Contextualising my art practice: During my Masters degree my art practice went through an operation of de-cluttering with the intention of purging my practice; there was a need to begin at zero point within my artistic trajectory; and this I achieved by reducing my painting practice down to monochromatic objects. I became a reductive painter; the structure and the alignment between the painted object and the vertical and horizontal of the gallery horizon became my interest; thinking about the perceptible and the bodies relationship with the art work. Measurement became the aesthetic tool in which I was able to operate. But this artistic procedure delimited its own future possibility; it became internally focused rather than looking out onto the world. I was looking at certain artists; such as, Alan Charlton, Gerhard Richter, Gunter Umberg, Gerhard Merz, Mel Bochner and Kazimir Malevich. A few months after graduating I thought that my existing work became to academic and dependent upon the gallery space (site specific), a dilemma surfaced; how could I extend my interests in minimalist and reductionist aesthetic, but avoid burying myself in an overtly academic painting/site specific and dependent on the exhibition space. This conceptual and material dilemma required a re-invention in order for my art practice to move forward. I realised that I needed to consolidate all my experiences; artistically and conceptually into a new painting schema. My intention was to reintroduce the representational image with the view to continue with a minimal aesthetic but also re-engage with the social realist aesthetic. The return to the real has become my on-going objective, operating in a reductionist aesthetic, based on social reality (real world and its signs). This return to the real, is now my focus, directly on life and my immediate, quotidian surroundings; both domestic interiors and the public spaces. “Social commitment, political conscience, an ability to communicate aspects of human experience, an exploration of the human condition; are the specific of social realism.” John Berger. Today, central to my practice is a re-examination of ‘British Social Realism’ as a part of contemporary practise. The content of my paintings reveal and engages with the private and the public - the relationship between the familial and domestic production (housekeeping), and public places, (cafes and launderettes). The paintings that I make today have become allegorical. The human condition (particular to the working class) became my artistic and conceptual preoccupation; what and how do I paint the social, everyday working class? Well by starting with my own living space was the answer, from my domestic to the local cafe that I patronise. For me at certain moments when doing various housekeeping duties, taking and picking up my kids from school, buying everyday necessities, making dinner and reading the news, sitting in a cafe or travelling home on the tube train; I think, yes, this is real life; this is what I know so this is what I should paint! I watch DVDs of old and new kitchen sink dramas, or programmes such as, The Talking Heads series by Alan Bennett and am reading Das Capital, Friedrich Engels The Conditions of the Working Class in England and Robert Tressell, ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’. My grey paintings are meticulously made using humbrol enamel paint on MDF board. The paint is very thin and requires many layers to build up the surface and create any real substance, depth and a sense of physicality; the paint dries too quickly, so too slow this down I use a little glaze to extend and keep the enamel wet longer. The painted works that I make reveal loose brushwork and marks, and the surface is riddled with imperfections, such as trapped dust and hair. This series of imperfection and inability to make the painting simulate the photographic print positions my aesthetic as not being photo real. The enamel paint relates to the domestic where you will find a painted radiator, skirting boards, or something like this. My whole art practice begins with me using a camera phone which I direct at potential subject. I have a database on my computer where I store all of my photographic images into separate files with titles; eg “pigeons”, “debris”; “domestic labour” “domestic”, “substance”, “cafe”, “back yard” and “neighbour” and this will include images taken from the internet or a film. An integral part to my practice is sitting down at the computer surveying hundreds of digital-photo images looking for a specific one that will make a potential painting. The evaluation does not end here I spend time thinking about formal aspects of the image, looking for minimal qualities within the real. Using Photoshop I am able manipulate a chosen motif’s mood, lighting and scale. Working from a photo-print I am able to scrutinise and examine real life given to me through the photos content. Painting the whole photograph is not my concern the photorealist aesthetic is not my ambition. Instead the photo-realist technique is employed but for only attaining objective information, a specific sign that reveals some kind of truth procedure. This artistic operation does not stop here more alterations and purging may take place during the operation of the painting. The activity of painting is a very different phenomenological experience to the one of sitting at the computer evaluating images on an interface screen; painting it is a real physicality and through the act of painting, I work out what I want, what needs to be purged, or how much information from the photo-print is needed.
Posted on: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 22:15:35 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015