Ben Hall's Part 3 Project @benhallpart3 - Tumblr Blog

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19/04 Show install

#work images

Images from my Evaluative Statement (top to bottom, left to right):

Plessen, M. (2013) Ladder [Oil and charcoal on canvas]. White Cube Mason’s Yard, London.

Hall, B. (2017) Upside-Down Figure [Spray paint, collaged canvas and acrylic on canvas]. (Own work)

Andrews, M. (1987) The Cathedral, The Southern Faces/ Uluru [Acrylic on canvas]. Gagosian Gallery, London.

Chiaki, N. (1973) Mr O’s Book of the Dead [Film still].

Hujar, P. (1963) Palermo Catacombs #6 (Girl with Gloves) [Photograph]. The Peter Hujar Archive, New York.

Hall, B. (2017) Mr O’s Book of the Dead [Reconstituted foam and spray paint on wall]. (Own work)

Wittwer, U. (2009) Familie Nach Gainsborough Negativ [Inkjet]. Parafin Gallery, London.

Hall, B. (2017) McDonald’s Negative [Photograph]. (Own work)

Hall, B. (2017) McDonald’s Workers [Charcoal on paper and reconstituted foam]. (Own work)

#proposal

Part 3 Evaluative Statement

My Part 3 project has opened up new avenues in my practice I had not yet considered, and while it looks different from what I laid out in my proposal, I feel this is of no detriment to its quality. My proposal’s title was a Magnus Plessen quote taken from a book of his I own, and this is an example of one of these newfound avenues - library based research during my project. I’ve found reading what artists write about their processes and practice not just fascinating but invaluable in informing my own work. Plessen’s quote captured a vein of my practice that until then I had found ineffable, and I have found the same come true with artists like Uwe Wittwer and Kazuo Ohno. Knowing this as I do now I will assuredly seek artists’ writings in my future projects. Practical, studio-based research has remained vital to me, hardly any of my pieces have ended up the way I would have guessed – I sometimes feel they makes themselves, commanding when to be worked on and when they are finished (the above right piece is an example). My aforementioned contextual references were key to guiding the course of my project from the outset. In the early stages I was given lift by seeing shows by Plessen, Tschabalala Self and Michael Andrews, further compounded by the work of Wittwer, Ohno, Andrea Mantegna, Peter Hujar and more found in the library and online. Ohno’s emotional philosophy in his dance has helped serve for years as a tonal and conceptual backbone for the work I create, and by learning from artists like Wittwer and Hujar I found practical avenues through which to channel this emotional intent. At every stage of my project I have been surrounded by images of artists’ work on the walls of the studio and in my sketchbook - I always work this way and I find using others’ ideas and making them completely my own results in my most proficient work. I took this a step further than usual this time by working directly from another’s photograph of Ohno, but I added a transformative quality to make it decisively my work.

The way my project has developed and my exploration of materials and processes really go hand in hand. The ‘chain’ of idea development in my case has tended to flow from research into subject matter and techniques, which are then refined through practice. From this point my development could be described as ‘thinking through making’ - for example the conjunction of my isolated charcoal drawing with reconstituted foam came about due to working with both in the studio rather than being premeditated. This approach also helped me abandon concepts that weren’t as effective in practice as I had hoped and pursue more fruitful inquiries. For example, through working extensively from my street photography I began to realise its limitations and became exhausted with it, then moving on to new subject matter through further research. This approach has worked well for me, although I found it more effective over a longer period of time during Part 2 as opposed to the more limited timescale of this project. I set out aiming to achieve breadth in my exploration of materials and I feel I have certainly achieved this, and while I feel I have paid due attention to most that I have approached I wish that I had devoted more time to more traditional painting, as I had in Part 2. The influence of Wittwer and Wolfgang Tillmans lead me to exploring photography and digital manipulation, before working from these images in a variety of materials. Drawing, as usual, was key to my exploration throughout my project, informing my use of more unorthodox materials like spray paint, textiles and especially orange reconstituted foam sheet. This foam became the focus of the latter half of my project as it fulfilled an element of my proposal - the desire to work with a more 3D, physical and visceral material that I could still use in a painterly way. I am satisfied with my exploration of this foam and its dialogues with other media, but of course feel there is much more potential than I was able to realise fully in 6 weeks. I look forward to using it again in the future.

