As a starting point to my exam to set my off with inspiration, I was mainly influenced by New York and my experiences I had in New York, along with the objects and souvenirs I brought back. When reading the exam paper, I knew that 'Timeworn' would be the best stimuli for my project due to the amount of links I can bring in from New York. The initial influence for the development of my work were postcards and letters that I have been written by people over 50 years ago, which is something that was fascinating to me; the idea that those letters and postcards act as portable pieces of history. My interest in these artefacts is what allowed me to keep focussed on the work and enjoy the techniques and influence I was using. With the postcards and letters being my priority, I wanted to create an outcome that was a homage towards the forms of literature.
In the beginning, I was almost overwhelmed with the possibilities that my chosen stimuli could actually lead me too, which is why I began writing a list of everything that would work well, taking into consideration, the letters and postcards as my main influence. My main idea was to show how things can change over time and the process that leads to a build up of something. This is why I started to use tiles and overlaying of materials as I liked the effect of the layered poles in New York of stickers and posters. The intention for this technique and experiment was to build the layers slowly through the exam prep time to show the build up of material over time, linking to my chosen stimuli. However, I eventually became distracted by other experiments in my project and stopped working on these tiles for a while, which is something I wish that I would have done different.
When reflecting on my gallery visits in New York, I managed to connect on a deeper level with Cy Twombly's work in MoMA. I was highly inspired by his textual work and how the composition and layering of mediums work well together to create a story. To start off with, I created some artist studies of his pieces, "Venus" and "Apollo", eventually realising that one thing in his work was crucial; balance. One aspect in his work never overpowered others, which I believed was due to his chaotic, yet well though out compositions. I began to experiment with text and the various ways I can write references from the letters and postcards brought back from New York, such as "lovely letter". After I found the mediums that I new that I had preferred for my individual style and taste, I started to create small compositions with the words and mediums to gain a perfect amount of balance. However I was starting to deter away from my Twombly influence, which led me to look back at his work, allowing me to discover his use of paint to layer over his writing, leading to a more subtle composition. My main colour palette in my experiments were an off white and shades of brown that most resembled rust due to my wanting to stick with the stimuli, "Timeworn". Meanwhile, I was also taking inspiration from Jacques Villegle, an artist I found in the Allouche Gallery, New York. I was interested in his layering of posters and tearing away to create textural collages in homage to the places he visited. I thought that the collage would work well with the techniques taken from Twombly's work. I did begin to notice the similarities between his work and that of the tile experiments I was doing at the time. However, I felt that while I was getting used to his style, I was just creating the same experiment over and over again, which is why I went on to use my own photos to create different compositions. Overall, I was happy with the outcomes I was getting, yet knew that I needed to try another style before I could continue.
The other artist that I was influenced by was Robert Rauschenberg. Whilst very similar to Villegle's collage work, Rauschenberg was much more refined and structured when it came to composing his collages. I began to use my own photos but in a way that was more organised and angular, when compared to Villegle's more chaotic and less angular collage. I was happy with both technique outcomes, which is why I knew I had to compromise. I had to find someway I could combine both styles.
When it came to conducting a mock final outcome, I was able to show development through different aspects of my work. I began using a piece of square mount board as a background for my work which did not provide me with my desired outcome, which is why I knew I had to change my scale and shape. Then, using a larger rectangular mount board, I began to overlay my collaged photos with acrylic and text in the stye of all three of my artists, which worked really well, however my only problem was that there was no dimension; the piece was very flat and not very exciting. I went on to use the same shape and scale yet have a more structured collage by mounting the photos onto mount board first and then cutting them out and placing them onto a background, which I thought created more depth. Finally, the last improvement was that the mount board I was using kept warping as I applied the photos with glue, which is why I eventually decided to use a thicker material; actual wood.
By looking over my coursework before the start of the exam period, I was able to figure out how I could improve in this project when compared to component 1. I knew that my artist understanding would need to be much stronger to create more sophisticated work, which is why I delved deeply into my chosen artists work and the style and techniques which they use. When you compare both starting points of this component and component 1, I have been much more confident in the road I wanted to go down, leading me to a more refined outcome. Additionally, I have been more careful and detailed when planning the exam and the compositions I was going to create.
Regarding the actual 15 hour exam, I believe that I used up my time to the best of my ability. However one problem was that when planning, I hadn't taken into account drying time so there were a couple of occasions when I was unsure of what to do while my work was drying. On a similar note, I incorrectly guessed the time it would take me to do each step, which led me to having extra time at the end of my exam. One positive that came out of this was that I had more time to go back and se if there were any missing areas in my final outcome or even just areas that could be improved. I think that I successfully combined my artist influence to create my own unique style. I was able to use the techniques of using text in my work from Twombly, organised collage from Rauschenberg's work and also chaotic collage from Villegle's work. As a whole, my intentions for my final outcome was to create a homage to my trip to New York and the letters and postcards that I brought back from the Flea Markets. Additionally, I started to want to create a time capsule as my final outcome, allowing the audience to participate and be able to post their own notes and stories for the future. I think that I finally managed to figure out a way to do this; creating three postboxes that can be functional for viewers to actually use themselves.
