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Frottage drawing to large scale collaborative collage

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Frottage drawing to large scale collaborative collage

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In todays class we looked at sense of place in a literal way and how we may convey it in our works. To do this, I was inspired by a sunset and used thin paper to make marks with soft pastels (different colors) and rubbing it lightly on a surface in my environment. Then after collecting engough pieces, I stuck them onto a A3 paper to create a collage.

I found this activity a great introduction to thinking about sense of place. Although I found the soft pastels hard to work with, I found the end result was interesting. I definatly wouldn't consider it a great result however due to the time crunch, I found I didn't have to think and over analyze each step I took.

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This week we experimented with assemblage where we used materials that were accessible by us to create a piece of art. During this investigation we explored the term, Jugaad, a Hindi word referring to "non-conventional, frugal innovation". It exemplifies innovative manners to use material and resources to come to a practical solution.

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Task: Using found objects and/or basic materials at hand, create a sculpture that maybe utilitarian or non-utilitarian, wearable or even performative

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Task: Using found objects and/or basic materials at hand, create a sculpture that maybe utilitarian or non-utilitarian, wearable or even performative

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I found this topic in the XD class very eye opening - it made me question why society has divided materials between "non artistic mediums and artistic mediums" when it is clear that art can be made out of anything. Even more so works like El Anatsui's Ghana Bleeding Taker II in 2007 showed me that artworks can be very impactful to audiences despite only using Aluminum and Copper wire(shown in the image).

My group's take on assemblage ended up being very successful in my opinion although the process was simple enough. We managed to create a unique artwork with random objects laying around that was even performative. This process thought me that I don't always have to overthink and come up with a grand plan when brainstorming and starting new art but rather trust the process and be flexible.

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Kazuo Shiraga - Challenge to the Mud 1955

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Performance and materials - Challenge to the Mud

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Performance and materials - Challenge to the Mud

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Looking and researching this work, Challenge to the Mud, enabled me to think past the conventional methods of art. This also led me to experiment with natural materials. With this I may consider further investigating into performative art with other forms of natural forms.

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Saburõ Murakami-Laceration of paper, 1956

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Saburõ Murakami-Laceration of paper, 1956

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This performative piece by Saburo Murakami is a recording of the artist smashing is way through stretched paper. A key take away from this piece is the mark Murakami makes - although no paint , pencil or pencil mark was made, he was able to use his body as a mark making medium. The performance stood out for me because it has shown me how powerful the relationship between the artists and material can be. Further, it motivates me to experiment out of the conventional boundaries of art and if there are any limitations to what art can be.

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Create a test artwork that is performative. The other material you may use is paper and markers, the body must connect with the materiality of the paper.

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Create a test artwork that is performative. The other material you may use is paper and markers, the body must connect with the materiality of the paper.

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Inspired by Murakami's performance, my group and I had to create a site specific artwork. The materials that we were allowed to use was paper, take and our body. Having had the idea to put the paper as a replacement to the door, forcing class members to walk through the paper to enter the room.

Process:
- We decided to put two pieces of paper to add dimension to the art.
- Then we cut 2 horizontal slits one one paper and 2 vertical slits on the other slit.
- After this we hung and taped the two pieces of paper to the door frame, one on each end of the paper.
- Using tape we wrote the words, "NO ENTRY" to see how people would react to the work.

Result:
The class was reluctant to go through the paper however ended up working together to push through the paper.

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Yuichi Ikehata - Insporation of Major Work

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Yuichi Ikehata - Insporation of Major Work

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When brainstorming for my final work in block 2 I came by the artist, Yuichi Ikehata, a male artist who produced the series “Fragment of Long Term Memory”.
- this specific series of his got me interested in his theme, memory and his use of wire and clay to produce distorted, confronting works.
- His use of wire led me to want to also experiment with wire because I realized that I actually really liked the materiality of it because of it's structural yet fragile appearance it has.

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Although I didn't have a theme that I specifically wanted to explore for my final work, I knew that I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and attempt to create a final work out of wire.

