PHVP 3409
Experimental and Analytical Production with a Major Project
Hannah Thorpe
P0925888X
18/03/2014
Dissimilarly Efforts
Philosophy
The philosophy of the project
set is transformation - transformation of an objects objective use and
placement. Through the action of changing the habitat of a form, it manipulates
not only the function of the object but also its new setting. The ‘setting’
becomes, almost, a plinth, the object becomes the art-piece and the act of
purposeful placement takes on a sculptural convention. My aim is to create a
series of work pursuing this philosophy, whilst keeping to a moderate surreal leitmotif.
I want the audience to question what they’re looking at on a literal/physical
sense, before questioning it more deeply. To make a viewer double take will
prove the success of this goal.
The photographs are to
challenge convention and rational function. During an interview about her work,
Sandy Skoglund asks aloud, “How do we deal with the non-rational by-products of
rationalism?” She engages in repetition. Growing up in various suburbs, she disliked
them being built with too much human intention, all similar and very American.
She was dislodged from much of the larger world and felt lonely, disengaged.
This all produced an underlying subtext in much of her work.
With my own project, I am
responding to rationalism with its opposite. Visual misplacement.
Inspiration
Much
of the work done in the various Dunes
series of Shoji Ueda is something I have taken inspiration from. He speaks
little about his work, but has spoken of a want to express a harmony between
human and natural elements. The sand dunes are his stage, as much of his work
takes on a theatrical nature, whilst he photographs his family and friends,
capturing expression and their placement within the frame. The dunes can be
described as a ‘minimalist theatre’, as there is little detail to the setting
but sand and sky. It is this minimalism, paired with the strange placement of
figures that, to myself, creates a surreal charm to these images – which very
much relates to my current work.
Richard
Wentworths’ Making Do and Getting By. For
him, an on-going series circling the notions of objects and their use. As a
part of our every day experience, he transforms and manipulates objects into
another work of art, changing their original function. The arrangements are
sculptural and pay attention to placement, geometry and uncanny situations. It
is the transformatory-nature of his work I draw inspiration from, how the
simple action of moving a object can alter its influence on us.
Work In Progress
My starting point began
working with and creating bizarre scenarios. I wanted to create a miniature
scene that would make the viewer second-guess its nature.
Here is one example of this,
where I took an everyday part of life and applied it to something unnecessary.
A wider shot gives the scenario a little bit of context in terms of where it is
situated and what is going on. It also forces the viewer to read the image
thoroughly. What I took from Shoji Ueda is to use a blank stage (in this case,
an empty beach), the image is not busy and yet the situation is not so bluntly
put across. In frame we also have passers-by, an ordinary scene made comparable
with the bizarreness we can spot in the background of the same image, and vice
versa.
Also experimenting with
capturing a blunt version of the scenarios, here is an example. I can appreciate the photograph on its own, a
visually minimal image yet still articulates the bizarreness I was aiming for.
It is disconnected from reality, compared to the other image, so they take on
their own different approach to this situation. Do I want to create a
disconnected world, or juxtapose the bizarre with the ordinary?
I was aiming to create a curious
image, that didn’t necessarily have a story or meaning, but still continuing
with my ‘bizarre’ theme and the notion of juxtaposition. Now experimenting with
objects, this is an example. Again, I wanted a fairly minimal ‘set’, dull
weather and uncomplicated landscape was what I worked with. The results were
interesting and the images took on a sculptural form. The stage (landscape)
becomes a plinth and the object transforms into the sculpture.
Throughout the image-taking,
I had my partner help set-up and I found the dark figure intriguing,
hunched-over next to this ‘object’. The figure brings a deeper connotation to
the, now, scene – a bizarre mystery.
There are also occasions
where placements don’t always go as easily as planned, but I feel capturing
these moments to be as important as capturing the ones I intended. Here is one
recent result, which I find intriguing. The sculpture appears unmoving, as if
built to be diagonal in implication of movement, yet in reality the object is
truly falling – acting as a visual double-bluff.
Specific placement of the
objects has been experimented with also, to change its function. This example,
a shelving unit now becomes a blockade/gate, but still keeping to a bizarre,
sculptural manner.
The objects I continue to use
are of mundane or everyday nature, usually being household objects. Placing
them in unusual circumstances continues the series of juxtaposition.
Conclusions
With an aim to challenge
rational function with everyday objects, I feel I have set off on good ground
with my project thus far. However, I have discovered that the success of an
image depends on two things: the object at hand and its placement. Although the
project plays with the use of ‘everyday’ objects, not all are as effective and
it seems that the larger, more strangely-shaped objects are more appealing, and
those which colours contrast/stand out of its unusual, new setting. Simply
picking out a random object and placing it in a field will not do, contrary to
the ‘random’ nature of this project the set-ups do need to be thought out.
Future efforts:
· Finding appropriate objects to work with
· Experiment further with juxtaposed placements
Bibliography/References
Shoji Ueda
Richard Wentworth
Sandy Skoglund
Rune Guneriussen
http://www.abcontemporary.com/artists/rune-guneriussen/
Towards the end of the presentation I had asked if my peers preferred the images of a set up scenario (with the vacuum, or with people in shot), or the photographs of objects. Which are stronger?
The response was my own, which was that the set-up images are interesting, but the photographs of the red shelf are much more impactive. A few comments were made that I ought to create a series of simply that object taken around everywhere, to finish in a book. A comment I very much agree with!
