Friday, March 27, 2009

Word Associations

hello rugby seven yes no maybe hi perhaps dunno down now ys happy seven ok no hello goodbye yes teeth black good fright jumper

The Present

So that brings me roughly up to date, with lots left out!!!!!!! Gosh that was tough going! I really enjoyed it but thats a lot of reading for anyone!!!!!!!!!! However I will not apologise, Ive done it perfectly for me, if you dont wanna read it its so ok with me....I know I wouldnt!!!!!!:)

Now...do I continue with the "left out" or give it up for the moment???? I dunno!

Actually I probably should point out how important drawing has become!!!! My life drawing classes have turned into scribbling intellectually (Ooops!) and also I am working on a drawing collabration with two friends!

Think its time to finish up for the morning!!!!!:)

Mistakes

I miss making mistakes

The Sketch Books and Wire Sculptures

So then I just forgot completely about all of that and thought I had nothing to work with but these abstract doodles I do in front of the TV!
And then I wanted to make something 3D so I used dome old wire to sort of create them like the "drawings in Space" idea from a few posts back!

But I didnt really like doing these that much so I stopped.

I didnt even notice immediately the obvious relation to the scribbles and "drawing in Space" idea! Oops!

So I see something emerging quite clearly here. I jump from idea to idea, not realising that theyre all the same idea. Somewhere deep down I keep directing myself towards the same stuff. Its obvious what concepts I want to work with and that suit me. The hard part is working with them.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Places

And then I stopped working with time. I did a very interesting half day workshop with a performance artist named William Hunt, as part of the Excursions Performance Festival in Limerick. This was a great day because he asked one simple but effective question- "What would you be doing if you weren't making art?". And for me the answer was obvious...talking and discussing! HE also asked us where do we go when weve got nowhere to be....and this made it obvious to me that I am a procrastinator because I never seem to have somewhere to be and am always looking for a distraction!!! So I did a series of photos of some of the places I go to avoid admitting that Im not working!!!!!!!!!!
It was really interesting but again it had potential and I never pushed it!!! I started thinking about my headspace as the place I should go to i.e. I should look to myself for inspiration and help, not be dependant on others.



The Time Project

Im not quite sure how it happened but somehow i moved from scribbling to this deep idea of working with time and the Present! My breakthrough was a regular wall clock that ticks loudly, but has no hands......the idea was it emphasises the fact that time is passing and time is now, not what time it is or isn't. If anybody out there feels like taking the hands off their own clocks (they can usually be out back on very easily) do and let me know what it feels like to live with!!!

Oh and check out this deadly watch....its the most accurate watch in the world, no matter your time zone!!!!!!!
I also tried to make a flip clock, something like a desk calendar! The idea was that youd have to change the time yourself by flipping over a page, so it was no good unless you actually knew what time it was already! Thereby commenting on the way we use time.

The Move Away!

And that was when i got sick of scribbles!!!! Looking back I think it was just because I missed the point of my own piece, but either way I decided to move onwards and upwards thus developing a concept about time..and Ill tell ya all about that tomorrow (ie later today!!!!)!!!!!!!

The Performance Piece

So then I did a performance because at the time it made sense that the most important thing about the scribbles was the action of doing it so DO it! At the time, bearing in mind the earlier quote I was thinking of scribbling as a leveling type of activity. The idea was that everyone probably had a similar experience of scribbling no matter who they were, or how old. It always aimless and easy. and hopefully fun, a change from the normal rhythm of life, the monotony of doing everything for a reason. Anyway it turns out Carston Holler was ahead of me on this. Check this out..its a fantastic piece!http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/carstenholler/

And heres an image of my performance..just me, some crayons, and 50metres of paper with all the time in the world!!
So, I did it and learned a lot but to be honest I dont think it really worked as a piece. It doesnt seem to have been saying anything really. Plus if one of the main ideas was that there was no right/wrong, good/bad way to scribble thats not the way I was thinking while doing it. I was totally aware of the audiences possible judgements and I adjusted the performance to be "better", completely defeating the point.

