Category: Contextual Research and Art History

Doug Fishborn is an American artist who mainly works wish performance and video and seeks to open conversation around sensitive topics, Doug approaches this with humour and is not afraid of darker or taboo topics.

In his most recent work at Leicester Contemporary he tackles cancel culture, specifically the history of Jewish people in Leicester, and highlights details like the expulsion of Jewish communities in 1231 by Simon De Montfort, the Duke of Windsor’s visit to Nazi Germany in 1937, as well as the developing case around Prince Andrew.

In his discussion at his exhibition Doug spoke about these themes but also the technical challenges of installing exhibitions and the considerations needed for certain aspects, like holograms and inflatables. This makes the space noisy, which in the need required an artificial wall to be built, which the curator Andrew Birks added is not uncommon with most spaces and shows, some tweaking is always required to personalise the space the work.

The installation itself consisted of prints displayed around the environment encircling a giant inflatable of Simon De Montfort, there is also a hologram of Doug performing the role of an automated assistant offering and advertising useless or redundant products. For example a device that ‘collects your faecal waste so you never have to get up to go to the toilet’.

On reflection Doug’s work discusses topics I question and am interested in personally, though his approach differs from mine I think adding more nuance and humour into my issue-based work would be interesting. I also think the practical considerations were useful to hear, especially with my piece having multiple elements, such as a performative space and a viewing space with projection/video.

In discussion at the end Doug was asked ‘Is art impotent in the face of neo-liberalism’s progression?’. Doug answered by saying that he doesn’t understand a lot of art commodification anyway since its not his thing, but he did comment that he doesn’t think its hopeless especially if we can keep talking about these issues and reach a collective knowledge around things that ‘elites’ don’t want you to realise. It was comforting to hear a successful artist both acknowledge the problem but also state that it is not beyond change.

I was also able to speak with Andrew about invigilating at the gallery during Doug’s show, which he agreed to, this is a great opportunity to experience invigilating and get involved with the galleries’ workings. It it also a good chance to observe visitor interaction with a video and sound based installation in person, which may hep me develop my own presentation skills for Degree Show and beyond.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot – An interesting article by George Monibot, explaining aspects of neoliberalism and its development in our society over decades.

This performance was the first thing I watched about dirty electronics and even though some of the sounds at times were quite abrasive I still found the experience enjoyable and more than anything thought provoking. The way it acted as a traditional orchestra but constructed in an unconditional way was really interesting, I also like the balance between the ‘composers’ movements and dictations coupled with the musicians improvisation and response. It felt like the work was a conversation between them which formed this collective and strange sonic environment.

This performance was the first thing I watched about dirty electronics and even though some of the sounds at times were quite abrasive, I still found the experience enjoyable and more than anything thought provoking. The way it acted as a traditional orchestra but constructed in an unconditional way was really interesting, I also like the balance between the composer’s’ movements and dictations coupled with the musicians response and improvisation. It felt like the work was a conversation between them which formed this collective and strange sonic environment.

John Richards is the person composing the collective and he also created the Mute Synth, which is a way of using the body to make sound. this concept is intriguing and I am exploring a similar thing but in a more physical and analogue way. The mute synth concept is something I want to explore further, especially since it reacts to such a wide range of inputs, whereas most instruments only respond to specified inputs.

One of the most helpful things I got from this research is that music/sound art can be very broad and encompassing, experimentation should be encouraged and so should play. This was very helpful as I know that sometimes I can get too focused on success that I forget my normally wider perspective, I put too much emphasis on an abstract ‘success’ instead of focusing on the practice. Instead of stressing out I should take action, go to the studio then make and experiment with objects and sounds, recording parts to capture process.

This piece was really interesting because at one point the collective start making sounds from each other, not from created objects or instruments directly, I am very interested in trying to explore this further after university. I feel adding electronic and synthesised elements is interesting however, it may confuse and conflict with the current themes I have around objects, familiarity, interaction and acoustic sound.

The end of this performance (24:40 onwards) was the most interesting to me because of the way the snyth transformed into a more musical tone but was still varied through oscillation and pitch etc. it also became much more visually atmospheric, in that to me there was much more visual stimulation from the later sounds. The earlier sounds felt very disconnected and spatial and abstract which was enjoyable also, however I think the incorporation of perhaps more musical structure and voices elevated the sound.

To me it turned abstract into ephermal, where the playful approach leads to flashes of harmony and discord alike. It was not overtly structured and attached to reality, but not so far removed that I felt I was in a vacuum or disconnectedstate of mind almost.

