The first day back entering the second year of my fine art course, we were assigned a task to create a pop-up exhibition in our new studio spaces with the work we created over the summer in group - how we would be displaying our work together within a space. We decided to bring all our work together into the centre of the space, this gave us a good perspective on what all of our work was, the scale of each piece and what pieces worked visually and contextually in conjunction with another. It was interesting to see a theme of colour and engagement with materials and objects within in our work. As well as this I enjoyed the chance to display my work, amongst other peoples, to evaluate and contextualised my work within the exhibition space.
Abi used the techniques of weaving, threading, hole-punching and knotting to explore the context of materiality and nostalgia relating to summer holiday crafts. She linked the 90s popular scoubi chain making and traditional methods of craft by using coloured twine by making many circular woven chains intertwined. I was drawn to the repetition of it and thought would have worked well the more and more she created. As a group, we felt the most resolved piece was Abi’s woven and beaded ‘lantern’. The piece was bold in colour and craft material, almost garish, which is contrasted by the subtle rotation of the piece. The way the beads rested on the floor and moved gently through this rotation provoked a calming sensory association. This worked best nearer the center of the space to be viewed from several angles. Rob’s work, we felt, crossed context of violence and British iconography. His piece was created during the curation of the pop-up exhibition by hitting a large nail into a can of beans against the wall. Such a simple yet powerful act. We decided this would best to take up most of a wall to allow there to be space also so that the beans didn’t spray onto others work. This piece, during our discussions, decided would have been interesting as a performance piece as during the curating it was one of the strongest part of the installation. Rose made a series of numbered door signs created from two rotten doors reclaimed from a skip. She was experimenting with the idea of purpose. The doors which once had a purpose, losing it through becoming a ‘waste product’ and claiming a new purpose by being salvaged into brightly decorated signs. Initially we began thinking about scattering the signs around the room, but we quickly recognised that, due to scale the pieces, they may become lost within the space and so decided to use an entire wall to line them up. I thought this was effective as it had this suburban, terrace house feel. Each sign was uniquely designed which connoted the individuality of the ‘owner’ of the house, you almost wanted to peer behind each of them to see what was behind.
I spent a while deliberating and trying out how I wanted my work to be displayed. Initially, I wanted my silk clay parts to be piled on the floor and a projection on top or just above of the “Stack/Build/Collapse” video to show the object and the interaction. However, due to the projectors being unavailable I decided to not show my video and present the prints, papier-mâché and silk clay sculptures. My potato prints and papier-mâché sculptures were linked through the designing and making process, so I wanted them to be in a close proximity to each other; this led me to pinning the prints to the wall and underneath on a plinth display the sculptures in a random stack. I hoped this would allow a dialogue between the two works of mine. This being said, I wasn’t taking into consideration the entire space and by putting the plinth directly under the prints made it look cluttered. I positioned the plinth more central which allowed the exhibition space to flow, furthermore, creating interest within the center of the room. I placed the silk clay parts in a stacked pile on another plinth, a black plinth to create contrast and the height. The height I hoped would make it easier for an audience to see all the individual parts due to the miniature scale of them.
The critique part of this pop-up exhibition required whoever’s worked was being discussed to leave the room, allowing group members to have honest and present a productive evaluation of their work. I had some constructive and interesting feedback to my work. Their initial reaction to my work was that it took them back to their childhood and this sense of developments of movements (motor skills). They expressed that the work linked in well with each other through colour and form. I forgot to mention the artist that I had researched based on the summer projects, however, my group drew links between my work and Franz West which I was pleased and also surprised about. They believed my work was un-conventual due to the abstraction and how playful the work is and could be developed through interaction. A large part of the feedback was that, although the sculptures looked inviting to interact with – touch, knock them over, stack, throw – the series of work was more leaning towards looking rather than touching. To change this, I would have to adjust the way it is displayed, being on a plinth made the work feel as though a sculpture that must be observed. Furthermore, the use of the dark plinth added to the silk clay sculpture being less inviting to touch even though the contrast of the two plinths looked visually interesting. When asked what aspect of the work that was the most successful/ they would keep, they said the playfulness as well as the materiality of the work. I thought this was interesting, as a big part of my developing practice is the play with material and how it can be changed through interaction. Overall, I found the feedback from my group discussion helpful in the understanding of how my work is experienced by others and how, in turn, it can be developed.
댓글