The shelves of these dead folk are done.
We have the aforementioned shelves of Master Mariner Abraham Oscar Frostrithick – he who drank a drink and started to sink. Drowned at sea.
We also have (as previously mentioned) the shelves of Frederick Smarmsworth as he left them when he expired. He, the businessman with a ‘chip on his shoulder’ and an enjoyment of murder – murdered.
Joining them is Alice Grey, a teenager who struggled through her young childhood, the pressures within her head building. Seeking solace in her other worlds of dark fantasy fiction and alternative music, she seemed ok as she moved through her teenaged years – so everyone thought. Her dark secret was that one day it would all become too much. Today is that day. These are the shelves she left behind.
Lastly, is Herbert Smith. Herbert has lived a full life – seen a war out, completed national service, worked as an engineer, and retired with his wife to live in a nice bungalow by the sea. Sadly, his wife passed-away and he has lived alone, mainly without visitors for years, until this day, when he drifts away to whatever comes next … if anything does. These are the shelves he left behind.
I’ve been experimenting with the 6ix Souls Drowning splash video in he last week or two. I’ve shortened the original footage considerably, and will now present a short, loud splash on the water screen.
I now (thankfully) have what is known as ‘The Black Space’ to use for my degree show. It’s a totally black installation space, and is (alongside the rather obviously white ‘White Space’) the main reason why I wanted to attend University Campus Suffolk; that, and living nearby …
Showing the water screen in the Black Space gives me the opportunity to create apprehension, anxiety… dread even. Subtly, of course. My film will be made up of 4 very short bursts of bright video (drowning//fading/crashing/burning) interspersed with irregular periods of complete darkness.
I have 8 static artworks to accompany the films, which are vital to the whole. 4 paintings that represent the last few seconds of 4 people. 4 shelves/assemblages that represent their lives and aftermath of their deaths.
It has been suggested to me that I could display some of this static artwork in the Black Space itself (rather than the two not perfect wall spaces outside the entrance, where I probably will). One reason for not putting them in there would be that they might be impossible to see. Now I’m a great believer in being conceptual, and if it works I’ll certainly go for it; but only if it works …
The other reason for not putting them in there is that I had always planned the piece to include static artworks representing memorials, to view before the spectator enters the darkness to see what lies within. It’s a narrative. Strip that back and the narrative is diminished. I must be careful about that. Picasso was right about standing your ground on issues of creative decision-making.
I hope that people will see that the result works – and if they don’t … ah well … that’s what being an artist is all about. I don’t particularly like or ‘get’ a lot of art by others in the rather artificially created ‘art world’ – and I accept that people won’t always ‘get’ what I do. I’ll still do it though. They keep doing theirs after all … and rightly so. Art is for all – not just for a few who tell us what to like. Those ‘thought police’ are not for me.
If you apply it to music – it’s akin to someone not liking the same music as you. Nothing to be devastated by – you’re just different. I wouldn’t tell a musician to play their music ‘more like wot I like’ …
With just a few weeks to go ’til the joy of the Degree Show, there’s not really any point in me pretending that I’ll post frequently on here – but I certainly will post enough to show the whole process right up until the bitter end. There’d be no point in having started this blog otherwise.
In the next two weeks, I aim to complete all of the artwork required for the show. In the middle of May, we’ll be clearing the studios, painting them, and assembling our displays ready for assessment and the show itself. As much as I do enjoy working under pressure – this time, I intend to be relaxed and ahead of the game. Once the main art is completed, I’ll spend some time finding all the notes etc. that I tend to write/draw in a thousand places, and presenting it all as logically or illogically as I feel like doing.
My degree show is essentially about the death of all art/life & death as a combined, intertwined concept. Thus, the end may be just that. The end.
I’ll explain my concept (as it stands) as fully as it can be before the degree show. Otherwise, you’ll all just think I’m making random art. One thing I will never, ever do is strip back a body of work if it undermines a concept in any way. More on that (and my feelings on that) later …
Week two of my Easter period shenanigans (last week) was spent on such a vast variety of creative activities that I’ll really have to leave it ’til tomorrow to divulge more.
Suffice it is to say that I have been making the two remaining shelves that represent endings, the water screen, and the four films that I will be projecting.
Tomorrow (during the day) all being well, I’ll at least start to paint one of the remaining paintings in the studio at UCS.
Well, it’s been a couple of weeks since I last put together a blog entry – not because I’ve been holidaying in the Bahamas or anything; far from it!
In the first week, I visited my studio space at uni to spend some time experimenting in the pages of my sketchbooks. Ideas relating to the remaining two long paintings I am yet to do.
I finished the second of the four long paintings too – didn’t know what was going to happen until I stood there in front of the canvas, with an array of all sorts of materials. In the event, I freely expressed the life of the nautical man whose end comes soon.
With the teenager & the nautical man done – all that remains is the businessman and the elderly gentleman. I shall be doing those whilst in the studios over the next two weeks.
The stories/narrative of these ‘people’ emerges to me as I go along. They have grown as invividuals in time to fade away to nothing once more.
I do hope they leave a mark.
