University Campus Suffolk

My deadline might be here on Monday but I had to paint today and I’ve strarted something I want to continue after the degree show, as a continuation from this project.

I was so excited seeing my work up and the product of my hard work that I wanted to do more, even if it doesn’t end up being assessed or in my degree show.

‘Here Come the Faces” – in progress, 2014.

The Hanging is all done…well nearly…

I hung my exhibition today, everything went well except for a few hiccups with a few screws not doing as they were told.

And the rain… the rain that came down in Yoxford at exactly 11 o’clock wasn’t brilliant for moving my large painting to the van. No major disasters though!

I wanted to hang all of my paintings from the top as that is the rule I like to follow – everyone does it differently. I also wanted to curate my show for the paintings to be viewed intimately – it is important for the viewer to be able to look closely at the work and I want them to feel accessible.

After hanging it all and stepping back I have considered the idea of changing the height of my large painting.

I’m very happy with the height of all the other paintings and I especially don’t want the triptych to be any higher. I have messed around with them at home on several different heights and this is as high as it can go with out crooking your neck and not being able to interact with the materiality of the paint. As it stands the eye line of a six foot man looks into the eyes of the triptych (which is on the top line of paintings).

I already worked this out in my computer mock up.

However by moving the biggest painting up by 6.5 inches I will give the figure and the painting back some status.

In a previous exhibition I have had to break the rule of hang and I was told I shouldn’t – I better stick to the rules. I was later commended because it was the right thing for the painting.

Another rule I have broken is instead of placing my label for the largest canvas underneath which, would mean it was practically on the floor! I have placed it at the top of the next columnof labels, just to its right handside.

A wise woman once told me, on a similar occasion, in a gallery in Saxmundham – “You don’t want to put it down there, who’s going to read it down there. I’m not crouching on the floor…”

The title of this painting supports its context. It is important, and I don’t want it to get missed.

I’ve also sourced and refirbished an old piano stool (satin black finish to boot). I want a way for my sketchbook to be included in my degree show and so I plan to place it in the open stool, like a display cabinate. I want it to look more important than a book slapped on the floor – beacuse it is!. My sketchbooks are always invaluable to me and support my work – I want to share this.

Just some finishing off tomorrow and I’m all set!

The Degree show. Curating…

I have framed everything for the show plus most other paintings which, won’t be hung, just in case I change my mind when I am in the space. The decision to frame them black was to further develop themes of trapped flesh. Black makes my colour pop and works with the themes and style of my paintings.

I went for using a satin finish because I thought gloss would detracts and matt would blend with some areas of consistencies in the paint.

I have been able to work out measurements using my walls at home and measurements of my space. I have made a visual mock up on the computer. I have made several versions.

I found it was an excellent tool to prepare me as best I can. Hanging can be stressful so I want to minimise that stress – naturally.

There have been two exhibitions I have seen which, will stay with me for a very long time. The first I have already mentioned in terms of context for this project – Bacon and Moore at The Modern Oxford.

The second, David Hockney – The Bigger Picture at The Royal Academy.

I have been thinking about these and what made these exhibitions affect me the way they did – apart from the paintings.

Intensity from both. Bacon – the relationship between the paintings – bouncing off each other. You entered the space with the paintings. They were hung on a personal height which intensified my relationship between the paint – especially ‘Portrait of Henrietta Moires’.

Hockney’s was exciting and my eyes hopped around in my head like excited children – It was not traditional in the way it was hung in the sense he had pictures underneath each other and a room of sketchbooks you could look at – I LIKED THIS !

Because of the layout of my space I will be able to arrange the paintings so they can talk to each other and make it a conversation between painting and painting viewer and painting and a documentation of my (the artists) conversation with the painting. These are key supporting factors to the ethos of active paint – paint as it’s own entity.

Decisions – the mouths will scream at each other diagonally – mouth to mouth – paint to paint . one leads you into the other paintings the other sends you back around.

Yes, it is a journey but these works relate and have communicated to each other in their development – areas of one re-emerging or developing from another.

Full size body to break up the heads.

Legs to support the body – this is about flesh not portraiture.

