Formative Assessment #2 - Reflections on the discussion...

(The Interview has been transcribed in full)...

I described my practice as 'very much based on the body of work that you see before you', and... rather read than through the positioning statement in its entirety, I left a copy with Dr Lister.

Hopefully, the statement covers 'where I'm at', and I made the decision to 'stop talking'.

[Transcribed discussion]

GH - I think that my plan is is reasonably fixed; the maquettes that I made this week seems to work, - it certainly has done its job, which is to cross that strange line between something that is 'kind of interesting and yet odd', and people can't place.

So it was, that I wanted to try and capture, also incorporating the theme of the whole, which was "the things left behind", the gnome; but also that 'something' on the largest scale, that are so, from the macro to the micro...  At the micro scale, with that idea of DNA, that is literally on the lint from at the tumble dryer, - with it I have got identity; which is retained within the DNA.  The identity, which is also retained in the Bank statements,  / shredded confidential waste; so all those things, are 'kind of' in there. There is even hair as well, - human hair, which has an identity.

So, to cut a long story short, the maquette has done his job.  I think it's the right format for me to present an artefact if not necessarily the final artefact, but it is made to progress to the next artefact... and that next artefact is something very similar to the maquette but at a much larger scale.  I intend to create it more or less as 'him', slightly more rounded as a profile, and about four times as big. If I am to create an aura, then that 'aura thing' is of great importance, in order to to make the statement. Almost go to get the viewer's interest, to bring them forward to the physicality of the artifact, then, for them to start questioning the physicality of it, ...but also to draw them in, to start to read the materiality of it, and hopefully get some of the slightly "tongue in cheek", on its own... Mild 'tongue in cheek' reference of three years in art college, and to see it's a "papier-mache thing on chicken wire made from egg cartons" and set.

(GL - Which I think is great and is quite sophisticated after those three years it's this very knowing  regression, your which is befitting this body of work, when the theme you know if you distill this right down to your art practice and the earliest time you created the I things you looked at when you started practicing).

So that that that's where I'm at; that's what in thinking; - the plan to continue this is fine, I'm confident of the timescales; and confident of the way production, as well.

And this maquette has proved it, as it's just got to be done on a bigger scale now; and you know I'm raring to go, I'm ready for it...
I don't know if it's currently the absolute final, but to be brutally honest, I may make other similar sized maquettes, after the bigger one, possibly by taking a mould of the smaller one, and then creating one out of plaster-of-Paris or something? To do that just to create, to keep making, and just keep making... Something "similar but different", so that they see that is that...  That's a bit of experimentation that may still go on.

The worry I have got with that, even though I'm planning to do some if I've got time; the worry I've got with that is it may turn out just as a plaster-of-Paris kind of maquette mask.  I worry this may distract the spectator, down a bit of the wrong path, in that it will take the direction away from "things left behind"  ...so it then just becomes an exercise and the jury is out; I may or may not do this task as moulds; it doesn't seem to co-inside as constructive.

(GL - feedback; you're right to question it, - it will be loose because you are between an order created from 'objects' which I see you take on through mass produced, you're absolutely right, gnomes are mass-produced, and if compared in an any with a cast of that scale, it's hard to explain, but you are in dialogue).

The only processing for these are, I think that there is a need to have them as a wall mounted element too.  It's kind of an idea Dale mentioned, to get the idea that Benjamin, (Walter Benjamin) writes at some stage, not sure which part it is, - whether it's "On the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction", I can't remember if it's that; anyway as it's a very short essay, - where he talks about the "democratic" art being to lying down, and art being Autocratic being against the wall...

I am kind of thinking it should be against the wall. There is a reference there to the classics, into the Greek tradition of art and classical art school, which is always one the first thing that people tended to draw 200 years ago! There would always be on hand a bust of Plato or Homer or something like that, so there's a bit of a reference in that, in what I have done. So again, in thinking, yeah, it will probably be on the wall certainly, - upright, not lying down.  If it's not the wall then perhaps just a bit, it would have to be faced off with something behind it, so, whether it's on a hollow panel, but ultimately it's authoritarian not democratic to you, ...that's kind of where I'm thinking.

(GL - You mentioned the classics and I was thinking near the Deans office there's armour, -  busts of armour)...
Yes,  I think it was Lisa Stansbie who did those, (GL - was it really?), I remarked on them a while ago,  - a few years ago, and she said: "Oh, I did that"...

(GL your correlation you make, you are giving a little reference?), ... In a way, it is a little poke, but it's a little one!
The gnome maquette references it as "I've clocked that" - that's what I'm trying to do...  and yes, there is mischief, there is no doubt there is mischief, in what I'm trying to do, but it's nice mischief,  and I don't want to offend anybody at all, ...whether it is past artists or anyone really.

I am sometimes a little bit unsure about the idea of the fact that is quite a difficult subject in a way, with regards to what the Bank Statements are, and the hair, and in the lint, as it comes from my brother who has died... It's quite a difficult... to me anyway, it's quite a ...., it's quite a poignant subject that I'm addressing, so I'm trying to do it in such a way that certainly doesn't offend his memory, but would equally not offend any of the family, who potentially might see this because he was a lovely, lovely guy.
  I never want to take any of that dignity away... He probably would find this extremely funny, extremely entertaining...   I just hope everybody else does.  That that's the wary bit; that matters, there is caution.
(GL - That's interesting you say that it is not a straightforward line), ... Is it almost an embodiment of him? maybe not the right word... (GL - embodiment, - that maybe befits this whole project? So, maybe some wording around that you need to work on. You are close, so there is already a sense of embodiment implied, that's built into it, - helping to use this, you think it is, ...not positioned as a monument, but you are you talking about it, and him).
I like the phrase "it is a 'heightened moment', in reference to the encounter with my brother passing on', so that is it ... It does serve to fit that.

(GL - I'm delighted how you talk about your work and how you think; How you write about it is super too, and to see you've got all this ready to go is great)...

What do I need to do to improve my marks if I may be so bold to put it that way,

(GL - What I would do is to try to move the object out of the studio context... and I don't know how much taking out of the studio context you have done. Try to understand it against a white wall? ...and the question is it in shadow? angled? so that I can see the making of it...  The relief.

Conclusions;

• The uniqueness of the maquette will be broken down if a different set of materials are used.
• The aura of the unique object is useful and what I am trying to achieve.
• Do I put the finished artifact directly on the wall, or a little off the wall, - do I wish to show the "making" elements of it?  What is it's position? What lighting is needed for it?
• These considerations can be made while the studios are very quiet, and I will try positioning it in darkness.
• It is good practice to really get to know the works and you can talk about "knowing" the work, and so "knowing a result" e.g. why I'm putting it on a show,  exhibiting it in a particular way...
• I think it will give it a different appreciation of it, by putting the object on a white wall, or perhaps to experiment with the background? - Maybe an off-white or grey background?
• one can measure the confidence amongst people as gradually refining what has been produced, and what happens when it's shown in slightly different contexts. 
•  In writing about my work, the 'Embodiment' could be described as a memorial to my brother, John, but it could also be described as a "heightened moment"
• Continue to make, to experiment and test!
•  Establish and prove confidence in the making.... Refine the context and meaning of it!