University Campus Suffolk

The theme of the everyday and the daily-ness of the room’s presence has been a motivating factor. Every time I go to visit the room what will I find? Has it been filled with tables and chairs? Has it been cleaned? Will I be blocked from going to the room? Every time I visit my room I do not know what will be waiting. The anticipation of how I will find the space increases as time goes on. This disused room has become a part of my experience, something I have explored, not literally by looking at every inch but its essence. I could photograph or draw every inch of the room but this feels tedious. I go to the room alone. I bring other people to the room. Some are interested and relate the room to other rooms they know. While some find the room a quite space to daydream or knit. This room has a feeling. I share this room with my friends and strangers. This is the essence of this work. This is what is being documented. Tutors have visited this room. Only briefly. Is this because these tutors know that the room is mine, for now? Will this room be released from its responsibility of being a focus once the work has finished? I doubt I will continue to visit the room, but maybe others will for reasons that are yet unknown. The room may become an office for staff or a storage space for photocopy paper. Then many people may visit the room. Although they will not know they are part of my art.

I am one of those artists that flits from one thing to the next, just focusing from one flowering idea to another. Well like a bumblebee collecting pollen, bringing back visual ideas to a collection to make a cheesy analogy. I have had a number of jobs; careers even, yet throughout each stage of my life being an art student seems to be the culmination of all those phases or places. That each place that I have been, even when no one understands or fully comprehends those places, has brought me to this point.

Abromovic (1995) tells us that

‘there are some places which are sufficient to feel that course of energy. And that those places are open to you…sometimes somebody else can come to the same place and nothing happens. ’ (excerpt from Cleaning the house )

While Abromovich is talking about being a nomadic artist going from physical place to physical place, this may relate to a mental state of place as well. I relate physical places to feelings and memories of experiences, and feel this is an emerging narrative.

Mulliigan states ‘All art is a reflection in images of a world transformed to opinion (which does not mean that such an opinion is per se a clear, rationally definable idea). (Mullligan as cited by Peters eds 1995 p. 69)

The ideas and the resulting reflections of the place – Room o.102, which I am now focusing, are not clarified. What is emerging is a search for meaning. The variety of points of view in which this search has launched has been unsettling for those watching the practice, yet comforting for me.

With so many theories, views and opinions to be considered, it is easy to find yourself in a mental labyrinth while in art school. The contradictions presented by our own thoughts and that of others creates many misdirects. The post modern themes of the loss of meaning and the death of the authors demand a theoretical space where there is no right or wrong, yet there are lines that must be understood to achieve. How does an artist move forward without becoming a character in a fable, such as the Emperor’s new tailor? Does an artist have to be a charlatan or wise woman to manoeuvre through this non-navigable space?

bibliography

Peters, P. eds (1995) ‘The Ideal Place’ Art and Design No 42. 1995 p. x, 69.

While the painting has had its ups and downs : ) but the video…. well had to use cherry picker that was outside room o.102

Strangers observing the room

Meanwhile… while I have been having my existential crisis about the meaning of my art practice I have been attending life painting classes once a week. These sessions are wonderful, as we paint with our tutor instead of being ‘taught.’

Can a barren room be interesting?

Initially colour appeared to be the most direct route to make the room more interesting. However this has become more complicated than expected. This simple and direct response to a space is more layered than anticipated. At this time I am conflicted by traditional perspective usage and how I may challenge those ‘rules.’

I feel that playing or miss using perspective creates something that is unsettling. This unease is palpable.

What I have learned from my research… : )

1) The artist creates the context of colour within the work – moving away from traditional colour theory and its restrictions.

2) Ready made colour and its connection to the modern world and contemporary art are inseparable.

3) Dan Flavin used titles and the work to create a dialogue or narrative within his work.

4) Darbyshire has captured the zeitgeist – reflecting on consumerism and questioning the visual elements of our culture with colour.

5) Frank Stella’s honesty and unpopular notion of readymade paint being better than what an artist may mix with their own hands cannot be ignored.

This is where I am…

p.s. also having an existential crisis that has to be put to one side – as recommended by a tutor.