Gage Gallery Exhibition

Gage Gallery

Left: Hanging detail, Right: Final Hanging of 'EBOV VP40'

Exhibition set up

Exhibition Opening Night

My Experience of Gage Gallery 

Overall I think my final outcome at Gage Gallery was fairly successful given the time scale we had. My final piece EBOV VP40 was a continuation of my current practice. Having the opportunity to present my work in a gallery space really challenged me and enabled me to think about the real world application of the work I produce in my practice. 

During my time at Gage Gallery we faced a few challenges in both the organisation of the exhibition itself and personally with the presentation of my work. Workings part of a group held its own challenges with communication and working out how everyones work will both fit together in the space, generating conversation between the work whilst also creating an exhibition that flows and makes sense for the visiting audience. We also faced challenges with publicity of the opening event. 

When first putting up my work in the gallery I had concerns over the size of my work and whether it would work and whether it would have enough of a presence against the other work featured in the gallery. After talking to visiting tutors I would have liked to have developed my work more but unfortunately due to workshop availability and time I was restricted to what I could do, although I feel adding the curtain to the work both enlarged it and gave my work more of a presence whilst also adding another dimension to my piece, creating a stronger connection to the medical connotations of my subject. 

Looking back at my time at Gage Gallery, if I were to exhibit my work again in a similar situation I would try and be more prepared to handle the challenges the space presents. For example; visiting the space earlier so I can get a better idea for placement of my work, booking in workshop time early to tackle such problems and enable me to experiment more with ideas and make sure that publicity and advertising of the event isn't side lined in order to ensure a successful opening event. 

I am pleased with the outcome for the exhibition as a whole and believe it has been a very valuable experience in preparation for future shows that occur. 

Matt Shilan

Matt Shilan

"As a paper engineer my work is rooted in print media, books arts and commercial design. Beginning with and initial fold, a single action causes a transferor energy to subsequent folds, which ultimately manifest in drawings and three dimensional forms. I use my engineering skills to create kinetic sculpture which have lead to collaborations with scientists and the University of Michigan. We work on the nanoscale, translating paper structures to micro folds. Our investigations extend to visualising cellular division and solar cell development. Researchers see paper engineering was a metaphor for scientific principals; I see their inquiry as basis for artistic inspiration. In my studio I am a collaborator, explorer and inventor. I begin with a system of folding and at a particular moment the material takes over. Guided by wonder, my work is made because I cannot visualise its final  realisation; in this way I come to understanding through curiosity." - Matt Shilan, http://mattshlian.com/statement2012.html

Ara 153 - Paper, 20 x 40 x 2 Inches, 2015 

27 - Paper, 19 x 25 x 1 Inches, 2010

Enneagon - Paper, 25 x 25 x 3 Inches, 2015

http://mattshlian.com/index.html

Robin Clare

Robin Clare

"Taking my inspiration from urban environments, I look for subjects that tell a story about the time or place in which I live. I work mainly from drawings and images I take of impermanent situations that I come across on a daily basis. My subjects are chosen initially for their humour and visual impact. But, underneath the surface is a reflection on society. Of particular interest to me in this series is the relationship between affluence and waste.

The discarded or found objects I choose to focus on have the ability to appear both humorous and venerable when taken out of their normal environments and ejected representing the impact of mass consumption; they also work as a metaphor for homelessness and remind us of our impact on the world.

To produce my work I employ a number of different techniques and approaches including line drawing, stencilling and painting. The choice of technique is dictated by way in which my subject communities with me. I enjoy using bright acidic colours and strong visual lines as a tool to create a sense of installation and drama on the canvas. I am also influenced by the visual language of advertising and surface design. which comes through in my visual aesthetic and use of pattern.

The products of my work are vibrant, graphically influence images of discarded objects and passed over situations. It is intended that these images appeal in both a visual and intellectual level inspiring the viewer to experience the world in a different way.

