MA 1 Visual Enquiry
biographical art or a metaphor for the bigger picture? confessional - there is stress in my household and I find binding comforting, containing the chaos and creating organisation.Links to the containment of people, gathering or restricting movement, stopping the 'chaos' of globalisation, immigration, movement.
unplanned binding - not measuring, guided by eye, scrappy, unmeasured.
Taking in a new, low rise environment, without the shine of the towers I'm used to.
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Finding new geometries, patterns, or creating from the lack thereof.
Looking at contemporary artists and the commentary that is made on or about their work. Looking at online resources and issues to consider, review some formal sites for future research.Thomas Schutte Thomas Schutte (b. 1954) - Gerhard Richter was tutor and due to Richters accomplishments in paint, Schutte opted for sculpture as he couldn't say any more (compete?). manipulates scale and materials - googling images means that sometimes names, materials, context, scale etc are lost. search engines will also find 'related' images, people that are influenced by, shown in similar places etc.Thomas Schutte Big Buildings, Models and Views. Bundeskunsthalle, Bonn, Germany, 23 July 2010 - Private view with Adrian Searle, art critic for the Guardian, recording of his visit to the exhibition.
huge white room with high ceiling - Model for Hotel - 4th plinth, more successful in gallery rather than on the plinth. modernistic rather than modernist - Ferienhaus fur Terroristen 2007 - chipboard and scrim - colours, you can dimly perceive the outside space, window without being windows. Searle sounds creepy at this point, uncomfortable. The identification of race is unnecessary, the 'angels' that dangle from the ceiling, birds, etc - adds a lot of personal interpretation - 'stupid heads' - judgmental - 'priests in prada' social commentary on work that sways your interpretation of the work, dependant on how you perceives Searles opinions. uses deprecative language, silly, stupid, strange' etc. comparing the works to mundane imagery that could be seen as derogatory. Big Buildings 1989 -
buildings whose purpose you'll never understand - is that the point or Searles opinion? feeling like storage - questions on architecture, massively bias commentary. He talks about the space being magnificent, but not the works....philosophising questions - whats real? the claims Schutte is free, and free to do what he likes, but with sadness and joyousness and finally says its magnificent.Angela's encounter with Schuttes website and the watercolours he produces.
Model for a Hotel, 4th Plinth, Trafalgar Square - nov 2007 - may 2009Ossian Ward - time out - the sculpture failed to surprise - looks no better than the proposal model that had been shown beforehand. all art is a form of proposition, a proposal of a proposal. Mocks monumentally
Richard Dormant - telegraph - Model for hotel, an abstract assemblage of acrylic and galls that looks like it will blow away in a breeze but weighs 4 tons. favours monumentally - light changes the visual experience of the work, each view is complete but also not satisfactory, each is different. its complicated, not possible to adequately describe such a purely visual experience. an invitation, a proposition, to view and create an individual experience - how my work at Mind the gap was, dependant on lighting the viewer would get a different experience.
Kiki SmithKiki Smith (b. 1954) - A curator, a gallery and an art journalFather was sculpture - Tony SmithDifferent perspective so on work.Elizabeth brown, writing as a curator in 1994 - one of the most influential artists of her generation, makes sculpture of and about the body in materials as diverse as bronze, paper and wax..... overly descriptive, positive spin. doesn't offer meaning, or too much context. From a promotions point of view, she wants an audience for the artist in the museums so will write a wide and overseeing type of text with mass appeal rather than being specific and possibly closing audiences out.
Mary Ryan gallery website, biography - post - 2001,: classifying Smith as a feminist artist. work is imbued with political significance and undermines traditional erotic representation of women artists by males, and uses metaphor for hidden social issues. Descriptive of the visual aspects of the work, but then goes on to list issues that she has actively debated such as race, gender, aids and domestic violence. Is this evolution of the artist or simply a different type of writing? Being for a gallery website it is for a specific audience, also possibly a commercial audience, investors and collectors if the work is for sale or to generate interest in future works for sale. Collectors tend to have style and subject matter that they support and will be specific in their ideals of artists and contexts of work which allows galleries to be very explicit in the details of artists they represent.
