At the very beginning of this project, I had envisioned my work as being a carry on from second year by exploring the same ideas just in different ways, I had left my work at a finished stage but with much more to learn. At the very end of year two, I had started to touch upon Psychogeography, I wasn't aware that the work I had been producing fit perfectly into this topic, so this is where I picked up for 301.
I got off to quite a rocky start, I didn't really know the direction that I wanted to head in, only the topic that I had in mind. Combine this with the Covid-19 situation that carried on roaring. I found it a real struggle for the first couple of weeks due to the uncertainty of the circumstances. As the second lockdown was announced, I decided to pack up my things and more away from Plymouth and back home to Barnsley with the hopes of being able to return in the following month. Being back home finally gave me some reassurance and I felt much more comfortable to be able to dive into my studies. I started out by learning the basics on Psychogeography, which mentioned that this was normally practiced outside in open areas, which I think is where the challenge began. From here on out, I decided that I was going to begin my project based upon my movements made within the home, this allowed me to contrast my previous work where I studied my movements made outside of the house. Lockdown helped me in this scenario as I wasn't travelling outside as much, especially now that the weather was dropping cooler.
I had to gather up new materials, having left all of my own in Plymouth, so I went and bought all of what I was imagining I would be using; charcoal, chalk, acrylic paint, watercolour paints, oil paints, wood and canvas.
Right now my key focus for the work was Psychogeography, but I was also looking into my immediate surroundings; noise, light and key items that were around me on the daily. Along with the routines and rituals that I did within my everyday life which incorporated into the movements that I was making.
Life drawing sessions were important to me at this stage as they were the only things keeping me motivated to carry on being creative. I started to take inspiration from my life drawing studies, in particular the quick studies where my work was much more fluid and instinctual. I carried this on within every session and worked on this aspect more by focusing on line, I started making fluid coloured ground to work upon to see how they would look with work layered upon them which is where my first influence for my 301 specific project started. After exploring a great list of artists to help me along the way, I was super inspired by the works of both Giuseppe Pinot-Gallizio and Richard Long, two very different artists that I drew ideas from in different ways. I was in awe at Pinot-Gallizios ‘Industrial Paintings’ where he worked on large scrolls with a combination of hand drawn and machine drawn marks in a variety of different materials. As a result, I ordered myself some rolls of paper. I stuck these down to the carpet in areas that were the most travelled within my home; the front room and the top of the stairs. Keeping these down for a few days, the paper slowly became work and marked as more and more paths were being walked upon them - much like how Richard Long religiously walked upon strips of grass to compress it. Once complete, I hung these up outside to allow the sunshine to shine upon it which highlighted the most marked areas of the work. I began to work upon this watercolour paints, charcoal and oil sticks building up layers of my mediums to identify and enhance these areas, this created a whirlwind of lines and paths crossing one another. The outcome was very much like the contours shown on maps to show the reader the height of certain areas.
I became engrossed with the idea of depth and studied different ways of how I could apply this into my work. I experimented with clay, layers of emulsion, textured paint and ultimately polyfilla working mainly with items found within the home. This integrated into my ideas of the work itself being home orientated. Polyfilla became my final medium and was the most effective for what I was trying to show.
Throughout this experimental period, I began to completely eliminate colour from my work. I initially started with my common colour way of white, pink and black but felt that people were drawing connection to the colours which isn't what I intended. Working with white, as Robert Rauschenberg has stated, allowed for the work to be viewed as a blank canvas. I was really happy with the work that I had just produced and had envisioned placing more paper down around the home, but the one issue that I was having was embodying a sense of self within my work. Living at home, I had three people walking upon the paper, along with two dogs, I thought about putting the paper just in my bedroom but this still wouldn't be just my own marks. I was thinking ahead to how this piece could be displayed within my room and strung up onto my bed, which is when I moved to printing my body onto the paper instead. This one print changed many aspects of my work. I started to move away from mapping my movements made around my home and was focusing on areas that I would commonly visit; my bed, the sofa and my studio chair. These became my focal point and I started to map my bodily movement via the use of my body being printed, now looking more at one fluid movement captured in time. I created multiple of these prints in all of the areas stated and experimented with the comparison between prints made into the same space as there were clear similarities between these, and also with printing multiple times onto the paper over and over again. I integrated this into my everyday routine taking the prints as I got into bed at night, as I sat on the sofa for my morning coffee and when I moved into my studio to begin a day of work.
I loved the prints alone and they looked amazing when strung out onto the washing line outside as the bright light enhanced all of the creases that my body has imprinted into the paper. But I knew that I wouldn't be happy until I had worked out a way to carry this along into paint. Polyfilla became my new best friend and was the perfect medium to achieve all of the depth that I wanted into my work. I used a wallpaper scraped to apply my polyfilla in straight lines along with drag out the filler to create smooth connections to the wooden grounds.
Coming full circle, I started to incorporate my first pieces of work into my resolved pieces by tearing and sticking the paper onto the ground of the work using layers of paint and duct tape. I wanted these to be ever so slightly visible when the work was done to show the progression that I have made throughout the module.
At the time when I thought that all of my work was complete, I had my final crit and was given some constructive criticism from my tutor. Some of white I took on board and others that would have completely disregarded the concept behind the work that I have worked upon throughout this module. The main two being an exploration of other paints and colour, and also to apply something to the paintings that would contrast them to allow there to be balance. I didn't want to explore other types of paints as the household paints were all a part of the concept in the works foundations, was comfortable knowing that emulsion paint changes and fades over time and that is simple part of the art works progression, I also didn't feel that the exploration of different shades of white would support my work in any way at this time as I am not material based, I also didn't have time on my side. However I was willing to attempt to work something into my painting to accentuate what was already there. We spoke of colour and differing textures within the crit, maybe something like another panel to go alongside it.
I collected my ideas for a little while and decided that I wanted this ‘thing’ to be a part of the actual work and to link in with the idea that I have created. I bought myself some timber and sanded this down until completely smooth, working onto the wood in acrylic paint. The hardest part here was adding colour again, I wanted something that was going to pop off of the painting which, luckily for me, was white so anything goes. Working with the theme of self, I went with what felt right for me and painted the wood in the complementaries pink and turquoise. I combined this with fragments of colour, negative areas, sharp lines and a matte finish, all of which contrasted the work that it was to sit upon. I applied the wood to the painting in areas that I felt were clear paths within the work I had already made, I did this using a drill and screws. Due to the texture of the polyfilla, it allowed for a gap between the ground and the timber which I really liked, it added a completely different side profile to the work. I left the screws slightly protruding from the work as I felt that this signified the difficulty that I had coming to terms with adding something new into work that I had previously considered finished. I view the wood as myself making the print onto the paper which was the start of this work.
I feel that I have made some very important steps within this module to help me excel as an artist, and also within my next studio practice module. My work took lots of turns but I feel that I have led a clear path and thoughts to show where/what all of my ideas evolved from. I have left this body of work as resolved, but also at a stage where I still have plenty more things to explore. I am feeling very comfortable with the decisions that I have made throughout.