Fridge on Green Pattern, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 100cm x 100cm 

Washing Machine on Blue, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 100cm x 100cm 

Fridge on Yellow Pattern, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 100cm x 100cm

Washer on Orange, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 100cm x 100cm

Paula Zuccotti

Paula Zuccotti 

"I have 15 years of experience travelling the world researching people’s everyday lives and uncovering insights that lead to the creation of successful products, brands and services. I used to be Head of Research and Director of Futures at Seymourpowell, where I worked for 12 years. I joined the company's nascent Foresight department in June 2001 (when I came to London awarded by a scholarship from the British Council to study for an MA in Design Strategy and Innovation at Brunel University) and created and developed Seymourpowell's renowned ethnographic research offer that pioneered the field of design research." - http://www.paulazuccotti.com/About

I find Zuccotti's work really enlightening, it has may me think about approaching the topic of pattern from a different angle. The pattern of life. How we interact everyday with menial objects. The paths we walk and the repetition in our own lives and how it differs from that of others, both strangers and people around us. Where do our paths cross and what does this say about ourselves? 

Michael Reeder

"Dallas, Texas based artist Michael Reeder paints eclectic portraits that explore ideas about identity. Reeder is fascinated by the various characteristics that define us, and his works mix those elements both stylistically and conceptually. While his main interest is modern identity, the figures he portrays often have a classical quality. He renders their faces as if he were chiseling away at marble, redefined with abstract and exaggerated features with blank eyes (ancient statue eyes were painted or inlaid.) His portraits aren’t meant to be accurate representations. Rather, he considers portraiture to be more like a reinvention of his subjects, which takes place at their simplest form. Reeder relies on visual cues to characterize his subjects. For instance, some images are spliced in half with color or lines to imply the feeling of being torn. Other times, these juxtaposing ideas, palettes, and compositions are a play on dimension and style. Like his creative combinations, our personalities are the result of many facets and experiences that create a whole." - http://hifructose.com/2015/08/22/michael-reeder-explores-identity-in-eclectic-portraits/

Masked Ritual - Acrylic and Aerosol on Panel 24"x  24"

Master of My Reality - Oil, Acrylic and Aerosol on Panel 24" x 30"

When The Fire Goes Out - Gouache and Aerosol on Panel 11" x 14"

I was originally drawn to the work of Michael Reeder through his use of pattern within his work. I also really liked the mix of the geometric pattern against portraits and his illustrative style. I find his use of aerosol within his work really interesting as well, using it to create gradients in colour across his work. Looking at this I think I would like to try using aerosol in my own work, perhaps as a way of creating the patterns in my work combined with the use of stencils.

Exhibtion: Bridget Riley: Venice and Beyond, Paintings 1967-1972

Bridget Riley: Venice and Beyond, Paintings 1967 - 1972, Grave Gallery, Sheffield 

"Bridget Riley is one of Britain’s most important and accomplished abstract painters, with a career spanning six decades. This new exhibition at the Graves Gallery will focus on a breakthrough moment in the development of the artist’s work: the introduction of colour.

Following her first major abstract works in the early 1960s, Riley began to incorporate colour into her painting in 1967 by using a limited palette in works such as Rise 1(1968), a highlight of Sheffield’s collection. The adoption of colour came to inform Riley’s developments throughout her ensuing career, adding a rich new dimension to her investigation of visual contrast and perception.

The exhibition will chronicle this unique moment of change, showcasing a carefully selected group of paintings and studies from 1967–72, which situate Rise 1 within the context of works made during this period." - http://www.museums-sheffield.org.uk/museums/graves-gallery/exhibitions/current/bridget-riley-venice-and-beyond-paintings-1967-1972

Rise 1, Bridget Riley

My experience of the Bridget Riley exhibition at the Graves Gallery was slightly disappointing. The work featured in the exhibition was mainly featuring her lined pieces; I was hoping to see some more of her colourful and more patterned work. Despite this the exhibition did feature some of her drawing which showed some of the construction and notes on her work, something I was actually really found of, being able to see how the artist worked to produce the work. I was also drawn to the idea of the artist meticulously working on such precise scale something I would like to look at doing in my own work. 

