Mel Ramsden

Mel Ramsden was a leading Australian Artist in conceptual art. where art and text become one and one element is just as important as the other. it is this idea that i am working with in my work

however, i don't think my work will ever be as refined as Ramsden's work, but i can now relate with the use of text and how it can be used as the key feature in a work, rather than something a critic adds on to it.

Reference:
Johnson, T. An Impossible Vision: Conceptual Art In The 70's. accessed August 30 2011 http://www.ianmilliss.com/documents/OnTheBeach.htm

Process- My Video

For this video, like in all my video's, my process is dictated by what is directly available to me. I restrict myself to using footage that is filmed in one day alone. The rest i can decide once i see the footage and edit it in some sequence that i find visually pleasing. then i decide on audio, which i find in my itunes or i record myself and edit. i then re-edit my footage to fit my audio, and edit my audio to fit my footage. A film is only done when i am happy with the sound and the visual, and will change it many times until if am content with the product.

From this video i then find parts i enjoy and make separate films of, i think of these as my 'finished' videos.  here is the one that i got form the above film:

I am happy with this footage also. overall i think the analysis of my process has helped me engage with my work and actually enjoy my work. i feel by doing this i am working with a purpose and that gives me motivation that i'd otherwise lack.

Process - My 2-D work

I then made stencils of this new language that i wanted to create.

I decided painted my old canvases with a brown, ore and blue washes and splattered them with black ink. i painted some so the image of the character i didn't like was semi visible so the comment of art is everything, will contradict my own thoughts on my past works. i thought that by doing this it would create an interesting hypocritical element that can be seen in most art really.   I then painted these on in white paint a traditional colour throughout history and one that would mark my own language.

I actually really like how they've turned out and am quite pleased with it. the next stage in my work is to make a relating video to my 2-D work, but i have to say this is the happiest i've been with my 2-D work for some time.

David Lynch

David Lynch first came to my attention as a film maker and director, it was after i did some research on him that i found that his painting is also something that i admire. His film Eraser Head has inspired past works of films that i have done, but it is how he relates both his film and his painting into his own unique style that transcends all medium.

 

In his words:


"You go by most paintings, and they don't stop you. You can walk by so much because it's merely beautiful. I like to feel that you could bite my paintings. Not to eat them, to hurt them. I like to feel like I'm painting with my teeth. I call my painting `bad' because bad painting has its own beauty. It's not a designer tapestry or a commercial hype. It makes you react to it." 

"Actually, they're really different [his paintings compared to his films]. It's a whole different experience, painting. And yet, a similar experience. It's like a creative process. A dialogue with something. It's action and reaction. It's an experiment. It's talking to you, it wants to be a certain way. And there are highs and lows in it. Many, many things happening in it, which are abstract, that you can't put into words. And I love painting because it's really an internal, personal thing. But then, so are films..." 

"People have sometimes said my paintings stink." 

"My mother refused to give me coloring books, but gave me blank paper and things to draw with. I was never limited by pre-conception, my imagination was never ruined - I was free."
"Art means different things for different people and we all have personal tastes – where they come from, we don't know. But these tastes can evolve, or devolve. What worries me is that in the present time tastes are devolving and very few people are engaged in what is on screen or what is in a painting and it's just a one-way hollow thrill." 


I enjoy the way Lynch has created his own dialogue in his images and in his films and how he creates them for himself, using them as a way to figure out his own emotions and thoughts. also i think his embrace of the dirty and the abnormal are inspiring and something i would like to develop my work into.   

reference 

Hartmann, M. The City To Absurdity; The Art Of David Lynch. accessed August 30 2011 http://www.thecityofabsurdity.com/

The First Step - Research and Development

To get the primitive writing style i looked at runes and how they represented letters today.

I decided that i wanted to still be able to connect to the viewer, so the lettering i chose to create still keeps the basic English letter structures and sentence construction. however, in this newly developed visual language spaces between words were removed to obscure them.

