I have been writing the last chapter of my dissertation and came accross a few quotes from a texton Ana Mendieta which I feel are relevant to my degree project and studio practice.
“I am an artist who feels that art is first of all a matter of vocation. Now vocation is a limiting factor, which extends even to the kind of art an artist is able to make. In other words, I believe an artist is even limited to what he or she can give life to. I make art I make because it’s the only kind I can make. I have no choice.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.167)
This quote is particularly true and is apt for my current studio practice. I spend alot of time worrying about whether what i make is good enough when in fact i am the only person who can make the exact art that I make. I therefore found the above quote comforting in that respect.
“I like to think of culture as memory of history.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.167)
This is very relevant to my project as i am dealing with Memory in Art, and it is very true what Mendieta is saying that culture is derived from remembering ones past.
“The greatest comfort that great works of art give to me is not only my experience of them, but also the fact that they were created and they exist.” (Moure, G. 1886, p.168)
I find this particularly interesting because she underpins what exactly it is about art that we find rewarding, enough so to store this in our memory.
Mendieta Quotes taken from:
Moure, G. (1886) Ana Mendieta. Barcelona: Ediciones Poligrafa.
I went to a talk with Michael Landy in the Atrium building and found this really inspiring. He talked about many of his artworks and the two that stuck out for me were ‘Breakdown’ and ‘Closing Down’. We learnt about ‘Breakdown’ last year in Contemporary Art & Ideas and was fascinated by it then, and to hear Michael Landy talk about it was very interesting and engaging. I love the idea that he has had to rebuild his life again from nothing!
Closing down was comical because the passers by thouhgt the gallery was actually closed, and there were signs up inside saying things like “Suicidally low prices” which i found quite amusing.
After the lecture I had a tutorial with Michael Landy about my projection work and he gave some really useful feedback.
He asked if id considered asking other people whether they had an MRI and could i use the imaging from it to project several. I liked the idea.
He also suggested adding text to the MRI film which I thought was a fantastic idea, and i have made a list of words and emotions that i want to use in excel to add into iMovie.
I deleted the text from around the edges of each MRI image which took a while but looks alot more effective as the eye is now drawn to the middle of the screen.
I also had to keep the bottom green bar as the images over lapped with this and I felt that cropping would sacrifice some of the image and make it uncentral.
Jane and I discussed this and we agreed that we liked the green bar being at the bottom as it anchors the images.
I have attached the MRI film which i did not do previously, without the information around the edges.
I look forward to adding some text into the image to see how this looks, i have an idea in mind that i was the text to appear and reappear, at different places on the screen.
I have been working with my MRI scan images and have so far made them into a stop motion video. I have also been experimenting with using a projector and mirrors to see what kind of effect this has on the images.
The mirror is made from plastic and therefore distorts the image rather uniquely, making it look like a group of cells or a woven piece of fabric.
I felt that the edges of the projection were unpredictable and ragged once reflected so i am unsure as to whether to use them or not for the degree show.
We tried angling the projector in different positions and then thought it would be interesting to see what it looked like projected onto a door. THis looked really effective and i liked the way the image was broken up by the gap in the door and landed on the wall behind the door also.
We then tried projecting the text on the MRI onto my face to see how this looked and it came out really well, especially the ones of the brain in the background.
The text is significant as this represents how the mind races and the thought pattern. The image in itself evokes the idea of memory, as it is an image of the human brain, and this leads on to the idea of mental health and psychiatry which are subjects that I am fascinated by.
