Collab Exhibit work so far - Large Painting 1

We have decided to leave this piece for a bit and work on some different ones. We intend to come back to this one later and add more paint and texture to it, we want some feedback from our tutor and other students to get ideas for how to progress it further.

EDITED: After seeing our tutor we were told this piece looked like we were being too careful and precious about each stroke. To gain the movement we should be more experimental and care-free. So we did. We also worked on it upside down and advised. (the second image is rotated on my device so we could see how it was really looking as it went along)

curation workshop 2

As an extended task we had to create our own exhibition, give it a title and explain why we would exhibit certain artists.

build your own - walls separate artists

one artist didn't like work on yellow walls 

people write the text and ok'd by curators

or curator writes 

chose the ones they needed to put in

mix of eras, mix of styles

consider audience

gallery - work already existed, build your own - work was commissioned specially for exhibition

our purpose for work is to continue our practice, only concern is what it means not politically or as part of a showcase (necessarily) 

space is interchangeable - desks in the space 

language of objects, relationship between objects

in domestic setting - looks at society and how it changes how we want to look

framing of it has been changed - elevated shown in a different way to make them more than the everyday

the artefact itself links them together 

the thing that threads them through together doesn't. have to be complicated

manipulating faces

mirrors - reflect on themselves 

the unknown of looking at yourself in the mirror, not really you just a projection of yourself

tony oursler - human unhuman

having more people And narrowing down 

Craig morholland

bateye

Albert ohleln 

does the work consider the space and what the space was about

have to get permission to use certain spaces 

Grayson Perry - house

different ways you can use space

shown things from galleries that weren't worthy of showing, at some point in time rejected for some reason or another 

why things are rejected - deemed for censorship

edited as an act of curation

disowned because of their ethnicity 

edited has been consider in relation to the exhibition 

specifically western art work, kind of truth within the exhibition filter off all of the things  that it isn't

50th Venice biennale conflict of dictatorship of the viewer overall curator and organiser 

each curate own little bit of it 

way people's dreams and aspirations relate to conflict 

documenta- degenerate art work nazi German - not good. reviving this so called degenerate art work - many different locations, central curator has lots of curators

big exhibitions 

Michael craig Martin - freeze ybac - Damien Hirst 

60s concept art on the rise - needed people to tell us what it's about - they became the curators

can no longer concern the art object with the real object the death of art

do it - sending out instructions to different locations

the readymade

Ica in London - quick turn around,60 exhibitions in 6 months. difference between collaboration and curation - dialogue with other artists to collaborate, different to inviting artists to present in a space 

arts council

different levels of funding / small bid 15,000 or less

arts council touring shows

arts council England 

open an account with them and fill out a form 

things they like to have in exhibitions 

know your costs

don't go into pence, just to the pound. not applying for 15,000 as can tell you have not costed it out

learn who local contact is for local area - say hello ask for advice make contact with them before bidding process

description of activity - public event, exhibition, performance 

who else is involved 

want to ensure good quality 

right type of artists are involved 

ask for back up information - CV, proposal

carefully considering things, track record for delivering things

who will benefit from your activity, have on record visitor numbers, demographic of people, good info to have and work around, no of people benefitting - audience, artists.- publication - audience benefits, more people have publication even if didn't go to exhibition

new commissions? ethnicity of the people involved. 

public engagement - if getting money from 

tax payer have to go activity and give back to community 

activities often involve creating in the style of another artist

public engagement important to raise awareness of contemporary art

finance important 

artists fees - don't have to work for free

don't expect you to work for free - trying to get income from elsewhere - they advertise the show not paying you money but giving you a service, text on the walls, catalogues payments in kind, the more you can get from somewhere else the more arts council will like it

getting things for cheaper, know people - funding from elsewhere 

could apply for funding from other locations - trusts, foundations 

Large Scale Painting onto Calico

As well as our collab exhibition I have been working on a really large scale piece of my own.

I am really unhappy with the result. It was interesting to work a lot larger scale than I usually would, however I have found it challenging and am going to work on the next piece slightly smaller. I still like working large scale, maybe this was just too large. I chose to experiment with working on fabric as this gives the piece some movement, you can see the ripples in the fabric and if hung in a gallery could be quite an interesting way to involve movement in the work.