The change from reflecting in a physical logbook to reflecting on a Tumblr blog has suited my way of working very well. Being able to dynamically compile my reflective writing alongside images of my work and other supporting references has helped me rationalise and formalise my practice with more depth and consistency than I have managed before. It is quick and easy to see my project develop by scrolling through my Tumblr, and I enjoyed putting care into crafting and presenting the blog thematically. Reflecting on Tumblr has helped me self criticise more immediately and sharply than previously, allowing me to sift through my own work often and map the evolution of my thought process. From now on I will always use Tumblr to aid my reflection. I’ve also been good at managing my time and mapping out the tasks immediately ahead of me, but simultaneously found that at both drafts of my action plan I’ve diverged quickly and significantly from plans more than a few days in advance. I have not felt this as a negative however – I am still happy with what I have achieved and the efficiency with which I have achieved it. I think my process driven approach to my work explains why I couldn’t keep to a long term plan – at every stage my project had new life breathed into it by the stage before. I feel that my initial aspirations were quite ambitious, and this high but vague long-term goal was key in pitching me in a direction. I think for me the ideal structure to plan my project by is a distant but lofty idea in my head and then manage each day afresh as they come. This also explains in my mind why consolidating my extensive explorations into ‘final pieces’ has historically been something I’ve found difficult. I found the most intellectually challenging part of my project was to decide when and how to make an ‘outcome,’ and in terms of this body of work what that word meant. Perhaps next time I would allow longer for transforming my ongoing exploration of process into something more climactic, and maybe pay more attention to using paint, but at the same time I feel to restrict myself in this way would be disingenuous. I feel that the reason I struggle with making and identifying outcomes has a lot to do with my process driven way of working, and this is also the reason why my project has diverged from what I set out in my proposal. I am still very happy with my project, but it certainly has spent more time working with foam and less time working with paint and on floor-based pieces than I had anticipated - to no detriment in my mind, it was just where the work took me.

#proposal

Self-Assessment Form

#proposal

Full 6-week Action Plan

#proposal

Revised Bibliography

o Magnus Plessen: The Skin of Volume (2016) [Exhibition]. White Cube Mason’s Yard, London. 4th November 2016 – 14th January 2017.

o Joffe, C. and Button, G. (2017) Chantal Joffe in Conversation with Dr Ginny Button [Public Lecture/ Interview]. Falmouth School of Art. 15th February. Marcus Harvey (2017) [Exhibition]. Vigo Gallery, London. 3rd January – 18th February 2017.

o Tschabalala Self (2017) [Exhibition]. Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London. 17th January – 12th March 2017.

o Anonymous (2017) Tschabalala Self. Exhibition held at Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London, January - March 2017 [Exhibition catalogue].

o Siegel, K. and Plessen, M. (2012) Magnus Plessen: Riding the Image. London: White Cube.

o Hentschel, M. and Jelinek, E. (2012) Mamma Andersson: Dog Days. Bielefeld: Kerber.

o Cumming, L. (2017) Lubaina Himid: Invisible Strategies; Tschabalala Self review - history and mystery. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/jan/22/lubaina-himid-invisible-strategies-review-tschabalala-self-modern-art-oxford-parasol-unit (Accessed: 15/02/17).

o Wittwer, U. (2005) Dazzled: Works 1990-2005. Heidelberg: Kehrer.

o Arbus, D. (2003) Diane Arbus: Revelations. New York, Random House.

o Tillmans, W. (2007) Manual. Cologne: Walther Konig.

o Martineau, J. (1992) Andrea Mantegna. London: Royal Academy of Arts.

o Michael Andrews: Earth, Air, Water (2017) [Exhibition]. Gagosian, London. 20th January – 25th March 2017.

o Wolfgang Tillmans: 2017 (2017) [Exhibition]. Tate Modern, London. 15th February – 11th June 2017.

o John Samson: 1975-1983 (2016) [Exhibition]. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. 18th September 2016 – 17th April 2017.

o Max Brand and Joanne Robertson: Poppies (2016) [Exhibition]. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. 4th December 2016 – 11th June 2017.