With this, I used wire to create a hand and a figure however I quickly realized that when I put the wire close to each other, making a solid object, it'd loose the quality of the wire that I initially motivated me to work with the wire.

I didn't nessesarilally disliked the effect however, I wanted to follow a similar technique to Ikehata's Wire work

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Knowing that I want to work with wire, I looked into the Experimentation and Innovation compendium and found the work of Mikala Dwyer. Who experimented greatly with various materials, objects and more top create her 2017 exhibition, “A Shape of Thought”. The playful, geometric environment she created with her works combined gave me a sense of nostalgia and led me to want to investigate that topic more.

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I discussed with friends and family to get their input on the ideas and themes I had developed and got a lot of interesting ideas. A family member talked to me about the relationship between mankind and ongoing innovation. Specifically, how our 2 sides of the human experience would be impacted by technology. Through this discussion I realized that I was very interested in this topic and found a close connection to the block study topic, Experimentation and innovation.

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I wanted to explore the XD studies and remembered the work, "Saddle" by Janine Antoni. In this piece she created a cast of her body out of cowhide draped over her. This refferences the absence of both her and the cow which I found both interesting and intently impactful.

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In my final work I aim to explore the topic Experimentation and Innovation both through materials and an thematic approach. Using a combination of wire and paint I want to explore the theme, The Dichotomy of the Human Experience. I was drawn to this idea as I realized how without it life has no motivation, therefore it holds so much power yet can it easily go unnoticed. In this final work I want to reference this idea through the materiality by connecting 2 mediums that clash in the nature of it’s use. I began my research into this topic through the works of Yuichi Ikehata where his use of wire and clay confronted his audience with the theme of fragmented memory.

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When I started working with wire I experimented I attempted to create a solid figure and hand, however I found that making the subject matter entirely solid had a very heavy aesthetic that I didn’t think would work with my intentions for this project. In that process I did realized that I wanted my main subject matter to be a hand as opposed to a figure because I realized that the hand would be much more intimate and links closely with human interaction and experiences. Inspired by Janiene Antoni’s work, “Saddle, where she casts her body in cowhide, I wanted to incorporate the sense of absence with wire and presence with paint.

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I began to mold and weave the wire around my fingers and hand in a delete way where I can ultimately remove my hand and be left with a wired cast of my hand. However a big struggle was maintaining a strong enough structure to allow the sculpture to hold. I wanted the way i apply the wire to be entirely random and unselective so that I would be left with nots and tangles to align with the theme.  I was very happy with how the final product came out and found the 3D and translucent nature fitting to my intentions for my work.

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When I began the painting process I felt overwhelmed because I wanted to create a realistic painting of a hand which is far from what i’d usually paint. Using skills from the painting workshops I began by sizing the subject matter then blocking out colors by tone. I wanted this half of my work to represent the warm nature of the human experience so it was important to me that I emphasized on using warmer tones throughout the painting. Once I had all the colors blocked out I felt much more comfortable and was able to work on more detailed work without thinking too much. Through this process I felt much more confidant in my skills as a painter which I can carry on in my future work.

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When considering how I may best display my work, initially I don't think I put too much thought into it. I wanted to hang my painting and put my wire hand on a plinth. Then when looking at Ikehata’s work I realized that the manner in which I exhibit my project can have a powerful impact on how my work is received. With this I brainstormed the different possibilities and ended up wanting to suspend my wire hand, aligned to my painting a eye level.

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Mapping in Art: Experimentation and Innovation

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Mapping in Art: Experimentation and Innovation

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During the seminar we looked at art through maps and how artists have incorporated various types of maps. This got me to think outside the box and made me realize maps don't have to be the conventional way of what we think maps are.

Mono Printing:
- when experimenting with mono printing through the lens of a map, we had a glass screen with black ink that was evenly rolled onto. After that I laid a sheet of paper over the glass and used tools like pencils, wooden sticks, erasers and markers to create lines.
- Using all these various materials to make lines on the paper was a fun and interesting process that challenged me to not overthink what I was doing. I found I liked using the eraser and wooden stink the most because I wouldn't be able to see what lines I made

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I loved the screen printing process when we experimented with another way of printing. For this, I created a map of my journey to school. In this process I had to create stencils out of paper and used specifically chosen colors. I started off making larger shapes on the paper with red and yellow ink. This was when I realised the effect layering the colors onto of one another without blocking out the paper had. Once I had this in mind I ventured out, and used blue, laying paper on specific part of the piece to block out where the color would go.

