To seek permission is to seek denial… Well not on this occasion!

It's been just over a full week since my last blog, but recalling some of the words of an old chief executive officer of mine, whom I worked for around 10 years ago, he used to say "to seek permission is to seek denial". Basically, what he meant was just get on with things, do what you think is right, but above all just do it!

Well, that's kind of what I've done here, but in this case, I have in fact asked permission of my senior lecturer to restart my blogs, even though we are still within the marking period of my degree. I wrote a quick email to him explaining that I was getting withdrawal symptoms from making these regular reflections, and his response seemed that he was only too pleased to allow me to continue.
So my time over the past week and a half, since finishing off my exhibition piece quod ultimam partem (that final bit, or that final part), has been spent making one or two little devices that hold a special meaning for me.

The first of these devices is a set of three-way callipers...

These callipers or dividers are based on the Greek pentagram mechanism that I think Archimedes may have used. They are a set of dividers with a difference, though. Instead of just having two legs, or arms, or pointers, there are in fact three. The outer two operate in the usual manner as simple calipers; approximately one third down the arms length, though, on both sides, is a link on one, and on the other a full-length leg which itself is divided into two parts, the centre of which links to the opposite divided third of the full arm. This effectively gives a third leg linked to both the primary and secondary arms of the callipers. The key to this intriguing little device, however, lies in its measurements and ratios, of which have been specifically calculated to ensure that the third leg, which sits in between the primary and secondary arms of the calliper, remain fixed at an exact ratio based on Fibonacci's observations of the golden ratio;

This being approximately 1:1.68.  

I have been intrigued by the golden ratio and the Fibonacci sequence for most of my studies in contemporary art. I still find this sequence of numbers in nature in so many things, from the curve of a snail's shell, to the petals of a chrysanthemum, to the curvature of beautiful landscapes. But also in human-made architectural themes as well as other everyday objects.

So this is how I did it…
The following photographs show the construction of the callipers. I trust that you will find this interesting and I have included the dimensions within the drawing that can be easily copied.

 Using three pieces of beechwood, (I used the redundant parts of some drawer runners), choose two lengths for the normal outer arms, plus one thinner length to form the link and third centre arm.

 By measuring the lengths according to the diagram below, cut the pieces to suit each component.

Then accurately drill the pieces as shown. Accuracy  in length is vital in order to allow the callipers to both maintain the golden ratio throughout their extension(s), but also, so that they close flush.

In my case, the linkage arm would not allow the third leg to sufficiently close next to the secondary arm, so I made a very small elongation of the upper linkage arm hole. (Approx 1mm).  This allowed the arms to all fully close, however, this also means that the accuracy of the 1.68 ratios is slightly compromised, albeit, it is un-noticeable for my purposes, so I can live with that slight margin of error.

Once all the holes are drilled, the wood is shaped and sanded etc, I applied a final coat or three of good beeswax, and polished the set, before fixing together with some spare cupboard connection tubes; these provided a perfect substitute for brass rivets, the preferred option.  The top apex of the callipers I secured together with an M6 bolt and wing-nut.



So now I am merely going around measuring the Golden Ratio on anything I see... Credit cards, bank statements, chocolate wrappers, Calculators, books... You name it, those that appear as a golden ratio are just naturally far more aesthetically pleasing to most people!

Well, that's it then... Reflections on the last week of my BA (Hons) Degree

It's been a funny week, this week. It opened up on the Monday with a lot of anxiety coming from many of the students who were clearly concerned that the timescales were short and deadlines were looming. What has actually happened throughout the week, has been nothing short of wonderful. The same regular crew of students, together with myself, have been busily finishing the last touches to their pieces ready to submit for final assessment.

The collaboration and esprit de corps have been second to none, and I'm really going to miss this sense of almost family, as we disperse and move into our professional practice.

My own piece of work is finished, as described in my blog from a couple of days ago. I'm delighted with the piece, as it truly reflects my own enquiry into both the contemporary arts, but also contemporary philosophy, with its first positioning into the 20th century by my old favourite Nietzsche.

Conclusions, and final lessons learned;

• The journey over the last three years has actually taught me a great deal about life. To take time out to observe properly what is going on around me; to reinterpret it and make meaning of it in new ways that I could not 'non-linguistically see' before.
• The importance of a plan; Despite getting lots of resistance to using a plan as working tool, when I initially started my degree almost 3 years ago, it is evident that it is necessary to operate in a structured way, albeit with flexible boundaries, in order to meet a deadline and target timescales.
• The underlying philosophy of the strive to make meaning, which is arguably different to "understanding".
• I started my degree with one focus and objective, and that was "to help me to think in a different way". I feel that I have completely achieved this! My own evidence to myself, of proof of a different way of thinking, is that the 'making meaning' of contemporary art is in itself akin to an art form.
• I have also realised that the necessity to learn, is really a necessity built-in to myself to just keep making things. By making, then one is learning. By making, one is almost 'playing'. By making, one is researching. The combined ideas of research through practice and practice through research make complete sense to me now.
• And finally, I realise now that this whole degree has been a lesson about thinking for myself. To make my own meaning towards things that I see and encounter, during the 'everyday' transition from dawn to dusk; from awakening to returning to sleep.
• I'm determined to do much more...  Watch this space!

In accordance with University requirements to properly assess student's blogs, I will go on temporary radio shut down for about one month from this evening.  I will, however, re-start blogging after the 21st June, when assessment and adjudication are complete.

Watch this space!... Back in a month!...

Felling happy, but also a touch of sadness that work is nearly finished!

Well, it's been an interesting day, in fact, the last two days have been quite a challenge in many ways. The challenge since my last blog has been to devise a method of suspending my artefact in such a way that I will be allowed to swivel the object and move its azimuth in a variety of angles.

Much of Monday was spent playing around with ideas in the workshop for an armature to be made out of 2 x 2 pine wood batons.

I wanted an elegant and simple a frame to hold my object, but with sufficient strength to be able to support up to what I calculate to be around 15 kg away from the wall and also at an unusual angle, in such a way that it would give the viewer the appearance of the object floating off the wall and away from it. This was a decision that I had made early on, indeed a few months ago after my original maquette had been hung on the studio wall, after various discussions with my tutors.

I'm pleased to say that the artefact is now up on the wall in its final position ready for assessment, and I'm delighted with the position that the piece occupies, in the gallery space.

The innovative wall fixings, where I have used 8 mm threaded steel bolt, cut to size, but then pushed through a keyhole slot in the galleries boarded walls.

In order to achieve this, I needed to drill out some very neat crucifix shaped slots out of the wooden panel, to enable the 8 mm bolt together with a large washer and wing nut to be slipped through so that the armature can be fitted to the bolt which is then capped off with a 8 mm lock nut. With this combination, I am therefore able to put a very large strain on the wooden panel without it giving way.

This simple yet elegant design of a keyhole fixing is particularly useful for walls that are made of plasterboard or compressed sawdust board (MDF). As it turned out, my fear of the wall being constructed from wood fibre was misplaced, because this particular board, being an outside edge to one of the studio spaces, turned out to be made from plywood. The inherent strength of plywood is much greater than fibreboard or MDF. So whilst I may have overengineered the fixing to the wall, the method of deployment is good enough to work on any type of substrate, should it be required to be moved and re-situated elsewhere.

