UCA Farnham Fine Art Student Profile 2014 - Craig Davidge

Tell us what your work is about

I am often drawn to quite dark subject matters such as horror, psychology and the unknown, yet also have a interest in humour and informative narratives. 

In my current practice I have explored the issue of the 3rd gender within the horror film industry and the reproduced monsterization portrayed through history on this minority group. 

I have explored the fear of ‘the other’ to exploit the bigotry present within heteronormative society on gender and created an informative yet humorous performance piece taking inspiration from the camp horror B movies and the queer drag scene. I formed a queer monster persona for my film which engages in a séance with the late horror actor Vincent Price, the voice of horror who was himself a homosexual. I used extracts of his voice, manipulated and reproduced it to create an informative narrative with my created personas that play out the exaggerated fears of bigotry. I have appropriated the soundtrack from the original films in all their camp glory and used them within the new framework of my narrative.

I initially wanted to create humorous horror themed photographs, but through my extensive research on the concept of the ‘camp’ factor within horror films, the discrimination of the 3rd gender within these films became so apparent it intrigued me to research into this further, particularly reading "Monsters in the Closet" by Harry Benshoff. I also became greatly interested in camp budget effects and so I started to explore this aesthetic further which developed my work on from photography to moving image because of the additional scope this gave me.

I found issues with the limitation of photography as a medium to form the narrative I wanted. Although I consider myself an intermedia artist I often create fine art photography works, so exploring film was quite a new medium for me. Also putting myself in a performance work, personalised the film to some extent which was quite challenging.

Apart from Harry Benshoff and Vincent Price what else influenced the development of your work?

From a theoretical perspective I found Susan Sontag’s theory Notes on ‘Camp’ pretty influential as theory on the concept of the ‘camp’ hasn’t been explored in great detail and it was this that developed my idea into sexuality and gender. Freud also was important, looking at his theories on the Super Ego, the uncanny and Dreams was influential in creating my video and the character. In terms of practice I found inspiration from numerous sources, B movies, films, theatre, musicians, documentaries, TV and Youtubers. But with regard to artists who mediate many of the same sources and deal with the same issues is was those who incorporate performance such as; Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley, Nick Zedd and Leigh Bowery. These were most significant as they helped me to find away to perform a persona that was uncanny, horrific, yet camp and humorous and helped me to do this on a staged set.

What is the most significant thing that has helped you whilst studying at UCA Farnham?

I found the most significant thing to be my peers. You can often take for granted as an artist the motivation and influence others can have on your own practice, and the varied knowledge others have around you that can help develop your work. With the course becoming more very self directed, your peers are a significant source to bounce ideas off, help develop your work and keep you going when things get a little rocky.

I learnt that I can create myself a professional looking exhibition with professional work, that I am now not a student but an artist and I can produce work to be proud to show to the public. It gave me confidence in my own abilities and that I can come away from UCA Farnham independent and do it again.

What are your future plans?

My initial plan is to keep motivated in the art scene. Get a job within the arts sector that I can put what I have gained into motion and finance my own continuing practice which you can check out online.

 davidgearts.tumblr.com

UCA Farnham Fine Art Student Profile 2014 - Flo Yapp

What are the main themes you have explored in your work and why are they important to you?

Often textiles art is seen as an outsider art or as a type of craft. I want to expand the expectations of Fine Art to acknowledge textiles and tactile sculpture as an acceptable form of contemporary art.  My starting point was tactile sculpture, which is where my interest in interactive work stems from.

My practice explores textiles from tactile sculpture to embroidery. I primarily focus on interaction and participation, and feel that it is crucial for the viewer to touch and experience the artwork. I also create hand embroidery pieces, which are smaller in scale, exploring a craft element. With the smaller scale and the handmade quality referencing smaller batch production rather than mass manufacture. These works are not made to be put on a plinth or in a case, but instead invite the viewer to break down the boundaries between themselves and the artwork.

I explore the decline of the British textile industry, as well as craft and home-work.  Investigating the role of women at a time when a lot of British manufacture has moved abroad, I am confronting the viewer with the value of women’s work.

