Whilst I am still trying to incorporate within my art an interpretation of social, cultural, and historical spaces, I realise that this may not be possible in one single piece of art.I have already created in my space in the studio a little shrine to Huddersfield. I have posted various views of the town on my studio wall and have gathered many artefacts and information pertaining to its' history and social development.
So far I feel as though I've been concentrating on rather a flat or shallow view of the space in front of the railway station both metaphorically and literally. I attention has been wrapped around the concepts of travel, time, place but also I need to start looking behind the façade of what is in front of me. I have done some exploration in the way that the buildings have been placed in the square, there is definitely a pattern to how things have been built. The interpretation that I am trying to achieve should fit with the contemporary styles of understanding.But I also want to do this week is to start thinking about other media types, perhaps I could use laser cutting or steel cutting photography or other technology such as graphic or 3-D printing techniques.
At my team briefing this week I watched a video by the senior creator of the Houston metropolitan Gallery, which is part of the C.A.M. the Contemporary Art Museum of Texas about an artist called Trenton Doyle Hancock. This got me thinking about the test piece that I was looking to put together, and my ideas regarding St George's square and how I could incorporate the sense of the star constellation Draco (the Dragon).
I have done a little bit of research on the star constellation: Draco. The word Draco is a Latin word for Dragon. At one time in history, one of the stars within the Draco constellation was used as the Northern Star or pole star, and it was one of the constellations that was recorded by the second century astronomer Ptolemy. It is possible that became part of Greek mythology, whereas a dragon who guarded the golden apples of the Hesperides (was called Ladon) may have been substituted as Draco. Ladon, a dragon that guarded the golden apples, was killed by Hercules, who was tasked with stealing the golden apples. Interestingly, the star constellation of Hercules is also to be found near to Draco too. In later historical legend and myths of the times of the Roman Empire, Draco was killed by a goddess Minerva, and as it twisted upon itself. It froze as the cold north celestial pole star.
Whilst the scene of using chewing gum marks, left behind within the pavement area, would make a good representation of the star constellation, and the obvious connection to the story of St George, the english patron Saint who killed a Dragon, I still have some doubts about the work and where it is going.
Nevertheless, I have committed myself to completing the little test piece this week and whilst it may take a fair bit of manufacturing, I think I should go through the process anyway. And I am conscious that the daily process includes an acceptance of myself failing. I realise I have to keep pushing, I have to have a kind of obsessive compulsive disorder to approach some of this work, especially as it seems to be exactly that, rather an obsessive. I also watched another video at the weekly briefing by an artist called Lucy Gunning, the work is entitled "Thump", - this is an idea of the response to jumping at reflections in glass windows. In essence, it's basically the artist jumping against a window in the same way that a wasp might do repeatedly again and again and again in the hope that something different might happen. I remember this was once suggested to me as a description of madness, that is to repeat something again and again and again in exactly the same way in the hope that something different might be the outcome.
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