Today was the best workshop I’ve experienced so far in college. I loved the idea of a ‘Symbolic Narrative’ which was the theme I had to base my idea on. The opening Powerpoint was mostly talked through by Will, and consisted of a number of different styles of artwork by famous artists. The pieces that really stood out to me were some of the more abstract and conceptual pieces which are pictures below.
John Virtue, Landscape 715
I really love the abstract stroke of the paintbrush within the painting. The murky colours of greys and blacks mixed with the white shows off an amazing contrast which blurs and merges together, furthering the effect of a foggy and murky city. The simplicity and minimalistic shapes within the piece are really effective because it gives the impression of movement such as car lights. I love the singular silhouette of the peak of the domed building because it holds the whole painting together, bringing back the reality of the world.
Francesca Woodman
Prior to today, I had never heard of Francesca Woodman. I love her use of self portraits and how she inserts herself into photographs. She managed to maintain a constant feel of isolation and sadness throughout all of her pieces above. I get the sense of some sort of memory is being photographed along with the feeling of being erased, which is (again) furthered by the use of movement, which creates an echo almost, or a trace of a life that has been lived a long time ago. Woodman clearly has a very keen eye as an artist for what will draw in a viewer, which may also be credited to the photographer.
Damien Hirst, A Thousand Years, 1990
This sculpture, at first, did not interest me because I didn’t understand what was going on within it. As Will explained what this strange photograph was, I completely fell in love with this genius idea. Hirst portrays life to death using maggots and a severed cows head. Sounds gross and disgusting – Right? However, just think of how brilliantly accurate this simple installation is, and how effectively it represents a life cycle. The maggots turn into flies, fly from the right side of the box, through the holes in the centre to the left side of the box, they feed off the cows head, which leads to the creation of more maggots, and then they fly up to the fly killing light, and die. Not the most cheerful of works, but it is very clever, which is why I admire it so much.
After the Powerpoint, we were told to go out and take photos and draw some sketches for an idea associated to a Symbolic Narrative of our choice. For my inspiration, I decided to go and eat my lunch in a quieter part of Eldon Square, which was outside a Barber Shop.
The different reflections of the window and mirrors really interested me. I especially paid attention to the people inside who were making sure they looked how they wanted, in an almost obsessive way, as if they desired to look perfect above all else.
That got me thinking about what ‘perfect’ even means and why people want to be it so badly. This led to the thought that society makes us feel like we need to be, in order to be accepted, which made me realise how much of our identity is taken away from us.
All of the thoughts and the potential for a rant was within my brain, therefore I decided to bring my idea into focus and brainstorm a quick sketch of how I would show these emotions and feelings.
I decided to use the style of panelling that was decorated on the outside of the barber shop. I wanted to create an interactive 3D experience of the journey from the identity that was clouded by the conforms of society, to the identity that is pure and raw without confinement. The overall thought I wanted to push into people’s heads was: question who you are rather than what you look like.
I’d have five panels fixed together with an entranceway to form a hexagon with a single empty side. Fixed to these panels would be a mirror to show what you look like from the outside, however, each mirror would have something different and distorting to represent how you feel on the inside. Once you step into the hexagon, there are abstract art pieces to portray these feelings and try and form a sort of self-helping therapy to become yourself. As seen in my above sketchbook idea sheets, there are five mirrors and five sketch thoughts, the journey order was:
- Mirror: Blurred and aged along the border – Drawing: Sameness; having no individuality, living as nothing more than a shadow.
- Mirror: A slight convex/concave effect to distort the reflection – Drawing: Conformity; you don’t need to be the same as everyone else because you are unique, not a product or an item; not identical to everyone else. You were made to be different.
- Mirror: Smudge painted with black to block out some of the reflection – Drawing: Different; it’s okay to stand out from everyone else.
- Mirror: Cracked and smashed – Drawing: Void; embrace the void of hidden feelings and parts of you that you want to hide.
- Mirror: Normal – Drawing: Identity; you have found yourself.
Piece 1 – Stop Living As A Shadow
This piece was completed last, and I found it the most difficult part to create. I used charcoal and pen for this, and included the only colour, red, to signify the importance of leaving society and conformity behind.
Piece 2 – You Are So Much More Than Just A Product
This section was the rawest and quickest painting I did today; integrating my finger marks into the figures to give the effect that they were trying to claw their way out.
Piece 3 – Don’t Be Afraid Of Existing Against Conformity
This was the quick sketch I first drew in my book once I came up with my idea, and included the biggest amount of equipment such as paint, oil pastel, charcoal, pen and chalk. It is also inspired by the second photograph I took during my first brainstorm, because the woman reminds me of Jessica Woodman’s style, by leaving a trace of her existence behind.
Piece 4 – Embrace That Of Which You Hide
The void I created was smudged in such a way that it would draw in the viewer to the centre of the hole, which is where the deepest part of the void lay. This was a very metaphorical painting to look inside yourself and find the very depths of your being, and to not be scared of knowing they exist.
Piece 5
Contrasting from the extremely busy and dark artworks throughout the whole journey, I wanted this last piece to be very minimalistic. The idea of its smallness was to draw in the viewer, so they would look closer and see the thumbprint. The end of the journey shows how I have found my identity, which is why the simplistic use of a thumbprint is so effective.
Throughout today’s workshop, I painted using only my hands because I felt like I had to use my own person to put all of the rawness and all of these strong emotions into the pieces. I loved being so hands on and personal with this workshop and I have, by far, enjoyed it the most because I really connected with my idea and believe I managed to convey my message very clearly and successfully to everyone else within the class. The only question I have now is whether to specialise in Fine Art or Lens Based Media.
thechinglish 