This was a fascinating topic to research and it reminded me of a digital Stomp almost, the two together have been prominent influencers on my collective and physical approach to creating sound as opposed to a technical approach.

I will look to explore this further with a performance in a collective event called Weird Garden, on the 26th of May in the Leicester Gallery, this is an opportunity in collaboration with Raisa Watkiss from the MA and various other artists from around the country.

I am looking to perform with at least one other person and work on communicating through sound using my everyday orchestra/instruments. This is far out of my comfort zone but I am excited to see the results, the worst thing is I fail in some aspect and I learn what not to do for next time.

About | Dirty Electronics

Mute 4.0 Synth | Dirty Electronics

Listen | Dirty Electronics

Recently I visited Two Queens in Leicester and was surprised by the exhibition that greeted me. It was a piece that was very deep contextually though initially I did not know any of this, I just walked into Two Queens and saw a corner shop.

This was a very surreal experience which became even more strange when entering the building, the open ceiling exposed the facade of the shop but all the right things were there, a lotto stand, newspapers, till, fridge, and the cadbury sign above the doorway all combined to confuse your perception.

Stranger still were the various cards dotted around the area, some explicitly talking to you the viewer of art while others advertised taxis or funeral homes. The unifying factor was a subtle piece of information, a number, which turned out to be a code for a hidden door in the rear of the shop.

Once inside this secret room things were truly peculiar, it looked as if people had just left the room but had been sat there playing games until we arrived. There were drinks, coats and even some illicit equipment for partaking was there. This was accompanied by a strange video of gameplay from a low poly simulation, in this simulation the characters interacted with one another in a way that mirrored street talk and other urban interactions in dark alleys.

After reading the contextual information I realised the finer points of the exhibition which was overall a great experience, it was brilliant to see such an ambitious project within a local setting pulled off so well by the artist and the gallery team. It has made me think of more large scale work but also work around transplanting environments, an idea i was already exploring and interested in pursuing.

https://2queens.com/exhibitions/r-i-p-germain-shimmer

https://ripgermain.com/

Richard Wentworth is a British sculptor and artist who is well known for his work generally, but also for his photographs that capture ephemeral moments of chance and beauty. Richard began his talk by stating that really he is too old to care about formality, and that you should never compromise work you believe in. His talk featured a lot of this very frank communicating as well as wisdom that seemed effortless, in reality it has been earned through living and experiencing.

He first described his initial education and how he travelled as much as he could in an effort to investigate culture and understand systems humans create, as well as explore the phenomenology of being human.

Richard spoke at length about how he tried to understand things, to trace the signals of ownership as well as trace what things are and why things are that way. This description felt incredibly familiar to me since, from my perspective, a lot of what I do is trying to understand the vast complexity of the world and universe around me. This has also been commented on by tutors, when discussing my context they stated that there was a sense of being lost or disconnected, but also a curious searching and tentative investigation.

For Richard he likened this to any animal investigating its environment, like a fox or cat that will sniff and poke at things to understand the world around it. He also stated that a lot of other people are oblivious and behave as workers more than animals, since we live in this most modern society where nature and ourselves have become distant.

He then proceeded to display a PowerPoint of archived photographs from the evolving London area in which he lives now, he also explains how the city has changed and how he perceives time through it. Richard sees time as a small window as we perceive it but as a long stream in reality, he also describes it as constant change, the new city of tomorrow is built over the old city of yesterday.

In this way Richard sees his photographs as captures, of what he doesn’t know or specify, but he explains that most people who really look can see what he sees in that moment. He also emphasised how none of the photos are staged or set up and are all found or seen, which illustrates the interesting but absurd ways in which we live/interact at times.

He also spoke a lot about how he is interested in the imprint humans leave, in any way, on the world and how they shape the world, the environment and even people around them to their preference. He is also interested in how humans are incapable of not interpreting things, through pattern, shape, meaning etc. No matter what we see most people are trying to understand that, which is why he states the dark or the ocean or space are so terrifying and also intriguing.

