The
final week of term was enjoyable, if a little relaxed, aimlessly wandering
around, attempting to create work and occasionally being successful in that
endeavour. The past few days, being out of London, have been a little weird.
The lack of things to do is highly demotivating, which is saddening, but relaxing
in a comfortable environment is quite enjoyable. I’ve been mostly watching
films and trying to do a little work, now and then.
On
Monday (last week) I went into uni for a discussion with John about the essay
questions, which was incredibly helpful, picking apart what all the questions
mean and recommending different books to read and things to see.
On
Tuesday I had my feedback tutorial, which was thought provoking in a number of
ways. The main criticism of my work was that it had too much finish, which is
not necessarily a bad thing, I think it’s more to do with having an idea that
doesn’t have to be sanded down to the bone, with everything so precise and well
thought out. I don’t know, I still need to think about it more, and whether or
not I want to fully take on what was said, as it would completely change the
way I work and my practice in general.
The
last artist talk of the term was by Anne Hardy, whose work I admire greatly. I
enjoyed seeing the progression of the work, and the way in which she’s
currently working, making artwork about making artwork. The work feeding the
work from the process of making previous work. This in itself is very
interesting to me, along with the enclosed spaces that she creates, as well as
the soundscapes which accompany them. I’m quite annoyed that I won’t be
travelling to Oxford to see her current exhibition; FIELD at Modern Art Oxford,
which looks amazing.
The
rest of the week was spent going to galleries and completing a range of my
projects, getting everything done that could only be accomplished in London. Wednesday
was a full day of art, where I saw an incredible amount of work.
I
began by going to the Serpentine Galleries, the Michael Craig-Martin was first
up, which was so dull. This was obviously expected, but it was annoying for
this expectation to become a reality. I much prefer his old work, where he experimented
with conceptualism, playing around with the idea that because the artist says an
object is one thing, it must be that thing. Obviously he moved on from this
work a long time ago, but I can always hope. His now work does remind me of
Patrick Caulfield’s paintings, just in terms of aesthetics, rather than on a
conceptual basis. Caulfield’s classic work ‘After Lunch’ is, in my opinion, far
superior to a lot of Martin’s current works.
However
in the other space, Simon Denny’s exhibition ‘Products for Organising’ was on
show. It was primarily centred on hacking, showcasing a number of fictitious
machines intended for hacking into people’s computers and their lives. At times
I was consumed by humour, whilst at other points I was deeply horrified, which
made for an intense experience. I remember seeing his piece for the Venice
Biennale this year, as I was walking through the main airport, looking down and
finding out that I was in fact, walking on ‘Secret Power’. At the time this was incredibly surreal, not
five minutes of the plane and already encountering artwork. Time is a very
weird thing.
I
then went to many other galleries that I shall briefly list. The Austrian
Cultural Forum, which had some film and sculptural work, one involving body
parts being shown in front of Greek (I think) statues. I then went to – in no
actual order – Vilma Gold, which had some projected film work going on of
female bodies, Sadie Coles with some large scale ‘real life’ paintings, David
Zwirner showing of some early Mondrian (who actually wants to see early
Mondrian!?) and a variety of abstract paintings. I also went to the Pippy
Houldsworth Gallery, which had paintings which were uninteresting and drawings
which were also not too exciting. Near that was the Alan Cristea Gallery
showing prints made by sculptors, Herald Street Gallery exploring a satirical (are
there any other types?) comic strip, Elisabetta Cipriani with a range of works by
Jimmie Durham and Ai Weiwei, also the Stephen Friedman Gallery with some bad
paintings alongside some quite beautifully elegant sculptures.
I
also went to the Frith Street Gallery, which had some interesting baths being
displayed, and the Marian Goodman Gallery whose entire ground floor had been
re-shaped to allow for multiple water installations by Cristina Iglesias, as
well as some Jeff Wall photographs which were upstairs. The water pieces were
quite intoxicating.
Venturing
over to Raven Row was worth it, as a range of experimental film work was
playing throughout the gallery, one of the films was 480 minutes. That’s (if
you aren’t aware) a lot of minutes. The Hales Gallery was also great, with a
playful installation accompanied by a film. The work was by Rachael Champion,
Agnes Denes and Rachel Pimm. Before moving into the gallery space you were
given wireless headphones, so you were able to explore the physical work whilst
listening to the video work which was being displayed on a large monitor in one
corner of the room. Although this experience is not a new one, due to the
nature of the films soundscape (the day to day life inside a factory) all of
the work was heightened within the space, and made me incredibly aware of
everything around me. I intend to consider this for my own work in the future
in some way or another.
I
believe the final gallery of the day was Annka Kultys Gallery, with work by
Molly Soda. The use of the multiple screens was interesting, as was the
curation of the show. The actual work (in terms of the content of the videos)
for me is very weak. I understand what’s going on, but I don’t really feel a
true connection with the work, which I feel is needed for the video pieces. One
of the aspects of the show that did interest me though, was the price of the
video work. You were able to purchase the individual videos, but the price was
dependant on how many views the video had gotten, for example, on YouTube. This
really did interest me, and made me think about my own work, and the idea of
selling a video piece that can be viewed online for anyone to see, and how they
can be achieved.
