On: 'Everyone I Ever Slept With'
Tracey Emin's seminal tent entitled 'Everyone I Ever Slept With' is a piece I have always been fascinated by. Emin's work I find very precious, and her techniques of appliqué and needlework in a fine art context I quite like. The piece takes the form of a tent appliquéd with 102 names of the people she had slept with up to the time of its creation in 1995. Something about how the piece is revealing of the artist's personal history and makes her vulnerable I find very brave. This idea of personal history clearly related back to historical dress, making such a large framework individual. The names include family, friends, drinking partners, lovers and even two numbered foetuses, not simply sexual partners; Billy Childish's name is ever-present and seen in the opening of the tent. The shape makes reference to the Margate Shell Groto, and received iconic status before being destroyed in the 2004 Momart warehouse fire.
I would love to create names in the way that Emin did in her tent. Mixing appliqué, embroidery, screenprinting and other techniques to create this type of mixed media design would be great for my final outcome.
On: A2 Development Sample
In class, I created this sample that merged the work of Sol LeWitt and Damien Hirst that I had been researching. I loved how the circular drawing formed a lenticular pattern that had this almost psychedelic sensation that I associate with the pill cabinets. I merged the two, embroidering the colored pill capsules onto the circular pattern. This was the only outcome that I actually thought was successful on my development board, and I really liked the idea of physically scalpeling out an image to create print for the body. There is a depth to the image that doesn't occur when the print is simply laid overtop the photograph.
On: John Pawson
I looked at John Pawson's minimalist architecture in relation to the paper garment brief, as I am a huge fan of his work. He says of minimalism, "The minimum could be defined as the perfection that an artefact achieves when it is no longer possible to improve it by subtraction." In my own design work, I like to continually subtract and subtract design elements until the garment still retains the same shape and function, but in a much simpler permutation. I like his blueprints for his designs as well, being able to retain complexity with such simple linework. Perhaps my favorite item was scanning in a small photograph of his work and enlarging it until the grain was very apparent. Seeing all of the colored dots that form the image creates an interesting visual that would work very well in a print.
On: What's the Point?
Below is the final A0 piece I created for the What's the Point? brief. I printed the large scale photograph of David Hallberg that I had edited in Photoshop to add polychromatic grain and created my own garment shape on the image. I printed this out and scalpeled out the garment form. Behind it was a pure wool coating textile on which I appliquéd various types of lettering to form a textile similar to Emin's tent. I used hand embroidery and stitched appliqué to form the words, which were extracted from the text in 'Everyone I Ever Slept With.'
Many people in my class were drawn to the piece, particularly because of the graphic nature and the large scale. Having a clear presentation that is eye-catching is really key, but it still can be very simple yet strong. Simply clipping the two layers together and hanging them on the wall was a very effective way to draw attention to the work.
On: Lucinda Childs & Sol LeWitt
In researching my ten images, I looked at the dancework entitled 'Dance,' created in collaboration between choreographer Lucinda Childs, artist Sol LeWitt, and composer Philip Glass. The piece features a film projected on a scrim in front of the stage that replicates the movement of the dancers performing live. I love the color scheme and the seemingly simplistic feel of the work, but the choreography is extremely difficult and the music hard to count. Every moment is precious and fleeting, and the piece is fragile, held together by scores, counting, and sometimes sheer willpower. It's both a joy and a challenge and this duality is what interests me.
On: Mishima
Related to the Japanese research I had been doing for the Chopova Lowena brief, I looked at portraits taken of writer Yukio Mishima as well as stills from the film made about his life. There wasn't anything that struck home conceptually, but visually the imagery I found was captivating. The coloration and the way the images are framed I find utterly fascinating. In the portraits, there is religious iconography that is referenced, which was unexpected and related back to my research on Catholicism.