Roger Hiorns - Seizure

Roger Hiorns 

"In 2008, every surface of an abandoned London council flat was lined with a thick 
layer of glistening, knife-sharp copper-
sulphate crystals – creating an angular cave that was at once alluring, sensuous and needlingly dangerous. This was Seizure, by Roger Hiorns – the British artist (or, you might think, alchemist) who once caused flames to rise from the drains of the Tate" - Charlotte Higgins, Chief arts writer, The Guardian, Feb 16. - http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/
2013/jun/13/seizure-copper-sulphate-crystals-yorkshire

Playing on the idea of growth in my own work, I was very intrigued by Hiorns work. Again it held a scientific calling, using copper-sulphate to grow large crystals encapsulating the entire of the London flat feature in his work pictured above, Seizure, 2008. The work is now on show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Previously Hiorns has used the same technique but on a much smaller scale covering engines and other object with the same copper-sulphate solution. Perhaps I could explore the potentials of chemical growth and experiment with how the might fit into my work. 

"Copper sulphate crystals are a recurring motif in Hiorns’s sculpture. Fascinated by the unpredictable and uncontrollable growth patterns of this inorganic substance, Hiorns chooses to cede the task of determining the eventual appearance of the work. Critic JJ Charlesworth has written about the self-supporting nature of the process:

If crystals grow on the body of a BMW engine ... they no longer have anything to do with the human intervention that initially set them in motion. Hiorns makes objects that suggest a sort of independence, a separation from the world of those who see them, as if they have a purpose, or at least a story behind their existence, that exists despite the context in which they are encountered. (Milton Keynes Gallery 2006, p.6.)" - http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hiorns-untitled-t12456

klari Reis

Klari Reis: Artists Bio

"San Francisco artist Klari Reis talks about     her work and career. Klari uses the tools and techniques of science in her creative process, constantly experimenting with new ways to apply materials and methods. She is driven by curiosity and her desire to explore and document the natural and unnatural with a sense of wonder and joy."

"Klari is grounded in actions and reactions with a new media plastic - epoxy polymer.  Similar to resin, the UV resistant plastic is her method and language for exploring and expressing interactions on a microscopic level.  Powders, oils, acrylics and industrial dyes are used through many layers of ultra glossy, durable plastic.  A technician of sorts, studio as laboratory, Klari has turned the invented process into a science in the service of art." - http://klariart.bigcartel.com/information


Inspired by Reis and listening to the feedback I received from my tutors, I think I would like to avert my practice back into a much broader spectrum. I feel like my work has recently become to focused on trying to get an idea across rather than just playing with materials and exploring the practical side of art. With this in mind I am going to move on to explore just the idea of growth. Reis's work really intrigued me with its scientific aesthetic, echoed by the patterns and effects achieved within the resins she uses within her petri dish canvases. I would like to explore the idea of growing my own bacteria using agar and petri dishes and see what I can grow from the normal home environment.

Hypochondria, 2013, Petri Dishes, Resin, Tee nuts and Steel rods

Just so happens this piece ^ in particular is named after the very thing I'm exploring within my own work

www.klariart.com

Crit Feedback

Having presented the work shown above in crit, I have been given a lot of useful feedback and some really interesting ideas to try.

- Printing on to physical ward curtains or plastic sheeting in order to provide a more direct link.
- My crit group liked the idea of the tracing paper, describing the Ebola cases as ephemeral although they also raised an interesting point that the ephemerality of the disease is more apparent in the cases of William Pooley and Pauline Cafferekey, however, it seemed to have more of a lasting effect on the lives of people in Umaru's situation.
- The group also discussed that it may be too obscure and need more information in order to make a clear link to the subject matter within my work.

Using this feedback I am going to look at ways of distinguishing the difference between the people pictured in my work and their constructing circumstances. I would also like to look more directly into portraying the sense of hypercondria I previously spoke about, considering ways in which I could recreate such a sense with no visible threat. I am particularly interested in the idea of using ward curtains or a similar material in order to reinforce connotations.

Sketchbook Portraits...

Pen Drawings of William Pooley, Umaru and Pauline Cafferkey

Scientific Illustration of the Ebola Virion

Sketchbook Development

Following on from from my research into Ebola cases in the UK and Freetown, Sierra Leone I have continued to draw portraits of each person affected by the Ebola Virus. Above I have experimented using paint and tracing paper in order to show the temporary effect of Ebola.

