The beginning and all the thoughts.
In the classic Lena fashion I started my project not in week one, but, in week two.
To beginning I firstly reflected on my first project in this theme of time, asking myself what needs to change in order for this extended time that I have granted myself (through the failure of a completed project in term 2) to be the most productive but enjoyable experience. I want to take forward the elements that worked and rejected everything that made me freeze. Miranda reminded me to mostly just simply enjoy this time.
So, to start the new I ask myself these questions:
What does time mean to me?
Am I working with or against time?
Can time really be wasted?
What am I doing with my time?
Is time the most important universal currency?
How can my time be visually depicted?
These question to me are a constant when exploring this theme of time, the questions may not be directly answered in this project or even in the grand scheme of things in my lifetime but they are still food for thought.
The definition of time:
‘The indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present and future regarded as a whole’
The official definition of time is really where this project starts. I find certain words fascinating when related to time, specifically ‘whole’ the idea that time is separated into three (past present and future) but seen as a whole is something that had not occurred to me. I personally view time as linear, a timeline not as a complete whole thing. This made me think:
‘I exist in this moment, in the past moments and in the future moments’
More then anything it started to make me think of death. Death is the end of our time and in a way the completion of the cycle and therefore the creation of wholeness. And, so, I want to think of this project as the death of the old, the rebirth of the new but through the lessons of the past and hopefully with time the completion of a whole.
Artist Research:
Anish Kapoor
Anish Kapoor once said that red is the most human colour but it is also the colour of the Earth. I remember when I first read this philosophy around the colour red it changed the way I myself used and viewed colour as a painter and seeing Kapoor’s work again many years later reminded me of the power of colour. Kapoor’s paintings through his own philosophy in there abstraction could be representative of either human or the Earth.
For me as a starting point I want to paint my idea of the end (death) working in a similar colour pallet to Kapoor’s. I am trying to in a way reflect my psyche in the paintings.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/paintings-indonesias-death-row-exhibition-myuran-sukumaran
I also looked at Myu, an Indonesian death row prisoner who paints mostly figurative paintings in his time in prison. to me it is fascinating to see what is produced when you have this death sentence hanging over your head.
The work begins:
To start I went for a walk and photographed anything that caught my eye. This tends to be elements such as texture, colour and movement:
Then returning home and creating clay sculptures that are representative of me:
Then taking the figures into my painting space to use as a loose refences for the painting:
Moving forward into Week 3 I want to make a conscious effort to not put myself into a painting ‘box’ it is a nice start to the creative process but I am keen to push other materials.