"To feel all things in all ways"

Cy Twombly

In giving my sculptures their own individual space (as opposed to clustering them in the centre as previously proposed), this effectively breaks up the large open space in ECA and creates more intimate spaces within the objects themselves, a similar approach to Cy Twombly’s display of his ‘crude and improvised’ sculptures. Having individual pieces in the Cowgate begins to infuse the two interiors together through developing storylines between the artworks.

Object made with cast of a plastic container in plaster, which was situated on top of a breeze block with wet clay. Then it was carved and spray painted, then eyelashes were added. It reminds me of a 'bad night out', the sense of their being a pavement and splashes of make up and colour and something crumbling away like how appearances dimish as the night goes on.

This is one of my favourite objects so far. It is made from a wooden base coated in plaster and then chalks pushed into the still wet plaster. I then carved the chalks againist the plaster. It reminds me of a sad birthday cake, deteriating. The chalks are nostalgic of childhood and innocence.

As a group of artists, we selected two venues for Just to Say. Edinburgh College of Art is large, open and white cube and the space within the Cowgate area of Edinburgh; an abandoned shop/office, is smaller, intimate but more architecturally complex. In using a venue in the city we are aware that many artists/curators have chosen to work with projects and exhibitions in alternative sites in public. Exhibitions in public spaces are easily accessible to anyone and therefore have the potential to reach far beyond the relatively selective art audience. The Cowgate space has potential for us in an opportunistic sense as it stands in a busy and popular area of the city.


The Cowgate space has three rooms. My works will be placed on the Cowgate shop floor but will be contained to the one room, which is the less architecturally obtrusive. As my work is quite organic and raw I do not believe it would work well against some of the awkward geometries of the other spaces. I would prefer to present them in a more traditional space as don’t want the space to dominate but rather for the work to engage and maintain the viewer’s attention.

See above a proposal for the layout of our work at this venue.


History of the Cowgate:
The cowgate- name derived from the cows led down the street on market day. As it is beneath the elevated streets above, has a tendency to be dark and gloomy. From the mid 18th century to the wars the cowgate was a area typically where the poorer community lived, an overcrowded slum area.

This year, my practice has maintained a strong attachment to materials and experimentation. For the MA show, instead of developing these experiments into a different work, I have decided that it is the original experiment itself that is the most significant element of my practice.

Upon discussion, for the four artists involved in the MA programme, a loose strand of common issues and emotions in our work is an understanding and knowledge of the world around us is gained through the process of making and looking. Though delving into these explorations may not provide answers, it is the stimulus for questions and discussion. This abstract way of approaching our practices together as one show led to the title Just to Say, expressing our need to put an idea/ feeling out for interpretation.

In exploring using my experiments for a final work, a particular point of reference is the Eva Hesse Studiowork exhibition. This was an exhibition of her studio experiements, which Hesse described as ‘samples’. I enjoyed parts of how this collection of eccletic objects were displayed and felt that where they worked most successfully was as displayed below as the viewer could really get a ‘feel’ for the works, in the sense of their materiality and complexity.

Areas of the exhibition that were less successful were where they were contained in museum style glass cases, this gave them the air of being relics and also distanced the viewer from the works, making the feel of the materials less alive and tactile. I believe Hesse’s work is presented best as it was made and not curatorially controlled. This is something that is important in my own work, giving my experiements a life out of the confines of the studio I want to encourage interactivity from the viewer in order for them to gain a sense of the constructing of the work and of the enjoyment of making it.

Layout of ECA E25..

To begin with, the physical nature of our individual works dictated their display more than conceptual linkage. Catriona Reid’s work is site-specific within her chosen areas of the college, Lindsey Fyfe’s work is two-dimensional displayed on well-lit walls and Diane Melot is a film maker so she makes use of the projection room. My work, being sculptural, operated well in the main body of the room; in order to be viewed from all angles and perspectives.


We will curate the show in order so the works are not merging but to rather to reflect juxtapositions as well as gain an overall sense of unity as a show. For example, placing my crude objects next to Lindsey Fyfe’s refined and formal will heighten a sense of juxtaposition through textures and surface; however, this also builds an affinity between the works as Lindsey Fyfe’s grid formation paintings fit well next to the geometric structured bases of my sculptural work. Upon detailed observation, what initially appears to be disorder in my work actually is balanced out through strict structured display and in Fyfe’s paintings; the repeated formal lines on close inspection actually reveal hints of wiggles and the hand of the artist: a subtle touch of chaos. Additionally, both Catriona Reid’s banister wall drawing and Diane Melot’s string sink work have a similar play with lines and levels as well as being playful and suggestive of a continuing experience, both achieved through differing technique and materials.