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Scores and Sequences: Transcribing/translating audio into Visual.

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Scores and Sequences: Transcribing/translating audio into Visual.

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In this work, I had to record a audio recording of a site specific place. I chose the beach and recored the sound of the waves combined with music I was listening to and other outside noises like birds and wind.

I then listened to my recording on repeat and mapped out the various sounds I heard in my recording by focusing on one sound at a time. I chose what marks I felt fit each sound and how they layered onto of one another.
In the end I realized how interesting the outcome was and I actually really loved it.

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While listening to the recording again I chose to use a canvas and make marks based on what I heard. I enjoyed this process even more because I felt that It allowed me to be as expressionistic and I wanted it to be and was able to use various sized brushes, colored paints and lines. At the end I still felt like it was incomplete and wanted to see what would happen if I cut the canvas. After this I found that I made some of the slits very big and wanted to see what it would look like having the original score behind it look like.

At the end of the process while the paints started to get muddy, I enjoyed making the work and got me to think how I can go past the limitations of the canvas.

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The still life class was a big challenge for me. Going into the class I knew that drawing was not a string suit but wanted to see what I could produce. During the class we went through various exercises that enabled me to push past my reluctant thoughts and came out very impressed with how well I ended up doing.
The first exercise got us to draw what we saw with our non dominant hand, barely looking at our paper, then we repeated that but with our left hand and after that we had a speed sketch with our non dominant hand and repeated that with our dominant hand. These excerises helped me get out of my shell and not over think too much into what we were doing. Finally we had a longer time to draw and by this stage I felt more comfortable with what I was doing.

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Coming across Susan Baird led me to explore certain techniques that she used in her series, "Sense of Place". The artist would depict natural Australian Landscapes while communicating themes of memory, feelings of euphoria and “liminal moments”.

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The theme Sense of Place can be explored through someone’s journey, sense of belonging or attachment or sense of identity. In developing a deeper understanding of this theme I have explored the sense of my cultural and communal belonging as well as places and objects of attachment. However I still found this broad topic too overwhelming and wanted to find a more simplistic approach in response. While reflecting on the theme I was largely inspired by Susan Baird. Her work captures and communicates the evolving sense of place where she uses disillusionment throughout her work to evoke emotional and spiritual sensations in each of her landscapes. In my final work I aim to represent a moment in my journey from school to my home. I specifically chose this moment to represent my sense of place because of the sensations of accomplishment, relief and satisfaction when looking back at my day.

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During the  process of creating my final work, I faced many challenges. I originally planned to paint on 1 large canvas, depicting a sense of my emotions and sensations I feel during my commute home from school. Inspired by Susan Baird’s landscapes I wanted to employ expressionistic styles with the use of thick, large strokes while featuring strong, vivid colors. I specifically wanted to focus on moevent when painting to evoke the rush of the city. However while working on it I didnt feel like I could accurately display the sensations of disconnection, alienation and distortion within a landscape. Therefore I decided to create a series of 3 paintings each in a monotone style.

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When starting again I knew that I wanted to focus on creating a landscape and working through different techniques that will enable me to result in a landscape painting while evoking sensations of disconnection, alienation and distortion. In the process of making the work I struggled with creating one coherent work through multiple canvases which reflecting back on ended up helping me in the end as it allowed me to emphasize the sense of distortion and irregularity in a structured urban landscape.

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I was also overwhelmed by the nature of urban landscape painting because it was so different from painting natural settings where I felt like there was much more leverage. The painting workshop did help me give me direction toward different ways I can interpret color and light to apply onto a monotone painting. Unlike my first attempt I didn’t have the ability to slab paint onto the canvas the same way. In  the beginning I noticed that I worked very preciously and lined the canvases up  all at once to draw outlines and create an initial mark of the composition.