I drew these up on photoshop, the decision to make them into stencils rather than hand painting them was decided for quick and effective application. on the other hand, i was not happy with how unobstructed the words were, as people other than myself could still work it out quickly. i wanted my language to be more engaging visually, so i tried manipulating the text until i found it interesting enough. this was unsuccessful (and unfortunately i didn't save them :( ... ) then the answer came to me, when i was younger i did develop my own writing styles, i used to write backwards, my parents thought my stories were just scribbles until they realised that i was mirror writing, then they'd hold it up to the mirror and see i had written English words. i think my first one was a drawing of my teddy bear with " I love my teddy" written backwards next to it (they'd later find out i had a mild form of dyslexia, but i'm glad they thought i was a genius), it was this that i thought i would employ in this text that i wanted for this piece. the photoshop trails look something like this :

I was much happier with these than the ones before. and this is how i developed my stencils.

Process - What is my process?

I have looked at my process in great depth. At first i didn't think i had a process to my work, i truly believed that i just went and made stuff with no thought to it. However i know realise that i do indeed have a process that i use when i go to create work.
Therefore i will take you step by step through this lovely thing that allows me to create work, and explain why i do it this way.

My process starts conceptually with something i find intriguing. This term I have noticed in my lectures that each artist creates a language in their work, whether it is text or visual, it is still their. these languages allow viewers to connect with the work on a deeper level as they feel that they're being involved in the work, that the story the artist is trying to tell also reflects the spectator's life in someway.

It is from here where i decided that i wanted to work with text and the question what is art? for what i have learned so far is that art is everything and nothing and all things in between. I wanted to somehow utilise the canvases i used last semester with my 'twiggins' drawings, something i was not happy with and didn't think of as art but rather childish drawings.

I have worked with text before in my work and from that experience i wanted this piece to be simple. what is aesthetically pleasing to me in my work is a grungy, dirty, unclean look. therefore the text i used in this would have to be primitive, dirty and totally mine in some way.

Antoni Muntadas

Antoni Muntadas is a multidisciplinary artist who works with the concept of language. he examines in his work how translations on languages work and how people interact with one another. Muntadas examines tha human capacity for speech and how people interpret other languages.

I think his approach to this subject is well thought out and on a conceptual level very confronting on who and why people interact with each other. I find this very interesting and think it displays the ignorance of people and their understanding of culture.

reference
Rush, M.2003. Video Art. Thames & Hudson Ltd.: London
 

Jane and Louise Wilson

Jane and Louise Wilson then studied together on the MA course at Goldsmiths Collage, London (1990-2). When they left art school, they lived in King's Cross and made films of small living spaces, such as bed and breakfast rooms. Another early film showed them taking LSD for the first time.
Jane and Louise Wilson's work together includes multiscreen video installations and photo-pieces; their artworks often feature institutional spaces, for example an oil rig, the archives of the Stasi in East Berlin (the building had previously been used by the Nazis and Stalin's Russia) and  The Houses of Parliament.

They create stories in their films that relate to them. they talk about writing scripts and sounds and I find that i can relate to these elements in the way they describe it. They say they don not have film training, but film is just another visual medium that can tell a narrative or story,

Refrence
Rush, M.2003. Video Art. Thames & Hudson Ltd.: London

Jenny Watson

Jenny Watson's paintings have a diaristic function, recording memories and everyday events and disclosing intimate and personal experiences. But she also recognises that representation or communication is dependent on codes and styles which often have a detached or awkward relationship with what is trying to be expressed. In her later work, Watson uses naive techniques such as irregular lettering and a lack of perspective to suggest 'childish' or regressive states where articulation is fragmented and unfinished.

Text is a fundamental part of Watson's work. she uses it to make comments on everyday life and art. i think the manipulation of  the English language is a visually exciting experience and would like to try somwthing like this in my own work.

reference
Buther et. al. 2004. What Is Appropriation?; An Anthology of Writing on Australian Art In The 1980's & 1990's. IMA Publishing : Brisbane.  

Process

i thought of trying a new process what i normally do. To do this i limited myself to just my laptop camera and as i was doing my Australian Art assignment. i was not allowed to delete any footage i took and could only use sound from one movie track and one song track.
this is what happened...

