Untitled

First ideas in journal for presenting video in exhibition. This would involve 5 tv screens, so I am going to adapt the film if I can to be shown on a maximum of two screens.
Unfortunately having many problems with converting video to be able to be edited with iMovie, if I can't solve the problem, I also have paintings but don't feel like they would be as effective.

Lucien Freud at the National Portrait Gallery, 2nd April

'And the Bridegroom', 1993

The first time I had seen this portrait, I was struck at the sheer size of the piece, yet it still appeared intimate and thoughtful.

Outside the Studio

Projection

Outside of Studio

I'm beginning to take my work outside of the studio. The first step that I have decided to take is to photocopy stills from my first film and display them in the area that I live in. I think the pictures are reminiscent of mugshots, especially with the grainy texture of the photocopy. I also think that displaying these images to passers-by makes the subject more vulnerable. I'd like to display a video in the same way.

Stills

In taking stills of the film, I have isolated a part of the confession and allowed the person to be scrutinised further because this is now a frozen image. I think it enforces the fact that the moment can't be undone or changed, so in turn makes up a part of their identity.

Art + Audience

I'm trying to develop my previous work, but in a more appropriate medium.

I'm taking the idea from previous work forward, not the pratice. I was almost put on a jury for a case and sat in the court room while matters were being dicussed. I started to think about the defendants being put on the spot in front of strangers and having to recount past events, events that perhaps they would rather not share. With this in mind, I asked a handful of people (including myself) to sit in front of a camera and talk about the last time they felt guilty. Film gives me the chance to record everything in total, and having the subject look directly into the camera breaks down the barrier between them and audience. This is a rough edit of the films so far...

In asking people to remember a certain point in their life and talk about it puts them on the spot in a similar way to the defendant of the case. I've decided at this point to take away the sound because I want to leave the interpretation up to the audience. To decide themselves whether the people in the film are guilty, or if they are at all. I want the audience to become the jury.

Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore

Went to see the Mark Leckey exhibition at the Manchester City Art Gallery. An incredible use of sound in his work. Spent a long time watching 'Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore', almost to the point of bursting my eardrums. Feels like the images are in constant competition with sound. Both engulfed me but I can't process both equally, I must focus on one or the other. After Whitworth talk by the artist, I doubted that I would like his work, but I was drawn in completely. The film is incredibly evocative and the whole piece truly conveys the spirit and feeling of a tribe or a gang that the music gave to the youth of that time, almost felt a part of the movement for a second. Plan on returning soon. I could still hear the noise from the bottom floor, a cacophony.

Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore: http://vimeo.com/5632791

Illusion

Portrait Schmela and Portrait Dr. Knobloch by Gerhard Richter

I'm drawn to these portraits by Richter simply because he manages to capture movement in his painting. I like that he's put movement back into a still image.

Where To Go Next?

I've been experimenting with halftone and breaking down my photographs into separate CMYK colours. Here I have four slightly different images, taken with shutter speed. I have tried to put the movement back into the image

after taking it away by photographing rather than videoing.

Screen-print continued

Simon Le Ruez 9.02.12

‘It’s meant to be an infantile world, in order to make us believe that the adults are elsewhere, in the ‘real world’, and to conceal the fact that real childishness is everywhere, particularly among those adults who go there to act the child in order to foster illusions of their real childishness.’

Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulations

I have chosen to look at the work of George Condo in reference to this quote and in particular his painting of ‘Skinny Jim’.

Firstly, I notice a link between the childish ideals of both the painting and the quote. However on closer inspection, both have elements of a sinister quality. Skinny Jim, a clown, reminds the viewer of children’s parties and infantile entertainment, but his face is contorted to seem bizarre and grotesque. An expression which would no doubt scare a small child. Similarly, Disneyland creates an environment for children to thrive on the imaginary, yet the warmth and affection of the park is only a simulation of a make-believe world.

I would also argue that both create a false sense of security to the viewer or visitor. In addition to the facial expression, Skinny Jim holds a lit cigarette in his hand, perhaps not immediately recognised but again making him less of a childish figure and more of a threatening presence. Likewise, a first impression of Disneyland may be positive however, perhaps the draw of the park is not what it offers on the inside, but an escape from the ‘real’ world on the outside. As also stated by Baudrillard, ‘You park outside, queue up inside, and are totally abandoned at the exit’, suggests that Disneyland is not a friendly place, but designed out of greed.

Finally, it would seem that Disneyland also attracts adults to revel in its childlike fantasies, as mentioned in my chosen quote. In contrast, the childlike figure in the opposite case seems to be George Condo himself in his relentless reproduction of distorted individuals. As written in the Sunday Telegraph (6^th November 2011) of the Hayward Gallery’s retrospective, ‘the show presents and ever-changing fairground gallery of enigmatic grotesques’, which in turn could also refer to Disneyland itself.