After this I realized I needed to loose some of the control I had and work on each canvas separately. This then led me to breaking up my themes of disconnection, alienation and distortion between each of the canvases. The two canvases on the edges would evoke sensations of disconnection and distortion through artistic choices such as manipulation of perspective and paint strokes that were much more loose and less thoughtful.

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I was also overwhelmed by the nature of urban landscape painting because it was so different from painting natural settings where I felt like there was much more leverage. The painting workshop did help me give me direction toward different ways I can interpret color and light to apply onto a monotone painting. Unlike my first attempt I didn’t have the ability to slab paint onto the canvas the same way. In  the beginning I noticed that I worked very preciously and lined the canvases up  all at once to draw outlines and create an initial mark of the composition.

After this I realized I needed to loose some of the control I had and work on each canvas separately. This then led me to breaking up my themes of disconnection, alienation and distortion between each of the canvases. The two canvases on the edges would evoke sensations of disconnection and distortion through artistic choices such as manipulation of perspective and paint strokes that were much more loose and less thoughtful.

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In my final work during the topic, sense of place, I will paint a series of three canvases using acrylic to depict themes of distortion, alienation and disconnection. I was drawn by the idea that generally, public spaces can hold different values and impact people in completely different ways that is shaped through personal experiences and relationships. Through exploring this topic I was inspired by the works of Susan Baird and her series of paintings, “Sense of Place”. I want to document and depict sensations I personally experience through my commute home in a generic urban landscape that anyone could relate to. I want my audience to experience my work as a lens into my perspective and emotions that I experience during my commute home from school, hoping that it may be relatable and impactful.

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My final work follows the topic, the Dichotomy of the Human Experience and how recent innovation of technology, media, internet can slowly deteriorate and suffocate the life out of our daily experiences. Throughout this unit of study I experimented with wire and how different materials such as light and sound can manipulate the outcome of my final work. In the end however, I decided that using these mediums didn’t follow the overall intention for this project and how I wanted my audience to view and experience my work. Informed by  Yuichi Ikehata’s work, I wanted to use my hand as the subject matter and cast it using wire. The cold hard metal of the material was chosen to reference modern day technology and lifelessness being one end of the Human Experience. Then using a canvas and acrylic, use realism to “reflect” the wire hand. The painting, opposing the wire hand references the beauty and vibrant nature of life, being the other end of the Human Experience. This would show the juxtaposing yet clear relationship between the two representations of the subject matter, referencing the theme of the two ends of the Human Experience.

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In the first week of the new block we began with understanding what 3D is and began to map a definition of it. Entering this block I definitely felt overwhelmed and a bit lost. The words that stuck with me as part of a definition of 3D are:

space

perspective

technical/skill

material

installation

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As an introduction into 3D, this in class workshop was an activity where we were given 10 pieces of paper. the activity was 10 minuets long, we had to use each minuet to disrupt a piece of paper. At the beginning I found it pretty challenging evening though the task seemed very simple. As I progressed, I started to think of more ways I could use the space around me to disrupt the paper. In the end, I found that by just using one material, I can easily disrupt it. I also found that by disrupting the paper, there was a performative value to the activity that I didn't realize until reflecting on it, this made me think about looking further into performance in art.

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As well as looking into what 3D was, we looking into how 3D art can trigger audience engagement. Reflecting on this, it made me realize what was important to me and part of the reason why I enjoy art. To do this the entire class participated in making a mind map and it was really interesting how many different ways 3D art can engage audiences more so than other art forms. Some that stood out to me was the collaboration aspect of 3D art, installation, how its more skill based and technical as well as how abstract it can be.

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In this weeks lecture we looked into installation and how art can exist in different spaces. Here we split up into groups and we were tasked to create a work that disrupted a luminal space. Seeing that a luminal space is a place that is used to pass such as walkways, we chose to disrupt the space by making it hard to pass through. Here we used tape and string to block off the area while still making it possible for someone to pass through the hallway. In this activity I found that I really enjoyed the collaboration aspect of it as it made me realize that by working with other people we were able to develop a work that non of us would have done alone. In presenting the work we also found that because of all the tape and string, if someone passed through the space it would also act as a performative piece because of how different people might approach the challenge as well as how they move their body in the space.