My work is greatly influenced by Lygia Clark, a Brazilian artist whose interactive sculpture was, at times, created to be destroyed by the participant. Her work A casa e o corpo (The House is a Body), 1968, was the first work I discovered in the book Women Artists in the 20th and 21st Century by Uta Grosenick. The piece is an interactive womb-like space in which the participant experiences the stages of birth. The idea of creating a space where you could create an experience by altering the senses of a participant excited me.

How did you develop the idea that produced your final exhibition work?

I developed my degree show performance from the ideas I was working with at the time. I had recently created a performance entitled Destruction/Mending that I felt needed to be resolved through the creation of another work. I wanted to confront the viewer with the reality of mass manufacture, whilst also exploring the idea of the artist’s assistant and the authorship of the work produced.

I encountered some issues with the development, the biggest issue was finding a space that was appropriate for the work to be displayed. I don’t feel that the performance was necessarily as successful as it could have been, as I think that I could have replicated an industry setting more successfully, and should have had multiple performers interacting with one another.

I said from the start that the outcome of the performance would be important whether it is a success or a failure, and I feel that it has been important in the resolution of my performance work.

During the exhibition I learnt a lot about curating a space with a large number of artists who all had contrasting work. You have to learn to make the best of the space you have.

http://vimeo.com/91397066

What do you think is the most significant thing that has helped you during your time a UCA Farnham?

I started vlogging towards the end of the year to generate an exchange of ideas and a discussion around my practice, and I think that this is something that I would encourage all art students to do now. It really forces you to think about your practice and gives you feedback from people outside of your university network. Work experience is also really important and I would encourage any student to gain as much industry experience alongside their studies as the contacts you will gain will be really important once you graduate.

What are you planning next?

 

At the moment I am working on a few projects including co-curating Fresh Is More at APG gallery in Sheffield (which runs from 27th August to 1st September).

In October I am going to study a Masters degree in Participatory and Community Art. In the future I hope to create my own gallery and community art space, utilising the skills and knowledge, as well as the contacts gained during postgraduate study. I want to create a space that not only supports the community and acts as a hub for local people, but a place that also has international links, supporting graduates and emerging artists. This arts space will be a place for creativity within theatre and music and the arts.

I also hope to be able to continue working as a practicing artist.

UCA Farnham Fine Art Student Profile 2014 - Eliel Jones

What have you explored in your work and why? 

Within the work I produced for my final piece (‘Carola Jane’, 2014), as my practice resolution that is, I explored several themes that intertwined with each other and materialised conceptually and physically at different levels. At the very beginning, the work emerged unexpected from an encounter with a complete stranger. The documentation of this meeting and the series of events which followed formed the basis from which I started to structure and build an archive which was both real and fictitious. Within this material there were different layers of content which individually took a life of their own - a methodology which almost freely formed extrapolated stories that touched upon varied topics such as religion, politics or science.

Within this context the work started to develop into a solid amalgamation of documents, photographs, video footage, objects, facsimiles etc. which inevitable brought the subject of the archive as a contemporary medium into the forefront of my work. It was then when I realised how the work had the potential to explore the notion of information within the gallery space as a contemporary experience. How does an archive become a piece of art? How does information and research become a valuable contemporary experience for the public? How objective or reliable can it be within a contemporary context? And how, why and when should it exist there?

It was important for me to consider these themes for different reasons. Firstly, it was relevant for me to pursue a project which mainly parted from a personal experience. For a while I had longed to produce work which could serve as an interior reflection as well as maybe providing an external outlook into issues which we might all commonly share or have experienced; in this case the series of occurrences that unfolded could possibly speak of the experience of loss or mourning, the idea of events that could have happened but never did, the contemplation of a different past/present/future or a search of spiritual significance, amongst other things.

Secondly, I believe many of the issues touched upon in regards to the experience of information today both in and out of the art context to be relevant and appropriate to current issues and concerns within my immediate surroundings. - How do we know information is reliable? How do we distinguished between what is real and what is not? Where do traditional and seemingly more “truthful” sources of information such as archives, museums or books stand amongst forces such as wikipedia or google?