o Extended (2016) [Exhibition]. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. 28th July 2016 – Summer 2017.

o Polygraphs (2017) [Exhibition]. Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. 17th February – 17th September 2017.

o Franki Raffles: Observing Women at Work (2017) [Exhibition]. Reid Gallery, Glasgow. 4th March – 27th April 2017.

o Caribbean Queer Visualities (2017) [Exhibition]. Transmission Gallery, Glasgow. 18th February – 25th March 2017.

o Mark Wallinger Mark (2017) [Exhibition]. Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. 4th March – 4th June 2017.

o Paper Trail (2016) [Exhibition]. City Art Centre, Edinburgh. 2nd July 2016 – 21st May 2017.

o The Collection Series (2017) [Exhibition]. Stills, Edinburgh. 18th February – 9th April 2017.

o Valérie Kolakis: Done With Objects Because Things Take Place (2017) [Exhibition]. Fold Gallery, London. 3rd March – 22nd April 2017.

o Adrian Paci / Giuliana Racco: Another Place (2017) [Exhibition]. Frith Street Gallery Soho Square, London. 19th January – 13th April 2017.

o Yeji Kim: Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things (2012) [Exhibition]. Korean Cultural Centre, London. 27th February - 18th March 2017.

o Anonymous. (2016) Anohni – My Truth. James Elaine – Peter Hujar – Kazuo Ohno. Avaliable at: http://www.kunsthalle-bielefeld.de/index.php/ausstellungen/ruckblick/anohni-my-truth-23-07-16-16-10-16/?lang=en (Accessed: 18/03/17).

o Fraleigh, S. and Nakamura, T. (2006) Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo. New York: Routledge.

o Hempel, L. (2007) Lothar Hempel: Alphabet City. Zurich: JRP Ringier.

o Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 (2017) [Exhibition]. Royal Academy, London. 11th February – 17th April 2017.

o Eddie Martinez: Cowboy Town (2017) [Exhibition]. Timothy Taylor Gallery, London. 30th March – 6th May 2017.

#proposal

12/04 Final Reflection

Today I saw the Russian show at the RA and Eddie Martinez’s show at Timothy Taylor, as well as putting the finishing touches to my Part 3 project. The RA’s show I found interesting from a largely historical basis as I have studied the period in question in past history lessons, but that is not to say I didn’t appreciate what was displayed. I enjoyed seeing Kazimir Malevich squirm under the prescriptions of his Stalinist overlords, and personal favourite El Lizzitsky was featured as well. The work that impacted me the most however was that of Alexander Deineka. Deineka’s translucent, awkwardly muscled figures caught in perplexingly dappled light fascinated me. They felt as brazenly Bolshevik as much of the other work on show, but with an undertone of some of the tough realities of living in such a stark and harsh society. As well as Deineka’s painting I enjoyed lots of the (at least to me) truly bizarre figurative painting on show - its use of colour, perspective and sheer empty space especially baffled my British eyes at times, but in the best way possible.The films on show were also interesting, and I am keen to explore Soviet cinema further by watching films like The Battleship Potemkin and The Colour of Pomegranates. The reel of persecuted creatives at the end was a sobering finish, and I enjoyed the whole experience even if the RA had really crammed in the work (and people) to the detriment of the highlight’s impact.

I also enjoyed Martinez’s work, and his use of materials was especially relevant to my current project. Several of the works contained spray paint and collaged canvas as well as other random bits and pieces, but his work clearly is far more oil paint based than my Part 3. Still, it was great to see the fluency and energy with which he pulled these elements and colours together into his brand new (and still wet) paintings on show. His form of diffused figuration interests me in much the same way that Magnus Plessen’s has all year, and while I didn’t explore this as much in Part 3 as i initially intended I certainly will going forward to BA.