After some careful deliberation, and making a variety of twists to the artefact on the adjustable A-frame, I have settled for an appropriately aesthetically pleasing angle to the perpendicular, but also I have added in an additional skew towards the front entrance of the gallery space, making a combined twist effectively. I'm really pleased with the appearance of the work now as it genuinely does seem to be floating off the wall as per my original intent.

Conclusions;

• Whilst I am very pleased with the final result of my fragment of a garden gnome, there is a touch of sadness to this work in that I have now finished it! The sadness is there because I have enjoyed making it so much.
• The lesson to be learned from this, without a doubt, is that one must choose for themselves topics, objects, themes, ideas that deeply connect with you as an individual, and also as you as an artist.
• I keep coming back to the influence of Anselm Kiefer, and the way that he has manifested so many meanings into every part of his work, and my own artistic exploration is beginning to find its own true signature at last.
• The artistic signature that I have developed, very much lies in the principal of multiple meanings being buried deep within the object both before the making of it commences but also, and this is crucial, in the special making of the artefact; whether this might be a painting or a sculpture or digital video piece is not important. 
• What is important is to continue to play throughout the making and tie this with the research through appropriate sources to inspire new ways of thinking.
• As recognised some time ago, our world is confined in linguistic experience. This is why that introduction to semiotics during my first year was so important. By creating things which can be reinterpreted that do not fit on the linguistic plane, is extremely satisfying. 
• The intentional drive for unconventional artefacts, which are a non-purposive outcome, together with play, forms the backbone to research through practice. This struggle to detach ourselves from a linguistic interpretation of the world, and put us into a realm that some describe as pre-linguistic (Shipps, S. 2008 pp115), which is hard to explain, until one thinks about the state of mind one might find themselves in, perhaps whilst driving, or playing a sport, or indeed here in this case, making "something special"as a piece of art. This is about being "in the zone" and play does this to you.
• There is an inbuilt need to "make" all the time.  I need to make, to make meaning, and also to make things, images, sculpture, objects, digital etc.  It is the making that is critical. 
• Make, Make, Make,  Art, Art, Art; Kunst, Kunst, Kunst!

References in this post;

• Shipps, S. (2008) (Re-)Thinking Art, a Guide for Beginners; Malden, Massachusetts. Blackwell publishing.  
• Centre Pompidou, Paris, and Haus der Kunst, Munich.
  http://www.hausderkunst.de/en/agenda/detail/a-history-contemporary-art-from-the-centre-pompidou/ Retrieved 18/05/2016.

The final leg towards "Quod Ultimam Partem"

For some months now, since an almost throw away comment by Dr Lister, (but I'm sure it wasn't), I have been wrestling with the idea of how to exhibit the major project final piece so that in Dr Lister's words, "it seems to float off the wall".

In thinking about how to present my final piece, which as explained in a previous blog, I have named in Latin as "that final piece" which roughly is "Quod Ultimum Partem" or Quod Ultimum Fragmen...

[Photograph, Courtesy of
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocca_della_Verita]

 I have chosen to do this not only for the slight mischief is a reference to an everyday object broken up like a jigsaw puzzle and that last fragment required in order for completion. In this case, (the fragment of the garden gnome), but also to draw on the idea of the temporal and old use of language.

Latin being an ancient language, it seems to fit with my piece quite well, as the memory of the Roman Italian "La Bocca della Verità" (The Mouth of Truth) comes into my imagination as I look at this.  (Interestingly,  I have visited this ancient site with my wife, and having eventually found it, the Boca di Veritas sits in a rather scruffy part of Rome on the side of a highway, and to all immediate views, one might think it is part of a sheltered bus stop).

Hadfield, G. (2016), Final Piece.
[Paper, Wood & domestic detritus composite]

The solution for the fixing of this quite large piece lies in what I believe to be an innovative fixing method using a series of A-frames. By creating a mounting which is adjustable, I believe that I have a very good opportunity to make sure that the aesthetic presentation of my work comes to a very high, if not exceptional standard, and I want to make sure that this final piece can be examined during the graduate show, so that viewers will get some insight into how I manufactured the piece. I'm particularly keen to enable the construction and the "special making"of the work come through. Therefore, there needs to be some visible access to the rear of the object and I hope that the innovative use of these A-frames will help me to demonstrate that.

Conclusions;

• Timing is everything!... I need to provide some surprise factor in presenting the work and the frame needs to be manufactured this week.
•  As I have chosen a wooden structure supported by steel coach bolts and hinges, I think that this is easily completed in less than a day.

References;

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bocca_della_Verit%C3%A0 ; Retrieved 15/05/2015 from Wikipedia.it.

'Wow! we've got a Gallery Space', and other reflections on the week.

It has been an amazing week as we approach the final hand-in and assessment day, in just one week's time.

There are a select group of regular students who have been working really hard and collaborating together in order to make the original studio space at the University into a fit for purpose, in fact, purpose-built, exhibition gallery space. In my own small way, I have been attending the premises every day and assisting with some of the carpentry and conversion. Once the conversions have physically been completed, the team of students have then come into each studio and totally repainted the area from top to bottom in a white emulsion, leaving a tabula rasa for each course student to use as their own presentation space.

With a whole week to go, everyone is well placed to use the whole five days to position each of their works in the most effective aesthetic and meaningful manner; myself also included of course.

As I have mentioned already in previous blogs, my own final piece which I have now entitled "Quad Ultemam Partem", which loosely translates from Latin as "That Final Piece".  I chose to translate this into latin to give a further ambiguity of sense, by suggesting the idea of the relic (i.e. the fragment), but also to "make special" in a monumental link too, to the ancient / temporal / non-time bound object.

Hadfield, G. (2016), "Quod Ultimam Partem", [Photograph, - Mixed media sculpture, Wood, Galvanized chicken-wire,
and news-print as substrate: covered with a papier mache composite of cross-cut shredded confidential waste,
shredded credit cards x2, domestic detritus, lint & human hair]. Approx. 2000mm * 1200mm.

The work is virtually ready to be positioned, well in time for the assessments and gallery exhibition to take place. Before I do this, however, I wanted to take this whole last week to just think carefully as to how I will best achieve this. As a result of that open question to myself, I sought some confirmation of my own thoughts from my tutor today...  (This is the first time over the last two weeks that I have approached them to elicit opinion, as I have tried to make sure I have thoroughly questioned myself and generally independently tested myself, before seeking supervisory advice...).
.... I'm delighted to say that his reaction on seeing my sculpture in its completed state for the first time, was a very genuine exclamation of "wow!" Together with a broad smile, which indicated to me that I had in fact succeeded in creating something with great aura and presence, (which of course were as per my intentions).

Conclusions;

• A really useful confirmatory conversation took place today and I was highly encouraged by the enthusiasm and interest that might tutor genuinely showed in my work.
• As a small reward to myself, and by way of thanking my dear patient wife, we both then visited the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, just outside Wakefield, some 10 to 15 miles away from the University.
• For completeness, I truly believe that many of the sculptures within this open exhibition space all had strong referential contemporary links to each other, but moreover, I felt that my own work fitted in perfectly with regards to the context of those professionally produced works as well.
• I have therefore come away from the Sculpture Park with renewed enthusiasm, ready to provide an innovative demonstration, not only my portfolio of works for the past academic year, but also to present my whole body of work in such a way that an extremely strong narrative can be seen throughout the journey of my practice development.

