Testing your Boundaries, group 2 - LB
Testing Boundaries
Group Critique
Work so far...
To test the boundaries they need to first be defined:
What are my boundaries:
This project, the physicality of contacting people - phone conversations make me feel sick, I get nervous at public speaking and I am not confident in my work, I sometimes feel like being an artist is a copout and I don't fully believe in myself or my work. I undervalue myself and am not very good at ‘putting myself out there’. (Eek!) Easily intimidated and compare myself to others to my own discouragement. I commonly think that if someone is doing something similar I should probably give up as its already been covered
So the limits of my work at the beginning of the project:
- My work has been exhibited in gallery spaces - group shows
- Work is traditional media - textiles, ceramic, paper
- Largely concept - based on scope of people and routine - philosophy led
- Audience is the arts community - friends rarely come as I don't invite them.
How to test the boundaries:
- Work in new media
- Exhibit work outside the gallery space
- Rework concept, what am I actually exploring?
- Find a new audience - an unwitting one? One that knows me but not my work? Invite friends to exhibition openings.
So what did I do?
It doesn’t feel like much (which makes me question my expectations of myself):
- I performed a drawing work in class around students as they worked - this was projected onto the wall using the visualizer
My drawing performance for the students. I utilized the visualizer on my desk and the projector. (disclaimer: this is not the original piece, I forgot to take a photo of it in the set up so I printed a photo of it so I could do this! haha! )
- I made video works and then submitted one of these for a group show
This was initially a poem, I have felt unsure about including my writing as part of my practice but at this point it didn’t feel like a had a choice.
The work became a video as I waited for my colleagues to submit their texts, I advanced my piece to performance.
It is part of the Tashkeel group show Play, which opened on 12/03/2019. While the setting is the same as previous work, the audience for videos works differ somewhat.
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- I submitted pieces I felt were ‘failures’ to a group show discussing artistic process and the act of failure, I also held workshops around expressive drawing techniques that lead to failures and took part in a panel discussion.
- I produced a drawing piece during making day, filmed its production, edited it and overlaid it onto the finished piece and projected this in classrooms and public spaces.
The piece in production
Projected in Math during a cover period
Projected discreetly in Art
Projected on the big screen in Art
In the park by a road
Outside the supermarket
A driver stopped to watch
On a villa wall
Next to the liquor store and rider parking
The feedback
Drawing as performance:
When performing the act of drawing in front of students it was mainly awe which is flattering.
It was a useful device to open dialogue about artist expectations, talent vs hard work, process vs product.
They were keen to see the progress, coming in to check each lesson.
Some emulated in their own work, some did not engage with it at all but at that level art is not optional.
A few students used me as an example of why they won’t take art as they were intimidated and felt that they could not keep up with the expectations.
Video work in the gallery:
Those that commented gave congratulations, which is expected at an opening, although felt a little forced. There was not much dialogue. Some were surprised I had submitted a video piece.
In critique with my artist group they only remarked on my hair tie around the wrist and asked I re-shoot without it. The gallery did not require this.
Work in the House of Failure exhibition:
Non-art audience, mainly families and tourists with a keen interest or stumbling upon it. It was part of the SIKKA art fair which is set in the historical district and runs parallel with the Art Dubai fair (commercial).
Hard to understand why it was a failure.
Workshops: most left happy, having created a mass of work that they had fun creating. Many did not take the work.
Video work in a displaced context:
The students: art classes noticed it, it took them time as they were in activities. Most thought it was ‘a ghost’, a couple actually jumped, then they would take a moment and realise it was my hand. They were more confused about where it was coming from. Maths students made no comment and as far as I’m aware only one actually saw it.
The the big projector they noticed it quicker and made connections to my work. They thought it was ‘creepy’ or that I was tracing an existing work. Once I explained they looked a little perplexed but would open a discussion about the concept.
In public, some cars slowed down, many passed without notice. A man in a car watched me set up and watched the video while he waited for his wife. As they drove away they paused in the car in front of it.
One man stood outside of his car, smoking and watched. I took a creepy selfie to capture him! Ha!
What can I take from this?
Video work feels like it's hard done by. I’m guilty of it myself, I will pass by in a gallery due to time constraints or lack of focus. The showing of the video work left me a little empty and also a little embarrassed, like I could have tried harder.
Projecting outside made my work feel insignificant, which actually makes me want to make more work as it really doesn’t matter! People passed by but were not interested. Some noticed and paused. A couple of guys hung around by a car and watched. It wasn’t important though and I questioned what I was expecting. Did I think that the road would come to a standstill and I would be heralded a genius? Of course not. Did I think some might stop and question? Maybe, but did I need that? I was self-conscious, I felt guilty taking over a wall that wasn’t mine, I felt self aware, like I was flashing too much skin on the side of the road.
Performance felt similar but as I was fully present it offered more dialogue, more interaction. I was intrigued by the assumed unattainability of the outcome and how many perceived it as ‘talent’ rather than learned skill.
The display of ‘failure’ produced some dialogue, this was mainly from non-artist audience claiming that even the failures were better than their skill base. They felt like the failure was token, or that it should not be discussed adn we should be more positive. This left me feeling frustrated.
The development of concept/context:
Feels less strained. It is flowing a little easier. I’m reinvigorated and keen to work, frustrated by time management and non-masters commitments. I am concerned about it form of the drawings and whether the abstract lines/shape/forms need to be justified or whether I can continue with them. The constraint of the linear forms feels necessary for the exploration of collision between process and product. I feel that organic forms distract the focus from the materiality of drawing and drawn, that the abstract is needed to allow the collision to take place.
The boundary of making and made is now being tested. How is it viewed and perceived by an audience, how much does education play a part in the perception of process and product? Can process and product exist at the same time? Although process will always be in reflection of the product as the work is deemed unfinished if it is still being worked on so it there for ‘in progress’.