Christine Kuan - interview with artist. Reference library, post 2008. collaboration, and public art. paper as material, paper as sculpture, craft, women artist, the body, influence of asian artist etc. Guided by questions from interviewer but gives more balanced view of the artists work.
Is it possible to get a fixed picture in artists work? The aspects of bio coming in for inform an artists work.
Biography as Art PracticeLouise BourgeoisBiography is her work -Maman, installed outside Tate in 2007room installations - intense and threatening atmosphere, related to her experience of childhood and family histories. drawings are retrospective journal of life as woman and mother.unattributed obituary - nice in tone, biographic - discusses her career, path to 'success' as an artist
Richard Dorment - equipped with intimate knowledge of her life story - the symbolism is easy to understand and is indexible. Academic like to utilise her work for interpretations, becoming a celebrity for what she said about her work than any aesthetic quality of emotional truth it had. Will it last once she is no longer around to discuss it? - suggests she invented 'confessional' art, and that it means little without her personal history to explain it. She has controlled this
Siri Hustvedt (earlier piece) - her story is so embedded in the work that it 'seduces' critics into biographical or psychoanalytical readings - its happened naturally. The object and the narrative are inseparable, and that the issue, its purely biographical and doesn't make statements to wider more relatable contexts.
Contrasting example of autobiographical work outside the gallery:Bobby BakerPerformance artist Bobby Baker (b.1953) - domestic life, cooking, motherhood and the conflict of work, and work as an artist. Comedic, uses food in her performances, uniform for performance, utensils as props. Works in public, with public - John Lewis and Battersea dogs home.1993 - Kitchen show, - routine tasks of kitchen work. contemplation of tasks on a small scale provokes questions both personal and political - she believes domestic relationships influence world affairs - how we treat each other are symbolic of international relations etc. Mental illness led to time away from performance and she documented the diary in drawings - viewable on the Wellcome Trust website.
Turner Prize2010 - Susan Philips - Lowlands - sound piece. Is the Turner prize still cutting edge? Dorment is dismissive - and quite rude!
Jones and Searle are complimentary - link between the political orientations of the broad sheets and the responses of the art critics.
2006 - Tomma Abts - Turner prize - Stuckists protest -
Interview of artist - no research, starts with nothing, just paint on canvas - form in mind and builds layers, image and object, illusion and being a real thing - an installation of paintings. Paradox, open but finished. Shows a state of mind.Stuckists - 'Tomma Abts paints silly little diagrams that make 1950's wallpaper look profound in comparison' - Ouch! There are thousands of artist that have something relevant to say. They also revealed conflict of interest at Tate.They are painters - believe it should be figurative, artists that don't paint are not artists and art that has to be in a gallery is not art. Success is to get out of bed and paint.Andrew Marr on the Stuckists - agrees with some points of the Stuckist manifesto - funding and support from 'big money' etc, and the access to education in the arts.
Resourceslist of resources:
Online resources - UCA online library - gives access to other online library and catalogues for other libraries and museums.Also look at local universities libraries- American university of Sharjah, American University of Dubai, NYUAD - Tashkeel's small library, Barjeel/Maraya centre library, ad Dubai public libraries - project space Art Jamel - Art Dubai etc. enquire about accessOnline Archives: 
Art Journals online:
Academic Journals:
JiscmailOnline Seminars and talks:
Conferences - arts focus
Something to think about...
In what way do artists' biographies inform or detract from the viewers experience of the work?
What are the implications Ward's assertion that, 'That all art is a form of proposition and anything's possible.'?
If you could only read or hear one view on an exhibition would you chose to hear the artist's view or that of a critic or reviewer and why?
REMEMBER TO READ WIDELY AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY SCEPTICISM.