More thoughs about the presentation styles of my final piece.

Having pretty much completed all the major work on my final piece (which I shall submit as my major project for assessment in a couple of weeks time), I am exactly on target to my original plan. The intention of this week, week commencing eighth of May 2016, on my schedule, was to finalise the sculpture in such a sufficient way that I could then make various adjustments to the presentation style of the object.

My intention is to place the fragment at up to 45° clockwise from the centre point. I shall also attempt to make a suitable A-frame, or indeed to A-frame devices which will allow me to adjust the angle at which the object sits against a wall and the corresponding floor in the gallery. Because I have two presentation angles to consider, against the fixed angle of 90° weather wall and floor meets, it is probably the more precise use of English to explain that these A-frame's will be used to adjust the pitch and the yaw.

Having already made detailed blueprints or schematics as they are more commonly known in the contemporary manufacture, I am well placed to make a computer simulated, three-dimensional model of the sculpture to such an extent that I can develop measurements for the A-frame from those original schematics.

For the moment, though, the finished artefact has been rested against a wall of the workshop studio. In this position, raised approximately 3 feet above the ground at workshop bench level height, I am probably going to leave it in this position for the next few days at least, in order to just absorb the overall aura and presence of the peace.

Whilst it seems that there are other students who are also near completion of their works, for the past couple of weeks we have all been collaborating extremely well in order to make the studio space completely clear of all furniture, and of course, work, and fully repaint those spaces to convert the complex of studio spaces within the University contemporary art building into excellent gallery and exhibition space. As a mature student, I must say that the professional attitude, thoroughness and positive work ethic has been fantastic, together with an esprit de corps among the group that is so infectious that I truly want everyone to succeed who have contributed.

Conclusions.

• I am very pleased with the results of the work that I have given towards this final piece over the last few weeks. Now that it appears to be completely dry, there are possibly just one or two small adjustments, such as the potential removal of the small piece of canvas to the lower centre portion of the gnome's beard, for example.
• I have purposefully left a thorough rendering of application of the composite material completely off a number of parts of the face, and in particular some larger areas of the gnome's beard. Whilst I do have the opportunity to add more composite, I think my decision has been well tested by leaving these areas vacant. Now that a few days has passed over this last weekend, since completion last Friday, it has allowed me to consider, reconsider and reflect on the sculpture as I had promised myself to do so.
• There are a few more days of this week to continue with the preparation of the gallery space, and I intend to use my experience of general carpentry to assist many of the other students in completing their particular requirements to stage and present their work in the most effective manner. This is a good thing for me to, because it allows me to step away from just purely focusing and concentrating on reflective self-doubts, and instead use my time positively to allow for latent learning, and hence reflection on the final outcomes as positively as possible, which are less inclined to be just purely emotional responses, but are more likely to be a better balance of both emotion and logic, mixed with a good amount of rhetoric and critical feedback that I can solicit from my compatriots.

Reflections on the study of Georges Bataille - Part #3

Having acquired a copy of Georges Bataille's book, visions of access, selected Writings 1927 to 1939, it is formed as a series of essays that Bataille wrote, starting with the first very short essay entitled "Dream", which is ostensibly about an incident that he had whilst as a child living in Reims, France. He talks about the terrors of childhood, and I'm not sure if he is recounting real events, or is more likely a confabulation various fragments of memories, a deep-seated emotional trauma that seems to have affected him for the rest of his life. (I have briefly discussed that issue in some of the previous blogs related to this author).

In the next essay entitled "The Solar Anus", he makes a comment about the perception of the world being a parody of itself. He talks within this essay about the continuous movement of life, the routine of getting up in the morning and falling asleep again; and this is all because our world revolves around the Sun. The reproduction and fecundity of life, with its inevitable endings and rebirths, is united. The importance of the sea, and its relationship with the cycle of tides, rising and falling, in rotation with the moon and the earth, all bound intrinsically with the Sun, coupled with what Bataille describes in his essay in very graphic and phallic terms, also plays a highly charged part in his thinking. Ultimately this essay seems to be about Bataille's guilt, perhaps during an event whilst he was exploring some of the most extreme and debauched parts of his research into hedonism and excess.

In the essay "The Language of Flowers", there seems to be a deeper analysis and in his words "the role given to symbols in psychoanalytic interpretations" (Bataille, page 11), suggests a much more quantified thought about appearance and phenomena, and the value of appearance in itself. Again though he rapidly associates symbology found in the construction, or indeed deconstruction of flowers, with the ideas of beauty juxtaposed with repugnance.

I'm glad to have found a copy of this book of very unusual essays which reflect the thoughts of Georges Bataille, and whilst it seems that each one had been written at the time with considerably deep thought and attention, much of what he says, can be reinterpreted and applied to contemporary culture. It must also be considered in context at the time of great turmoil in Europe, both politically and culturally.

Other essays in the book are for example "The Big Toe", which he argues is the most human part of the human body, underlying its importance in order to keep us standing upright. In "the Lugubrious Game", he refers to the painting of the same name, by Salvador Dali. It appears from further reading that Bataille had a certain inferiority complex with regard to Salvador Dali, and whilst both were exploring areas of culture which had hitherto been off-limits, there is an observation of emasculation in Dali's paintings, which Bataille seems to be drawing out with provocation.

Conclusions;

Further essays deal with the interpretation of language and its translations of meanings from one to another, in which it necessarily follows that confusion or indeed errors may result. One particular essay of interest to me at the moment is the essay entitled "The Old Mole and the prefix 'Sur' in the words surhomme [Superman] and surrealist". It is in this essay that he brings in some of the thoughts of Frederick Wilhelm Nietzsche, together with materialism, free spirit, and nihilism. This particular essay requires much more research, suffice it to say, that it will provide a great reference source for some of my future works no doubt.

References;

Richardson, M. (1994), Georges Bataille. London: Routledge
Stoekl, A. (1985), Georges Bataille, Visions of Excess, (Selected Writings, 1927-1939), Edited and Translated by Allan Stoekl, Theory and History of Literature, Volume 14, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.

Positive Feedback from Theory Presentation and Good progress this week.

Reflecting on the presentation that I completed yesterday to Dr Holmes and Dr Lister, I'm pleased that I spent some considerable time over a previous couple of weeks putting together a succinct and hopefully well-targeted set of images as slides for this presentation. Whilst I appreciate that the actual event might only account for a small portion of the overall marks in my theory module, I really wanted to make sure that I could articulate all the salient and relevant points clearly.

I used the triad of studio practice, research and pedagogy in a kind of Venn diagram, in order to illustrate how my methodology seems to be working. This was based on an idea that Dr Holmes had discussed with me back in February, and I have slowly been absorbing and fully understanding that this way of thinking should virtually be adopted as a permanent praxis or method in my future commercial practice.

Hadfield, G. (2016). Final Piece  (Photo).; Sculpture of Chicken-Wire on wooden batten frame,
 with Newsprint Papier-mache surface

Hadfield, G. (2016), Photo 1 of dry materials & disinfectant

Likewise, I've been pleased with the progress of work on my graduation final piece. It is really coming together and taking shape following the application of the surface composite material created from cross cut shredded confidential waste paper, domestic detritus from a vacuum cleaner, human hair, lint from a tumble dryer and some chopped up out of date credit cards.

