Wirral Metropolitan/ Liverpool John Moores

Continued from previous post

“Clothes Maketh The Man 2” – Stitched drawing.

This machine drawing started life as an experiment for my sketch book when I had a spare hour. I wanted to do a visual response to my suit that was 2D, and almost like a complimenting secondary piece to the suit. This is why I chose to title them with the same name. I consider the drawing the sketch that began the suit. Like a fashion designer begins by drawing a model and garment in pencil I just decided to draw on the machine.

I didn’t like the drawing at first, until I really worked into it with the colour threads. The side that is visible is actually the under side of the sewing where the threads become tangled when the tension isn’t right. I preferred this side to the upper side that I could see when I was working because it was accidental. I had very limited control how the underside would look and I liked the idea of the threads tangling and breaking at different points. This was inspiration to keep the threads on my suit hanging on rather than cutting them off and neatening it up.

“Suit of Drama” – stitched drawing and screen print.

I had a silk screen already prepared with images of suit jackets and trousers leftover from when I was making printing in the studio. I was creating paper stencil backgrounds and detailed top layers. These prints were originally meant to be on display In place of this piece. However I decided to use some spare fabric and print rows of the suit, to possibly create some smaller experimental pieces for my sketch book. When I got back to my studio the sewing machine was on the desk and I just thought the fabric with the suit imagery was just asking for some figurative drawing over it. Up until this point only my suit had images of me on it. I needed to keep in mind the idea that my work has always involved images of the body, I didn’t want to suddenly seem like I was becoming a fashion designer, obsessed with clothing. I had to keep the identity of myself in the work.

This piece of work took time to grow on me, but others have made me see its purpose. Its a connection between my previous figurative work and my recent work involving clothing. Its my “bridging the gap” piece of work. I have always wanted to take my work into different areas but I was always afraid of not showing natural evolution and development. I dislike when my work is erratic. I like to develop ideas, and see them developing visually. I personally feel jumping from one concept to another isn’t realistic, it should be natural growth into areas that relate to your core themes.

The piece has some rather obvious inky marks where I hadn’t washed my hands while screen printing. I wished I could some how wash them out without washing all the images away but I can’t. So they have had to become part of the piece. I know that part of the show is to keep the work to gallery standard and to keep the look professional but my work simply is about imperfections so I think it works. The suit is tatty and isn’t sewn perfectly, the stitched drawing is mostly freehand and has ink stains all over it, the dress is torn and ruched, with breaking seams and tears, just as this drawing has ink stains and frayed edges. The imperfections of the works pull them together as a body of work.

Our degree show is still open for public view for a few days, We are very lucky that we get the opportunity to display our work in a public art gallery which is a chance to get our work seen by people who wouldn’t usually venture to a degree show at a campus. I’m going to just do a a review of the pieces I have on display in the gallery. It was hard to decided what to put up without it being overkill and ruining the look of the space. In the end I had 4 works up for assesment and I’m proud to say that I did really well.

I got my degree results last Friday and I got a first! Words can’t describe the excitment and pride I feel. It almost a little embarassing.

I wish you could see all my sketch books and experiments and test pieces I have but all I have is a few crappy shots of the gallery because my camera is so beyond repair I just need to buy a new one.

“Torn & Tattered Series”

“Clothes Maketh The Man” – The Suit

When I started making the suit back in January, it was just a large piece of fabric with my stitched portraits on it which have become a kind of signature way of working for me. I became frustrated with my work being so flat, and 2D. For so long I had been talking about turning my work into something 3D and sculptural. I had played with the idea a couple of times, but had always been reluctant to take the plunge because I feared it wouldn’t work out. However I just made the first cut and never looked back. It was a struggle to work with the fabric being so layered,

In the end I think the suit has become a really interesting piece. It obviously isn’t a conventional suit to be worn everyday, but is cut and sewn like any other business suit. I see the suit as a symbol of men’s lack of choice to express themselves through fashion compared to women. Even in an office environment where one is expected to dress smart, Women’s fashion, as well as social acceptances, allows them to wear a larger range of options and colours to let some part of their personality shine through. Our choice of clothing says a lot about us, and we use it to send out a message to other people. I see it as an extension of our personality. Its a statement about the place where we are as people and the emotions we are currently feeling.

I had been working on the suit so long I had begun to question whether it was becoming a piece of work to be proud of or simply something that resembles Joseph’s Technicolor dream coat. Now I see it in an environment where it can be viewed without distraction, I see that it truly sends the message I intended it to. I like the idea that it is tattered and torn, hence the name. It shows imperfections which we all have, and that we are not invincible.

“Dress”

The dress was an after thought idea that began to make more and more sense as the project progressed. Half way through making the suit, I looked at the left over suit patterns I had and began playing with them, I rather naively put the thin paper through the sewing machine and it jammed, making the paper screw up and become ruched. This made me instantly think of pleated dresses and long flowing skirts. I thought I would make another costume, this time a female one, a dress. My work dealt with themes of identity, and part of our identity is defined by our gender. I thought using a man’s suit pattern to create a female garment was a statement on societies way of pigeon holing people into categories instead of allowing individuals to just express themselves and stand alone as one.

I recently had an idea for a set of prints I wanted to produce. Since my work is dealing with layers of our personality, hiding certain parts of ourself, wanting to show your true colours and how that relates to clothing. Wearing certain clothing makes us feel differently, Like a costume, our choice of clothing also says alot about us.

I decided to create some simple screen prints to put this idea forward. The bold colours are a contrast to the type of clothing (suits, trousers) – associated with business men and office work. Usually blacks & greys dominate this type of clothing. However by using bright orange and green I’m commenting on the lack of individuality this clothing forces people into, and how uniforms make us all blend in.

When we see someone in a suit, how do we judge what type of person they are witohut any hint of their true self? whos under the suit?