Illustrations of the Ebola Virion, Pencil Drawn (Right) and Screen Printed (Left) 

Using the scientific illustration of the Ebola Virion, I have used tracing paper in order to overlay the image of the portraits of each of the Ebola victims. I have decided to use the tracing paper to reflect the layers found in the specialist care units. I feel that the tracing paper also reflects the how people view those who have contracted the virus, blurring the identity of the person behind the label. 

I feel that this piece works fairly successfully to convey what I am trying to say within my work, however, I would like to develop this idea further to show the difference in treatment towards each person after being both confirmed Ebola positive and post treatment, for example, the isolation by groups of people of some victims such as Umaru. I will be taking this piece to show in Crit in order to gain a wider perspective and se whether my message is as clear as I'd hope it to be. 

Art & Science: Research Progression

Ebola: Alive Again

Following on from my last post I have found a fascination in the way that people react to human condition. I was particularly drawn to the following article detailing the account of a young 20-year-old man called Umaru. Having contracted the Ebola Virus Umaru managed to recover from the virus after being admitted to the MSF's Prince of Wales Ebola Management Centre in Freetown.

 What struck me about the article was about the reaction Umaru faced after being diagnosed and even after being cured of the virus. Umaru stated that when first experiencing symptoms of the virus 'everyone was scared. I could not stay in my own home any longer.' He also stated as if it was normal practice that 'Normally people with Ebola get driven from their homes.' and that despite being cured that his 'younger brother was stopped from seeing me by his father.' The comparison between the treatment of Ebola suffers/ survivors in the UK and in Umaru's case intrigued me as to how different cultures cope with human condition and illness. I was reminded of the UK cases of William Pooley, and Pauline Cafferkey whom both contracted the virus while working in Sierra Leone, both of which were admitted into UK hospitals for treatment. 

Reading a further into the case of Pauline Cafferkey I found a profile article of her case on the BBC. The imagery featured in the article struck a chord with me, finding them intimidating and foreboding, the sense danger in the occult. This sense of place and sense of danger is something that I think I would like to try to replicate within my work, making the viewer reflect on the strange hypercondriac , fear like state that we all are so vulnerable to despite the missing presence of a visual threat. 

Still from the video diary Pauline Cafferkey kept during her time in Sierra Leone 

Highly Infectious Disease Specialist Unit Ms Cafferkey was admitted to

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-30684665

Art & Science: Research

Contemporary Art and Medical Regimes: Curating Anatomica 

Looking in to the subject of art and science I have decided to begin by looking at how other contemporary artists have approached such a topic. Curated by Cindy Stelmackowich the exhibition brings together a mixed collection of medical artefacts alongside contemporary art. This curatorial decision by Stelmackowich aimed to start "new conversations about biomedical imagery and artefacts" highlighting "the unmistakable interconnection between Western medicine, the histories of aesthetics, and the cultural representation of human anatomy."  

Lisa Nillson - Thorax
Mulberry Paper, 21.5 x 12.5 x 1.5 inches, 2011

Stelmackowich states 'in most instances, the artist exploits the
physical nature of their materials and places importance on uniquely crafted presentations that simultaneously echo and unhinge the dominant (and somewhat sterile) scientific representation of the human body." The materials and techies used by the various artists in the exhibition range from textiles to paper craft, capturing the intricate and delicate nature of the human body reflecting its inner complexity. 

Looking at the work featured in this article, I have began to become interested in the way that people view and interact with the body. I like how in this exhibition artists such as Lyn Carter and Lisa Nillson have explored the inner parts of the body, Carter with her textile organ constructions and Nillson with her carefully crafted ribbons of paper laid out to represent to MRI-cross sections. I'm interested in the way that their choice of materials has transformed a raw part of the body, of which physical form its physical form people would usually turn away from, into something approachable and interesting, emphasising their complexity through recreation. 

See original article below: 

https://impactethics.ca/2015/02/19/reading-medical-artifacts-contemporary-art-and-medical-regimes-curating-anatomica/