Hadfield, G. (2016), Photo 2 of treated materials & disinfectant

Clearly the above mixture or composite would be rather unhealthy to use in its raw state. I, therefore, submerged the mixture in a highly effective and super concentrated disinfectant that is often used in the farming industry to completely sanitise any areas of disease.

Hadfield, G. (2016), Photo 3 of disinfectant-treated materials

I left the composite mixture soaking in this solution of detergent, antibacterial and anti-viral liquor for about five days, before fully draining the fluid liquor element away and generally rinsing the composite material through with fresh water three times.

This allowed for a small trace of the disinfectant to remain, and so remove any noxious odours, yet at the same time removed sufficient soap in the mixture to allow the addition of wallpaper paste for adhesion. I realised that as wallpaper paste is usually made from a derivative of potato starch, soap would break down the adhesive qualities very quickly.

The building up of the final layer now seems to be working well and my intermediate results are looking promising...

Hadfield, G. (2016). Final Piece; (Photo). Sculpture of Chicken-Wire on wooden batten frame,
 with Newsprint Papier-mache substrate and the final surface of the composite material.

Conclusions;

• The composite material works very well.  
• This is slightly improved from the version used on the maquette, and I have placed a small test strip of primed canvas just below the Gnome's beard, to the lower centre of the above shot.  I'm not sure if this late addition is useful but at the time, I was thinking of the abandonment of painting and hence canvas to be incorporated in the piece.  Whilst I am not entirely sure if little white canvas works, I will leave the strip in situ for the next week, or so, just to let me have time to ponder, reflect, solicit feedback and opinions of others etc.  I can always remove it anyway by soaking the area slightly and peeling it off.  For the moment, though, I want to just wait and absorb thoughts.
• The decision to clean the composite mixture was a sound one.  This reduces any inherent risk of disease in the material.
• Production must continue at a resilient and relentless pace in order to place me well in front of the time required to set up for the final assessment on 20th May.

Studio practice, good progress is being maintained!

Having spent the weekend in some considerable contemplation I have been quite pleased over the past couple of days with the making of my final piece, progressing towards final assessment in a couple of weeks time.

Trying to make meaning in the philosophical sense, whilst actually making art in a physical sense is very intellectually demanding. The idea that visual philosophy underpins contemporary art is a crucial one to me.

What is so often missed by the undereducated critic of contemporary art is that we are simply not thinking just about aesthetics (that is we are not just thinking about beauty in visual images). Our enquiry is much more about how we analyse objects and images built upon our perception together with the metaphors and symbols (semiotics) of what we see. Our understanding of the world around us essentially grows with each fragment of what we believe or think we are actually seeing. It is through this perception also that feelings can be not only transmitted but physically realised.

Ideas that contemporary artists inculcate within their work must, therefore, help to synthesise new or different ideas and of course feelings through viewers perception.

The making of the folds apparent in the fragment of the gnome's face have been likened to terrestrial valleys and hills when observed at close quarter. These ups and downs and dead-end valleys can be likened to the thoughts that I have had throughout this week.

My mind has been somewhat occupied in the development of a presentation of my studio practice which links it to the theoretical research that I have been conducting through Nietzsche and Heidegger, together with the practices of the new European painters movement (Anselm Kiefer, Luc Tuymans and Gerhardt Richter amongst others). The idea that Dr Holmes explained to me a few months ago about the triad of studio practice, theory and research, and the third element being pedagogy, definitely does seem to provide a very positive praxis of my own way of doing, making and essentially behaving as a way of thinking.

I'm still very confident and comfortable that my choice of object and its own unique emergence as a truly valuable piece of contemporary art (and in the word valuable, I mean rich in metaphors, concepts and layers of meaning which a viewer may choose or choose not to pursue, in their attempt to understand this work).

Progress continues in my practice in a steady but determined way. Whilst there have been some challenges in trying to keep a balance of studio practice, production and output; and at the same time maintaining positive momentum in the repainting and tidying up of the whole of the studio complex, in preparation for final graduation assessment and then the graduate show, the work has been quite intense.

Reflections of study of George Bataille #2.

Having read quite a few chapters of Michael Richardson's book entitled "Georges Bataille", (1994) by Routledge press, New York, the book is indeed providing a great introduction to Bataille's' work.

It is always important to read such books in the right context, particularly in a historical sense during the early 1920s. It seems that whilst he had originally planned quite a deep and religious vocation as either a priest or a monk, and with this train of thought had in fact joined the seminary of Saint-Fleur, which she continued through his novice religious yearnings for the next three years, he perhaps was too young to make such a devout commitment. Around this time while staying in the UK, in the Benedictine monastery on the Isle of Wight, it seems there may have been a possible tryst with a woman which caused him to question his Catholicism to such an extent that he felt that he had lost his faith and hence his vocation. (Richardson, 1994, p19).

On his return to France and continuing to write and research mediaeval texts, he created his thesis on "the order of chivalry, told in verse from the 13th century" in early 1922.   With this doubt of his faith in the back of his mind, he then embarked on extensive travels in southern Spain. It was here that he witnessed the terrible death of a bull-fighter, already mentioned in the previous blog about Georges Bataille, and it is possible that this one single event led him on to his life of contemplation as a philosopher.(Richardson, 1994, p19)

The relationship that he had with the world that he lived in, particularly after reading the works of Frederick Wilhelm Nietzsche, was very much influenced by Nietzsche's interpretations written some 30+ years earlier. Likewise, therefore, the relationship that he had with Nietzsche, was somewhat akin to him writing responses, thesis and theories almost in conversation to that earlier great German thinker. (Richardson, 1994, p33)

With this background, the idea of "the social" and his view of it being a communal being, becomes the most important part of his philosophical enquiry. At the foundation, Bataille had a view that the unity and continuance of society were held together by the notion of the sacred. He believed that without the sacred, no society could exist. At the opposite end of the spectrum, (here, we have to take into account the idea of Durkheim), which is that the opposite of sacred is the profane. Likewise, it is earlier philosophers such as Spinoza building on yet earlier thoughts of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and Tomas Aquinas who introduced the concept of those extremes as the ethics of good and evil. However, the difference between good and evil, in that they reflected each other as elements of morality, - to Durkheim, the profane and the sacred could never be mixed together. Something can be judged only as profane or only as sacred, and there is no grey intermediate state between the two. (Richardson, 1994, p35-36).

So as Michael Richardson goes on to say, Bataille's understanding of Durkheim fitted quite well with his earlier religious schooling and study. He goes on to say that;

 'the sacred is the forbidden element of society that exists at the margin where different realities meet. Without it society could not exist, for if it was lacking then Bataille asserts that "the totality of the plenitude of being escapes man, [and] he would henceforth be only an incomplete man"'.