Movement Photos

These are some photos of Elle taken in front of a bed sheet to create a white background. We really like the movement they capture and are going to work from them for our collaborative exhibition. I feel these images really represent the limitless possibilities of the body and capture the energy the body contains. Similarly to the way artist Yves Klein uses female nudes covered in paint to drag across canvases like living brushes. Capturing energy and movement. 

In particular I like the more abstract pieces, involving lots of movement. 

Exhibition meeting

We have decided we would like to aim to make 8+ pieces so that we can decide which ones have worked best and which reflect our ideas best. We have estimated that we will need 5 large scale pieces to fill the space, and possibly one or two smaller pieces of work. We are looking into different ways that we can physically distort the body as a way to represent the way we are distorted by society, and also the notion of the sublime. 


These are just some quick notes I have made from our meeting:
Print image big 

A3 Perspex? Bigger? 

Cut image down the middle paint one half each

Aim to make 8 - choose the best 5

Experiment with painting onto Perspex and peel off

Painting coming out of frame, falling to floor

Layers of hard plastic, see each individual layer

Printing onto Perspex 

IDEAS:

print an image A0 £11? - paint onto

Photocopy - both create images

Body wrapped in cling film - I'll do images

Painting in half

Layers of Perspex - movement images


Each paint onto perspex from the movement images and then once dry place on top of each other to create this layered and kind of abstract effect.

Painting coming out of frame - Francis Bacon style. Have prepared a square black primed canvas



Cut one image down the middle and paint half each. We have decided this would be a interesting idea if after we have chosen which image to work from to not talk about the piece any more. So we will hopefully create quite different responses. We will choose the image, split it in half and take our half away. We will then have to choose a size of board or canvas and colours and background colours and medium etc. then once we have both finished we will bring them together and they will be displayed side by side. Resembles the idea of the childhood game consequences where you take it in turns to draw part of a body then roll it over for the next person. You end up creating some sort of abnormal moster-like body. Like the Exquisite Corpse by the Chapman Brothers.


In particular one of the movement images stood out to both of us as a really intriguing and impacting piece, so we have decided to print it at size A0 and paint 

Project space exhibition meeting + risk assessment

Distort both the face and body - incorporates both of our ideas.
We have decided to do all collaborative pieces as this is a great opportunity to create and display joint work.
Distort each piece in a different way eg. wrapping body in clingfilm. Split painting in two. Use perspex to layer. Use a photograph and take turns to paint over it - retake control of our work. Use perspex to do so and maybe use as the actual painting, remove the background image. Using a photocopier to distort the body - Jenny Saville esque. Even the original photos alone are distorted through the movement.
Try to find a way to include all aspects of the body - do not want to be perceived in the wrong way so need to avoid to many feministic ideas (eg. not using all females, not using typically female attributes - breasts). To incorporate all of the body - photograph/photocopy each bit of the body and try to piece together, a bit like Frankenstein. Unnerving and disturbing. Highlights ideas such as distortion as well as trying to build the perfect human and the negativity surrounding this idea of the perfect.
Try to remove ourse3lves from it. Not about us but about the things that we are addressing affect everyone.
Need to look at space and see how many pieces we may need to create to fill it.
Main meaning of my work - using physical distortion as a metaphor for the way society distorts us.
Colours I use in my work - pinks and blues, quite unusual, not necessarily realistic colours, Elle works very realistically.
Private view - maybe business cards to give away.
Elle has sent me a PDF file that she recommends I read as it could be beneficial to both our ideas.
Society is the modern sublime. How society and the sublime link - something to link both our works.
Make lots of work then choose our favourites - more curatorial.

