I walk the same way to uni everyday and I noticed a lot of new features to the walk since Covid has affected our lives so much, there was a lot of colourful information on the way in the forms of signage and notices for 2m social distancing.
I liked the way there was a lot of different tones even if they come with messages of limitations and restrictions, I also feel that the spontaneity of using those limits for work converts this negative to a neutral or positive form. The juxtaposition between these bright colours and the street browns, greys and reds is something that will be missed in the studio but that could be introduced through painting the walls or plastic divides I imagine.
After thinking about my work in relation to David Medalla and other artists I observed directly what was around me and used this visual data to inform my practice, in this case my colour scheme for an experiment.
I thought about restrictions again in two ways in relation to making, one thought involved a snakes skin, and how it has to shed it to grow beyond its current limits to survive (this is metaphorically similar to the human condition). The other was in relation to indoors and outdoors (an idea I have been exploring this term) which is also connected to Phyllida Barlow and some of her own concerns.
In keeping with my methodology I looked around at the collected and domestic materials I had and noticed some more left over bubblewrap, I decided to repeat an experiment of mine with a slightly different colour set and design. I was influenced by my walks to Charnwoods, Bradgate park, and Ayelstone meadows as well; this translated for me into a leaf design that resembled a similar theme on a bag my housemate owned last year.
The results were good and I feel the properties of the bubblewrap lend themselves ideally to the context and intent here, I wasn’t sure how the shape would turn out but overall I feel this went well. The lighting effect that came out a result was really nice and I imagined this much larger; I should experiment further with drawings over this photo or with scale models to make the sculptures seem huge.