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In this class we looked at conveying texture and sculpture the first part of this process was choosing a photo and drawing the texture and the sculptural elements of that object.

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The second part of looking into sculpture and texture was building a object that represents the object in the photo. My objects as a plant that had beautiful layers with pointy edges. I chose to only use paper and tape for this although we could choose what material we wanted to use. I found that this part of the activity was defiantly very challenging as I struggled to get the paper to hold and capture the texture of the plant. When I tried using clay I found that I could manipulate it much easier however again, I struggled with the textural element. as I was building the object I started to realize the strength of the paper which I underestimated. I then experimented further with it and bent the edges of the paper which I found worked really well.

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Hurwitz's scuptural works stood out to me because of how he manipulates images and turns them into sculptures. He uses perspective, mirrors, light and more to do this. His work, The Scewed, particularly led to me to want to look further into working with anamorphic illusions for my final project. I was intrigued by his play on perspective and how I would engage with his work if I got to see it in person.

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This block i definitely struggled to come up with a concept for my final work. However in class went through various processes to define “3D” as well as the block topic, “disruption”. A word that frequently came up in my mind was illusion and I was keen on investigating that further. While researching, I found Anamorphic Illusion sculptures which involved creating a 3D image that could only be understood from one perspective.  Jonty Hurwitz’s, “The Hurwitz Singularity” inspired me greatly as I wanted to recreate a similar illusion by breaking down and layering different parts of my hand using clay. Although when I started to experiment with this idea I began to realize I enjoyed the casting aspect of the work and didn't feel like I wanted to go further.

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When considering this block’s topic, Disruption, I wanted to consider how I might disrupt a material. To do this I experimented with ways I could make toilet paper, an everyday necessity and manipulate it to represent something that could be considered “sexy”. When considering how I might approach this concept I found that by combining the human body and liquid, on paper I should be able to archive this. In doing this I will disrupt toilet paper by creating a mache/clay consistency in order to create 3-5 different castings of various parts of a body.

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Felix Gonzalez-Torres,“Untitled” (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991,Candies in variously colored wrappers, endless supply,ideal weight 175 lbs

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In this weeks lecture on disruption in artists works Felix Gancales Torres's "Untitled Portrait of Ross in LA) was one of the works that I felt really connected and inspired by. This work is a pile of candy laid on the floor, representative of a portrait of his partner that had passed from AIDS. The candy piled on the floor disrupts the concept of a portrait as it questions what a portrait can be defined as. The weight of the work approximates to the weight of an average male which especially manifest itself as a portrait. The piece is also interactive as the audience is invited to take candy from the pile which adds to the poetic themes of Gonzales's representation of his partner. I felt pulled into this work specifically as its disrupts the concept of a portrait in art but also my want to take the candy. By making the pile of candy on the ground and inviting the audience to take how ever many pieces, it makes me reconsider whether it would be morally right to take it because I feel like I am taking something away from this man's portrait.

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Moving on from here I started to reflect on disruption as a topic and in a class activity started to describe everyday objects using words you wouldn’t normally use, one of which was “sexy toilet paper”. I found by combining the two words, I would be able to disrupt the toilet paper as an everyday object as well as a material. I found to make toilet paper sexy all i needed to do was combine it with the body or liquid. In saying that I decided i would make toilet paper clay/mache and cast various body parts.

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The first batch of toilet paper maché/clay I made, I followed Jonni Good’s recipe. Making the clay itself was a bigger challenge than I realized it would be as I struggled with reducing the size of the toilet paper clumps. I found it effected the way i could cast because the large chunks weighed down a lot more and on top of this it effected it’s drying time significantly.