We are part of a society which is constantly encouraged to live or aspire to live a life of fiction - sometimes even cheered to tell our life stories as some kind of movie. It was important for me to somehow manage to confuse the viewer with the experience of information, but not necessarily to trick them; the audiences pre-conceptions certainly determined this and therefore the extent of the work’s success.

How did you develop the idea that produced your final exhibition work?

In order to explore how information is experienced within a contemporary context it was important to grant the work with the status of an archive. Referencing Taryn Simon’s ‘A living man declared dead and other chapters’  I envisioned developing a series of framed panels which would contain the main narrative of the story following a coherent structure. I also designed a cabinet that would contain some of the objects and facsimiles hoping to enhance the chronology and materialisation of the archive. The enlightenment came after trying out a hundred other options though. The truth is that, as much as the notion of the archive is essential when seeing and understanding the work in it’s current form, it was never the way I thought the project would materialise. It was only when almost all the material was gathered and the narrative was in development when it became obvious that an archive would suit the content best. I think from that point on it became really clear how everything was to progress and the practicalities that I needed to follow in order to produce the final exhibited work.

Where there any issues you encountered with the development and how did you overcome them or make use of them?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, arriving at the idea of using the archive as the format for the work wasn’t a straight path. I remember experimenting with many different plans or outcomes. This was something that was always picked up at my initial peer and one-to-one tutorials, the fact that I was experimenting a lot but not really determining what the materialisation of this narrative - however peculiar - was going to be. I suppose I overcame them by really getting to know my work; the content, it’s potential, the ingrained concepts that it carried - even unconscious ones - and specially my thoughts or projections over it. When I really understood what the work was about - what I wanted it to say and do - identifying it’s final outcome wasn’t that daunting; it almost came natural.

Who's work has been a significant influence on you? 

Too many just to mention briefly! But I suppose two undeniable references that have influenced my practice and my final piece in particular were artist Sophie Calle and novelist Paul Auster. Sophie’s practice was relevant in that it spoke to me very directly of the use of her personal life as subject matter, placing herself as both the author and character. Sometimes she established a very fine line between being a photographer and a performer, placing herself as well as the people she encounters in the realms of the fictional. This I thought was particular poignant when thinking of ‘Carola Jane’, and indeed her early work ‘Suite Venitienne’ (1979) really influenced many of the strategies that I was later to employ/explore/re-construct myself.

As to Paul Auster, it seems silly now that I never made the connection between him and Sophie Calle. I was pointed out by a visiting artist that in fact Auster and Calle had collaborated on a work together, ‘The Gotham Handbook’ in 1998, a few years after Calle had asked Auster to use her as a character for one of his novels, Leviathan (1992). Anyhow, I started reading Auster unaware of the connection with Calle before I started university. The first title I read was ‘The New York Trilogy’ (1986) and I remember what really strike me at the time was the confusion he dawn on me as to the plot and narrative of the three different short stories. Then I read one of his more recently published novels ‘invisible’ (2009) and again I was confused, but this time in regards to wether the fiction was much of a fiction or if there was any truth within the story. His style of writing, tone and ability to form endless different plots, characters and events within one same narrative has always fascinated me and indeed has influenced this particular work.

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Could you talk about the role of anthropology in relation to your practice?

I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve always been so keen to learn about the life of others, strangers particularly; passers by, commuters on the train, anonymous online users on Chatroulette, an older woman living in her car… it provides me with an unlimited space for the imagination of an unfolded story. I don’t necessarily seek to study them, but people quite often end up as the subject of my practice, either directly or not.

Contrary to Anthropology, my practice and work as an artist doesn't pretend to seek or show factuality of any kind. I might part from real events or facts but objective concerns or accounts are almost never my field of interest; fiction and fantasy are normally what form my narratives. I am however, as mentioned in another question, concerned about the relationship between these two approaches and the lines that exist between them; history and memory, reality and fiction, truth or invention...

