advised by a couple of people that perhaps less cups in the frames is better than cramming as many as I can in.

So as well as thinking about the amount that will go in, I need to think about the colour arrangement. For the auction, I made a couple that had a cool and warm tonal composition and I think perhaps this is the way I will go for the show.

The reason I’ve decided to put these in the show at all is because I know that they’re quite visually striking pieces, they’re decorative, whereas the other works which will be around the corner to these are not and this contrast is quite refreshing. I also like the strong impact of them in a smaller space, the frame, rather than having them cover a whole wall. I kind of feel that they sum up the the context of the larger pieces that will be around the corner from them, but in a more aesthetically pleasing way. They are not paintings but objects, but in comparison to the wooden painted boards, these display their objectness by containing individual pockets of paint, instead of a monochrome surface. Although they look vastly different, their relationship to the other works are intrinsically linked, they are trying to say exactly the same thing.

I have tried some various compositions; light and dark, warm and cool, as well as random, which I haven’t photographed, but which doesn’t work anyway.

I’ve added some pictures here of the various ways I could display them.

I’ve also tried a variety of amount of cups in total in each frame.

As you can see, on some I’ve filled the entire frame, which I think is far too much. It’s too busy and distracting, and I think takes away from the individual differences between each one.

Although I don’t think that the “Dark” variety works at all, I do quite like the “Light” one with 8 cups. I am intending to have three frames in total, two are rectangular and the third a more or less square, so I could use the cool, warm, cool composition, or try a cool, warm, light display.