Busy day today, in and out of the studio.
Second day in my degree show space today didn’t get all id hoped I would but I’ve made a start. I spent well over an hour removing copious amounts of white-tac off all four walls. White-tac is a little bit like chewing gum – very stringy and hard to remove.
Next I removed all of the pins, hooks and nails left in the walls and ceilings from previous installations. This has revealed lots of holes and cracks that need filling in before I can start thinking about painting the walls. I hope to be able to get everything filled and sanded by the end of tomorrow, ready for the first coat of paint Wednesday.
Need to ask the powers that be about painting the floor white or getting it cleaned as it doesn’t look very clinical at the moment.
The first picture shows the fruits of my labor. The second picture shows a sign on the door that I intend to keep. I think the ‘now wash your hands’ sticker will add to the clinical look of my show and I like its irony.
Wanted to add these images to the last post but you can only add 5 at a time.
This really shows the dodgy carpentry and the very un-clinical look of this piece. I think that relocated onto glass shelves that this will look a much crisp and cleaner piece and hold a lot more resonance than it does at the moment.
The spaces the pigment occupies is too high and dwarves the pigment and detracts from it completely. Once the walls have had a fresh coat of paint and the piles are reinstalled onto glass shelves their color will pop a lot more, looking forward to the progression of this long over due piece.
While I was my degree show space I thought I would try something I’ve been meaning to do for nearly a year now. ‘The wine rack’
This has always had the same meaning but it lacked the narrative i feel that my work affords it now.
This piece goes a little way to explain why these munsters have eaten, disfigured and maimed these men’s fallacies’. It’s all to do with male score keeping of sexual encounters.
Its customary (certainly it seems in my group of friends) for men to crow about the amount of sexual encounters that they themselves have had. My twist on this was it was like collecting. The obvious association to me was collecting wines.
Initially the ‘wine rack’ was going to house feet similarly to a morgues body fridge, with them hanging out of the section they occupy with a label on the toe – in essence suggesting that as a result of this score keeping through sexual encounters you’ve killed a part of this girl.
Through one reason or another the feet never happened. I ran out of time, my heart wasn’t in it and it was a pretty laborious process. However I now feel it has a place within this body of work, it holds relevance.
I mounted the ‘wine rack’ to the wall and started to add pigment in the sections.
I like the concept of this piece but it wasn’t having the desired effect for me. My lecturer walked by and we discussed it. In all honesty the carpentry is poor and lets the whole piece down. The wood also lacks the clinical feel of the whole show, so with a heavy heart I’ve admitted defeat with the ‘wine rack’. However it shall be reincarnated as 3 glass shelves.
Lastly, when I next handle this pigment I shall be wearing gloves – it gets everywhere and is hard to get off.
Today I was finally able to get into the space that I shall be exhibiting in, in the degree show. There are a few bits and pieces that need to be moved but they are fine acting as table’s etc. at the moment.
It’s a long narrow room as is evident in the pictures. It has a very clinical feel to it helped by the fluorescent strip lights and the white walls.
The clinical feel, I hope will only add to the viewers uneasiness when they enter and see the floor strewn with penis shards surrounding the four sculptures.
The cupboard in the far right corner – as you enter the room, is where the video installation shall be installed. I feel it important to have this as one of the last pieces you see, as I want the sculptures to have the first impact.
The cupboard needs boxing off and tidying up, I’m still undecided as to whether it should be painted black in there or white similar to the rest of the room.
There’s some serious painting, filling and white-tac removing to do before I can think about painting the walls, but I’m very much looking forward to getting started – roll on Monday.
I’ve noticed looking back over my blogs that my sculptures don’t have strict names, I refer to them as ‘she’ ‘it’ ‘the trap girls’ gin trap or mole trap chair’ to name but a few.
I’m trying to think of a reason for this but I cannot think of one. I haven’t, until now thought in-depth about naming them.
I had thought about naming them after traits: leech, gold-digger, gimp etc. however I though that these would be too, predictable.
I then thought about giving them girls names, I’m still undecided about this, It could make the work too personal as I couldn’t help but name them after people. On the other hand however it might spark a more personal reaction from the viewer.
Or, in keeping with their derogatory nature I could call them the ‘her’ series. This would add to their overall confrontational air. Calling someone her is very impersonal and implies you are just another person, this then links in with the promiscuity that I was suggesting they could relate to in a previous post.
‘Just another one of his conquests’