Maybe another aspect in which my practice links to this field is when considering my work methodologies and outcomes. I normally part from research and investigation immersing myself within the context of the subject. My work has repeatedly taken the form of books, archives, displays etc…materialisations which might be linked to an empirical study. 

I must say that I have found the politics of Anthropology troubling sometimes; the lack of a specific narrative maybe. I feel time and time again individual experiences have been alienated into a common ground of research and opportunities for the expression or understanding of these have been replaced by a wider perception of a shared history. The desire to study and confine a group of people by their social, cultural or national identity (even if clearly defined or not) kind of troubles me in vision of the "politics of representation" that have emerged in the past. 

Regardless of this there are examples on how Anthropology and Art can often meet in ways that are appropriate, relevant and nuanced like in the case of Susan Hiller or Joseph Beuys work and of course Taryn Simons. It is definitely a field that influences and defines my practice, a subject of study which I am keen to develop further and instigate at different levels. 

What do you think is the most significant thing that has helped you during your time a UCA Farnham?

UCA Farnham is a bit like a family. Not having an overwhelming amount of students as well as living in such a quaint little village such as Farnham has really proven to be an advantage when it comes to forming relationships with my peers, lectures and tutors as well as staff at the university. The amount of support, advice and encouragement that I have received from this cohort of people has truly provided me with invaluable memories, friendships and connections for the future.

What did you learn from the process of producing your Farnham exhibition?

I learned that in the future I should plan as if everything’s going to go wrong. I think that would have really given me a bit more peace of mind and certainly more sleep!

What are you planning next?

Well, several things actually! I am currently a Summer Intern at a Salmon fishery in the furthest most remote northern point of Norway. This is mainly a temporary ‘money job’, but it is also a time that I’m using to develop a film piece which is yet to be titled and a series of one-off documented performances (you can see some stills below). I’m not sure what will come out of it, but at the moment I’m just experimenting with the surroundings and responding to the immediate environment - that is the intricate relationship I have developed with the salmons (kidding, but not kidding!).

After that, it’s still a bit of a surprise!! The only thing I can say it’s that I’m moving to the USA at the end of August and I will be there for a year working on something very exciting. I will very soon be able to update on the exact details of my adventure.

As to ‘Carola Jane’, my plan and hope is to materialise the archive into a book - almost like an exhibition catalogue - which might push further the idea of reality and fiction within the archive in  the context of the contemporary and the experience of information and research. I hope to do this within the next year. 

Interview about the development of Carola Jane from earlier in the year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGNYa0Gtq_4

UCA Farnham Fine Art Student Profile 2014 - Peter Hanmer

What are the main themes you have explored in your work and why are they important to you?

My work revolves around a range of political, philosophical, environmental, and social themes such as extinction, power, ideological extremes, short-termism and apocalypse.  I take inspiration from real world events, such as climate change and the banking crisis and then put those themes into a separate fantastical, satirical world where the normal rules don’t apply and everything is ramped up to an extreme. I want the work to be subversive as well as provoking a reaction from the viewer, so I use animal bones to create characters and structures. 

I want my work to perform what I see as one of the most important functions of art; that of cultural critique.  Through the narrative driven events taking place in this separate world I am keen to reflect, alot of the time humorously, on the events in our own world.  This is for my own enjoyment and to engage the viewer in political theory which is often a switch off; important though it is to us all.  The fantastical side of the work is important to me because they are no limits to what I can create in a fantastical setting; and for the audience it gives them a new world to explore and engage with.  I can let my imagination run wild; while still making work that is politically and culturally relevant fulfilling my two main passions and interests.  

The two final pieces I put into the degree show have very much been a whole year project.  Originally they were meant to be part of the same larger city piece, but in the end due to time constraints, and the fact that they both worked better as individual pieces they became separate pieces. The building process for my work is a mixture of planning i.e. a royal family photo shoot was planned well before I got to the point of making it happen; and spontaneity.  For example during the building process I’ll see an empty space and I know that I need to fill; though I strive to fit all characters and events into the over arching narrative.  

