Exploration...

Since the start of term, I have had weekly PDP classes which help to recognise potential opportunities and contexts of practice within varying areas of contemporary art and design as well as assist in planning and making informed choices and decisions to help me futher myself towards my current aspirations.

The above is achieved through methods of learning and development such as the observation of reflective practitioners, the identification of qualities I have and those still to be developed, networking and synthesis technqiues, blogging and documentational devices, and of course research into all the diverse artistic pathways such as Fine art, Design and Craft to further my understanding and appreciation of how each pathway is individual in style and approach, yet can come together as one and be experienced in another.

My research into different pathways has begun and I will upload the research into the three artists that I have completed so far:

Michel De Broin- 'Black Whole Conference' 2006

Michel De Broin often explores customary objects and plays on metaphorical associations in his artwork which acts as an expression towards the way we are influenced as a society, and as an individual. His work is as deeply capturing conceptually as it is aesthetically which I find to be of great importance in my own work and in the case of ‘Black Whole Conference’ 2006, this is no exception. This piece seizes the viewer by the creation of solidarity where every chair seems to support one another, no hierarchy exists and a multiple has taken a stance to form a static appearance. Undoubtedly, this piece is highly conceptual and illustrates how contemporary art and architecture sit side by side in an installation which depicts a manifold of entities acting almost as a reaction to the society driven by hierarchy as there is a reliance within the piece; if one chair was missing the rest would fall apart. I believe Broin decides to work with everyday objects to heighten our connective impulses with certain articles and possibly question the basis of our thoughts towards it. Broin’s approach seems to evolve from a concept, which is then transformed into a visual which can be seen and interpreted by the viewer through association. The way he manipulates the objects can be seen as an art in itself as he always transforms an ordinary entity into something truly exceptional, almost illustrating that everything has a meaning and a purpose, and earlier associations towards the object can be disregarded, as anything can be reformed. The work of Broin is significant in relation to my own as I see also go through the process of transforming a space, or an entity in order to create an installation. The aesthetics of the piece are just as important to me as the concept is, and through this I strive to create works of art which also concentrates on barriers in our existence which can be conquered or ‘reformed’ as Michel De Broin illustrates.

Antony Gormley- 'Blind Light' 2007

Antony Gormley is known for creating vast amounts of technical sculptures that require vast amounts of accuracy and time which more than often relate to the human body and the space that we encounter each other in. With his sculptures focusing entirely on a human presence, viewers are often made to feel the ‘viewed’ as they exist within ordinary spaces as well as galleries. Although Gormley is more famously known for his sculptures, it’s the installation atmosphere that he recreates that interests me more, as I feel he transforms spaces into a compound of realisations, for example his 2007 installation, ‘Blind Light’. This piece is a glass room filled with a dense cloud of mist which again reiterates the feeling of transforming a space into something else. It evokes the feeling of the unknown, and how we react to one of our sensory relationships being jeopardised. I believe Gormley was attempting to address the face that when we are in a room, we feel safe and secure because we know where our location is so when this is taken from us, the associations to the unknown fills us with doubt. I believe this piece questions the unknown and how this affects us mentally and socially. This piece induces an individual challenge where the viewer is invited to react and respond and this is what particularly engages me with this artist, the viewers are always at the centre of every artwork. As I also work in installations, I share this tendency within my own work as I always want the viewer to be able to relate to the piece once the concept has been realised.  

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller- 'Opera in a Small Room' 2005

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller collaborate together to produce highly conceptual installations which continuously evoke questioning and self-reflection. The workings of the duo endlessly look at a situation, and then create an artwork around this that is more often than not enigmatic as countless metaphors are used to allow the viewer to interpret the piece as they break down each potentially symbolic entity in order to comprehend the installation. They combine sound with visuals to create an stimulating configuration of senses and ‘Opera in a Small Room’ 2005 depicts this well. The term used for this time of installation is called a ‘total installation’ and this is where the artists presents an immersive scene into which the viewer enters. I particularly like the layout of the room and the existence of a ‘fantasy’ lifestyle so that the viewer gets a real sense of actuality. A sense of hysteria is created by not physically being able to enter the room and the only visuals can be seen from looking through small windows. I believe this to be symbolical of the way we as individuals can only get an insight into peoples hectic lives through the windows of opportunity they allow to show. Of course, many concepts could be gathered from this piece and as always is always down to personal interpretation. The way the artists collaborate to form thought provoking installations is a way of working that I find myself relating to as often my work needs to be explained in order for it to be understood, never do I intend on focusing on literal connotations with the objects that I work with and just as Cardiff and Miller expose concepts through prompting layouts, I also find myself using prompting materials in relation to an idea where the chain of thought magnifies from.

More artists research will be updated onto my blog soon!