I was fortunate enough to speak to Richard afterwards and he even came up to view my installation briefly, before rushing off to catch a train. He made comments about the way I space things and how I test the hanging, leaning or propping of objects, he recommended a book by Hans Ulrict (I think that is how it is spelled) as well as his own book Making Do and Getting By. He also told me to look at Tom Sachs and Morandi, both of who i will look into in the future.

https://www.lissongallery.com/artists/richard-wentworth

I recently visited Nottingham to see a separate show by Honey Williams in the evening, whilst there we were lucky enough to go to Nottingham Contemporary to see the Silver City Show that had taken over the gallery. ‘Our Silver City travels to the end of this century, featuring works from the last 400 million years. It is an exhibition-as-sci-fi-novel, or vice-versa.’ Promotional Info

I initially did not read any of the exhibitions flavour text or written content, this was so I could go in blank using my senses and observation skills to try and pick apart a meaning, context or communication. This was a very enjoyable experience and the contexts of time, innovation and a new city/reality were clear, especially when experiencing the weather and temple areas. Both these areas had a sort of kit-bash feeling in their construction or approach, containing a mixture of recognisable and newly imagined forms.

The sense of the work I got before knowing anything about it was of community and connection but also of a makeshift/edited reality, familiar in some aspects, visionary in others. I found myself immersed in this environment particularly the ‘Time to Understand’ area, the arrangement of the high quality fabrics and low lighting gave it a museum feel but one filled with new archaeology not old, this was enhanced by the audio visual elements, the levitating sculpture and very futuristic display/layout.

The show is a journey across the Silver City, formerly known as Nottingham. In this city the people have embraced new ways of communication, production and understanding the world, which is expressed through the galleries four spaces as directions, North, South, East and West. Each space had its own contextual arena to tackle separately, however the collective narrative of the Silver City unified the whole show into a coherent story and an intriguing sci-fi vision of the future.

I enjoyed my experience and it really excited me to see narrative based installations that were closely linked to sci-fi and the contemporary art world. I also enjoyed seeing community based ideas and practices being approached, this helped me develop new ways of displaying my own work and encouraged me to pursue more ambitious ways of expressing ideas through installation.

It was also really good to see a varied exhibition that was diverse but curated in a way that unified all of the areas of the imagined Silver City. By this I mean each space felt like its own exhibition but whilst together they also felt cohesive. This kind of unity and modularity, where the component parts are equally as important as the overall display/effect, was done successfully through use of atmosphere and audio visual elements. Each space had a sort of low hum of sound or ambience noise, even in the quieter rooms you could still hear the soft beat of the other areas.

This has informed my practice in terms of lighting and audio elements as well as curation of visitor experience, I am realising now that engaging with interactive performative installations requires a lot of wide consideration. I also realise now that expecting to be able to resolve a topic as broad as sound or interaction or waste (or any topic) by May is not realistic.

I should instead aim to explore it experiment with different approaches, whilst seeking to try and retain the core elements that interest me such as sound, object, community engagement, reassessing our environment and immersive experience.

https://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/whats-on/our-silver-city-2094/

Alice Aycock is an American artist known for her sculptures and installations, she has had many international shows and completed multiple commissions across America and the world.

Her incorporation of light within her sculptures is also intriguing to me and gives them a very futuristic feeling, which comes from the elaborate chrome structures, neon glow and contrast between these creations and their mundane surroundings. This otherworldly feeling is contributed to by the use of non traditional materials which are arranged to express something, perhaps a feeling or perhaps a quality of the materials itself.

Aycock also has a good understanding of surrounding space and site-specificity, while she may not engage in the same issue based way she engages instead in a purely material and physical sense, complimenting the surrounding space, seeking to understand the lines and shapes that are there and how to best highlight and enhance the space with her work.

This is shown in Strange Attractor which echoes the Kansas Airport it is located in, it mirrors the streams of neon as planes, signalers and trolleys light the night. It also represents the sounds of the environment with the giant double-ended horn shape, this could represent announcing speakers of terminals or the large turbines of the immense aircraft.

This piece of work, Clay, explores the materials properties and the way it behaves when used unconventionally, instead of making a clay object Aycock makes clay slabs as experiments in how time affects the material. When I saw this piece I found it inspiring as it is such a simple but effective idea, it also reminds me of patterns I have seen elsewhere like chess, synth pads, concrete slabs, petri dishes, hopscotch and Foley floors.

I now plan to make a similar construction but with the hopscotch layout, this frame will then be filled with various materials, similar to a piece of Foley equipment. This structure mimics familiar school games but also intrigues the audience with the variety of the materials, hopefully this coupled with ambient sound and video will encourage the audience to bridge the gap between instrument and artist, creating music.