Failures Shrine

Failures Shrine explores the ideological extreme of unfettered Capitalism; in the words of the philosopher Slavoj Zizek the quest to expand capital is like ‘a strange perverted duty’ anything can be sacrificed ‘up to our lives up to nature’.  This mindset is ripe for satire in a world where all things are ramped up to an extreme.  The piece focuses on a large building that looks like a cross between a bank and a place of worship, its raised above a waste land within which only a few live.  Of those few remaining alive most of them are trying to climb up the stairs to join the very people with the governing ideology that has sacrificed everything in pursuit of material wealth and short term survival; most do not make it.  The building its self references the banking crisis ‘too big to fail’, and the scaffolding and repair work being done on the building deliberately shows the propping up of a broken system.  The piece also references class in the form of a royal family photo shoot along with various other political, ecological and philosophical themes. 

Impending desolation

Impending desolation is an extension of the waste land you see round the edge of Failures Shrine. It explores a set of similar themes chief among them short-termism and a man-made environmental disaster.  It focuses on a tree which is the last vaguely living thing in the world.  Close on the edge of the hill an old character leaning on his walking stick is reading a sign that says ‘Forlorn Hope’.  Other than the connotations that come with those words this sums one of the key aspects of my world, the layered or hidden meaning, along with humour.  This is because the character who is reading the sign has the skull of a mole and moles have incredibly bad eyesight.  He can’t read the sign anyway; what little hope there is will not be acted on.

Who's work has been a significant influence on you?

Aesthetically the artist Tessa Farmer has been influential in terms of both the content and form that the work takes.  The Chapman Brother's work has also had a big influence on my practice, partly because of their models, but also through their use of shock, humour and narrative layering to get political and social messages across. The satirical cartoons of Steve Bell, Chris Riddell and Martin Rowson have also influenced the humorous aspects of my work.   Personally I find satire a much better way of engaging people politically than preaching at them.

Contextually the writing and film work of the philosopher and theorist Zizek, along with the humorous way he often presents his thoughts and ideas, have been a big influence.  Along with other theorists which include Terry Eagleton, who pin points one of arts key functions as a cultural critic, Louis Althusser writings on the Repressive State and the Ideological State Apparatuses; to name a few.   

What do you think is the most significant thing that has helped you during your time a UCA Farnham?

As mentioned above Tessa Farmer’s work has been a big influence on my practise and during my second year I did a two week internship with her at her studio in London.  The help and technical know-how she taught me took my work from being rudimentary  and crude to where it is today; a major leap in quality and depth.  As a source of information on the art world she was also extremely helpful.  At UCA Farnham the critiques and conversations I’ve had with tutors and my peers have been very useful for continually pushing my work forward and the private views of the degree show and the Facing Extinction Conference with Gustav Metzger,  have also been confidence building. 

What did you learn from the process of producing your Farnham exhibition?

I need to improve my estimation on how long my sculptures will take me to make. I finished 'Failures Shrine' literally a day before the private view, but I’m glad that a pushed myself hard this year to make my work more ambitious in scope. It is important that I keep pushing the boundaries. Team work was also important during the set up; we all had work together so the work would be up in time. Outside advice on the placing of my work as well ultimately the decision on where the work was placed came down to me but without the advice and assistance of the technicians and lecturers, the pieces would have suffered in their placement within the space. 

What are you planning next?

I would like to build on my experiences taking part in the Gustav Metzger Exhibition and Conference. I have taken part in 1 group show already in London as part of a collective we have formed and have another lined up at The Strand Gallery from the 21st – 27th of July.  Also I have been applying for several different open submission opportunities and competitions, including the Royal British Society Bursary Awards 2014.  I have been looking at several different residency options for later this year.  In the longer term I’m looking at the possibility of doing a Masters degree.

I am going to keep collecting materials and keep making work; of all different sizes, pushing myself both technically and conceptually to make the best work I possibly can and exhibit it. You have to work hard to make it happen and I intend to.

www.peterhanmer.com


Interview with Peter about his practice from earlier in the academic year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBaTk4uEiNE