Links to the recent reading group tasks on biographic lead art and the death of the author by Barthes, that the work will exisit regardless of the creator, the work creater the author not the other way rounf, they auther does not exisit if the work does not exist, the work birth the auther.http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=65http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=site/page&id=10
An international line up of artistsQuestion whether its decorative arts or fine arts and does it matter? Are they raising questions regarding political, or social views or creating art for arts sake and pushing the boundaries of technique and artist descriptions?Below are some of the pieces that really stood out for me at the exhibition. I was pressed for time and but was fortunate enough to speak to a couple of the artist that were in the space.
Above is an image of Sara Ouhaddou's ceramic tiles, the spaces had a variation of these in different coloured glazes. These unglazed installation stood out for me, the lack of colour focused the viewer on to the patterns and the fragmentation, which I am always drawn to in artwork. It felt like a jigsaw I was itching to put together, I am actually tempted to print this image out and reorganise it to find a repeat as I don't think there is one, so it alludes to a broken pattern but actually one doesn't exist.
This piece blew my mind. I had seen it on social media, photos from friends etc and of course been to his solo show at Maraya Art Centre a few days before. I did not realise that the piece was actually concave! It recesses in to the wall 80cm meaning that for installation a false wall has to be installed to hold the piece and bring the illusion to life. Due to the nature of the material it is almost impossible to photograph an capture the recess.
Alhashemi is a local designer, it's always wonderful to see local artist and designers being included in diverse international shows. The material is familiar if you are living in the UAE as its a common building material that is often discarded in piles around construction sites, it was intriguing to see it in a familiar placement but have it exposed by its reflection as a islamic pattern design. distorting our perception of what we assume we are seeing.
This piece, In Bloom, created excited shadows and light casts around the space. The byproducts of the artwork were more inspiring that the form itself to me as a viewer. I wanted to trace them, and capture their forms on the surrounding blank walls.
The wooden textiles pictured above were both beautiful to look at and frustrating to be around as I desired to play with them, folding the forms and experiment with the shapes and formations they promised to create. I also took the opportunity of the secluded exhibition space to move around the back of the pieces and experience the light shining through the textiles. It occurred to me that this is definitely an important factor to me, something I also use in my own work so need to make this more of a feature or thinking point.
Natalie Fisher was jumping on to one of her pieces as I turned in to her exhibition space, it was a geometric design made from needlepoint floor cushions, her camera was set up on a tripod with the timer ticking down. We chatted for ages, she was an absolute delight. We discussed process, time and the fact that 10yrs+ of work was hanging on the wall due to the labour intensive nature of embroidery and needlepoint, and how the art scene worked in the UAE. It was her first visit to the region so I gave her some tips on what to see. The half cross-stitch works were expansive, intricate and absorbing, you could capture the mediative aspect of creating simply by viewing the work. I ask the question of my work, and how I can be as dense in practice as these needlepoint pieces but remain transparent?
Ulian's installation again bought up the question of transparency, intricacy and sensuality. I wanted to 'ping' the taut wires, brush the diodes with my fingers but at the same time protect its delicacy. Literally fusing technology with ancient geometrics.
I've seen John Foster's work before; I've been lusting after a furniture piece he created, a table that emerges from these iridescent forms. The allude to the capturing of bubbles, that moment of sparkling wonder until 'pop' it disappears, only with Foster's works they remain in their luminescent glory.
Johnson's work was spell binding, the accuracy and technical craftsmanship in these paintings is a sight to behold. I initially thought, as most audience members do, that they were enlarge photographs of architectural facades, but no, they are photorealistic paintings completed by Johnson. I'm not sure on as to what they bring to the table, copying craftsmanship on to canvas, other than to show of Johnson's technical ability. Perhaps the viewer should be questioning the original crafts people, the ones who created the tile formations, the patterns that Johnson so loving recreates?
What Shlian can do with paper is a feat of engineering, again I was familiar with his works before encountering them in the gallery space, they are beautiful, especially Ara 150, a geometric grid structure created from cut paper. By creating these geometries in 3D paper sculptures Shlian changes the way light interacts with the patterns and moves the patterns in to tangible spaces from their usual flat perspectives.