This links to a thought I had around musicians and instruments, the music doesn’t exist in either of one of them individually, it exists in the space created by their union. This is the same to me as audience members and interactive objects, the art is not solely in the individual or the object, it is in the outcome of their collision and communion. This is an idea I will continue to develop and realise through my planned performances.

I find Aycock’s work interesting because of the way she approaches industrialism and the industrial process from an artist’s perspective; seeing and using manufacturer’s objects as art objects. I am also intrigued by how she draws, there is a clear influence from architectural/construction drawings which are explicit in how they demonstrate form and space. This is likely linked to Aycock’s confident use of space and large scale objects within them, her fundamental understanding of space through drawing (along with her team who aid in the industrial process) allows her to realise projects on an immense scale.

Despite the apparent emphasis on structure uniformity geometry and symmetry Aycock also has and demonstrates the opposite, a playful and asymmetrical approach to ways of imagining objects

I also enjoyed watching this video linked below during which Alice discusses various aspects of her practice and her journey and how this influenced her artistic career. She explains how much of her inspiration comes from a variety of places and how generally she explores the space between magic and science. She also discussed how when she was taught about art history one teacher said ‘Art develops as a system to reflect culture’ which she thought was profound.

I agree with this statement and many of her assertions around what art is and how it can function in modern times, I find her honesty and the freedom with which she seems to communicate and express herself to be inspiring. I also hope to carry forward her sense of structure, construction and space (since I need to develop these things) and incorporate more of this into my own practice, perhaps helping me to realise larger/more stable artworks.

The Artist Profile Archive: Alice Aycock – YouTube

Alice Aycock (aaycock.com)

Honey Williams came to give an artist talk in February and fortunately I was able to attend in person, which was a really great opportunity to interact with a practicing local artist. Based in Nottingham, Honey is a mixed media artist working with collage and painting to create murals around experience and identity but her practice also extends to include music, singing and poetry.

She began by explaining her personal experiences growing up that shaped what her work is about now. Honey experienced discrimination and rejection on a regular basis because of her race and weight, she also explained how not all of this was hateful and instead came from ignorance. Describing how even well meaning people can participate in discrimination if historic bias and judgements are not challenged.

Honey spoke at length about how these experiences affected her art and how she clashed with lecturers at college and university over her practice, which focused on a lack of representation and issues around hair and skin tone within the black community. Growing up with a well educated father meant Honey was well informed about general history and the unacknowledged roles the black community played in history.

She summarised how these early experiences led her to feel like an outsider and like she did not belong. This was reinforced when she attended her first post-graduate interview for a job in Graphic Design; when stating she was here for an interview the receptionist assumed she was here for the cleaning role, not the graduate role. This was repeated when she arrived at the interview where the person holding interviews asked with surprise ‘Are you in the right place?’.

This experience lead Honey to pursue other avenues after university participating in the Gang of Angels choir and an international poetry collective, this led her to start teaching workshops using art as a way to start a conversation between people around issues of race.

After the murder of George Floyd demand for Honey’s work increased which she described as a horrible and confusing feeling. This did however give her the opportunity to raise the profile of the issues she represents and to push back against the circumstances that lead to tragedies like George Floyd.

She spoke in depth about the residencies and commissions she was offered and how these were all local opportunities that gave her the creative lifestyle she wanted. She ended by describing her approach to making work and how it begins automatically and is refined later. Honey spoke about how music and mood influence the type of work she makes, usually starting with abstract influences and marks that then become something else as they are worked on.

Honey advocated that all of us should carefully consider the emotional impact of being an artist, of having to face and tackle difficult and horrific issues yet still find beauty. She advised us all to think about ourselves after the work as well, since there is no point completing a piece or a project only to need weeks of rest or therapy afterwards.

Though this was not the most technically informative talk it was one of the most personable and relatable talks. It was nice to have a developing artist explain their process and journey in detail and to also see an artist that is more integrated in local communities than in a national or international art world. For my own practice I find this comforting and inspiring and the knowledge that unconventional ways of living off art are possible, but also that art can be a community of your own making, and is not limited to a ‘network’ or ‘artworld’.

The members show at Two Queens was a very valuable experience, seeing different layouts for such a variety of work within a space was really interesting. It was also good to be able to experience a more intermingled curation and way of displaying work, this is not like the clearly divided by artist nature I am used to from college and university; it is similar to things like the LOVE Art open call I was part of as well as an upcoming group exhibition in February.