These are images of the walls of the space we plan to hold our exhibition in. There is quite a lot of wall space and we estimate we will need 5 or 6 large scale pieces to fill it.

curation workshop

notes:

A curator's job is to find relationships between pieces and orchestrate of how things are viewed. There are different approaches to placing works, different relationships can be found. Even if the only similarity is the time they were made.
In some ways everyone is a curator. We all make music playlists, putting together songs with relationships.
Origin of the work: to care. Used to be known as the carers of the artwork. Their job was to look after the work and make certain decisions such as which needed to be restored etc. Nowadays being a curator is a much more creative role, more about finding harmony between works.
When we are curators of our own work it says something about the work. It can change the way people view the work. We can decide where we position the work in the world.
Through exhibitions we can channel the way the work is seen. Use of leaflets and documentation add extra information about the work. Often organised by curators.
Often have to sort funding - Arts Council. Lots of nuts and bolts to being a curator, the actual exhibition is just a small part.
Since 80s/90s there has been a rise of the curator. (Milly Thompsons talk for more information)
Different exhibitions we have been to - Louise: one in France, 5 story building, had to start at the top and work your way down to the bottom, then the exit was back at the top. Each room was red light, had to walk around with a UV light to see the art work. Certain element of control there. Only allowed them to see and move in a certain way. How does this determine how we see the work? Active curation.
Group exhibitions usually have a theme. Sometimes the theme already relates to the artists work, sometimes the artists are approached by curators who have to create work in response to the theme.
Gallery Stable: certain number of artists represented by a gallery. Can only sell work through that gallery. Every year there will be a group exhibition with that selection of artists.
Festival - inter-related thing. Biennale - every 2 years.
Going to look at the British Art Show next week - read some reviews next week. (will be on VLE)
One person show - even if no theme, still curated. Put things in certain places for certain reasons. Sometimes artists will have individual shows about a certain area of their practice, other times they will have larger exhibitions with a variety of work from their entire career. eg. Sigmar Polke. Francis Bacon. Gerhard Richter.
Group shows that artists curate themselves. Does it blur what the work is about if you curate your own exhibition?
Our task - to curate our own hypothetical exhibition. Qualify why. Choose space, how is it relevant? Write 500 words text to explain ideas. Choose who you feature in it. Theme. Place. How many pieces of work? why?
Sainsbury centre - attached to UEA - educational type gallery. Shapes what sort of work is shown there.
Where funding comes from also depends on what sort of work comes in and what events go on. eg sainsbury centre - art council - family day events.
Site specific, or inter-relation between space and the work.
Parasol unit in London, not commercial, run by charitable body. Luc Toymans curated exhibition of 'abstract art from Belgium' very specific type of work. Place and style.
Tate Britain - 'Art and Empire' historical art about the British Empire. Also specific.
Music for Museums - more of an event than a static exhibition. Not just set pieces there will be a running order and lots more for the curator to think about. - Performance art.



Task: spread out numerous images of art works across the table and in groups had to select specific ones and curate our own exhibition.

These were the first images we picked out. We went for a 'collective' theme. We included collections of individual paintings, collections of objects and a painting of what looked like a collection of objects, with a collection of colours. There were also ideas of construction (building, structure) and constriction (whipping, blindfolded) and brutality.  

We then had to choose around 2 of our original images and curate a new exhibition with a new theme. 

We kept Blindfolded, Marlene Dumas [2002] and decided on the new theme of hidden or obscured identities. None of the images show eyes. You can read so much meaning and emotion in someones eyes that even when that is the only part of the portrait removed (top middle), you lose so much of the emotion behind the image. Fischli and Weiss's video art (bottom right) is an example of how your whole identity can be completely removed through use of a suit. 

From this we were asked to keep another 2 (ish) images and curate a new exhibition with another new theme. 

We kept three images that seemed of the same painting style, and found one more piece by Goya to add in. Our tutor Craig pointed out the Goya work was painted over 100 years before all the others, yet they still manage to share a similar style. 

Our groups were then mixed up and we were given an image, chosen by Craig, and asked to curate an exhibition including this image. 

Our image was a piece by Paula Rego:

We came up with this group of images, all with a common theme of domesticity and authority.

These tasks were about finding micro relations. These subtle similarities bring out certain things out of certain images. Can use more obvious images to bring out more subtle things in other images that you're trying to highlight.

Other groups found relationships between colour, sculpture, chaotic. 

We found it was difficult in this situation to curate as we didn't know anything about a lot of the works. Had to go purely on what they suggested aesthetically. Where images may look similar to the naive eye, the deeper meanings may be drastically different. 

By putting different images in different themes there may be aspects that are important in the work but are not what you are highlighting through your curation.