Theory Essay - Completed - Hoorah!

At last I have managed to just about finish my essay, which has been a real mental wrestle. Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased with the results as the structure, now that it has been rewritten, is a lot easier to understand.

I've decided against creating an abstract for the document, simply because the introduction has been condensed into one page anyway, and so the need for an abstract seems to me to be superfluous.

The skeleton of the document seems to flow such that it provides an interesting explanation of what artistic affect actually is, a discussion on what affect theory is and where it has developed from, why affect is important to art, and then this initial outcome suggests the concept which could be used for the creation of art in future (with affect being a conscious component of the production process)

The document then goes on to explain how because grief is a social construct, it could be suggested that affect through grief is also socially constructed and it is here that I have used the works of the early new European painters to contextualise the development of affect through grief.

By using the latest proponents of the new European painters, including Luc Tuymans and Bracha L Ettinger, I have combined this with the idea of Heidegger's broken hammer analogy to explain presence and nonpresence in order to articulate grief and loss together with the object oriented ontology of Heidegger for my own practice.

I have left the door open for more research in the conclusions section of the essay as I think that there are opportunities to develop a deeper and wider understanding of affect in engaging with other artworks, to trigger and stimulate different emotions, for me to have more creative ideas to engage viewers with.

Conclusions;

• By writing and then rewriting this essay in so many iterative versions, I have been worried at times that I may be drifting from the core intentions of the essay. However I'm quite satisfied that the final document can be held up as my best attempt at satisfying the criterion for this theory module. I do hope it meets the standards that I believe my tutors have inculcated to me.
• I hope that by leaving further research opportunities that I will be able to pursue these during the rest of this semester and the new calendar year, and I am now quite excited to get back into the regular cycle of production within the studio both at home and also in the University facilities.