I liked the exercise and thought the outcome was okay, it runs longer then some of my other videos and is a way more stupid. but i like it. i think it has an honest quality to it.
this was filmed at my mum's house when i went to look after her after she had a mild heart attack. i found that this process took my mind off things.
the movie audio i used was from : Rubin and Ed
The song Audio was from : Gotye's Sombody I used to Know.

Lindy Lee

Lindy Lee is a first generation Chinese Australian, who investigates issues of selfhood and identity. Her work embodies a dramatic visual language of bold colours and gestures often combined with photographic images from various sources. These photographs include portraits of Lee’s wider family, her travels to China, and Kuan Yin, the Chinese Goddess of Mercy. Informed by her study and practice of Zen buddhism, Lee’s work links east and west, joining body and spirit and connecting past with present.

Lee works with symbols and a visual language that only fundamentally she knows what it means. Like Warhol she uses symbols that others may understand, however, unlike Warhol Lee uses them for an intrinsic meaning. I find it interesting that you can create a visual language that you only really know the meaning for, but other can reconise certain aspects of it and draw their own conclusions.


reference:
Buther et. al. 2004. What Is Appropriation?; An Anthology of Writing on Australian Art In The 1980's & 1990's. IMA Publishing : Brisbane.  

Maggi Hambling

Maggi Hambling is a painter and sculptor. Her work concentrates on loss and death and is shown through her subject matter and her style of painting.

Hambling creates emotions in her work by the use of paint, or in her scallop piece, the use of words and the sculpture's placement. Hambling starts her images by doing studies in charcoal form which she then selects the one she wants to make a painting of.

reference
Hawksley, C. 2011. 50 British Artists You Should Know. Prestel Publishing: London.

Gilbert and George

Gilbert and George are a British duo that use everyday things for art. Their process is a key factor in their work as they document and catalog every thing they can in a two block radius of their studio. it form these images that they draw visual inspiration from.  

Their videos are also highly inspirational as well,

They also have created their own visual language that is recognizable on sight. It is this that i want to eventually create in my work, that i can apply to all different subject matter.

reference:
Hawksley, C. 2011. 50 British Artists You Should Know. Prestal Publishing: London

Franko B

Franko B works across video, photography, performance, painting, installation, sculpture and mixed media. he lives in London and has preformed at the Tate gallery. His work are haunting images of social commentary in the world. Franko's intentions in his work are to present images that he finds interesting and that stick in his mind. He aims to create his own language through the use of his body and objects that he makes.  

While some of his work is interesting, i found that i didn't connect to his work until i heard him talk and explain it:

It was after this that i found his work more interesting, however, i think that his work and it's intentions would be more evident in it's experience.


Keidan et al. 1998. Franko B. Black Dog Publishing Limited: Unknown.

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic is a performance and video artist. she has done many works spanning from the 70's to now and is highly regarded for her use of body in her pieces. her process of working is based upon how far she can push her body and her boundaries. Abramovic pushes her process to make sure her work is never static and so each performance can give some meaning to the viewers.

This type of pushing is something i would like to have in my own practice and works, so i am never static; always working, always thinking, always questioning. i find that i feel safe in my practice, however, i think that if i can't get myself to think and react to my work, then how will i ever get an audience to? Marina Abramovic you are a champion.

MOMA (2011) The Artist Is present: Marina Abramovic. accessed August 22 2011. http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/965

Youtube video "marina abramovic _ art must be beautiful _ 1975" Accessed August 22 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cCFDSzDnUk

Youtube Video " Marina Abramović - Rhythm 10 ("The Star", 1999)" Accessed August 22 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9-HVwEbdCo
 

long time no blog

I'm sorry that i haven't been here in a while.

i have been heavily in thought over what my process and my practice is really all about, and let me tell you i have artists that i need to talk ALL about on here as well. :)


also i will post some of my process/ work that i have done on here too to give you an update ( i really have to stop caring weather i think it is finished or not and show you my whole process instead)
So watch out, solid blogging and creating here i come.