Enquiry: Intersections and Articulations: Listen to audio files through LMS, titles to be advised
audio are saved in my drive for replay - no transcript made available.
Alexa Cox - Artist
interested in role of artist as storyteller - are we all storytellers? Is this not simply a default. How does it go from being a default to a determined practice and subject. What are the stories about? Does that matter?
Is it more the physicality of storytelling rather than the subject. Canvas works and drawings, multiple mediums, various surfaces. Series makes reference to stories and pages of a book. Does she makes books, does she need to? How does her work relate to Debjani Bhardwaj?
constant dialogue with making and research.
Artists she aligns with contemporary painters - storytelling and memory
Peter Doig, - construction and the painterly qualities
Paula Rego - storytelling, references literary characters.
Francesca Woodman - photographer - return to, sense of play and menace - power relationship of self and place - contact sheets that are drawn on, exciting.
Research is key in way work is made - changed over 4 years, reverse how initially worked. Changed from applying theory post-making to allowing the work to come from research. Developed a visual language - how it was interpreted by the viewer - partial trace figures - suggestion. - ambiguity - without loosing the viewer in the process of looking
Read broadly - outside of art theory - read stories - anthropologic texts that talk about journeys, the poetics of space - a large body of visual research - use photography to build a resource . - research through drawing and experimentation - like the freedom to create a lot of work with the pressure to make finished pieces - playful - a sense of mapping and drawing out ideas - the build up to create a bigger picture f practice - the link reoccurrence
writing, mind-mapping and venn diagrams to describe practice - was a revelation - bought clarity to properties as a maker - audience responded to the clarity with the same words without stimulus -
lines- a brief history- Tim Ingold - writing about the relationship of gesture and story telling - the retelling old stories and the gestures that are made by the hand. Discusses that meandering and deviation of journeys, to learn and discover new things by going of track, try to have a loose ideas and allow the practice to inform itself - challenge the making, ask why you have made an assumption- unless you challenge and risk take you might not find something that works for you . This links to my projection work - -need for constant and honest reflection - to allow practice to grow
traces - the in-between - the potential energy thats captured, the fleeting, capturing gesture - what is authenticity and truth? does the audiences know that you are preforming when they see the work
reduced colour palette allows focus on composition, the reduction of the subject -
excited about the idea of the edge of the frame - where does the image end, does it move across the surfaces, outside the surface, dissolving and emerging
Francis Bacon inspiration- the dealing of the surface, the oozing and dissolving of the figure and the surface of the canvas
now- moving towards research into landscape and memory - identified four strands to look at and create work around - this links to so many of our practices -
ppp - work on a small scale to allow it to be transportable .
My thoughts are that this interview reeks of MA fine art - OCA - the description of process, research and PPP along side the texts and authors we have been asked to read or recommended. I'm concerned by the numerous similarities that can be drawn within my own work and that of my peers, are we in danger of creating a bland outcome similar to those that have gone before? Can we all be inspired or lead by the same research/texts etc and still create meaningful and original work (yes, I know nothing is original but you know what I mean). To counter this point it is also fascinating that we are using similar or the same inspiration and research and coming out with variety of outcomes. Some of us take the same points from it, others read it differently. The Process works, as is visible here.
Sam Wilkinson - director of InSite Arts - London
exclusively with artists in public realm - various media artists - 20 yrs trading. Clients are non- arts organisations. Funding is mainly related to planning - arts culture and community -
roles: work takes a very long time to develop, raise aspiration and understanding of the role of art in a place, education on working with artists and establishing framework for artists to join project so it is positive for those involved. Strategy based, idea development - process to appoint artists, develop brief and work together.
most important thing is the brief, to be interesting and contribute tot h project. make it clear to allow artist to have freedom and also be relevant to context. be clear and give expectations relating to concept and ideas Important that space and time is given to artist to allow them to develop a body of research and creation to get the most out of it. relevant to artists own practice
space and time to develop ideas properly through research. we believe in the unexpected and building the potential for risk and to allow for exploration. A period of research is essential.
The company will research initially but the considered research that goes deeper is believed to be where the artist comes in to push the boundaries. Allowing the artist to explore and research the area/project themselves can lead to exciting outcomes that may not have been projected if the client or supervisors had control of the creativity.
Great to see a company that understands and supports the needs of the artist and it process required to make work. They actively promote the research aspect, providing some initial start points, knowing their artists well enough to make considered decisions about suitability and requirements. The education they provide to the organisations they partner with is invaluable, it allows the artists time and space to provide enriching outcomes that enhance and add to the communities or projects they are working with.