I tried minimal set up but I didn’t feel it represented my body of work. I didn’t find it as exciting. It didn’t communicate what I wanted it to. I want this to show what my project is all about but for me it is also a celebration of all of my hard work coming together – weeks with no sunlight has taken it’s toll on my complexion.

I like the strength of this layout. They aren’t JUST pictures. I’m not hanging pretty pictures on the wall. I aim for these paintings to dominate and own this space and to suck you in! That has always been my ambition for them

I have a hanging system where instead of string and d-rings there will be screws on the wall and slits cut into my frames – they can just be hooked on allow a bit of leeway to move either way. No having to get strings straight.

As it stands, my plan is to hand from the top. I will run string from one side of the wall to the other, use a spirit level to make sure its straight and use it as a guide to hang the paintings. This is a quick and easy method and one that I picked up from my collaboration last year – Thank you Chris Newson!

I will be hanging it tomorrow…

I have a van booked to take my work at 11! I feel prepared but I’m well aware from experience that everything and anything can still go wrong, but I am confident in my paintings so at least that’s some comfort!

The Journey

Reflecting on this body of work, my paintings became a sort of documentation, which I guessed they probably would. I thought of Jo Spence to contextualise this idea in terms of modern practise as a reference when I proposed this project to my tutors. Although I don’t wish to compare and indeed couldn’t, the greatness of emotion and journey documented, referencing Spence helps me pin down my journey in terms of contemporary arts and ideas. I feel this is important as my project sits at this point of intersection in it’s development.

When I started I wasn’t sure what was going to emerge in this project. I have had to be very honest with myself and in all other aspects, because, I felt I owed it to my work. This has been a project and will continue to be a project I pursue for personal interest and gain. This is not about pretend or superficial emotions or trying to muster a meaning or context, it is about a connection. I have seen ‘active paint’ from the artist’s side.

Where does my work stand at the moment ? Where do I fit in …I believe I fit into the group of artists who embrace and use the materiality of paint and let paint use them. All the artists I look at and gain inspiration and knowledge from do this. It is the materiality of the medium and its power which, draws me into paintings, it is what keeps me engaged.

For further expansion and depth of thought I’ve investigated the question, Is painting dead? My work and my theories fit in with this – and profusely deny the statement that it could be. Some say it was but it’s back – I say it never left.

The Tate debate and chapter in ‘Painting’ by Terry R Myers – key reads.

http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/blogs/tate-…

Physical aspects of my work have also developed during my journey. I went from board, to paper to cardboard, to canvas. Together oil paint and canvas and ‘active paint’, create an unmovable, strong language. Through my progression my handling of the paint has changed – my colour palette and over all language too…

Not all of my paintings are expressions of one emotion. I have found these can only exist in paintings small enough to completely in one time bracket. Paintings I can lean over and dominate with my paint. My larger paintings tend to express all parts of me, as their making stretches over a longer time period.

‘Conversation with a Trapped Bee.’

The title is a result of an earlier post -there are hidden meanings and dualities in it which I feel support the painting.

Conversation not monologue because paint is a two way thing – either the conversation between painter and painting or painting and viewer?

I think there is a successful feeling of space – foot coming out – built up thick paint in this area.

Also thick cloying paint on knuckles.

Dry sweeping marks – hair – over some areas like shoulder.

These areas of dry worked into paint remind me of Hyman Bloom – ‘Portrait of a Rabbi’, 1948.

Dry marks again for bee – very subtle.

I would perhaps like to return to this painting after my assessment and work into it further. I definitely wish to work on this same scale to develop my ability and familiarity. The language on this scale is completely different and I think it makes a very thought provoking comparison to my smaller works – it will be good to have this in my degree show.

It is also interesting to see the development in my language and painting as well as the development of themes and ideas from my first paintings in the project, up until the present moment.

(These photographs are bleaching the colour a bit – painter not photographer issues) I’ve lost some of the richness in colour I had in earlier stages but i think there is strong emotive language in this paint . This is exactly why I want to re-return to doing a development of flesh on this scale. I just need to do more more more!