3D Scirbbles






Then I started making 3D scribbles, Drawings in Space, attempted.

The Canteen Scribble Project

Wow didnt mean to type so much...Id been considering barely writing at all!! That backfired!

Anyway...i started working solely with scribbles after that.I scribbled, I got friends to scribble, strangers etc. Most people chose to draw or doodle rather than scribble, and some people wrote and used text. One of my favourites just said "ye suck I figure that what ye would want us to write?" I love it! It kinda says that when I have no rules I dont know what to do so Ill work with the fact that I have no rules but I wont be happy about it. Yet this person Chose to scribble!! strange! Maybe ill put up some of the pages someday! The pics that ARE here are of a project i did in our canteen! It speaks for itself...one big sheet, many crayons and lots of randomers!!!!

Crazy Dancing

I completely forgot i also did these "crazy dancing" videos!!!! Its this dance we do because it is the most freeing, fun and ridiculous thing to do! I love it!! Its like stress relief the easy way...but you have to do it in public-embarrassment is crucial to the release!!!! Its just boring in private! Watch this space for a video link someday in the near or distant future! (I wont lie...I may never get around to finding it!!) Its just occured to me that my card game "crazy snap" could be quite relevent here too......Its so crazy everyone looses all inhibitions in order to be the first to snap!!! Everyone ends up the same-a little bit crazy, a little bit petty and like a child.this is ringing bells! Hmmmm...ideas!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqfUXnsd0lE

The spontaneity project

So then i went and took mini-videos of people around college...i just shoved the camera in their faces and ordered them to "do something spontaneous"!!! Everyone failed miserably!!!! Nah its not that they did it badly....they just didnt react spontaneously!!!!!!!!!! apparently spontaneity isnt an easy thing to achieve!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Actually looking back on them now their actually quite brilliant! Loadsa people reacted by saying "I cant THINK of anything spontaneous". I was hoping they wouldnt think at all!!!! With hindsight the camera was probably quite off-putting and maybe i could have redone it another way but i just gave it up!!
Its becoming fairly obvious as I write this that my "failed" projects of the past actually were going somewhere, I never really gave them the chance they deserve and now the themes are reappearing in my work. Its quite exciting actually 'cause to me that means Ive got a common thread, a SOLID starting point! Im not actaully moving haphazardly from one topic to the next! YAY! Im definitely going to think about revisiting this particular piece though because I think it had potential! Excited!
(If you dont see anything reappearing on this soon and are interested feel free to complain me!!:) )

Rule 1

RULE:Im not allowed to criticise myself or my work on this blog.

The Kid Project










"It's very hard to be adult in a developed nation and retain the spontaneity and inventiveness found in three year olds without being mad, personality disordered or employed as an artist"-Oliver James
I made a series of photographs where i acted like a kid in response to this quote. I think i probably inadvertently proved Oliver James right! Oops! I guess I felt like I had lost my 'spontaneity and inventiveness' and could see it in the other art students around me. I was trying to recapture it and prove that anyone could...without being mad, but i guess thats exactly how i ended up looking in these pics!!!
Anyway I really liked the scribbles I did in the bottom pic so I continued to use them in my work.

chop chop






These are some of a series of pics i took of myself cutting my hair! It was a weird experience because it was something i never thought id do, it sorta went against the grain with me!! and even after i decided to do it it was weeks before i got the courage! I got great satisfaction showing it off to my family...although my brother got a fright when he found me in the bathroom with a scissors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im definitely going to do it again!

SOooo............

so i guess the whole point of setting up this blog is so that i have a place to put up my work, kinda like sticking it all to the walls!!! Anywho im an art student so expect anything and everything! and be warned: it will get scatty...this is more for me than fro you, but i hope you find it interesting anyway!!!:)

Friday, March 20, 2009