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The second batch I made, I made sure I had a blender on hand to break down the toilet paper better. This made my mixture much smoother so I could use light, thin layers to cast the body parts. As I started to cast my model’s back I noticed that the mixture was still way to heavy for the shape to hold on it’s own. Once I finished creating my layer of toilet paper mache I used recycled rubbish to create a general shape on the back to lay under the casting to help it hold it’s shape while it dried. The next casting I did was the model’s bum. This time when casting I layed down duct tape over the foil to create a thick and sturdy ground for the mache. Another thing I did differently this time was using a layer of pure joint compound  with toilet paper sheets and drying it before adding the layers of toilet paper mache. While at first I started to get worried that non of my castings were working out, once everything dried from this round, i found i could slowly remove the duct tape as well as the layer of joint compound, leaving me with only a thin layer of toilet paper mache that has been set in shape.

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The final installment of the work was one of the biggest challenges for me. Looking back when I was developing my work I forgot to consider how I was going to install my work. I knew that because of my concept, I wanted by audience to see both front and back of the works. This meant that I needed to have them standing up. I wasn't sure how I was going to have them stand up without damaging my work however I found a couple wooden planks I had already and tried to use them to hold the sculptures. To get them to work with the colors ad textures of my castings, I covered them up in white masking tape giving it an organic white washed wooden color and wrapped it in white knitted tape which especially helped with the texture.

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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In our first lesson of 4D, we were introduced into the topic of light and dark and experimented with our phone cameras where we used various materials such as flashlights, mirrors, colored film paper to manipulate the camera by creating different lenses and effects. I really enjoyed this activity as an introduction into using a camera and what you can archive with it by using found materials. This especially helped me think about light and dark in a more experimental way while showing me that a camera doesn't have to be complicated which was a big concern of mine going into this block.

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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Introduction into the Camera and Lens Experimentation

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In the second week of the 4D block we had a look into archival images and artworks. What was important to me about this topic was how it required an openminded perspective as you are dealing with works that engage in alternative ways of perceiving, thinking and doing. The archive can have various themes such as history, psychology, fiction and can be presented through collage, grids, museums and more.

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L'Hôtel, Chambre 29, 2 works on paper, photographs and ink, 2140 × 1420 mm

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Sophie Calle's "L'Hôtel, Chambre 29" comprises of photographs and texts. The work engages with an archival theme as it documents the details of the hotel guest's lives. Calle photographed what she observed over 3 days of the hotel guests that she didn't see and only documented objects such as their personal items or activities. What I found really interesting about Calle's work is how even though she is representing the guests of the hotel she is inherently representing herself in this work as she chooses what she wants to document and in a way plays a anonymous role in her work.

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Today we also learned about how a digeital camera works and how to use it. in the Beginning I was very overwhelmed with all the infomation however, I found as soon as I used the techniques and what we learned, I started to understand how to control the camera much better and realized that a camera gives you so much freedom when composing an image as you have a lot of creative control.

We learned about how the ISO, shutter speed and aperture were the golden triangle of the camera and allow you to control the exposure. Here the ISO is the light sensitivity of the camera and the aperture is how narrow or wide the lens is open to the light and the shutter speed is how fast the lens closes which is important when there are moving objects.

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When it came to using a film camera, we applied the same technical knowledge as using a digital camera when it came to taking photographs. The main difference between the two was how when you use a film camera you can't look at the images right away and it feels less disposable. For example, when using a digital camera, I felt much more comfortable with making mistakes but in saying that, I preferred the photos taken on a film camera more because I took more time to adjust the settings and choosing the right subject matter as well as the whole process to develope the photos.

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In this weeks class we worked in the Darkroom making photograms. What I enjoyed most about this was the entire process, similarly to developing film. I found how photograms use various resists to compose an imaged so interesting, I loved experimenting with the different objects and textures to create images with movement and form. From this class I was sure I wanted to look more into working with photograms for my final work.

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(VIDEO: 'We Have the Illusory Sense That We Are Separate Entities From the Outside World' Says Susan Derges, 2018), (Susan Derges — EREK NASS, 2013)

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After working in the darkroom for the first time with photograms I looking into artists that made art with photograms and found Susan Derges. Her work combines photograms and chemegram techniques. This specific series of her inspired me the most. Her River series are a collection of photograms she started from 1998 to 2020. Here she has subberged light sensitive paper into the river at night and used moonlight and the movement of the water to capture these images. What I loved most about this series is how she was able top capture an image of the river in a way no camera can. the paper was able to pick up the movement from the water and how it interact with the natural light while casting the strong forms of the branches.