 It is here, therefore, that Bataille makes the distinction that the sacred is not just some part of a revealed religion, but it is like the glue as an essential ingredient to hold society together in solidarity. However, this idea of the sacred only becomes important through communication, and most important is that the communication of it must be meaningful for society, in order for it to be held together. (Richardson, 1994, p36)

What this means is that an individual who chases after his own selfish benefit is considered to be socially unacceptable. Arguably this idea is one of the basic precepts of contemporary philosophy but also has its roots in the ancient philosophy of Socrates and the idea of the parable of Crito. In that story, Socrates said, and this is paraphrased somewhat that if an individual selfishly does some harm to others, and considers it acceptable, then why should the rest of society not think the same way? If that was the case then society and its laws together with the state would completely break down. (Craig, E. 2002)

(This idea of social acceptability, and in essence making a contract with society, is manifest quite clearly in the United Kingdom for repeated transgressions against society, which may not fall within the direct auspices of criminal law. In order to counter such bad behaviour, the idea of Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs), which are essentially a civil contract between an individual who continually transgresses towards the profane (in any form), were introduced in the late 1990s by the UK government. As such, the contract is a civil commitment by the individual not to transgress particular repeat demeanours, within 'their' society (i.e. local community).  In order to enforce the same, the breaking of that civil promise carries a criminal penalty).

The idea that Bataille uses this fundamental concept to help define a society's structure helps to explain sociologically how society can maintain its own cohesion. He uses the words homogeneity and heterogeneity to explain some of the unique research which he expresses as an organised society which is built upon a cohesion with inflexible laws as a modern state as Homogeneity; and alternatively, Heterogeneity he explains is built upon social forms of cooperation ritual expression and customs. Bataille goes on to explain that critique of capitalist society. In such a society homogeneity is welcomed as a totalitarian control. This is at odds with the heterogeneous society where true communication and collaboration towards a common view of harmonious society, (in other words a revered and sacred view), is the goal; that being akin to Marxism in its idealistic sense.

Conclusions;

• Coming back to the context that I have already mentioned of society in the 1920s, which was very much going through a massive change in terms of modernism, industrialisation and in particular automation through mechanical and technological advances: with highly controlled exploitation of society, it makes sense too, on the backdrop of job losses and labour disruption leading to the great depression that the deepest thinkers within society would find such resonance with the ideas of Nietzsche and thus the prophetic concepts of nihilism (Stoekl, A. 1986)
• In Michael Richardson's words, it is likely that the thinkers of this era and in particular Georges Bataille thought that homogeneity was the path to social disintegration, therefore.

References;

• Craig, E. (2002). Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Richardson, M. (1994). Georges Bataille. London: Routledge.
• Stoekl, A. (1986). Visions of Excess: (Selected Writings, 1927-1939 of Georges Bataille), (1986 Second Edition), Edited and Translated by Allan Stoekl. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Reflections on the theory lecture of 29th of April 2016, presentations (No. 3) by Dr Graham Lister.

The lecture was opened with the general question "what does the idea of practice/research combination mean to each of us"?

The general view is that combining our studio practice (which is ostensibly visual) together with our research (which is ostensibly the findings that we get from visiting galleries, reading books, having conversations et cetera), as a balanced mix, is what is important.

Graham Sullivan, (2006), -  this author writes extensively in 'Artefacts as evidence within changing context' ;(Working papers in art and design). The author suggests that the making of visual work, of illustrating, of painting and staging performances, is able to be carefully positioned as a research body of work.
From an academic point of view, ultimately what is being searched for is "a new contribution to knowledge" and that is what is key to successful practice as research.

Practice-based, or practice led methodology, which includes experimenting, trying out, testing, and investigating but also combined with thinking and reflecting upon the work, will allude to, and provide a new direction for future ideas. For example if you look at the work by George Shaw e.g. "The time machine", (2010), - which is a painting in a photorealistic style of a public telephone box, Shaw positions his work as what in means to him, and in other works, what they mean for his personal experiences, whilst growing up on the Tile Hill estate in Coventry.

Whilst he does his work for nostalgia, he also does it because, in his own words, "he has to!".   We all have this artistic need within us to make things, to create generally, and as a result, we better understand ourselves, which is an output of our practice.
The French artist and writer Yves Alain-Bois,  (translated by John Shepley) in the article "Painting as a model: review and comment" states that the ideas have to be "legible for others" in order for other people to tap into that. It is a "methodological tool".

Another example might be the piece by Marlene Dumas's "Young Boys" (1993).
Or Peter Doig's "Grande Riviera" (2001).
If you can say why you specifically did something in a particular manner or way for example, by paintings something very faintly, or by using a particular pigment, or by using a particular material or medium, or even using a technique such as photoshop or any other such method, it makes the work much stronger in 'validity'.

In the magazine article "Art that eats its own head" by Barry Schwabsky, in the magazine "The triumph of painting" (2005). It is a worthwhile read to try to get hold of this article and understand how we can use the information in our own forthcoming exhibition.

• We should think how we might insert our personal thoughts, feelings or experiences into a presentation about research?
• What key phrases could be used?
• How could we seek to legitimise what we talk about?

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Phenomenology

In the second half of the lecture, Dr Lister provided a discussion around Phenomenology.

Maurice Merleau-Ponty has said that the field of phenomenology is to gain an understanding of "the work of experience".

Contemporary philosophers have been looking into the idea of phenomenology since the work initiated by Edmund Husserl, then Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and finally Maurice Merleau-Ponty before other contemporary Western philosophers have taken the field into a much larger arena.

Initially considered by Husserl, the life "world" encompasses all the objects around us, before we put them into our own memories and then hence translate them into linguistic form when we attempt to describe them.

In the book by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, "The Phenomenology of Perception" (1962). This is a key book to read as it explores the whole idea of phenomenology but with particular reference to the artists who started to encounter the combined ideas with artistic practice, such as Paul Cézanne and Vincent Van Gough.

"It is the body that catches" and further, "comprehends movement" Merleau-Ponty (1962, p142-143)

In the work by Olaf Eliasson, "The Weather Project" (2003) he provided a sensorial experience that was recreated in the turbine Hall of the Tate modern Gallery in London. Within it, he provided an almost real experience of the sun, but equally, we 'knew' that it had to be fabricated. The reason why this was so important as a piece of artwork was because of its affect on us.

The weather affects us. The idea of the mirror on the roof of the turbine Hall in the exhibition space provided a real "feeling" of the atmosphere. The Guardian newspaper stated "people humbled themselves" and also "the ordinary has been rendered extraordinary"

When interviewed the artist Olaf Eliasson stated that "he was inviting us to reflect on our own experiences"

A further book worth reading would be "Thinking Through Art" (2009) by McLeod and Holdridge.

From an artistic sense look at the work by Eleanor Ray "sculpture studio" (2015)....

We need to transmit understandable reality, to be pointing to new things and new experiences. 'Re'-presentation does not provide insight, so it is in the artists need, in fact, it is his job, to reveal something new about the real-life experiences of all of us, particularly as viewers of an exhibition.

In the book "Repeat, Entity, Ground" by Neil, page 64: visual arts practice as critical thinking.

And again in Graham Sullivan's book "Artefacts as evidence within changing contexts" (2006) he states that meaning is made during the investigation of making an object. It is the testing out which also provides the basis for research.

Conclusions;

• Be confident about your practice as a progress.
• Think carefully about how you talk about your own process.
• How might you call process, research?
• What new contribution to knowledge i.e. making?
• Once you have a sense of the ideas that you wish to pursue, how do you prove that you know so much about it?
• Think of the sociological texts, the philosophical ideas and influences, and why you have utilised them.
• Try to insert key quotations and bibliography within your presentation, and therefore, legitimise and validate your own work in context. 
• Furthermore, ensure that you have a full bibliography at the end of the presentation together with an image index with source details included.

