Including the Everyday

Just logging a quick thought htat I had about my work: sometimes things just dawn on me about the way I work and why it might be. I tend to use things that I see in my own environment during everyday life, but as well as this being the result of how I think, it is perhaps an intention as well. Including everyday things, such s dustpan brush bristles and contact lenses and candles, maybe a viewer will think of my work when they next encounter these objects in their own lives.That would be ultimate ambition - for someone to look at a really ordinary thing in a slightly more profound way because of something I have shown them.

London: James Coleman, Mark Wallinger

This was my favourite work of the day by Mark Wallinger, where four screens showed the view driving round a roundabout in four different times of year. This was evident from the big tree which was a focus of the image. I loved how you stepped into the centre of the work, were forced to be among it before figuring out what it was about. That first minute of discovery was thrilling - dizzying also because of the constantly revolving motion. 

There was another such moment of discovery from Wallinger in the room next door, where a life-size projection of a barbers shopfront seemed to be a still image. We stood looking at it for a while taking it in and then left... and then we read the handout from the front desk and immediately made our way back through the exhibition to the video... there was a clock inside the shop whose second hand moved two seconds before the video repeated. That transformation from not knowing and not seeing to seeing and perceiving was magical. It affirms to me the validity of the accompanying information...it is not a cheat sheet, it makes the work.

Easter Holidays - Wax Moons and Planets

I have dedicated Easter to (chilling and) making these wax moon shape works so that I have an idea of what I'm doing when I go back. Originally I wanted to get hold of a toy model of a moon and cast it, so that it would have all the surface bumps as well as the connotations of it being an educational model. However, I genuinely could not find one of these anywhere to my surprise. I decided instead to buy some spherical plastic molds (or makeshift molds) to experiment with.

Although curious about the result, I'm not entirely. They're just a little underwhelming, perhaps because I need to practice the execution to get a neater join, or switch the colours up a bit. I think it is worth doing a few more experiments to see where it goes.

Spencer Finch - 'The Opposite of Blindness'

As part of our London gallery trawl, Ed and  went to see Spencer Finch's show 'The Opposite of Blindness' at the Lisson Gallery. I did not know anything about this work beforehand accept that Ed had looked into his work because he works with colour. I read the statement on the hand out and was really intrigued. It certainly sounds like my kind of thing...

"His subjects are the ineffable and evanescent: the human condition of remembering or the quality of light at a given moment – all lending to a full comprehension of nature in spite of man’s technological advancement. In the impossibility of their undertaking, his endeavours are frequently Sisyphean, matching a Herculean task with a touch that is deliberately slight and human, with the ultimate aim of igniting wonder."

Light and blindness and vision and slight touches - it sounds like the perfect exhibition for me.

Igniting wonder - that's what I want my work to do and that's what I want artwork to do for me. However, looking at the work, I just didn't get that.

Finch's still life series, where the colour of tulips was logged at different times of the day, just as much of the work, was pleasing to look at but didn't provoke wonder. Maybe this is because they are paintings, although I hope I am not that disengaged by 2D work, or perhaps it is because it is an idea I am quite familiar with. My Blue Marlble project of last year, logging the colour of my house each day and seeing how the colour differed, explored the same idea.

The more interesting thing about Finch's work to me was probably that they were described as still lives, and indeed they were still...but still ever changing. Is light ever still? Lightness and darkness...are they ever the same from one moment to the next. This regard for vision was the success of the exhibition for me. Another work, which I didn't find that visually interesting but was intrigued by how it reconfigured perception of image, was titled 'Sunflower (Bee's View)'.

Ultimately, I thought the work was pretty but not poetic. I suppose, instead of being melancholic about sight and blindness like my work, Finch's approach seemed more of a celebration.

Casting Tea Lights / Votive Candles

After visiting Gloucester Cathedral I managed to get hold of a few empty tealights that were used a sprayer/votive candles. I had originally thought about using the aluminium casing to be melted down and cast into words or phrases but I will need to wait to be back at uni to do this if it is possible. For the time being I have cast them in burnt candle wax, dripping the black wax drop by drop into the cases. I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to represent apart from drawing attention to the candle as an emblem. The darkness is almost a reverse of the 'light of the world' symbol as well, although that has far too negative and anti-religious connotations that I have no interest in. 

Conceptually it would probably be better if I used a different material other than wax that was more neutral, which would highlight the space where a prayer once was before it burnt away. I'm interested in the prayer, or feeling of hope that the candle represents as a physical thing. However after a few initial experiments and some thought i am very wary of using too may religious connotations lest it becomes a little twee...mentioning anything to do with prayers or hope sounds far too spiritual for me... I need to find something that symbolizes these things without having connotations that will be offputting.

Haiku

Darkness manifests

In the soft blink of an eye

A life without light.

Candles from Gloucester Cathedral

Away in the Cotswolds for a week, I have visited a few churches and Gloucester cathedral as research into how candles are used in religious buildings and the role of light in religion. In Gloucester Cathedral I found this sign explaining the role of the candle...

I love the idea of the candle as being a parable, a material metaphor for something else, which is a theme I often look at anyway in my work. Having been brought up in religious schools, this idea of light is very familiar to me, and perhaps has influenced my regard for it. The candle as a symbol is a really powerful and loaded token, which is a curious thing to explore in my art as it quickly conveys an idea.

I manged to get a few candles from the cathedral, which I think I will use for my measuring spoons and moon experiments.