Anselm Kiefer at the White Cube

Recently/a while ago whilst the exhibition was still on/nearly two months ago, after being recommended  by a lecturer, I ventured to London to see Anselm Kiefer's 'Walhalla' at the White Cube. The exhibition consisted of installation, painting and sculpture. 

As you enter the exhibition, you walk into a dark space, a corridor of beds/sculpture work, lit from above. As well as looking at the art, I wanted to see how curation can be used to effect the viewer, as well as perception of the work; do things change via how they're presented?

I was also interested in the impact of using texture and building into into work. Kiefer used Led, but I could look at using different materials with my work, perhaps materials that wouldn't usually be considered artistic tools.

There was also a small room, again dark, which appeared to be a material cupboard, materials he's collected over time, with negatives enlarged onto led draping which I found particularly interesting. I think it reinforces the idea that you should surround yourself with your work, and not just do it and put it away- when is a piece of art complete? The black and white photography also made me want to go and do some more street photography, so I did this, on my DSLR and 35mm, in London on the same day. 

Digital Collages

Forgotten posts...

Whilst typing up the notes from the crit I realised I hadn't actually posted the work I was presenting. I have been digitally manipulating photos relating to street photography, layering them with my paintings on acrylic. Some of them seemed to 'work', or 'do something' for me, with others not so much.

     

Exploring surface

How does the surface effect the relationship between the artist and the work?

To develop my ideas surrounding surface following the lecture, I experimented with using different materials to create a differing physical surface. In the back of my mind I had the idea of painting on a transparent surface to see the effect this had on the atmosphere and connection to the piece. I headed to Homebase and bought a sheet of transparent acrylic. (note= add this to Christmas list) 

Taking it back to the studio I stared at it for a bit, not sure how to start. After a few hours and trips to Mcdonalds/the vending machine I decided to snap it in half (so professional), viola, two sheets of acrylic. I then went back to the sound clip from Digbeth and the paintings I had done. Prompted by these, I masked areas of the plastic and printed onto the acrylic using the same wallpaper samples and acrylic paint. The shiny and slippery surface made it difficult to print directly and carefully on to, though this might have been because my 'technique' was to place the wallpaper onto the plastic and stand on it to transfer the pattern/texture- looking back I could have possibly invested in a roller..

The two pieces of acrylic directly on top of each other, with a white table as backgdrop

My ideas to progress with this are to place either piece in front of each other, and light by an artificial light, making it more of a 3D work- Looking at how the distance between each sheet of acrylic, and the background, affects the result. I may then possibly film the installation, returning it to a 2D form, before showing this film, combined with the sound clip through a TV screen. 

Responding with paint

How do you paint sound? 

I took the sound clip I recorded and picked colours which I felt best matched it. I chose to use blue, green orange and yellow, to mirror the atmosphere of the audio. 

To tie my work back to the Subject of 'Wallpaper' I used wallpaper samples from Home base(other DIY stores available) to contact print onto other paper. This allowed me to create layers which overlapped, matching the chaotic noises throughout the sound. Silence was also important and to reflect this in my work I used masking tape through some of the layers to leave empty spaces. 

After experimenting with different materials I found acrylic paint was the most effective to layer and get the intensity I wanted to create quickly, However I also found using chalk pastel and glue to add different textures contributed to the surface of the paintings. 

Here are the two most successful outcomes, which I think well capture the sound:

 

To move forward I need to think about how to present the work and whether or not/how the sound will accompany it. As the sound is 'for an enclosed space' I'm thinking possibly putting it through headphones (to bring the audience directly in) or to surround the art as more of an installation than a still piece.