A significant part of these past 2 weeks has been self-reflection on my a-level work to figure out a good way to progress effectively with this project. I originally came into this already with 2 solid concepts of where I wanted my project to go, with the actual planning stage being an afterthought. However, I realised that this mindset often led to me being unsatisfied with a final piece of work in the past due to my set focus not allowing me to fully take into consideration timing and open myself up to change that differs from my original idea.
My initial sketches already had 2 possible final pieces in mind, both taking on a surrealist element as a look into the concept of a perception of reality due to mental health which up until 2 years ago was reflective of my personal experience with the everyday. Therefore, I see this as therapeutic in a way, as a way of moving on from it through the creation of these pieces.
I quickly came to the realisation that to achieve my best for this project it would instead be best for me to have a small starting point that would allow me to expand and evolve by being able to consider all possible routes instead of restricting myself to one with a set goal. With this, I decided to place a focus on graffiti, reflective of my every day growing up in a working-class, city environment, during which my love for spray paint as a medium was sparked from an early age. With this in mind, I plan to use cardboard as a canvas due to its accessibility in these early stages to practice various designs that link to my base idea of derealisation and experiment with collaging the graffiti, before deciding how I want to move it further perhaps through levelling and/or multi-media. To begin this I first have to find a place in which I’ll be able to work and am currently looking at various possible spots that are quiet and isolated to prevent disrupting anyone.
One of my favourite graffiti artists is called ‘Sweet Toof’, a UK-based graffiti and street artist, whose style in regards to detail can vary but in the sense of classic graffiti, I love the bold lines and simple but effective colouring that allows his work to stand out alongside a unique, surrealist trademark image of a skull with comical, large, cartoonish teeth that are also often seen by themselves.
“To get one’s teeth into things, before it’s too late.”
“Teeth can be really sexy, or aggressive, but they’re also constant reminders of death. They’re how we get recognised by police when there’s nothing else left.”
I found your posts, you need to check/tick your name under ‘search categories’ in order for your posts to appear in your notebook. So a good start Jennifer, you have set your table – identified your area of exploration and investigation and it is exciting. To catch up you need to research 2 of the artists projects that I presented in last week presentation/lecture part one, you can find the bibliography and Powerpoint presentation in the Week 2 folder in Learning Materials on BB. Because graffiti is regarded as criminal damage and if caught or if I or the university were seen to be encouraging graffiti then we could be collectively prosecuted under section 1 of the criminal act 1971, so I strongly advise you to ask Phil for an 8 x 4 board(s) to work on, you can work on the board(s) in the courtyard at the back outside the CA studio, with plastic or cotton sheet and under Phil’s instruction and guidance. Start by doing designs on paper and making stencils perhaps, look at more graffiti artists or and include more in your posts.