Reflections on the Weekly briefing of 26th of April 2016

1) The curatorial committee has completed its work in designating spaces for each student in each of the studios.  - I need to think carefully over the next few weeks on  how to use this space, firstly, for my assessment, and then later, for the exhibition.  I need to treat these two events quite separately from the point of view of presentation...

2) it was recommended that more use of the Instagram account and also the course Facebook page is used by students in order to publicise their work. I shall load up my Artists statement to the Instagram page.

3) it was recommended that students think carefully about their requirements in order that any plinths or specific shells that need to be made up are done so as soon as possible. The technician, (Ryan Durrant) will assist with the fabrication of these items where possible.  My own requirements will need to be mapped out based on the wooden sub-frame in order to make sure fixings are centred properly.

4) on Wednesday, 4 May we will have a general clear up day in each of the studios.  I need to make sure my work is collected and archived properly.  I also need to take high-quality scans of some of the paintings I completed.

5) it has been decided to use the T1 06 studio is a store for people's work whilst the other studios are being cleared and painted. - Fine, no issues with that!

----------
 A short lecture was then provided by Dr Lister which outlined how we can think about using our own gallery spaces. He used the examples of artists such as Sol LeWitt, and also an example of the layout of the gallery space used at the Goldsmiths degree show of 2015.

Ultimately what we are trying to do is to create a sense of progression. We are looking towards actively forcing the viewer to engage with each of the objects and also to move their eyes amongst the exhibition space and a sort of dialogue and rhythm of changes. The intent is to create collisions of enquiry.

With regard to the example of Quentin Blake (2014) and his exhibition at the house of illustration in London, this was a very different technique that was used in order to help show the whole body of work.

Strong progress and working to plan...

I've been happy with progress over the last few days on production of my final exhibition piece...

High-level Gantt chart of production towards the final exhibition piece (at w/c 25/04/2016).

The wireframe substrate was completed on time (Monday 25th April) and I'm now into the next phase of production, that is, to create a base fill layer of absorbent paper.

 The chosen material for the base fill layer is thick domestic wall 'lining' paper.  However, I think that on reflection of the first application, the specific manufacturer of the roll I obtained, seems to have created a rather un-absorbent version, and perhaps it may be too thick as the malleability of this paper, even when soaked in paste overnight, is rather too rigid.  Therefore, I switched to a 'news-print' thickness of paper once this initial batch had been used up. 

So a much looser paper strip mixture has been utilised and is filling just as well.  The 'newsprint' paper is the same type used on the original maquette, and so this experiment,- to use a thicker style domestic lining paper was 'successful', in as much as it proved the decision to not use it!

Conclusions;

Keeping up the strong production routine has been difficult at times as the usual balance of theory (i.e. reading Georges Bataille at the moment, combined with the ongoing studies of Nietzsche and Heidegger, (more on them, coming in this blog very soon!), have meant long days in the workshop and some equally long evenings of study.  But I'm thoroughly enjoying both, so it's a good feeling that I'm having, being one of a kind of meditative contemplation and satisfaction at the same time.  Onwards,ever onwards....

Slow and steady progress, reflections on the week.

The need to build up the wireframe substrate has taken up a fair amount of time, and a problem which has required some thought, has been that ease of production is hampered by the size of the artefact and the ability to work in the centre of it, whilst at the same time requiring access to the front and the back of the object.

In order to accommodate the joining together of various pieces of wire mesh (chicken wire) the original tool that I crafted for myself from a piece of angled picture quadrant seems to have come to the end of its life. Therefore, I fashioned a new type of wire shuttle, but this time made from a material that would endure more robust handling. The material I chose to use for this was a piece of a pig's rib. Being made of bone, I was concerned that there would be a brittleness to the new device, but my concerns seemed to be unfounded, as I was able to fashion the item using a traditional coping saw and a fine grade metal file. This new tool has proved to be invaluable in assisting me with the method of knot tying and looping of the wire. I have tried to use a traditional 'single clove knot' where possible, in the long runs of joins, and a 'double clove knot' at the beginning and termination ends of the joints.

I was able to have a little bit of fun in terms of the fact that the workshop has a large viewing window to one side of it. Other students and tutors from other courses often look into the workshop therefore and have seen me for a number of weeks, pouring my labours (and perspiration) over the sculpture.
 Many have asked what it is that I am making, and I have given guarded responses... My mischief got the better of me on Tuesday / Wednesday and I donned a surgical look, together with a typical surgical theatre blanket placed tactfully over the object.

"ad perpetuam memoriam"

The stares became even more perplexed as a result!...

A later 1:1 tutorial with Dr Lister proved to be very encouraging.  He recommended the reading of Michel De Certeau's articles, relating to Strategy and Tactics (ass part of my response to the forthcoming presentation), where De Certeau talks of the former being organisational and the later, disruptional...

Conclusions;

• Whilst there has been a number of days spent totally in production in the workshop, I feel that progress has been slow, even though I am still working within the schedule.
• The artefact is now very much taking shape and the remaining few days of next week will be consumed with simply tidying up any sharp excrescences before placing a layer of thick paper, to act as a key or tooth against the wire chicken mesh.
• Having since found "The Practice of Everyday Life", (1988), I can re-familiarise myself with his notions. - On page 25, he talks in terms of "La perruque" (That is, 'the wig', a kind of euphemism to mean doing something that is of benefit to you, but not to your employer, whilst at work.  For example, making a phone call to renew your house or car insurance on the company telephone / making an object for yourself, using your companies tools.   In my day as an apprentice, this was known as "making a foreigner"...).  
• The "tactics" of the everyday that de Certeau is alluding to, are exactly those 'things wee can get away with'.  They are the disruptors against the authorities, (or holders of power) in society.  Whereas, "The strategies [] seek to create places that are in conformity with abstract models." - de Certeau, (1988, p29). And "Strategies are able to produce, tabulate and impose on [these spaces], when those operations take place, whereas tactics can only use, manipulate or divert [these spaces].de Certeau, (1988, p30).

References;

"The Practice of Everyday Life", de Certeau, M. (1988) - 3rd Ed., University of California Press, Berkeley, Calif, London

Reflections on the theory lecture regarding presentations, (No. 2) by Dr Graham Lister.

In this lecture, Dr Lister asked the questions how and why we use images in presentations.

He went on to discuss three main exemplars.
1) ideas of not what not to do.
2) how to focus on one image.
3) how to use text successfully with images.

The overall objective of artists' presentations is to engage with ideas in order to develop your own language of presentational style. The presentation should showcase your research and provide sufficient interest to the viewers to stimulate further discussion. By engaging with the audience properly, one can see what is interesting, and one can see what is boring them. This is done through careful observance of body language.

Remember....

• As part of the forthcoming presentation, provide evidence of your work over the last year. Also, make relevance to your long essay written at the beginning of this calendar year.
• Show what went wrong in your practice, and how you learned from it.
• Don't forget at the end of the presentation to provide a reference list, bibliography and an image and diagrams index.