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My initial project centered around photograms. I spent a lot of time creating a variety of photograms using natural objects as a resist such as leaves, branches as well as rubbish and plastic to create compositions that would allude to my overall message of my final work. However after spending time on these prints I found that I was feeling lost and i wasn’t able to pull everything together and something felt off. This made me reconsider my materials and project entirely.

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After looking into the various effects of the different objects that I could use in my photograms I wanted to look further into the Chemigram process and techniques. I found that you can use everyday objects and items such as oil or creams and nailpoliush to get many effects that react to the light sensitive papers.

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This block’s topic, Light and Dark can be explored in a variety of ways through the lens of 4D. For my final work, I aim to investigate the topic of Light and Dark using photograms. I was inspired by the works of Susan Derges who is known for her river print series, where she submerges her photogram paper under the river water in the moonlight to capture the movement of water. This motivated me to capture the beauty of the natural environment with photograms as well as chemigrams. In this process I sought to use natural materials that I collected such as leaves, shells and more as well as materials that are destructive to the environment to use as a resist to the light for my light sensitive paper. My goal for this piece would be to draw attention to the beauty of our natural environment while showing the destruction of it in a collage of my various photo and chemigrams.

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After admitting to myself that my project wasn’t working out, I decided to consider a different path to approach the topic Light and Dark. On one of my walks around where I live, I noticed the various oyster shells and I loved how the light from the sun shined on the luminous lines and the textural detail of the shell. Developing on my original concept, I then realized how the beauty in objects like these oyster shells can often be over looked and disregarded. This led me

to explore various wharfs and bays to search for natural build up of seaweed and seafoam. Using a digital camera on manual settings I ended up capturing a collection of nautical themed images that i found would encapsulate my message. I decided to choose three main images that i took as my main photograph as seen above and collage the majority of my other photographs.

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The installment of my work was a significant part in my project. It was imported to me to allow my viewers to grasp the understanding of the place I am capturing to properly receive the message.

In this process there were some challenges I had to overcome. The largest one was the scale of the work. I was exhibiting my project on a very large wall that I felt was important to fill. I wanted my audience to interact with my photographs in hopes that they might understand my work. This is what led me to place several collaged, cut up photographs all around the wall. This way my viewer’s eyes would have to travel around the wall, looking into the detail of each image. Across installing my work I also found that there were screws all around the wall that I couldn’t remove. This also led me to take advantage of them and use rope. I was incredibly happy with the out come of this as i found that it gave another dimension to my work and toed everything together.

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For my final work in 4D I produced a variety of photographs to communicate the message of beauty and rawness through the topic Light and Dark. In these photographs i aimed to capture the sense of beauty in the natural world and how our society is centered around what is conventionally beautiful and ugly. This contrast was important to me as I realized through the development of this project how critical we can be toward our environment and how easy it may be to oversee many things. In doing this I also wanted to capture the sense of my environment in a less direct manner. I did this by providing my viewer with small cuttings and images of the textures and forms from the environment.

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My final work in this block consists of two sculptures that are castings of a human bum and back using toilet paper maché. The goal for this project was to disrupt toilet paper from an everyday, mundane object  into a sculptural material by using it to represent what one might consider sexy. I was largely inspired by Franz West’s work and how he also incorporates everyday objects in his sculptures while being able to comedically de-sexualize the human body, as seen in his work, “Hängenbosen Ingrid”. When reflecting back on the success of the work, I feel I was able to archive my goal for the project by making toilet paper sexy however, I feel like I could have gone further with it. I found that as I attempted to disrupt the toilet paper, it ended up disrupting my process and challenged me as I started to realize the problems in using paper mache and clay to cast. In my future works I will want to extend on this and explore mediums outside of toilet paper mache to explore castings in a less direct manner.