Pattens: layered, cut, fragmented and hung, to be experienced from different angles as you move through the space. Traditional Persian rugs with the atypical floral motifs sliced through with the harsh, clinical geometries from islamic architectural features. It would not be unusual for these two features to be in the same place but not so inter-related as this. Is the rug still functional as a rug after being cut? Does it now have another function? window dressing? screen/divider, art piece?
Gabby O'Connor is an artist/researcher, working with scientists in the Antarctic. Why she was included in the Islamic Art Festival I do not know. Thats not to say her work wasn't beautiful or captivating to it's audience but the simple use of geometric shapes, in my opinion, dos not preclude automatic inclusion, this troubled me. I am grateful that she was included as I think her research in the Antarctic is fascinating and her light pieces are very inspiring to me as someone obsessed with pattern and transparency.
Kuriyama is inspired by infinity.. and apparently the arabesque patterns in the domes of mosques, however I find no other record of this islamic connection in any writing on his work or the artists own website. Does that mean it was manipulated for inclusion? Does that matter? I'm not sure how the artists were selected for the exhibition, whether it was open call or invite but I do question what artists working with Islamic inspired art pieces were overlooked.
http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/hassan-sharif-a-retrospectiveDue to time constraints I revisited Sharjah to complete my visit to the Hassan Sharif exhibition at Sharjah Art Foundation. Al Mureijah Square is a collection of buildings that have been renovated and specifically built as exhibition spaces. The retrospective is divided and the viewer is guided through the spaces in a specific order, the gaze is controlled, ordered.Gallery 6 - Hassan's Atelier- an uncomfortable space, it felt like an intrusion to be inside without his express permission. It is clearly staged, presented in the way it was set up in his home but clearly out of context. (Links to the Brian O'Doherty Text 'Studio & Cube', must finish reading.) My question was why? Why did they feel the need to place a representation of his working space inside the gallery, did it provide validation? Proving that he was, in fact, an artist? It questions whether we need to see or know of an artists process to validate the work, is the research more important or the time taken to create? The time taken to consume the art is also variable and does or should the time things are created in impact the time it is consumed in? Can you dictate how long people take to consume the work?
Email (2009) stuck me due to the contrast of the print plates, displayed as works in themselves, and the black prints in the perspex display box. The texture and colour variations of the copper, creating depth and mood; the sterile nature of the prints, somewhat reminiscent of the virtual mail they are named after. Perhaps harking back to the time of hand written letters, the mood and personable aspects of mail penned, sorted and delivered by hand.Gallery 5 - I'm an object maker
Installations of repetitive artefacts bound, collated, ordered and arranged.I felt like they were maps of time, labour was intrinsic in the materials that are used and the process of construction. Sharif utilises the everyday object and subverts it in to art, reclaiming or perhaps simply claiming, the mundane in to the fine art.
Jute (2016), this mass of knots drew me in to it. It feels intense, like time captured in a format. The repetition of knotting and binding, and also the visuality of space taken alongside the time.In terms inspiration this work moves me to a place of making, I want to bind and tie, to build a geometry from fibres that are not conducive to rigidity and linear forms. I want to physically create the sensual layers that ask to be touched and allow for movement in the sense that persons move around the city in the cyclic elements of routine. To embody the routine in a bound sensual way, to experience the touch of routine in the way that routine seems to touch us in the ethereal sense.Gallery 4 - Performance is goodThis gallery has images of performance, photographs, scripts and texts, so you are struck by the monumentality of the paper and yarn/string structure that hangs in the corner: Dictionary (2015). Pages from Arabic/English dictionary, taken and bound. So much of Sharif work involves binding together, in a messy, overwhelm, engulfing the spaces and the forms that originate.
