Does size matter?
The Degree show is drawing closer and perhaps now is the time to start making a few decisions.
In my previous blogs I have mentioned scale and the possibility of working to a small amount of large scale works or a larger amount of small scale works.
I have been studying how other contemporary portrait artists are working and the thoughts behind the presentation of their work.
One artist I have been looking at is Jef Aerosol whose work is closely related to my cardboard portraits. Aerosol has worked in a variety of scales which he manages to exhibit together in a coherent manner. His larger scale works are exhibited alongside clusters of small individual portraits. Of course the larger scale works take on an iconic form where the focus is very much directed at the person portrayed, their importance and individuality. Whereas the clusters of smaller portraits are perceived as a group of related but different individuals. Which effect am I aiming for? Obviously homelessness is a huge issue affecting a huge amount of people. Do I want to portray the issue in this way or do I want to explore the effects of homelessness on more personal levels, where I can investigate the very unique ways in which different people are affected.
On an even more monumental scale are Chuck Close and Yan Pei Ming. To work on this scale is appealing however for my show there will be issues and restrictions concerning the space allocated to each student, this is a pressing issue which I need to address very soon.
The large scale portrait has an undeniable power, however the viewer needs space to move around these works, to step back and take these works in as a whole. In an area of restricted space this would be very difficult or even impossible. One possible answer is to display a large number of small scale works displayed closely together in an installation style, similar to Yan Pei Mings ‘Wall of Portraits’ or indeed like Christian Boltanski’s haunting installation of photographic portraits ‘The Dead Swiss’.
There are possibilities of displaying both a large portrait and a group of smaller portraits juxtaposed with each other. The contrast for the viewer between seeing one person large scale and monumental to a number of smaller portraits covering a similar area interests me.
Will the viewer see the portraits as a group? Or will they pick out individuals that they empathise with? Will they be drawn to the more iconic large scale piece? Or would the variety of people portrayed in the smaller works be more powerful due to the sheer breadth and depth of the different types depicted?
For the purpose of my show, issues of exhibition space may totally rule out a large scale work. I would no doubt have wall space to display a large scale work but would I have the required viewing distances?