On
the Thursday I went to a few more galleries and spaces. Pace London had some vaguely
good work being shown, Liu Jianhua’s porcelain installation was very cool,
black drips falling down the walls. Anthony Caro and a few other people were
being shown downstairs, enjoyable work that we’ve all seen before. Pi Artworks
had some new work on too, but it was less interesting than the last show that
was there, which had been overflowing with gold and beauty.
My
favourite experience of the day was going to Carrol // Fletcher and seeing
Christine Sun Kim’s work with sound. The interactive installation was amazing,
and I would thoroughly recommend going. Her video work was also fantastic, exploring
classic films whilst using her deafness to her advantage, rather than it
becoming a hindrance.
On
Friday I went into the studio, surveying the work that I had created during the
term, reflecting upon it and wondering whether it was time well spent or not. I
also got around to filming someone (myself) playing my ‘game’ (which may turn
into its own thing as a performance piece) as well as photographing all of my
sculptures from this term. These can all be viewed on my main website. I also
hopped over to the Tate to see ‘Artists & Empire’ which was dull, and War
Damaged Musical Instruments by Susan Philipsz, which was not so dull. It was an
immersive sound installation going on throughout the main hall area, which was
quite incredible.
In
the evening I went to the opening of Random Darknet Shopper, which is an exhibition
by !Mediengruppe Bitnik. This consisted of a computer and a few cabinets, which
will slowly fill up with items in the next few weeks, as the ‘bot’ buys more
goods from the Darknet. This in itself is a very fun idea, I’ll definitely be
heading back when there are more products on show.
Later
on I went to the Ai Weiwei show at the RA. I’ve been wanting to go for a while,
and as it was the last few days, I thought that I should. As it was the last
two days of the work being on show, the gallery was open for a full 48 hour
period. It was a truly awesome experience to be walking around the space at
about 2 o’clock in the morning, being vaguely drunk and looking at the artwork.
The actual work was all fairly interesting, the type of work that I would have
loved this time last year, but right now I’m unsure.
The
next day I came home, and have been watching films and doing vague amounts of
work ever since, slowly updating my website with the work that I’ve been doing.
I made a new film, created entirely using footage from Uncharted 3: Drake’s
Deception (a video game). The movie explores the same ideas of monotony, and
wanting to reach a utopian space that you’ll never actually get to (the oasis
within the film represents this) as well as the slow loss of control as you
continue on with life. This aspect of the work is portrayed through the
relationship between the music and the different screens. At first the screens
are simple, with the music corresponding to every little movement, as you go on
however the music begins to move to its own rhythm, as the screens become more
complicated and the movement more jagged. There are – obviously – some blatant
sexual connotations within the work, as you will get when using the mirroring
tool. This does come into the concept and meaning within the piece, but only
partly, as a side-meaning.
On
top of this I’ve been working more with Zooks, and have started to put together
a film, where the beings are ‘performing’ on the live streaming website Twitch.
The video shows multiple screens, all showing different creatures being unable
to move, as they are held down by a huge blue cube. The screens are then slowly
disregarded and removed from the screen. This is only the beginning of
something, I still have a lot to do with this work.
I
also made a range of internet collages that I’ve been making in my free time into
a piece of work within itself, which can be viewed on my main website. These
are a series of pieces that I’ve been working on for a while now, taking in
mind figureheads of popular culture as well as my own influences within my life.
I enjoy how grossly kitsch they are, as well as the overwhelmingly bright
colours.
Last
week I also scrapped the ‘shooting’ video, as I thought that it had too many connotations
which I wasn’t entirely interested in. I am also yet to re-visit the piece
involving the avatars, I do plan to at some point soon though, minus the Zooks,
as they have now become their own thing. Or I may scrap it too, as the new
series of videos titled ‘Dark Content’ by Eva and Franco Mattes uses these
avatars extensively throughout the films. I’ll continue to think about this.
I did mention films earlier, and I’ve been
watching a steady amount in the past few weeks. These include, Apocalypse Now,
Room 237, Full Metal Jacket, Eyes Wide Shut, Dr. Strangelove, Crash, (both of
them, I watched the non-Cronenberg one accidently)
Naked Lunch, Adaptation, The Holy Mountain, The Martian, A History of Violence
and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (refreshing my memory before going to
see the new one). All these films were pretty incredible, The Holy Mountain was
so very weird and crazy, and Room 237 shed some light on how amazingly clever
Kubrick was.
It’s
very weird to be back in a space that I know but don’t know at the same time.
It’s an incredibly obvious thing to think about, and everyone probably considers
it in one way or another, but it’s still a thing that’s happening within my head
at the moment.
Over
the next few weeks I want to get on with my essay, so that that’s out of the
way, and I can solely concentrate on my work. I’m also going to continue to
watch films, and actually get some reading done too over this holiday period.
It’s been good to relax though, its peaceful here.
Daily
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