In the beginning, I was almost overwhelmed with the possibilities that my chosen stimuli could actually lead me too, which is why I began writing a list of everything that would work well, taking into consideration, the letters and postcards as my main influence. My main idea was to show how things can change over time and the process that leads to a build up of something. This is why I started to use tiles and overlaying of materials as I liked the effect of the layered poles in New York of stickers and posters. The intention for this technique and experiment was to build the layers slowly through the exam prep time to show the build up of material over time, linking to my chosen stimuli. However, I eventually became distracted by other experiments in my project and stopped working on these tiles for a while, which is something I wish that I would have done different.
When reflecting on my gallery visits in New York, I managed to connect on a deeper level with Cy Twombly's work in MoMA. I was highly inspired by his textual work and how the composition and layering of mediums work well together to create a story. To start off with, I created some artist studies of his pieces, "Venus" and "Apollo", eventually realising that one thing in his work was crucial; balance. One aspect in his work never overpowered others, which I believed was due to his chaotic, yet well though out compositions. I began to experiment with text and the various ways I can write references from the letters and postcards brought back from New York, such as "lovely letter". After I found the mediums that I new that I had preferred for my individual style and taste, I started to create small compositions with the words and mediums to gain a perfect amount of balance. However I was starting to deter away from my Twombly influence, which led me to look back at his work, allowing me to discover his use of paint to layer over his writing, leading to a more subtle composition. My main colour palette in my experiments were an off white and shades of brown that most resembled rust due to my wanting to stick with the stimuli, "Timeworn". Meanwhile, I was also taking inspiration from Jacques Villegle, an artist I found in the Allouche Gallery, New York. I was interested in his layering of posters and tearing away to create textural collages in homage to the places he visited. I thought that the collage would work well with the techniques taken from Twombly's work. I did begin to notice the similarities between his work and that of the tile experiments I was doing at the time. However, I felt that while I was getting used to his style, I was just creating the same experiment over and over again, which is why I went on to use my own photos to create different compositions. Overall, I was happy with the outcomes I was getting, yet knew that I needed to try another style before I could continue.
The other artist that I was influenced by was Robert Rauschenberg. Whilst very similar to Villegle's collage work, Rauschenberg was much more refined and structured when it came to composing his collages. I began to use my own photos but in a way that was more organised and angular, when compared to Villegle's more chaotic and less angular collage. I was happy with both technique outcomes, which is why I knew I had to compromise. I had to find someway I could combine both styles.
When it came to conducting a mock final outcome, I was able to show development through different aspects of my work. I began using a piece of square mount board as a background for my work which did not provide me with my desired outcome, which is why I knew I had to change my scale and shape. Then, using a larger rectangular mount board, I began to overlay my collaged photos with acrylic and text in the stye of all three of my artists, which worked really well, however my only problem was that there was no dimension; the piece was very flat and not very exciting. I went on to use the same shape and scale yet have a more structured collage by mounting the photos onto mount board first and then cutting them out and placing them onto a background, which I thought created more depth. Finally, the last improvement was that the mount board I was using kept warping as I applied the photos with glue, which is why I eventually decided to use a thicker material; actual wood.
By looking over my coursework before the start of the exam period, I was able to figure out how I could improve in this project when compared to component 1. I knew that my artist understanding would need to be much stronger to create more sophisticated work, which is why I delved deeply into my chosen artists work and the style and techniques which they use. When you compare both starting points of this component and component 1, I have been much more confident in the road I wanted to go down, leading me to a more refined outcome. Additionally, I have been more careful and detailed when planning the exam and the compositions I was going to create.
Regarding the actual 15 hour exam, I believe that I used up my time to the best of my ability. However one problem was that when planning, I hadn't taken into account drying time so there were a couple of occasions when I was unsure of what to do while my work was drying. On a similar note, I incorrectly guessed the time it would take me to do each step, which led me to having extra time at the end of my exam. One positive that came out of this was that I had more time to go back and se if there were any missing areas in my final outcome or even just areas that could be improved. I think that I successfully combined my artist influence to create my own unique style. I was able to use the techniques of using text in my work from Twombly, organised collage from Rauschenberg's work and also chaotic collage from Villegle's work. As a whole, my intentions for my final outcome was to create a homage to my trip to New York and the letters and postcards that I brought back from the Flea Markets. Additionally, I started to want to create a time capsule as my final outcome, allowing the audience to participate and be able to post their own notes and stories for the future. I think that I finally managed to figure out a way to do this; creating three postboxes that can be functional for viewers to actually use themselves.
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| When it came to the creation of my final outcome, I encountered a couple of difficulties within my work; the main difficulty being how to tie in the time capsule element. I decided that in order to do this, I was going to have to create a post box type format so that people themselves can post their own messages and stories into my outcomes. |
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| This image depicts what would happen if my work was to be presented in a gallery. My outcomes would be suspended from a wall with a frame attached to the back and a hole cut through the piece for the interactive part of the composition. The frame would act as a space for the letters and postcards to be held; the postcard in this image is one that I created in my final 15 hour exam. I am happy with the outcome of my work as it works with my plan and what I had intended to create. |
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