Then I stepped around the quiet gallery, to be confronted by a wall of framed subtle pieces that depict lines, drawn or scratched from mail opened: The Mail (1983). The pieces are so reminiscent of the fractures I create in my sketchbooks, I try to photograph them but my reflection in the work hinders my collecting, metaphorically implanting myself in the work that I have just jumped in to. The repetition of the routine activity, opening letters, that create marks from the tools that are used to complete the task.
Finally as I round the end of the exhibition in this gallery space I encounter photographs of London taken by Sharif, as a pieces, documenting activity. The date is my 1st birthday, I would have been a short drive away from this spot, across London. The images (Trees-Walham Grow Road-London, 1983) are familiar as I have similar ones in the albums at my parents house, they are unframed, composition is not addressed, they are taken as record not as art or for display, simply to record and account of a happening. They are filled with nostalgia for me personally, of childhood and times past in a location that is familiar but no longer has that familiarity.Gallery 3 - I'm loyal to colour
Upon entering the gallery aptly named 'loyal to colour' you are confronted with masses of accumulated goods, curated in to large mass sculptural forms filling the spaces. Interesting that the colours evident in the pieces are actually quite restricted, whether this is a conscious decision made by the artist I'm not sure, but the effect is quite affronting. Perhaps it is simply a reflection on the limited dyes available for plastic manufacturing in the region - but it remarkably creates a unified presentation of apparently single work pieces.Gallery 2 - My little tiny boxThe smallest of the galleries, filled with what felt like trinket works, experiments that perhaps never expanded in to larger pieces or due to the ethics of the artist were held back in to single works.
The knots and materials, binding books, physically containing the information, the way words bind narratives in to archives.
The books are all closed, containing the contents, if there is any, from the viewer, alluding to the journals of teenagers, or secret files of governments.Gallery 1 - ...so I created a semi systemThe last gallery felt like the most overwhelming. Monochrome works filling the walls, they look like the inner workings of an designers brain, pages from a sketchbook. Repetitive designs for geometries that were pushed through in to motifs created in to wooden structures or, my personal favourite, woven in to rugs
The shear volume of work was impressive and a visual reference to the dedication Sharif put in to amassing his work.
The translation from fragmented forms in to clean woven rugs. The technical construction done by commissioned parties, some of the linear aspects of the geometries are lost to the fluidity of the fibres.The scale of this retrospective is intense, Sharif is a 'Local Legend' and it feels right to have this exhibition here in Sharjah, I do wonder how far his reach will go though, I hope he won't be lost to the larger names in the global art scene.
Hassan Sharif: I Am The Single Work Artist
Exhibition - 4 November 2017—3 February 2018
This retrospective is the culmination of Sharif’s long and storied history with the Emirate of Sharjah, where he first began staging interventions and exhibitions of contemporary art. He pursued this interest in earnest when he returned to the UAE from London after graduating from The Byam Shaw School of Art in 1984. Moving between roles as an artist, educator, critic and writer, Sharif not only sought to encourage Emirati audiences to engage with contemporary art in exhibitions but also on the page, through his Arabic translations of historical art texts and manifestos.His work also included the founding or co-founding of the Emirates Fine Arts Society, Sharjah (1980); Al Mareija Art Atelier, Sharjah (1984); Art Atelier in the Youth Theatre and Arts, Dubai (1987) and The Flying House, Dubai (2007)—all organisations that have supported interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary art in the Emirates through mentorship and exhibition.This exhibition is curated by Hoor Al Qasimi, Director, Sharjah Art Foundation.http://sharjahart.org/sharjah-art-foundation/exhibitions/hassan-sharif-a-retrospective
Images above are a brief overview from the part of the exhibition of the Hassan Sharif retrospective by Sharjah Art Foundation, in Bait Al Serkal. This section of the show is separate from the main exhibition and I viewed it before I experienced the rest of retrospective. What was interesting was how perfectly the pieces fit the space, they seemed to to planned for the areas, some of the accompanying sketches appeared to illustrate the actual areas the pieces were installed. The rooms in Bait Al Serkal are not 'white cube' gallery spaces, it is a traditional building that has been converted in to exhibition spaces, lighting is dim and relies of spotlights, the interior courtyard is glazed off letting in natural light which does cast shadows and reflections over the work, it would be a consideration to conservators due to sun exposure as can be seen in some of the images above.The exhibition felt like walking through a collectors home, pieces tucked in to recesses and hung in clusters. The works are typical of Hassan Sharif, obsessive to the point of exhaustion and then abandoned on completion, moving on to the next fascination. Calling the exhibition "I am the Single Work Artist' as a title Sharif claimed for himself, a falsehood, displayed in the walls of the building by the repetitive nature he collected and clusters objects and creations. It almost feels like Sharif was fascinated by life, by the mundane and how he could claim those fascinations, the fleeting moments for himself. I am intrigued to consider the addition of compulsion to my work, I thought it was there but on reflecting these works I can see that I have not exhausted the possibilities.