While adding the finishing polish to my Part 3 I came to the realisation that my foam Ohno piece, in my opinion, is finished as is so have left it so - project complete! For more detailed evaluation of my project please read my Evaluative Statement (also on this blog) but I will sum up in broader strokes here too. I feel my Part 3 has diverged from my intentions in a few key ways. There really hasn’t been as much emphasis on painting as I anticipated, especially in the latter half of my project, mostly due to the exploration of reconstituted foam that I anticipated taking only 2 weeks consuming my entire Part 3. Also, despite spending longer working with foam than I had planned, these works did not extend as far away from the wall as I had imagined - all my work this project has remained wall based. On a more practical matter also I haven’t really followed the action plan I so carefully drew up very well. With these observations in mind however, I can still say I am very happy with the way my Part 3 has turned out. It may look very different from what I intended in my proposal but I feel this is due to the process-driven way in which I work. My initial goals were essential to setting me on a trajectory, but once I was going the work took me wherever it demanded rather than strictly realising what I had already put down in writing. I am happy that it came about this way, as my work truly represents my interests and a genuine free exploration of my subject. I am proud of my project.

#reflection

12/04 Russian exhibition @ RA (photos not allowed) and Eddie Martinez @ Timothy Taylor Gallery

#research

10/04 Reflection

Today was the first day back in the studio after Easter, and I resumed working on my foam Ohno piece which I left as just a head. I finished cutting out the pieces and mounted them on the wall over the black and blue spray paint which used to have my previous foam figure on it. I was very happy with how this looked just by itself, and received some positive comments on it. I had spent Easter thinking about the piece and doing prep drawings to help me visualize something more ambitious, but seeing the piece mounted on the rectangle made me stop and reconsider. I have decided to sleep on the piece because I am currently in two minds. Firstly, I had intended to take this piece a step further than the previous by making it floor based, and adding spray paint and possibly acrylic and charcoal to add a traditional painterly element to it. However seeing the forms and their dialogue with the spray paint back really made doubt my intentions. Thinking about my previous foam piece, the reasons I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to were to do with the simplification of the forms but the density and weight of the spray paint and charcoal (and at one point fabric) which made the whole thing feel blocky and cluttered to me. This new piece however feels clear and the new complex forms make it skeletal and ghostly, as intended. It feels colder and more melancholic to me, and I really like the larger scale crossing over the boundaries of the backdrop. I am concerned about ‘undercooking’ what I had planned over Easter to be a striking floor-based finale, but I like the Ohno piece very much as is. I will return to the studio tomorrow and make a decision.

#reflection

10/04 Working on final foam piece

#work images

08/04 Reflection - Easter Edition

Unable to continue working on my foam Ohno piece, I have spent my Easter ruminating on how I should complete it and my Part 3 through research and drawing. As well as returning to earlier prior inspirations like Uwe Wittwer and Peter Hujar I have sought out painters and 2D artists who blend and extend their practice into 3D. After seeing the Rauschenberg show at Tate Modern earlier this year I returned to his work, and while I enjoy a great deal of is I’m not sure if his combination of found objects and thick, visceral oil paints is the direction I have in mind for my work. ANOHNI and Paul Thek’s work is sleeker and more sparse, and this is closer to what I had in mind - something more clean cut and not too cluttered like my first foam piece. Michael Dean’s sculpture, which I saw at the Turner Prize 2016 show, also helped guide my thought process. I saw tandems between his dissolution of typography and my dissolution of the figure, and enjoyed how tactile and imposing (in a sense) his works were in the flesh - really dominating the space despite not being huge in size. With these artists’ work in mind, especially Dean’s, I planned out ways to combine the finished foam shapes with found materials - considering stretching them over a stack of cardboard boxes or pillar, or suspending them with some kind of Lothar Hempel style geometric frame. As quite a hands-on thinker, I found it difficult to definitely plan my piece while down in Somerset, but the artists I researched helped me approach it through drawing. While I do have intentions to make the piece floor-based, perhaps through boxes, I still can’t say for sure what form it will take when I am actually working on it.