It was also a valuable experience in terms of meeting others who are
artists, involved in or interested in the arts. I made a couple of new
acquaintances and was able to interact with people since the environment was
very welcoming and open, not like the large galleries I have been inside
before. I did also trade information and social media details with a few local
artists and people I met at the show.

I I was also able to speak to many lecturers and technicians from DMU outside the course, this was invaluable as I felt much more able to make a human connection and relate to them as peers rather than staff etc. In this way I feel the experience was very valuable as a networking opportunity and as a way for me to re-evaluate how I see art outside education, it was also good to talk to other people in and around the arts scene about opportunities or advice. This has inspired me to seek some sort of voluntary or residency opportunity, in order to run a community project maybe and interface with the public more through my work.

The construction of the show was also a good demonstration of curation and the use of space, the square room was transformed by constructing a wall to divide the space into 3 or 4 distinct areas. This allows the viewer to travel around the space moving from one interesting piece to another in their own way if desired, instead of being read as a circular or linear display it is an amalgam.

I also found it interesting to see how people negotiated this space themselves, often investigating alone and then returning to find friends and show them the point of interest they had found. Observing this in a members show with the public was a useful experience and this aspect of investigation of the space could easily become part of my work, which itself is about distorted space and visitor experience.

Frank Stella was suggested to me as a resource when I started to explore painting in the expanded field and incorporating objects and materials within painting. Stella is an American painter mainly working in painting, sculpture and printmaking, working with ideas around minimalism and post-painterly abstraction.

I started by simply looking visually and I was struck by the freedom and lack of refinement, I don’t mean this as an insult, I prefer some amount of exposed construction as it allows the mind to focus on the core elements and materiality. I also clearly saw the similarities others noticed between my work and his, particularly the later objects like the one below.

Stella has a clear interest in materiality and from watching interviews he is more material than contextual in some ways. He states that his industrial interest and use of manufacturer’s paint was a cost consideration, and that working in series was a similar choice, approaching things many times to get as much as you can out of an idea or a mood.

Stella also talks about how for him the reality of the work comes from the effort of the expression, which is the way he approaches his work, constantly changing the ways of expressing to push ideas forward. This allows him to create wild paintings and sculptures that are sort of both and neither at once, like many of the references I have looked at this year freedom of expression is the thing that attracts me to his work and his practice.

I also relate strongly to Stella’s notion of changing his practice and approach regularly, this is something I have wrestled with across my whole degree; in three years during a pandemic I have gone from small-scale drawing and painting, to large-scale sculpture and installation, and now to sound/video/performance and interactive installation.
The sporadic nature of my practice has been commented on as ‘lost’ which is an accurate statement; I have barely started my career and artistic journey, it is not surprising I seem lost or overwhelmed. This lack of knowledge can be an advantage, as it allows me to explore the world without many preconceived notions, aiding me to think in different ways.

One way of expressing this is that if I knew everything about process, colour, art history etc. now then I might write off certain approaches or ideas because of this knowledge. Whereas in my novice state I can freely explore anything, as long as I can overcome the fear of leaving familiar territory, this is something I will approach through play like Stella and others.

Looking more deeply into Stella’s artwork and process revealed not just the material and physical aspects I can learn from to develop my artwork, but also the behavioral and conceptual aspects of Stella himself. In short I have been inspired by his work (in terms of form and blurring lines between media) and him as a practitioner (a driven artist with varied interests and changing motivations) separate from his work. This is similar to other artists I have researched in the past like Phyllida Barlow, David Medalla, Anne Hardy and Richard Wentworth.

Reflecting on this research I am considering ways of making canvas’ more like objects, hardening them with varnish or mod-roc perhaps. I also want to try and explore bringing paintings off the wall perhaps connecting them across the space or even ‘spreading’ them (by separating them) around the space.
This research has also inspired me to experiment with series when it comes to ideas, which I normally do not do. Stella states in interview that he uses series as a way to almost stop an idea and explore it laterally, then collapse all of this learning into the next idea.

In this way he developed an evolving practice that is unified by his approach to making the work conceptually, which expresses itself in a wide range of forms and media, he describes this as taking conceptual control over the freedom found within experimentation and expression. This is something he says he learned from observing the fate of some abstract expressionists, who became lost in their mark making experiments and did not bring formality back to maintain the balance required in painting.

Frank Stella 3-D Paper Collage – NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale

Frank Stella: A Retrospective – YouTube

Studio Visit with Artist Frank Stella | Christie’s – YouTube