I am watching documentaries about some sculptors and I thought it would be good to document it here, I have realised that due to the large volume of publications that I read and the various artist interviews and documentaries that I watch, I haven’t actually documented very much of what I have been looking at. I think I will publish a blog entry soon entirely dedicated to the artists, interviews and ideas that have been my main influences and inspirations throughout my final year, I think just to have them all together in one place will be hugely beneficial for me, it will allow me to see a main interests and common themes that I may otherwise miss when I am researching people independently of each other.
I am currently watching a couple of documentaries, one on Richard Wentworth and one about Alison Wilding. The Richard Wentworth one was very interesting, I have often looked at his work and been intrigued by it’s apparent simplicity. The documentary shows him looking through piles of old discarded objects and also shows his studio which is filled with watering cans, chairs and various old objects. His work seems more relevant than ever now I am trying to incorporate ready made or found objects into my work, his comment that ‘ he feels his studio with things that he think might be useful to him ‘ -and later makes decisions about which objects will work for him and which ones are kind of resistant to the things that he is trying to achieve with his sculptures.
This got me thinking about how interested I am in the decision making process of making art, the idea that everything is a result of these decisions that you make throughout the works conception. I suppose my work that was created through moving things around the studio, stacking things up and making compositions with objects was largely a physical manifestation of this interest. It also occured to me that although I have been aware for some time that I am interested in off cuts – of broken things, unwanted items, bits cut off a sculpture etc- I hadn’t quite realised its significance in terms of my practice, I think this fascination with off cuts is a really important thing to draw on now I am aware of it and really start seeing what I can collect, include in my work and what is produced as a result of these seemingly insignificant things that I find so compelling.
The Alison Wilding documentary – that has been put on pause for now – is really interesting, the introduction describes her work as ‘pure sculpture’ that is simply interested in ‘object and space’ got me thinking about how important these are to me, HUGELY is the answer, I suppose I thought that those things are inherent in sculptural practice and therefore didn’t perhaps pay enough attention to its importance in my work. The way the objects work together in a space fascinates me and I am intrigued about the decisions I make that lead to the objects looking the way they do and being placed where they are placed. Space is a major element in my practice and I think naturally I create works that communicate with their surrounding, either through echoing elements of its architecture or complementing elements of its physical nature or its usage as a space.
What particularly interests me about Alison when she talks in this documentary is the way she describes her relationship to her work, I find with my own practice it is something that I have to do, it frustrates me beyond anything I have known and some days I just stand and stare at my work wondering how anyone could be interested in the things that interest me!! However, when suddenly something works, it is as though someone has lifted a great cloud from in front of me and I can see again, I get such pleasure from moving forward with my work and learning about it/ understanding it that it is incomparable. Alison echoes these feelings in her own relationship to her work, she describes going into the studio and just staring at her works, feeling worse about it and feels unable to do anything until she gets over that point…which she describes as a ‘psychological hill’. I totally understand how she feels!