#reflection

08/04 Easter research; Michael Dean, Peter Hujar, Uwe Wittwer, Paul Thek, ANOHNI and Robert Rauschenberg

#research

22/03 Reflection

I’ve spent this last week before the Easter break throwing myself into producing a ‘final piece’ leading on from my research at the weekend, specifically in relation to Nagano Chiaki and Kazuo Ohno. I used my Ohno negatives to continue drawing from, selecting my favourite to cut out and isolate as I had with my street photography drawings. I have decided to turn this image into another major foam piece, but improved from the earlier one that I found unsatisfactory. This time, I projected directly from the photo and on a larger scale to really pick out the details. I feel this was especially appropriate in this particular case to capture Ohno’s skeletal and ghostly frame. I feel this image has promise, and am excited to realize it in foam. However, due to the very time consuming nature of this process I have only managed to cut out Ohno’s head before the Easter break. I am very happy with how the piece is going and look forward to completing it when I return after Easter.

Over Easter, as well as working on my evaluative statement and such, I will concern myself mainly with research and prep studies and drawings in my sketchbook to prepare myself for jumping headfirst into finishing my project in the few days between my return to Camberwell and hand in. My priority will be these drawings, through which I will explore the possibilities of somehow stretching foam Ohno into a floor based piece, and with the idea of using acrylic paint on the foam. I will also keep referring to my chosen artists to enrich and inform this process, so I can complete my Part 3 to the best of my ability. I have struggled with completing final projects in the past (at A-level), and don’t want this to be an issue again here.

#reflection

19/03 Reflection

This weekend I concentrated on gallery, library and online research before making some initial studies reflecting what I had discovered. Firstly I visited 3 shows in London, and while I wasn’t infatuated with any each had its own points of interest. The least impressive in my opinion was that of Valérie Kolakis at Fold Gallery. I found Kolakis’ odd sculptural works too sanitized and austere to really resonate with me, but the subtle ways in which some of her pieces hovered between being wall-based and floor-based was of interest. Yeji Kim’s painting at the Korean Cultural Centre was impressive in terms of painterly ability and the quantity of works on show.The density of 2nd hand imagery did evoke the transitory ‘search engine’ feel I think she aims for, but I found it mostly interesting in terms of the visual quality of Kim’s painting, and less so on an ideological or process based level. Adrian Paci and Giuliana Racco’s show at Frith Street Gallery was by far my favourite of the day, but on the merits of Paci’s work (I didn’t enjoy Racco’s too much). I found his watercolours amazing on a technical level - I have often worked in watercolour and find it difficult so it was great to see Paci’s wonderful use of colour and texture. I liked the way some of the pieces felt overexposed, and even the more conventionally paletted ones felt raw and human. Paci’s film of children scrubbing graves downstairs also engaged me - his representation of the grubby children in the beating sun and the morbidity of the whole situation felt like a continuation of his watercolours in a very true sense - a cohesive body of work.

I used the library and the internet to do more research, specifically on Lothar Hempel and the Anohni: My Truth exhibition at Kunsthalle Bielefeld last year, curated by visual artist and musician Anohni (Antony Hegarty). Hempel, like Kolakis, was of interest due to his blurring of the line between wall and floor based works. What drew me to his work especially was its theatrical figurative element - lots of his works make me think of movie posters. I like his sense of humour too, and these element mesh to create pieces I find fun and visually interesting. Like Kolakis however they feel a bit clean cut for my taste, and while the inclusion of figures lessens this considerably this is not really an aesthetic I desire to emulate. Anohni’s show on the other hand was full of artists exuding the raw emotion that I often appreciate. James Elaine’s sculpture was what I wanted Kolakis’ show to look like, Peter Hujar’s sorrowful photography moved me and Anohni’s own work hit a similar note. The exhibition also featured a personal favourite - Japanese butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno (working with director Nagano Chiaki). Ohno’s ideology regarding the emotional resonance and impact of his work has influenced me greatly over the years, and I find the photos and videos of his performances beautiful and moving. Tired of working from my street photography, I experimented with turning some of Hujar and Chiaki’s photos into negative, as I had done earlier in my project to success. I loved the haunting ghostly images that this produced, and began interpreting them in charcoal and acrylic studies. This appropriation into negative is a key part of Uwe Wittwer’s process, and I feel that I intend to transform these images to the point where their authenticity will not be an artistic and moral issue for me. I felt I was beginning to creatively exhaust myself still using my street photography, so Hujar and Chiaki’s photos have provided the breath of fresh air I was anxious to find this weekend. I am now looking forward to working from my negatives in this last week before Easter.

#reflection