Sinéad Gavigan

Forever Creating

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This is my final show for my final project for painting.

My main theme for my installation is transparency.

I find how the transparency of the layered, coloured acetate shows against the wall, intriguing. By layering the same colour of acetate over itself, it creates many densities of colours that may not be conveyed when a single sheet is laid out, alone.

I have been studying the work of Bridget Riley, Jim Lambie and Michel Parmentier, and have incorporated elements of their own work, such as colour and line, into my work. Their use of colour has inspired me to create my own pieces, using styles such as stripes, as used by Michel Parmentier, in my installation.

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These two pieces are very similar. The green one resembles a landscape so I decided to recreate it in a different colour to see if it had the same effect. The red piece did not resemble a landscape but I still believe it was successfull. The appearance of these pieces look like stripes and remind me of work by Michel Parmentier.

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I began to incorporate PVA into my pieces. The relationship between these two are intriguing and the pattern that it leaves is beautifully simple. The colour from the acetate also blends with the PVA causing it to change colour also.

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I have decided to go back to my Materiality project, and back to using coloured acetate. Layering is a major element of this process and colour is also a theme of this project.

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Carrying on from my subject matter project, I have decided to explore the combination of faces and plastic surgery. I have been studying the marks used by surgeons for surgery and I have been sewing the thoughts of the people getting the surgery into their faces/bodies. The use of text has been inspired by artists such as Shirim Neshat and Ronid Bigal.

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Final pieces for my subject matter project. 

After researching Gerhard Richters ‘Atlas’, I took inspiration from the figures in his photographs. I soon began exploring faces and collaging to create unusual features. I took my influence from John Stezaker and Hannah Hoch, who created her collages from newspapers and posters to portray the truth about war. I developed my work further using the figures from magazines, who are conveyed as ‘perfect’ and ‘flawless’, and changed their appearances to ones which are contorted and undesired. I also used text from the magazines, which almost force its readers to believe that we should all look a certain way, and I merged both these images and texts together.

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Artist page for John Stezaker. Includes biography, selected works, news, press, and associated exhibitions.

John Stezakers simple yet mind blowing artworks have become a large inspiration towards my work. Series, such as ‘Marriage’ and ‘Blind’, have encouraged me to manipulate the images of faces that I have. Manipulating the faces from magazines, that are deemed perfect and have people believing that a certain appearance is the only way you’ll be accepted, is the direction I am going. I am challenging this by using the techniques of John Stezaker to create my project around this perception.

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I had to research Gerhard Richters, ‘Atlas’, to begin my ‘Subject Matter’ project. I began to form an interest in the images of people/figures and therefore decided to explore this interest. After learning of the work of the talented John Stezaker and researching photographers such as Damien Blottiere and Pierre Debuschere, I decided to create my project around faces. Using techniques such as collage and photocoping, I am creating my own responses to my references, and using the photos from magazines as my main source for pictures for my collages. 

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Using acetate, I layered different colours over each other and burned them with a lighter, which caused them to melt together.

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FIRST PROJECT; ASSESSMENT SHOW FOR PAINTING;

The work I have created during the weeks of the materiality project, have been inspired by my first semester project, and its theme of colour and light. The material, acetate, can be manipulated many different ways and has many colours and depths when layered, so this was the obvious choice for my main material. After studying works such as ‘Blocked Radiant’ and ‘Films and Windows’ by Kerstin Bratsch, and short films like ‘Swinging the Lambeth Walk’, ‘Rainbow Dance’ and ‘Tattoo Track’ by Len Lye, I began incorporating pattern and design into my pieces. Both pattern and layering elements have enabled me to develop my pieces further.

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1936 Len Lye - "Rainbow Dance" (highlights)

Len Lye's work may look like contemporary vj wizardry, but was actually made in a time when full colour film was still a bit of a novelty. Disney had introdu...

Throughout this project, I have been researching different artists, but Len Lye, in particular, has caught my attention. Len Lye is from New Zealand, and is known for his kinetic sculptures and films. I adore Lyes use of colour, pattern, and line, and I never find myself becoming tired of watching his work. It continuously inspires my own work and he is definitely worth looking up!

[sineadgavigan]

For my first project, which is based on materiality, I have been experimenting with transparent materials such as acetate and cellotape. I have been merging these two main materials with others, such as photocopies and fabric. Layering is a major factor, and it gives another depth to the material being used. Studying the work of Kerstin Bratsch, I am attempting to add the element of colour into my own work also.

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My finished pieces for the ceramics elective.

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The pots I made for glazing in the ceramics elective.

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My finished words and images for the Vis Com elective.

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Show for painting elective assessment.

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Paintings from my painting elective.