Works on paper from Barjeel collection - 28/10/2017 - 04/02/2018Drawing, painting, printmaking from mid-20th century to presentText from website:In this exhibition we survey a selection of works on paper from the Barjeel collection that include drawing, painting and printmaking from the mid-20th Century to the present. The works traverse a range of approaches, dealing with everyday encounters, documentation of historical events, and explorations of poetry, identity, and gesture.The mid-20th Century saw the emergence of a number of avant garde movements and moments that allowed for a great variety of expression. Artists responded to what they observed in the world – which was often rapidly changing and in conflict – in subjective and innovative ways. They also turned inwards and developed new visual languages to explore more introspective themes: abstraction, language, memory, and spirituality.The use of paper, itself an ancient vehicle of carrying both text and image, allowed for a sense of immediacy and freedom for artists. Paper has long been the medium of choice for sketches and informal works, as well as a surface for complex and labour-intensive printing techniques. Deeply linked to the act of writing, paper is a material utilised by visual artists and poets alike.Drawn from the opening line of the poem “The Beginning of the Road” by the poet Adonis in his book of love poetry The Book of Similarities and Beginnings (1980), a brief dialogue between lovers begins with “Night was paper and we were ink”.http://www.barjeelartfoundation.org/exhibitions/night-was-paper-and-we-were-ink/
Emirati artist Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim (1962), lives and works in Khorfakkan, UAE. He uses leaves, clay, paper and glue in a lot of his works, also opting to create land art in his early career.I love this piece, I think because I have a personal interest in the artist after attending a studio visit in his home in 2017 and have since interacted with him at various art events. He is very humble but passionately devoted to creating and to growing the art scene. He recollected a story about him burning his back catalogue of work, due to a disagreement with a studio space! He was extremely close friends with the prominent Emirati artist Hassan Sharif which is evident in his work in the manner of the constructions and its repetitions.The piece is so dense with these small pockets of black ink, scattered but also balanced within the piece, and the scale of the symbols doesn't alter, it is maintained throughout. As with the Timo Nasseri drawings in the previous post, the dedication to complete is inspiring, devoting hours to repetition and filling of space. The physicality of creating the same movements over and over to draw the symbols, how the muscles ache, did he get blisters? how many bottles of ink, what did he lean on?
Lulwah Al-Homoud (1967) born in KSA, lives and works in UK. She uses arabic letter to create complex patterns; Al-Hamoud learned the mathematical codes behind the Arabic Alphabet and then used these to break down the letters in to the building blocks for geometrical designs. Almost the reverse of Time Nasseri's work, who used mathematical codes and star charts to build geometrics in to letters. I have seen these works or perhaps similar ones from the series in exhibitions in the region before, the elements of breaking down an existing 'thing', in this case letters, to create geometric repeating patterns is similar to the process I employ for my work. There is comfort in finding artists that have comparable ways of working, a validation in technique and enquiry.
Kamal Boullata (1942) born in Jerusalem, Palestine, lives and works in Berlin, Germany. He is known for his colourful silkscreens and paintings that incorporate Arabic letters and islamic Kufic script in to geometric abstractions. Frustratingly I have been unable to find information on these embossings, how they came about and what the context is behind them. They are very different from his usual body of work.