IMAGES;

With respect to the use of images, one must always ask the question why are we using a particular image? ...
We discussed this amongst ourselves and the outcomes were as follows;

• Humans learn from three different types of interaction. Auditory, Visual and Kinaesthetic learning.
•  A good presentation with a good mix of image and text engages both the right-hand hemisphere of the brain (which is responsible for the visual component of cognition and spatial awareness); and the left-hand hemisphere of the brain (which is concerned with logic and language). 
• The combination of both left-hand and right-hand stimulus is brought together in the corpus callosum.
• As a result, a visual, audible and textual presentation, if done correctly, provides interesting stimuli, where all receptors of 'remote' senses are being triggered. 
• The use of images provides a mechanism that goes beyond the confines of a written language.
• Images provide a prompt to facilitate recall from past experiences much better than pure textual presentations.
• An image makes a deeper connection with the viewers attention. For example, feelings and emotions are triggered.

An anecdote was then provided by Dr Lister when he recalled a student who was studying for a doctoral certification provided a presentation about historic castles in Scotland. Whilst this doctoral student was able to articulate the argument that she was putting forward quite well, her continual flicking of slide images of each of the castles of Scotland, going backwards and forwards, but without any text, provided an unbelievably boring presentation for all the viewers. "It was like moving wallpaper". - The speed at which this particular student (who should have known better), flipped through each of the slides, meant that very little of the presentation provided any stimulus in order for the audience to ask further questions, nor any form of interview ensued.
Dr Lister emphasised never to make the same mistake!

Too much visual stimuli are overpowering. Whilst this doctoral student talked about some very deep and interesting quotations, the absence of those textual references were completely lost.

Practical Example of an artistic presentation with one image;

An example of a strong artistic presentation was then given by Dr Lister concerning one painting by Salvador Dali, that being "Christ of St John on the Cross" (1951), courtesy of Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow.

Dali (1957) 'Christ of St John on the Cross',
Courtesy of http://www.dalipaintings.net/christ-of-saint-john-of-the-cross.jsp, Retrieved 24/04/2016

Dr Lister opened the presentation with a reference to the relative context of Dali and his other work of surrealism (which he is more famous for). Dr Lister also provided some interesting snippets of information that an audience are less likely to know too. (For example, he mentioned early in the narrative, that Dali was terrified of ants and grasshoppers, and it is for that reason, that ants often appear in Dali's work.)

Coming back now to this painting under scrutiny, of "Christ of St John on the Cross", there is a hyper-realistic rendering of the painting. Whilst the painting is figuratively accurate, the feeling that it gives is, however, surreal, but the ambience of the painting is calm, and this calmness is provided by [what Dr Lister described as] "the cool morning light" that Dali was able to inculcate.

It can also be noted that in the image of "Christ of St John on the Cross", there is no rendering of nails or blood, where there is a "holding" of the body to the crucifix. This alludes to Dali's own deep religious convictions and also to why the painting was initially created by him. It shows that the crucifix is 'drawing St John towards God', in as much as 'St John (and his invisible belief) is drawing himself towards the Cross'.

The grounding details; that is, the details provided at the base of the painting which includes the landscape the lake and the boat, provides a symbol of spirituality which is within human reach.

Drilling deeper still, into the paintings' construction, the annotation lines on the next slide provided an outline of the Trinity and the nucleus of the painting. The metaphysical links to what Dali is referring to, through these, his pictorial notes, and also accompanying written notes that Dali made at the time, refers to a vision in a dream that he had when he was initially starting to compose this painting.

Dr Lister then gave an explanation of the siting of this important works, within the Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow. It was originally cited at the end of a long corridor with tessellated (black and white) floor tiles. The very entrance and passageway leading to this painting provided part of the experience of its own viewing.

Furthermore, when the painting was originally bought, the price that the dealer was asking for, was alleged at the time, some £12,000, but an interesting and creative deal was cut by the Glasgow Council which allowed for a sale price of (allegedly) just £8200. However, Glasgow Council was very shrewd in making sure that the intellectual property of the painting was also sold with the object itself. This meant that Glasgow Corporation was able to earn royalties from copies of the painting and which it still receives; for example, it is regularly used in the production of T-shirts and mugs as well as all sorts of other merchandise to help support the museum and other causes in Glasgow.
A further point of interest which creates a level of mysticism or myth around the painting is that it was attacked in the 1960s by what was claimed to be a religious individual, who attempted to destroy the painting, by using a sharpened stone. The damage has since been repaired, but it is still visible in the lower right-hand quadrant of the painting. This small act of rebellion by one individual, provided further publicity for the object which increased its aura and hence importance as an object of art, even though the subject matter was at the time highly contrary to many religious sensibilities.

TEXT;

We then discussed how text should be used in successful artistic presentations;
we asked ourselves what springs to mind when we think about test texts during presentations?… How does one make sure that the audience takes away a specific message?
1) text provide easy prompts to both the viewer and the narrator as they are easy to record with notes and captions. Proper texts demonstrate good research and providence.
2) avoid too much text or the "death by PowerPoint" syndrome will be the result. Too much text is boring.
3) Information is only activating the left hemisphere of the brain. Linguistic details can only be delivered properly through text, however, for example,  A legal presentation.
4) text must be brief and to the point, but relative.
5) the choice of words must fit the audience's ability to understand the subject matter.
6) text should always be used for quotations to provide some validity and correct authority, with correct referencing.
7) If one does use quotations, do not leave the quotation on its own after it has been recited, but ensure that a good explanation of why it is important should also be given.

Text; A practical Example:

An example of the good use of text was given in the following sub- presentation; this was about the artist Gavin Turk.
In his work, it is the "perceived" or "actual" value of an object which is what is important to him as a point of enquiry, an artist.
Materiality is also what is being focused upon at the same time.
For example his work "bin-bag" (2004) or his earlier work, such as "cave" (1991).
"Revolting Brick" (2008), with an obvious reference to the work of Marcel Duchamp and his "Fountain" (1916).

An interesting point raised, was that Gavin Turk was unable to get his degree when he submitted the piece "cave" in 1991. This was because the adjudicators and assessors were simply unable to provide an assessment of his work in the absence of it.
Later, the exhibition of "Revolting Brick" was put into turmoil, when the original signed version by Turk was stolen / swapped, and then ransomed, whilst at the same time it was replaced with another brick (of exactly the same type), which simply had written upon it "thank you, have a nice day".
All of this work is a reference to value and status, et cetera. The ongoing  press narrative was extremely useful to Turk as he was able to expand his publicity even further.

------------------------------
When this sub-presentation was deconstructed, the Gavin Turk presentation gave "facts about him", with text, that would keep the viewer engaged.
The text also provided a fallback to assist in an understanding of a subject that is difficult at first to grasp.

It is, therefore, wise to think about the questions around text such as,
1) what is it that we have been trying to find out in our research?
2) Why was this particular subject of interest to us as artists?
3) What were the visual touchstones that we were able to to receive influence from in the creation of work?

And finally a few words on slide design.

 Keep it simple!

• Avoid the use of word art! It is simply distracting and looks very unpolished. 
• What is important is the content and work which is what needs to come across.
• A neat, simple, elegant presentation where the text is all presented on the same scale, together with images that make sense and are relative.

Conclusions;

This was a useful lecture and provided a number of reminders to suggest within the presentation; e.g.

1. that the various steps of production should show that each of them were a form of a test;
2.  and can succinctly be delivered as "I did this as a question or Test, ... but if it didn't work because of XYZ, then, as a result, I tried something else...
3.  I then built upon XYZ, because of ABC was a good way forward... And so on. 