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1. "Still Life with Flowers and Fruits," ca. 1890, oil on canvas, 66 x 81.5 cm (Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie)

2. Nature morte aux oignons," ca. 1896–98, oil on canvas, 26 x 32 1/4 in. (66 x 82 cm) (Musée d'Orsay, Paris)

Vivid colors (unlike Morandi)

Qualities of impressionism - thick paint application, distinctive brush strokes

Geometric forms

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1. Natura morta, Oil paint on canvas, 375 × 457 mm

Muted colors and composition

Thin layers of paint

Painterly brushstrokes

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Focus on the detail and realness of the fruit and vegetables

Sense of depth and volume

Dramatic lighting and compositions

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When thinking about "the copy" I originally thought of exploring pop art and the idea of multiples of the same image however after learning about still life and it's evolution through different cultures and time periods, I wanted to learn how masters of still life created their paintings and "copy" their techniques to create my own still life.

When depicting a still life, it is very common to use fresh produce as a technique to demonstrate desires and sense of wealth. In this work I will display this in light of the living crisis and overuse of plastics to "modernize" a replica of the three artists I will investigate, Paul Cézanne, Giorgio Morandi and Juan Sanchez-Cotan.

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For my series of still life paintings, I sourced all sorts of frequently bought fresh produce objects from Coles and began to brainstorm and develop a fitting composition for each painting. I wanted to experiment woth how the plastic interacts with the light source and different ways of how it's laid on the table, if it's torn, hung or in relation to the other objects.

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At this stage I started to reflect on how realistic completing 3 paintings in the size of canvas I wanted to use, considering the time frame I had. Because of this, I decided I wanted to focus on going in depth into one artist's works, Juan Sanchez-Cotan in a larger scale. I was drawn to his still life works mainly from the dramatic lighting and how he is able to capture each element of the different objects in the cantinera.

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Toward the end of the painting, I had to reconsider my composition as I noticed it was a little too overwhelming so I decided to simplify it by removing a couple objects. Reflecting on it I am very happy with this decision.

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Jeslyn Low, Acrylic on Canvas, 60cm by 80cm, 26th March 2024

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My final work for "The Copy" is a still life painting influenced by the 17th century, Spanish Still Life painter, Juan Sanchez-Cotan. Using acrylic on canvas which follows similar dimensions as the artist's original works, I wanted to explore Cotan's still life composition and techniques through a modern day context. In his still life paintings, the objects are placed in a cantinera, where some items are hung, both to longer preserve the fruits, veg and meats. Reflecting on this I aimed to display how today, there is a large market for plastic wrapped goods, especially used to "preserve" our fresh produce.

Throughout the process of producing this work, I struggled with capturing the great detail of the objects Cotan archives in his works. However, reflecting on it now, because of the intended focus on the plastic and it's interaction in the space of the composition, I am happy with how it turned out. With that, moving forward with this piece, I would work further on adding dimension and depth in the objects outside of the plastic.

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"Singapore Girl" uniform - Sarong Kebaya

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This traditional uniform consists of two separate parts, the sarong (skirt) typically a simple tube, folded around the body and a kebaya, the blouse with a fitted waist and wide arms. they usually feature floral patterns with lace trim and batik print.

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The sarong Kebaya as the Singapore Airline uniform was designed to merge the historical roots and multi cultural nature of Singapore as it derives links from Pakistan, Mayasia. For my project I want to recreate a sarong kebaya as a representation of my culture and use the fabric as a canvas to do so. The print of the fabric that im gonna paint will represent my identity with a Belgian influence merged into my Singaporean identity.

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Reflecting on this work, I do feel like it could have gone further. During the production there were challenges that effected the success of the final product. I largely struggled with the sewing portion of the work which resulted in the accuracy of the measurements as well as the material I was working with as it made it a unforgiving surface to paint on. To get past this, I opted for a more painterly effect when painting. All in all the Sarong Kebaya's design allowed me to merge my cultural heritage between the Western and traditional South East Asian influences. Going forward I would continue to refine this work and experiment further with the presentation and functionality of the work.