Subtle Wood

After looking at sanding down wood yesterday, I continued to experiment with the sanding process today. I looked at using layers of paper to create a material that can be easily sanded down, rather than using wood. Unfortunately it wasn't that successful as it wasn't as interesting to look at as the wood blocks. I would like to look into this further by using different coloured paper and gluing a larger amount of pieces together.

I also looked at gluing blocks of wood together and then sanding parts of it down to create an interesting aesthetic decision. This made me think about how the number of pieces of wood used within a sculpture could help to communicate a relevant emotion to a viewer, or show how much of that emotion I was feeling on that particular day. For example the higher quantity of blocks would mean more of that emotion.

I really enjoyed the subtle changes that I was able to affect to the different types of wood, and would like to explore this further. I hope to use an electric sander and a higher grade of sand paper to experiment further with what I can achieve by just sanding. I also started to use a chisel to speed up the sanding, this felt like I was cheating the meaning behind the work at the time, but after reflecting on it I think the chisel could be related to the meaning of the work, thinking about ideas behind forced emotions.

There was also a number of lectures today surrounding work experience and what job opportunities are available to artists when you get out of full time education. This was quite informative and interesting to consider.

Wood and Paper

Today I carried on experimenting with affecting the wood by sanding parts down as well as painting different types. Sanding down a number of different woods enabled me to see that it was an aspect of this project that I want to continue, but painting the wood wasn't successful as it removed the already intriguing growth rings, which may be incorporated into the meaning behind the work later.

I also started to think about different ways to display the work, and how it would be interesting to display the tools that I use to affect the wood alongside the sculptures. This would help the viewer to understand the emotion that I'm attempting to convey through a specific piece, as well as improving the work in an aesthetic way.

Over the weekend I began researching the artists that I'm going to look at in my research paper. I found a range of artists who have created meaningful work whose meaning isn't easily identified. I looked at Anish Kapoor, whose early sculptures using pigment have always been fascinating to me, alongside Kazimir Malevich and his Black Square. I am yet to come up with a title for my research paper, but I'm sure I will soon.

I am continuing to log my emotions daily using excel, which will be incredibly helpful later on in the unit when I begin creating my final piece. In addition to this I started to think about whether, when I create the sculptures, I should be in the mood that I'm attempting to replicate though the sculpture. This is an interesting idea, but I would have to be feeling that emotion organically, rather than forcing it upon myself.

During the week I hope to continue working on experimenting with wood as well as thinking more about my research paper.

Sandpaper

For the past few days I have been thinking a lot about the meaning behind the sculptures that I'm going to create for this project, and the best way to communicate my emotions through them to the viewer.

I've been having lots of ideas about opposites. Looking at how if I affected a piece of wood in one way to reflect an emotion and then did the opposite effect to another piece of wood, whether that emotion would be the opposite of the original emotion, for example love and hate. I would like to look into this further, by thinking about how this would work for a range of emotions as well as by creating some sculptures to see whether the idea works on an aesthetic level too.

Today I was also considering creating a month's worth of emotions conveyed through simply sanding down 30 or so pieces of the same sized wood. Representing how life just blends into one pointless journey that you can only slightly remember significant parts of. In this piece the wood blocks would be sanded down in a variety of different ways, some more memorable than others.

I also had thoughts about how the sanding process could be used to transform the wood blocks into different shapes, with each new shape representing a new emotion. Emotions could also be shown by how sanded down each wood block is, for example, the smaller the wood block the worse you are feeling on that particular day. These two ideas could also be blended into one by sanding the wood into shapes, and then making the shapes smaller or larger depending on the strength of the emotion on that particular day.

I am yet to fully decide on the meaning of the sanding, and whether or not the sanding down of the wood will become the whole project or just an aspect of it. This is something I will continue to think about.

Table Of Emotions

After gathering more information on emotions in general, I started to think about how I could begin to document my own emotions that I encounter each day to transform into a sculptural form. I used excel to create a table so that I could document how I feel each day. Using this information I will be able to have primary research on hand when I'm creating the different sculptures.

This table or eventual graph may become part of the final piece of work for this project, or even the final piece within itself. If this were to be the case I would have to expand the range of emotions within the table.

I also began to try out different ways of affecting the wood and thinking about which emotion I could be communicating through each tool. I experimented using a hand saw, a hammer, nails, sandpaper and scissors. Some of these worked more effectively than others. I intend to explore the range of tools further in the coming weeks, as well as spending time thinking about what the different things actually mean.

Research Paper

Today I began looking into the range of emotions that people encounter every day. I accomplished this by using the internet, talking to my family and friends as well as thinking about my own emotions.

I also started to look at transforming my emotions into a sculpture, and how to best reflect them. I'm thinking about using colour within the sculptures to highlight the emotions, as well as physically changing the materials that I chose in different ways.

I was also set a 750 word research paper today as part of my foundation course. My initial ideas are focused on looking at artists who want to have a dialogue with the viewer, be it by making a piece of work with a meaning that's hard to discern or by creating a piece of art that is interactive, allowing the viewer to participate and add to the artwork. I would be reflecting on how, in my own practice, I attempt to make the viewer think about the meaning behind my work, rather than it being easy to spot, or not having any meaning at all. This interactivity in art work made me think of Yayoi Kusama's 'Obliteration Room' that I saw in 2012 at the Tate Modern, which invited viewers to add coloured dots to a completely white room.

Emotions

I'm starting a new project surrounding the emotions that I encounter every day. I'm going to be looking at ways to communicate emotions by affecting a range of different materials in alternative ways. For example if I sanded down a piece of wood using sand paper that would communicate boredom. This emotion would be different if I had sanded it down in a similar way using an electric sander. Allocating a different emotion to the ways in which I'm going to affect the material will be an interesting process to think about.

To give me inspiration for this final part of my foundation I went to Paris for the weekend, going to Palais de Tokyo, the Gulbenkian, the Kamel Mennour gallery and Air De Paris. A lot of the work was interesting, rather than good, especially the work that was being shown at the Palais de Tokyo. Art made in response to Marcel Duchamp's famous quote "Can one make works of art which are not ‘of art’?". Seeing Trisha Donnelly's work at the Air De Paris gallery was good, but after seeing similar work by her at the Serpentine in London (which was especially made for the gallery) it was a bit of a disappointment, but still interesting work that was thought provoking in its subtleness which I hope to replicate in my own work for this project.

A Breakdown

I'm currently creating work using wood about having a breakdown. I'm tying the meaning to the work directly with the process I go through when creating the sculptures.

I start by using a saw on a piece of wood that I have recently chopped from a growing tree, cutting far enough into it so that I can then snap off part of the wood with my hands. I then burn the snapped off piece of wood and replace it with glue. Within this process I'm making a range of conscious decisions as well as one unconscious one.

The sawing part of the work is conscious, leading up to the breakdown, knowing it's coming, but not knowing at what point it will. The snap is unconscious, as I can't control how it's going to break, this is true for the breakdown, being unable to control it. The burning of the wood is conscious, allowing the breakdown to overwhelm you, making you feel worse. The gluing back on is conscious too, the beginning of learning to live with what's happened to you. But the glue is only a temporary thing, so at points within the person's life the wood will be dislodged, bringing up old memories about the breakdown and re-lapsing into old habits. This cycle continues.

I'm still refining the meaning of the work. I'm also working on the scale of the sculptures and thinking about whether they should be a series displayed in a grid pattern on the wall. I'm also considering making contrasting work centered around a positive thing occurring in your life, and having that embedded within the breakdown pieces.