Exhibition Photos

The fist two pieces of my degree exhibition were shown back to back on either side of a wall, perfectly in line: a canvas cut out with light behind and a print caught in between two layers of Perspex. Both pieces are 24” wide and 31” tall and are hung so that the top edge is 5’5” from the ground (artist’s height).

The canvas with a cut out design in a silhouette shape looks at a person as a beautiful product, but the light emitting from within makes this a hopeful piece. In contrast the print shows a vulnerability and insecurity, destroyed from within. The print is shown in a highly professional way to juxtapose the honest and unglamorous imagery.

Perspex tube filled with paper circles and a fluorescent strip light behind shows the magazine as paper, stripped of all its glossy power, with only small sections of its “perfect” imagery in view. Exhibited horizontally invites the viewer to peer between the pages backlit with an almost halo of white light.

Degree Exhibition

For my upcoming degree exhibition I want to create two pieces that work in conjunction, showing two opposing sides.
The first piece is an almost life size photo of myself, un-airbrushed and baring all for the viewer. This normal and “honest” image is then altered with a harsh and almost angry marker pen scribble to show insecurity and emotion. This presented trapped in between two layers of Perspex shows the image the way a professional photo from a magazine or advertising agency would be shown.
The second piece (a canvas of the same dimensions) is left white. The silhouette (mimicking the photo in the first work) is cut away from the picture plane, revealing the space behind. This ornate and beautifully cut away pattern reveals the more beautiful and hopeful side.

I am unsure at the moment whether to use a flickering light effect behind the canvas (an idea I have toyed with in a previous piece for an Interim exhibition, which had very positive feedback). This would bring more warmth to the canvas piece and capture the viewers’ interest by highlighting the space between the canvas and the wall.

I am also unsure as to whether these two pieces are shown side by side, to have a strong visual connection, but am worried this would make the work too obvious. If the pieces were back to back, they would instead create a much more subtle link but almost show the person to be standing within the wall, showing a different viewpoint on either side of the wall. One positive and one negative.

Reality or Fiction

What started off as another quick experiment has some very interesting results. I started to project previous pieces of work on to my body. This gives old work a new lease of life but also a new meaning. The photos of me projected onto my body create this strange juxtaposition. The viewer is not always sure of which is reality and which is fiction. This confusion is created as my image appears the same in both, but it also makes us question what is being shown. Its an interesting idea that our image and our actual bodies can create this almost spot the difference effect.

This idea was to try to line up a straight on portrait of me so that it appears in its correct scale on my back. Though it's not perfectly lined up (as proved difficult) you can see the kind of effect I wanted, where it takes a second glance from the viewer to see what is wrong. It is almost as if this is me, through and through, like a piece of candy-cane rock where the message is the same throughout. How I present myself in this projected image is therefore vital, and I would like to play around with this further.

Sheilding from the Light

Shrinking away and trying to protect myself from the light implies that it is projecting something harmful onto me. This is particularly interesting juxtaposed when an aesthetically beautiful image is used.

Shielding from the light of the projection seems a strange action: I put myself in this harsh spotlight, but am trying to shield myself from it at the same time. There is a certain element of uncertainty and ambiguity about what is being shown. The indecision I feel myself towards the media influences are transferred to the viewer in an almost push and pull relationship.

From my viewpoint, as I shield myself from the projection am almost aura is created around my hands. This strange and somehow energetic light creates a completely different effect compared to when the projection is shown to surround and almost take over my body.

Transformation

Projecting the front cover of a Vogue magazine, with the initial idea to show almost an allegiance to the brand, as its words and imagery cover the body. While experimenting with this I stood in the projection at a similar scale to that which the woman appears in the image. The features of my face merge with the perfect ideals featured on the front cover. The result is something quite startling and un-nerving. Even I cannot recognise my own features underneath the veil of the projection!

The transformation of the everyday into the media ideal becomes something monstrous and gruesome in this piece.

Appropriation

The projections onto my body developed into the appropriation of media imagery. When the image appears on the skin the effect totally changes. The dark shadows around the figure in the projection seem to create a more eerie atmosphere, showing the darker side to the media’s glamorous imagery. I found using figures or body parts such as lips and eyes worked well as they evoke a compassionate response. Although this response is ironically drawn from the image and not the real person it is projected onto!!!! The idea from this is to try projecting previous works onto my body, blurring the boundaries of reality….

The images appearing on the back of a figure seems strange as it is not a part of the body normally associated with desire, which the images are trying to evoke. It makes the back seem more sensuous almost. The back turned towards the viewer also shows a sense of vulnerability, as the flesh is exposed to this projection.

Marilyn Minter

I am particularly interested in the work of Marilyn Minter. Her practice involves taking the techniques of the media to extreme lengths in order to highlight her work. The glamorous ideal is transformed into something quite repulsive, but when appearing on a billboard in New York, it takes a second glance from the viewer to establish this! Minter, in this piece titled “Shit Kicker”, literally shows the media putting its foot down and stomping on the reality of everyday life, forcing the gritty reality into the viewers face in comparison with the glamorous media images.