Thesis

My thesis, titled 'Art in Time and Space', deals with the possibility of the new within contemporary art through the use of fiction, the unreal, and more specifically, science fiction.  What I argue is that in order to make radical art which is engaging, it must utilise a balance of part-real part-fiction to make a new space for the viewer to exist in.  I am still exploring these ideas and have also been writing about time travel as a device for unravelling truths.  

I have so far been looking at Nicolas Bourriaud's theories on radicalist art and what he has deemed the 'Altermodern' period, and how relevant I believe his ideas to be.  I have discussed the work of the artists Tacita Dean, Robert Smithson and Mike Nelson and their connections to the science fiction writer J. G. Ballard.  Since visiting the Turner Prize and reading an article in Frieze on The Otolith Group, my ideas have further developed on the role failure has in understanding alternative futures. Since I have more recently begun to research the necessity of failure in order to produce something original, I aim to next read Hal Foster's essay Who's Afraid of the Neo Avant-Garde in 'Return of the Real'.  I need to begin to restructure my arguments based on my recent research in order to clarify what it is I am describing within my thesis and to make my arguments more coherent.

Current painting in progress

The following photos document the progress of a painting which I am still currently working on.  It's source was an original drawing made using black biro on paper, drawn with eyes closed from a memory of the living space in my old flat. I am approaching this painting as a process of drawing and correcting, of adding then taking away detail, so the process of remembering is documented within the work.

Initial drawings made in pencil then corrected with black permanent marker.

I quite liked the drawing at this stage but continued to work into it.

The drawing was then worked into in blocks using coloured acrylic paint.

I then worked back into the drawing using the marker pen.

I like the layering and jumbled quality of the lines here, but decided it was time to start taking out some of the details in order to re-work the image later.

At this stage I decided to erase most of the detail by pouring a mixture of white acrylic paint and water over the painting. 
I had to do this a few times and in layers to get a good coverage.

Here I worked over the detail with white oil bar. 
This is shown alongside some of the original drawings on paper whilst my studio was set up for assessment.

At this stage it was exhibited in the dark space adjacent to AG26, alongside other connected work.  This is as far as I had got with the painting at the end of the summer term last year, at which time I was in the process of stripping back the oil bar in order to try to expose the drawings underneath.

Here are the more recent photos documenting the progress of the painting: 

I have at this stage decided to stop working on it and consider it finished.

Things That Aren't There No. 3

My last exhibition consisted of two separately located installations with Chelsea Art College.  Above shows the work exhibited within the triangle space as part of a group show curated by myself and a fellow student. The work is part of a series of installations based on memory and loss.  All the work is made using drawings made from memory; these original drawings were to be displayed, though I removed them as part of the editing process so they remained as source material only.  The house painting and the bed sculpture shown below and the final photo showing the living room painting are all translations of these original drawings.

Detail of installation within the triangle space

Second installation shown in A Block

The second show was located in A Block. The adjoining room to this was also used as part of the space.  In the central room I exhibited an installation piece consisting of sculpture, readymades and a text piece.  

The adjoining space

Detail of sculpture

This shows the sculpture as it was being installed. It is made from wire and bent by hand and is based on a line drawing of a bed.  When shaping the wire I aimed to stay true to the style of the original drawing.  The sculpture is suspended from the central heating pipes.

The final photo (shown below) shows the work installed within the dark space adjacent to this work.  This is a painting made using a large MDF sheet, pencil, pemanent marker, acrylic paint and oil bar.  This painting is based on a drawing of the living space of a flat I once lived in.  This painting was created as a process of adding and erasing detail as I remembered the room and corrected the details.  I will document this process in a seperate blog entry. 

Painting shown in dark room space