Cindy Sherman

From the Sunday Telegraph Seven Magazine, 05.02.12, written by Lucy Davies

Simulation and Re-production

I began looking at human emotion, collecting photographs of people laughing, frowning and being caught off guard, and studying them through drawing. Recent lectures have sparked an interest in simulation and the difference between a true emotion and a staged emotion. I asked friends to laugh on cue while I photographed, the results were awkward and unnatural, an obvious fake emotion.

I've used screen-printing as a starting point because I like that I can print more then one image over the other, in order to simulate the movement of my subjects without using film.

Eileen O'Rourke

Contour States at the Cornerhouse, 1.2.12

My first impressions were negative, I found Samantha Donnelly's work immediately difficult to connect with. The overall feeling of the show was brash and chaotic, particularly on the top floor which housed a selection of towering sculptures of neon colours and thousands of different materials.

After discussing with the group, I felt that I began to understand where the artist was coming from. I appreciated the message she is trying to convey, but I still questioned the execution, especially in 'Outlining Venus'. Why had she erected swaying polystyrene monolith, painted to look like concrete? In comparison, all other pieces seemed to be linked, whether it be through materials, construction, or something else.

I appreciated the smaller, wall mounted pieces more. They seemed more concise, easier to digest and in my opinion, more effective.

The message is clear, Donnelly is commenting on the way women are perceived in society, in particular through the fashion world. As described in the booklet, she is concerned with 'breaking down subjects and moulding then anew in an altered state'. It seems to me that she began with a conventionally 'beautiful' idea (fashion, femininity) and deconstructed it to the point of being ugly and uncomfortable to look at, therefore questioning and inverting the original subject.

I left the exhibition more appreciative of the work then at the start, but I would still question whether I understood the artists execution of the work.

Melancholia, The Cornehouse

Before Melancholia, my sole experience of Lars Von Trier was the film Anitchrist. With this weighing heavily on my mind, I booked tickets for Melancholia with a feeling of apprehension and uneasiness. Described by one critic as ‘cinema as scar’, Melancholia has certainly left a lasting impression.

I was instantly captivated. The screen erupts with slow motion sequences of destruction, yet still manages to be incredibly beautiful. Like art itself, the images were visually stunning, images of a world collapsing around the protagonists, sisters played by Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Later, it is revealed that these scenes are representations of real artwork when Justine (Kirsten Dunst) rearranges a book shelf and the audience can see the original images displayed on the pages. Likewise, I also found myself paralysed by the music, penetrating and deafening.

Part one tells the story of Justine’s wedding, arranged by Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg) and her husband played by Keifer Sutherland. Each scene is inviting and romantic, the fairy tale setting, the occasion, the soft lighting, all a world away from the callous Antichrist. I began to feel comfortable watching the film, less uneasy, which was when the cracks began to show. Justine appears to be trying to ruin her wedding day, and as my feeling of resentment towards her grows, so does the compassion I have for Claire as she tries to control her erratic sister.

As with Antichrist, the film is separated into distinct parts, and within part two Claire’s calm exterior begins to unravel. As the apocalypse seen at the start draws ever closer, Von Trier reveals Justine’s battle with depression but my sympathy continued to fade as Justine appears to relish that her family are in turmoil. She seemed to welcome the chaos while Claire struggles with a loss of control over her fate. As the film progresses, Justine starts to gain control over herself while Claire starts to panic and loose herself.

Justine describes her depression as ‘trudging through this grey, woolly yarn’, and I began to feel the same about Melancholia. From the slow motion opening sequence it seemed to me that the story never gained momentum. Like the protagonists, I felt like I was counting down the seconds to the inevitable ending, which couldn’t come quick enough. However, when the end of the world finally came, that familiar feeling of awe returned. I was transported to the beginning of Melancholia; the conclusion was both destructive and beautiful to witness.

When Claire finally relinquishes her control over her fate and joins Justine to wait for the end, I thought about what is left when someone dies. For me, all that is left is memories and I would like to explore this theme throughout my project. Memories of people and things that I have lost and how the images can become distorted over time. As Justine says; ‘Life is on Earth. And not for long’.

Jonathan Yeo

Images from Art Review Issue 56

Work that I was already familiar of, but could only put a name to the work after reading an article in Art Review this month. Some portraits are left unfinished, maybe the subject is stripped of the extras to leave what's most important to their character. A portrait of Sienna Miller is entirely of her face, beautiful. Her hair, her surroundings are an afterthought. Often she is referred to as 'beautiful' and her talent as an actress becomes a side-note.

Yeo's collages are beautiful. Up close the pornographic images are revealed.

'Let's talk about your portraits. Were you deliberately taking on something that was out of fashion?'

'Yes, I'm a bit contrary, I hate being told what to do, I like doing what others aren't doing. I'm not so concerned about fashion in art. Faces rivet me, and I thought: get good at them first.'

Extract from interview by John Quin, Art Review Issue 56.