They are rigid, constrained but somehow sensual. I wanted to touch them and experience the textured the geometrics create.The works in the exhibition varied between illustration and abstraction. I was drawn automatically to the geometric pieces, like a comfort blanket. Although being in the middle east the geometries are ever-present, so perhaps it is more to do with conditioning than captivation?
Text taken from website:Timo Nasseri: All the Letters in All the StarsCurated by Laura Metzler14 December, 2017 – 23 February, 2018 (extended until April 2018)VENUE: Maraya Art Centre, Al Qasba, Block (E), Third Floor (Maraya Art Gallery)Maraya Art Centre is collaborating with Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival to present "Timo Nasseri: All the Letters in All the Stars". The show will be the artist's first solo show in the U.A.E. and its starting point is his take on the story of Ibn Muqla, a 10th century calligrapher who claimed to have found four missing letters in the Arabic language. The works are a combination of new and older pieces, which highlight the different mediums of his practice while putting them all into a larger conversation between fragmentation and order, in the pursuit of the infinite.http://maraya.ae/index.php?r=exhibitions/view&id=67
These pieces are hand drawn on black paper using white ink, like a blueprint. I later found out at a talk given by the artist in discussion with the arts writer Kevin Jones that that is exactly what they are, blueprints of the sculptural pieces made from mirrors. The equations for the angles of the triangles were written on for reference but the artist realised that there was an elegance to the pieces themselves. Only four types of triangle are actually used in the pieces and the circles are guidelines for the points of each piece.I am envious at the repetition, I myself want to recreate them, in the way I like to colour in books of pattern, borrowing the meditation from the person that originally created it. Wallowing in their soothing predictability.
In the talk mentioned above, the artist explained that he researches extensively on the origin of the geometries. The image above shows images of the complex and mesmerising architectural geometries of ceiling vaults he encountered in Iran. Beginning with the simplest of elements, every step of the process is one that the artist himself has calculated.
Florenz-Baghdad is an installation piece, it has been shown on a flat wall previously but installed in Maraya Art Centre as a room within the exhibition space. Using the same 4 types of triangle that are evident in his drawings, Nasseri constructs a space that reflects everything and nothing, fracturing the surroundings infinitely.The space left me in a contemplative awe of finding myself reflected in the artists work both physically and metaphorically. It's rare that I would find an artists work that leaves me with envy and inspiration as well as the want to simply replicate to gain access to the feelings that generating the work promises.The chaotic patterns of the light reflected on the floor were a work in themselves, I pondered how many people stepped over their surplus beauty while trying to claim the perfect Selfie in the fractured infinite.
It was the methodological repetition of creating that really inspired me in the exhibition. The felling of producing, but with context deeply embedded. Enough research had been done that the work could be organic.
Unknown letters - these caused confusion, I overheard conversations at the exhibition and it came up at the talk as well. These are fictitious, created by ht e artist, a proposition of sorts, a 'what if'. In look at the way language is created and translated, the elements of 'missing' letters that appear in one language but can not be created in another and also the research of star maps to create shapes, the artist has 'found' letters. He doesn't actually give them names, or sounds but due to the way it is explained some audience members have read them as actual letters he wants to add to the alphabet.Notes for my work:Considering breaking the work down in a scientific aspect: angles, lengths, reoccurrence - separating the work down to angles, movement or instructions of creations - 1cm vertical diagonal line, from top of page measuring 9 cm long at an angle of 12degrees - in a room of 27degrees C facing NW 217 etc.Considering protocol, bodies relationship to the gesture of doing, the politics of making/creating/ownership, - control, dictatorship, offering of work for others to createsemiotics, intervention, signs, symbols.
Nasseri, T, Lepton, 2017, steel, wood, latex strings, 17.5 x 90 x 28 cm, inspiration for installation or construction.