References;

A lecture provided by Dr Graham Lister, at the University of Huddersfield, 22/04/2016.

Images;
Dali (1957) 'Christ of St John on the Cross',
Courtesy of http://www.dalipaintings.net/christ-of-saint-john-of-the-cross.jsp, Retrieved 24/04/2016

Reflections on the weekly briefing, Thursday 21st of April 2016.

The planning proposal sheets have been submitted and assessed by the curatorial board for the graduate degree show. Whilst there are some of the students who may not have submitted their proposals in time, I am confident that everyone will be accommodated into the exhibition space.

Dr Graham Lister provided a number of pointers and advice today on some areas that we should always avoid when exhibiting work. For example never to use clip frames for any artwork, or cheap pine style picture frames that are picked up in supermarkets or garden centres! The reason why these should not be used is because they beg the question "why is this piece of art deserving of attention?". And the worst of all would be to exhibit your works in traditional family photo frames; unless specifically it was that particular subject which was under scrutiny. Dr Lister also recommended never to use nails or other vulgar or crude fixings, unless they are to emphasise the nail-ness or crudeness etc...

In essence, the objective is to try to make things, whether they be paintings or sculptures, float off the wall.

A reminder was given that the setting up of the gallery will start on Tuesday, 3 May, (Monday second of May is a bank holiday and the University is closed). As a result of this, the studios will be completely emptied of first and second-year work by 29th of April.

Conclusions whilst my own work is taking a fair bit of time to complete, I am still reasonably confident that the timescales will be met and a sufficiently finished artefact will be produced in plenty of time to allow me to experiment in the way that it is going to be presented.

Production continues, - reflections on research

Continuing the wireframe Continuing production of the wireframe substrate onto which I will later cover with a single layer of paper dipped in wallpaper paste, I have also been thinking about some of the suggestions that I have picked up during this past week.

There has been pressure to look at a quick method of coverage for this art piece by using plaster of Paris, however, I have been deliberating over this for some time in any event. I'm sticking to my original plan to only use paper to provide the outer form, as I believe that any kind of plaster of Paris, or alternative mineral-based plaster product such as Herculite, would render the object far too heavy to easily move. The paper will provide a lightweight and flexible medium. The papier-mâché material itself holds significant materiality in terms of the crosscutting and cross shredded bank statements, which in themselves necessarily hold and reflect an introductory notion of identity.

The fragility of paper is very different to that of plaster. Again my choice of material is reinforced, quite literally, because paper and papier-mâché are much less likely to break or fall apart if roughly handled. I'm comfortable that the choices I have made in the materials will provide a longer term reference point for the subject matter that I'm investigating, namely "The Things We Leave Behind".

Conclusions;

Having updated my very loose plan of production, I am still on target to complete the project by the allotted deadline for assessment, but I am conscious that there is little contingency (if any) to make any substantial changes if necessary....

The 'overcoming' of Metaphysics and Nihilism, Nietzsche and Heidegger.

Building on the ideas that have begun to form (See featured post) from reading the pre-amble of Steven Critchley's book, "Very Little, ... Almost Nothing; Death, Philosophy and Literature", (2004) Routledge Press, London, Critchley talks a great deal about the ideas of nature and his theories of nihilism, being reinterpreted by Heidegger in terms of Heidegger's argument of making a distinction of nihilism from its overcoming. Heidegger proposes that rather than overcoming nihilism, it is perhaps really about delineating it instead.

What this means for me, after many days of reflection whilst creating my own interpretation, at the same time almost meditating whilst building the formations of my artistic artefact using chickenwire, it dawned on me that this twisting and turning and in particular "overcoming" to use Nietzsche's word, of the problem of metaphysics, by Nihilism, (which was Nietzsche's assertion), and then applying Heidegger's notion that in order for nihilism to exist it is necessary for metaphysics to exist, their intrinsic twisting together can be shown thus;

Figure 1. - Metaphysics and Nihilism are intertwined, not one 'overcoming' another

And what is interesting, is Heidegger's notion of "delineating" nihilism can be thought of as a pulling on both ends of the lines of metaphysics and nihilism, which when applied physically to the metaphorical representation, would indeed provide an unravelling of both!

Figure 2. - The idea that Metaphysics is to be "overcome" by Nihilism = Nietzsche's assertion

but....

Figure 3. Metaphysics and Nihilism are dependent on each other/ i.e. intertwined = Heidegger,
(but with a modified "gap" which is explained later)

Fig. 4.  So... Pulling on both ends of the argument... They become separate 'lines' of enquiry 

The deconstructive (and to some extent, this hints of the word of Jaques Derrida), again can be seen from the above example in Figures 3 and 4.
 In more poetic terms, the matrix that is formed by the twisting together of metaphysics and nihilism, into the mesh, provides a wonderful metaphor for the fabric of life, which then could arguably become a useful analogical reference to how Bruno Latour sees it, as described by Graham Harman (e.g. Prince of Networks, Harman, 2010) (See Figure 5).

Fig. 5, The intertwining of multiple layers, to create nodes (arguably, "actants") into
a rudimentary network, (viz. Bruno Latour / Graham Harman)

Conclusions;

... This idea of a fabric consisting of a series of twisted connections or nodes (and here it could be stretched to mean 'Actants'), is somewhat different to the traditional ideas that are sometimes used to describe the "interwoven" concepts of 'threads' of existence, in which the weave and the weft are interlaced as layers (see Fig. 6).

Fig. 6 The Weft and the Weave

 In order for that metaphor to be appropriate, it requires an existing metaphysical framework, that is, metaphorically the weft (On the left of Fig. 6.),  that Weaver sets up upon his loom (i.e. the Metaphysical), the vertical 'structure' that necessarily has to exist "a priori" before the events of life can then be weaved (the horizontal component) to create the fabric. (See Fig. 7).  In this analogy, the metaphysical concept of the loom and the weft is the 'World' as created by God, which is 'a priori'

Fig. 7. 'Existance' that we
weave for ourselves

 In a traditional philosophical sense, the analogy suggests we weave our own destiny, that is, 'We' as individuals, are the metaphorical shuttle, and the thread can be seen as an unbroken line of our experiences (That is, our memory also).

Fig. 8 The wire frame 'mesh'

However, if the thread breaks in the shuttle, then the cloth will no longer form (death). However, if the thread breaks after the cloth is already woven, there is very little damage to the structure and integrity of the cloth...



Now, moving on with this allegorical concept, the difference from a woven fabric, to a mesh (Fig. 8), can be shown when the mesh is damaged.... (see Figure 9).

Figure 9. A damaged mesh, but it retains most of it's integrity.

In this final example, if the mesh becomes damaged, it does not necessarily loose it's integrity, although some nodes (actants) may unravel.  In a similar way, if our own neural network (of life experiences) are damaged, then this articulates quite nicely, the idea of a memory fading... As in, The Things We Leave Behind...

References;

"Very Little, ... Almost Nothing; Death, Philosophy and Literature", Stephen Critchley, (1997) and  (Second ed. 2004) Routledge Press, London.
"Prince of Networks; Bruno Latour & Metaphysics", Graham Harman (2009), Re-press, Melbourne, Australia.