So we managed to survive our relatively hectic couple of weeks with 9 exhibitions in total and it turned out to be pretty fun after all *winking emoji face*
For the 3D/XD open studios at CSM we took a similar approach to that which we had with the 2D/4D with regards to both its site specificity and inconspicuousness. We decided to place a number of fictional ‘lost art’ posters (pictured below) the week before the opening and leave them up for the duration. We wanted them up for a certain amount of time so that there might have been some discrepancy with reference to whether or not people perceived the posters to be ‘art’. Students who had seen them for 7 days may have come accustomed to seeing them and therefore not give them a second look but someone who they’ve invited might instead point them out and a dialogue arises. Another similarity to the 2D/4D show is that it’s hard to get away from the obviousness of it being art due to it being within the walls of an art school but this work seemed to be slightly more effective in that sense due to its ‘slap-dash’ appearance; stuck to the wall with masking tape and (seemingly) without any consideration for design. However, what may appear to be something that took only a few seconds to knock up on a laptop was slightly more thought out. The arrangement is taken from the visual language of lost cat/dog/pet posters in an attempt to personify art as this ‘thing’ that is alive and has a beating heart. The image is blurred and appears to be of an entire studio as opposed to just one work, making identifying it impossible even if it was clear. The photo is one of Kazimir Malevich in his studio but we colourised and blurred it using Photoshop. This image has been chosen due to the nature of his practice; Malevich is considered by many (including himself) as the embodiment of the movement into pure abstraction. Moving away from the real and creating paintings that instead depict something ‘other’ or something that has been invented from ones imagination. This reflects what we’re playing with when creating this work; the artwork in the image is imaginary and therefore is our own interpretation of what Malevich was trying to do. The text, which describes the work, is nonsensical – there’s plenty of content but none of it would be helpful when physically identifying something. It speaks of the ideas behind the work, none of which are translated into material attributes. This is a work about transparency, usually what is on display is the piece itself and perhaps the meaning would be lost, here the intention behind the work is out for everyone to read. The absence of it causes a reaction in the reader, they then make their own mind up about what the work may or may not be and so they become active viewers and a part of the piece. We also attributed it to William Cost and some people are aware of who this is and therefore is a slight hint to those who might be slightly better informed about our previous work.
On Monday we were a part of a project called ‘Destroy’ which is in association with Bow Arts and was instigated by artist Poppy Green. Students are invited to destroy a piece of art and then use the materials to make their own work. The work we put forward was ‘is here alright?’ which is the collection of boxes and crates that look like they might contain art. We felt this took the ideas that went into making the piece about mystery and the unknown and (quite literally) smashed them up and we were very excited! The students involved we actually very insightful about the work and about art in general, asking pretty big questions that I’m positive continue to trouble most of the population. It was a great experience to see how their minds work when faced with something quite abstract and concept heavy. Working with younger people is always informative but can definitely be vary in difficulty; it was obvious that these particular students were on the edge of being overly conscious about what they said and how they acted. They still didn’t really care about what the rest of the group thought of them; disagreeing with each other and speaking their mind. A very positive day.
Another show we had this week was ‘Pack it in’, held at Vent in Hoxton. For this we also produced a new work where we produced a life size cut out and faced it into the corner of the room. These are usually seen in the cinema where you get to see your favourite heroes and villains up close or in supermarkets where the classic smiley family is promoting a variety of products. This work has links to our mild obsession to stock imagery. We tend to this of our ideas and then how those things are going to manifest and even if we think ‘you know what I really fancy making a Sid and Jim hammock but I don’t really know why’ we’ll have a look into what a hammock is about and how we could potentially turn that into an interesting work. The main point is that it’s our ideas that we value most, over the product. To return the stock images; they aren’t images of real things; they are images of the idea of what those things are. So what’s being depicted is not how it happens in the real world, it’s just a shadow that sort of mimics something we might find familiar. So the people who have cardboard cutouts made of them aren’t real people, they’re characters and so is ours. The cutout is of William Cost (he’s been busy this week) and the side facing the wall is consequently blank to reflect both his potential and nonexistence. This is another work that is using certain visual cues to poke at an audience’s memory and try and get them to think, posing questions and opposed to answers.
Some new to announcements are that ‘One Man’s Art…’ is going to be in Average Art magazine’s new issue ‘What is Art?’. We’re also doing an interview with Art Reveal magazine which is very exciting! Tomorrow is going to be the launch of The SketchUp Residency website so head to www.thesketchupresidency.com to see the product of Bob Bicknell-Knight’s term.
Finally we just wanted to apologise for the lack of Artists and Friends content the past couple of weeks – we’ve just been so so busy with other stuff but we’ve got something cooking up to stay tuned…