Tell us about your work and what informs it
‘advertising plunges us into this stupefied, hyperreal euphoria that we would not exchange for anything else, and that is the empty and inescapable form of seduction.’
Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 1981
Evaluating the falsity of the advertising image is the core to my artistic practice. By ‘breaking’ the perfect media photograph, I am exploring the illusion and ‘reality’ of the image within my painting. What continues to interest me is advertising’s power to create pseudo desires: consumers are aware of the manipulation but are drawn in by a seductive commercial dream. The fake image is placed in the media as an escape from everyday reality and to incite emotion. Through appropriation and intervention, my work questions the construct of the image and disrupts the false window in the spectacle.
In my recent paintings I address the symbols and semiotics within the media image, which psychologically transport the viewer into daydreams and nostalgia. More specifically, I am questioning the illusory travel and holiday advertising image. The false paradises created in the idyllic brochures and adverts are almost a hollow façade to the reality of the destination. The fabricated image is too perfect, almost giving a sinister feeling as fake as consumerism’s promise. Painting itself is a falsity which the viewer seeks to believe in, an unreal surface existing in the world: and the dripping physical marks pushed around the canvas in tropical fluorescents echo as this dislocation from reality.
I began Third Year with an exploration into the ‘perfect’ and illusory nature of fashion magazine and perfume adverts. Creating drawings, collages and paintings derived from performative photo-shoots, I explored the empowerment vs. vulnerability of the model in the eyes of the media. Having resolved this train of thought, I maintained interest in ‘breaking’ the perfect media image. I began to ‘break’ the photograph as an act of destruction: ripping, scraping or painting gesturally over the picture. However, I felt a more subtle intervention would speak more clearly about the perfect unreal image to which I was addressing.
A series of photographs I took of Farnham town inspired the juxtaposition of ‘real’ vs. ‘fake’ which exists in my final paintings. I made a series of collages appropriating the ‘perfect’ picturesque landscape of the holiday brochure, and the mundane and ordinary ‘reality’ of the elements gleaned from around Farnham. This included rubbish bins, pylons, electricity boxes and skips, for example; elements that would never be seen in an idyllic travel brochure image. The collages became a developmental journey for me regarding colour and composition: bringing in the imperfect aspects into the tropical paradise.
The illusion is amplified with the heightened, toxic fluorescent colours in the final paintings. Saccharine and sickly, the colours allure but repel. The artificiality of the trashy loose brushstrokes over a primed flat neon create incandescent scenes of empty contemporary landscapes that do not exist. ‘Non-place’ and inconsequential, the added elements in the paintings are not picturesque. The obvious fakery in the new image creates an unsettling feeling: a gesture towards the man-made world we live in as well as the deception of the image.
Where there any issues you encountered with the development and how did you overcome them or make use of them?
I suppose the issue of scale in my work. My collages were A3 or smaller, yet I wanted to create paintings which were all consuming in colour and dimension, like Chantal Joffe or Makiki Kudo’s paintings. I did not leave enough time towards the end of the term to spend up-scaling my work to the size I wanted. However, even though I would have wanted paintings emulating billboard advertising, I hope the colour is bright and intense enough to still be all consuming to the viewer.
Theory I have been influenced by over my time at UCA are writings by Jean Baudrillard and Guy Debord: theories of hyperreality and the spectacle.Their cynical (and at times quite depressing) accounts of society being overcome by consumerism, the image-based world and advertising, is powerful and resonates with me. However their exaggerated tone has left them with many critics. Other theorists include Roland Barthes, whose writings on the image and the lies of photography have recently become of increased interest to me, and I want to read more of his works in the future. His concepts of semiotics and signs were very relevant to me this term in regards to the reading of the media image. Moreover, I am consumed by the train of thought reflecting the concept of ‘reality’: how everything around us is socially constructed.
Contemporary painters like Chantal Joffe, Makiki Kudo (as I have already mentioned), whose raw juxtaposition of colour on a surface is work which excites me most. Also, Joan Mitchell’s paintings, Monet’s waterlillies and Rauschenberg’s combines are very influential. Seeing the work in museums and galleries is highly important to me, as works can have an effect on you which you will not expect until you have witnessed them in real life. Moreover, seeing paintings by Armuld Jalut in Paris on the Fine Art Paris trip really confirmed my desire to paint, and gave me confidence in my final works.
What do you think is the most significant thing that has helped you during your time a UCA Farnham?
Being in such a creative environment, having conversation and debate with peers about art was significant. The opportunity to see people’s work develop as their knowledge and confidence grew. I think as well having my own knowledge develop from lectures and tutorials- when tutors encourage your processes, believe in you and your work it is important as a Fine Art student. Also when visiting artists come in and discuss your work with you was key, as well as having an insight into their journey as a practising artist from artist talks.
What did you learn from the process of producing your Farnham exhibition?
In the hanging of the degree show I learnt that less is more, to really consider the space, light and surroundings of the work, as the key in decision making. I learnt that to put on a degree show is a lot of work and teamwork is important!
What are you planning next?
Apart from exhibitions with UCA I have had two exhibitions this year so far, one in London and Amsterdam. I am in a show called ‘doors in the wall’, at BEARSPACE gallery and Number 3 gallery London, Deptford, in June, which a group of us from Fine Art are organising. I am also currently applying to several open call competitions to show my final paintings. I am in the process of writing applications for residencies, one of which is in Melbourne for 2015 which sounds very exciting. In the long term I would like to do an MA in Fine Art, but I will need to work on my practice for a few years before I apply.
60 Second Interview from earlier in the year.