The manipulation of everyday objects by artists can be traced back to art gestures by Marcel Duchamp ‘s Ready-mades and the activities of the Dadaists. The surrealists focused on the poetic possibilities of objects. Another field I have been exploring is Arte Povera- with its concerns with process, unmediated and no precious materials is a source of inspiration for my own work.

http://www.arcadja.com/artmagazine/it/wp-content/gallery/080418-kounellis/senza-titolo-di-j-kounellis.jpg

http://images.artnet.com/artwork_images/424196454/451114.jpg

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/blogosphere/feministbloggers/wp-content/uploads/SarahG/Kounellis.jpg

Feedback session 2nd June

The beginning- Feedback session 2nd June 2010
During the feedback session we discussed the moving of studio spaces to complete the remaining duration of the MA. I felt I would benefit from moving space as I had found the previous space difficult to work in and wanted to begin a new body of work and so I felt a change in environment could be beneficial for this. My progress was commented on particularly with regards to the residency in Chicago as this helped to free up some of my working methods and thoughts. For me, Chicago was an important stage for me as it was a situation in which I was forced to put everything I had been working on in Edinburgh aside and focus on the moment, the things I was experiencing on a daily basis in Chicago as well as responding and using materials to hand. This way of working has continued and progressed into the last semester. Helen Chadwick was mentioned as an artist whose work would be interesting to look at with reference to some of her less ‘planned’ works. Overall, the feedback meeting combined with the realisation of a new space to work left me feeling positive and has led into a playfully productive next few weeks.

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/whatson/exhibition/5:368/18379

Research.

The Unmonumental Exhibition.

In researching the exhibition Unmonumental: the object in the 21st century, it seems that the curators (Richard Flood, Laura Hoptman and Massimiliano Gioni) seized the opportunity of working with and responding to a new space, similarly to our approach with the Cowgate space. The show was held at the New Museum of Contemporary art in New York. In an interview, Gioni states: ‘All of the sculptures are installed in the galleries without any partitions or temporary walls. The installation reveals the original architecture in all its purity, with the artworks occupying space but not as a rule touching the architecture... ’ (Scobie, 2007). This I feel is very successful when exhibiting contemporary sculpture, for the reason that Gioni continues: ‘Visiting the show should feel like walking around a landscape, maybe a landscape of ruins and instability ‘. For the viewer of my work, I hope to gain a sense of immersion, almost like they are walking amongst and observing particular scenes that could be seen as stills/props from a theatre/movie set or even from everyday life. What is even more interesting about this exhibition is it evolved as after a month, around the sculptures they installed an exhibition of two-dimensional works, and this was in order to make the show ‘more intense’. The curators then added sound to galleries. Gioni states: ‘Sculptures, collages and sound- it should be an incredibly dense environment, a collage in itself, or maybe a contemporary ‘merzbau’.

http://www.shuimohua.com/news/e-news/catalogue-1/2007_6/40.htm
This method of curating a ‘collage’ is interesting as in some respects we are emulating a similar experience in Just to Say. The difference being we are incorporating the different elements from the start. In both spaces my sculptures remain standing in white wall space with two-dimensional work from Fyfe and Reid in the walls surrounding and sound from Melot’s films in the adjacent rooms. It will be interesting to see the impact this has on the experience of my piece, my hope is that it will enrich the viewing experience.

Starting out

uncertain_pilgrimage
Gareth Moore,

Have been making things for

Gareth Moore is an artist I have been researching. In his collection of sculptures he uses oridinary found objects such as: plastic bottles, brown paper bags, driftwood and rocks. His commitment to the disregarded allows for a seductive juxtaposition. The artist often talks about the reusability materials within his practice; he often recycles past works into new ones. This gives his sculptures a kind of limitless life cycle . I work in a similar way, the works evolve continuously and often I will reuse a complete object within a different structure of dismantle it entirely to use specific parts.

Making things.Please scroll down for all the objects made in my studio in the starting couple of weeks.

This first post is simply a catalogue of the pieces I have made in the last couple of weeks. It is a way for me to isolate the works and view them individually, as my studio space becomes harder to analyse things the fuller it becomes.