During the middle of June I went to the 56th Venice Biennale. It was great. Its so fantastic to see such a range of contemporary art in one massive space, and because there is so much, at least one thing touches you. I thought there had not been many thigns which grabbed my attention, but on reflection of leaflets and photographs I took, there seem to be more than I thought! I will bullet point them and try to be as precise and concise as I can:
The whole time that i have been thinking about this garden series, this advert always comes back to my mind. And seeing it now, just reaffirms how appropriate this advert is. This mashed with my art, will be the outcome of this new body of work. And the Sound from this advert works so well... I have begun thinking about what i shall do next year/ term with my art. I am sure of the method in which to make it, the theme of the uncanny and a state of limbo, and that it shall be filmed. After becoming lost in my own thoughts (something which often happens!), i decided that i wanted to create a place of safety and familiarity to people. And what better a place than your own back garden. I will test out and play with making a back garden and then changing it into a place which is uncanny, wrong. For this i thought i could begin to look into crop circles, and maybe recreate these within my garden, make abandoned sheds, bonfires, a broken childs swing. If this is done successfully, i hope to bring many gardens together and have the film of them all playing. Then once filming all of these different gardens, in different aspects and with different weathers in them (Hopefully!), i should then end up with some films which then just need to be determined hwo to be present.
Up The Garden Path An extract taken from my dissertation proposal:
"The artists who I anticipate to explore in relation to the uncanny are: Gregory Crewdson, David Lynch and Ron Mueck. Crewdson is a contemporary photographer who creates mesmerising scenes of the everyday life. Yet in each photo, something is not quite right, there is the feeling of unease. An important text to use here will be Gregory Crewdson 1985 – 2005 (Berg: 2005). Crewdson expresses that he wants to create the mysterious, paranormal and deceit within his work, “We could call that an interest in the uncanny: the terrifying and the familiar”(Morrow 1997). I intend to discuss his work around the ideas of dreams and darkness (Royle: 2003), as these are strong noticeable themes within his work. Royle compares the darkness to the uncanny; they are both places in which you can become lost (Royle: 2003: 108). Lynch is predominantly a film director, and it shall be his films that I pay close attention to in relation to the idea of the double and déjà vu through Royle (2003: 2003) and Springer (2007). In particular, Springer discusses how the word Heimlich represents home, normality, but it is obvious in Lynch’s suburban American films, that nothing is right (Spring: 2007: 9-13), especially through his constant use of doppelgangers. His surrealist films send their audience into a questioning state of reality. Much of his work includes actors who double up as different characters, adding to the confusion and sense of repetition. Key films here will be Twin Peaks (Lynch: 1990) and Mulholland Drive (Lynch: 2001). I will explore through Mueck the ‘Uncanny Valley’ and its associated graph (see figure 1) (Pollick: 2015). This is when aesthetics get so close to moving and looking similar to human beings that it causes almost a reaction of revulsion. As of yet, I am not sure where, on the graph, Mueck’s sculptures lie, but I endeavour to find this out, in particular how Mueck has evolved as an artist and how he has found himself producing the uncanny. For this I will be looking to Ron Mueck (Hurlston: 2011) and Sculpture as deconstruction: the aesthetic practice of Ron Mueck (Cranny-Francis: 2013). This text illustrates that through Mueck’s careful skill of making these sculptures, they are extremely convincing, and they unease their audience whilst sending them into an unsettling confrontation. (Huerta: 2010: 2). It is therefore starting to be understandable as to why The Uncanny proves to hold such an interest amongst artists and its audience, when it appears to be a natural occurrence, yet one that is sought after and repulses at the same time. " The mark i got for this was a 2:1 so gain, i was really pleased. The feedback from Neil, roughly summarised were: Compare theoretical definitions of the uncanny with the dictionary definitions Go through my proposal again and try to create more coherent ideas Just have one line of thought on the uncanny and bear it to my chosen artists Write a more concise proposal The Double is interesting and the Uncanny Valley graph I will return and write a more concise proposal, one which is stripped bare of unnecessary information. And one that underpins the main thing i want to find out/ discover. Feedback: Ideas and intentions: You are rigorously testing out a number of potentially exciting ways to film and use settings in your models to explore ideas relating to limbo, reflecting the state between life and death. You stir in the viewer a feeling of unsettled, uneasiness, as they stand as ‘witness’ in your films, and question to what? The film that creates the greatest feeling of suspense is the montage of footage that you showed during the Poly exhibition. This may be due to the varying speed of the cuts and the way that you have edited it together. It gives the viewer a clear sense of being emerged and moving through a dark environment and one that is haunting and uncomfortable. Form and materials: You are working with a wider range of filming equipment and technology this semester finding the one most appropriate for the realisation of your ideas. Keep developing this side of your work so that you are able to film using convincing lighting and effects. Perhaps make use of the performance centre next semester in order to take your ideas to the next level. Your latest film, though the ideas are exciting and fresh lacks the level of technical achievement to make the film convincing. You could certainly revisit this idea again in the future. Imagination and Creativity: Your experimental, questioning and open approach to your work has led you to make some important discoveries recognising the strengths emerging from your investigations. You recognise the importance of working with sound and how successful that is in setting a scene. You play with this in an, ‘uncanny’ way by using sound that is contrary to what we are watching. You also recognise that the film is the final outcome. As you have identified how important it is to test and explore ways to present this. Critical reflection and evaluation: Your critical reflection and research continue to be engaged giving your work meaningful context. You are aware of a range of relevant artists and are beginning to make critical judgements about your work. Continue to book the installation room and identify the right context for your work. Personal development and professional studies: Your personal development and professional studies continue to be motivated and driven. You make a valuable contribution to the studio culture.
This was Lucy's feedback for my last studio assessment in which i came out with a 2:1! I am really pleased with this mark, but as ever, i should not become complacent with my mark, and should now be looking to gain a 1st. Lucy found the montage footage worked best. Although, i don't think i will place footage like this together again, i will be looking to create multiple film aspects from one scene/ or one type/genre of scene. As to the making the films more believable, this next term i want to look into trying to make weather happen within my work, to create different conditions. I have also just learnt how to use green screen so this may definitely become helpful in my next work. Now that i have recognised that i am working with the uncanny, i need to start contextualising this, and i believe the best place to turn is to American news articles, for there are always strange happenings being reported over there. I have got more of an idea on how i want my studio space to be set up next year in order to optimise model making space. |
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April 2016
Kerry FosterThird Year Fine Art Student at Falmouth School of Art. Fellow artists: |