CLASS NOTES AND THOUGHTS
I particularly enjoyed the start of the class although I was very late… I blame migraines lets hope they don’t affect to many more classes ! I took some warming up but the best part was the creative thinking about objects that we had to re-learn. Everyones thoughts were particularly organic – I wonder what it would be like not associating objects with each other. A pen and paper go together for example – same with a rubber and a pencil… what if we un – learned this ? How could we put ourself in this mindset ?
I’m never the best with drawing and watching I feel. I tried to keep it simple on my paper. Therefore lots of the images are words that I picked out that made the most importance to me. Maybe next week I will try some creative drawing.
After class was the best it was soo good to hear about everyones project and to meet my classmates more. I think we all really enjoyed hearing about Oscar and his receipts…they stand out as a highlight for sure, haha !
Class Notes on Marcel Duchamp (these are exactly what I wrote or copy and pasted in class
Marcel Duchamp
Bicycle Wheel 1913,
There are two versions of this project one which was made in 1913 and the other was made in 1916 -1917
Part of the Readymades series which are ordinary manufactured objects that were selected and then modified.
The bicycle wheel is Duchamps first ready made artwork. It is currently on display in MoMA
“Retinal Art” – Duchamp was need interested in this and wanted his work to become less visual and more tangible hence the object choice
Was friendly with the dadists and also later the surrealists
Duchamp argued, “An ordinary object [could be] elevated to the dignity of a work of art by the mere choice of an artist.”
The readymade also defied the notion that art must be beautiful. Duchamp claimed to have chosen everyday objects “based on a reaction of visual indifference, with at the same time a total absence of good or bad taste….
Marcel Duchamp, in full Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp, (born July 28, 1887, Blainville, France—died October 2, 1968, Neuilly), French artist who broke down the boundaries between works of art and everyday objects.
Duchamp shared with him the feeling that Cubism was too systematic, too static and “boring.” They both passed directly from “semirealism” to a “nonobjective” expression of movement. There they met “Futurism” and “Abstractionism,” which they had known before only by name.
https://philamuseum.org/collection/object/51449
Thoughts on the Everyday from the Week
Sunday, I had my usual busy day starting with leading and guiding people on mountain bike trails. In the evening I ended up supporting a friend who was singing in church. The pastor was talking about the importance helping one of one another and the humility of asking for help. The words stick in my head ‘WE ALL NEED HELP’ . The reading was from Genesis 42.
Genesis 42
Class trip out to the pub got us all talking about our projects, always an extra valuable part of the week.
Inspiration
This week I have been thinking about creating machines patterns and repetition have been in my head. These were a couple of vids that have caught my attention.
IDEAS FOR MY PROJECT
Time and spending time. I think the imagery of a clock… something that goes around everyday.
I want to get a clock and take it apart and then rebuild it ! Is there some way in which I can make a sculpture work to create it into something much more !?
The clock should be a pendulum clock so that it visually striking… can I make a pendulum how does one go about this ?
STUDIO TIME !
So I’m still at the stage where the work is not fully formed and I was aware that I had not created any physical work it was all locked mostly in my head. So the first thing to do was get cracking in the studio. I went into the space with no particular direction. I knew that I wanted to do something with my bicycle. Lots of ideas about time were going through my head. But I was unsure what was going to happen ! In the end I sat just thinking what to do. Then I just though lets juts suspend my bicycle from the ceiling… I think it was because there was a set of ladders left in the studio space and I looked up and saw that there was a wooden beam on the ceiling. It just all fell into place !
I grabbed the assistance of one of my friends who was gessoing her’ canvases and we managed to hang the bike up using fishing wire (thank you Zoe).
There was something special about just hanging my bicycle in such a space. It reminds me so much of the work by Duchamp that we were looking at in class, “the everydays”. This is an everyday object it is rare that I don’t cycle somewhere on this bicycle it takes me to the shops and back, to university and back, to work and back. This bike is the epitome of my everyday. An object that is mine – I use this everyday ! You can see my initial photographs of the bicycle “suspended” in the space. At this point I wasn’t thinking too much about what I had done, the artwork was just organically happening in front of me !
“THE EVERYDAY BIKE“
My “Everyday Bike” was now a piece of artwork, so I treated it and observed it as so. The first thing that came to mind was that the bike has rust on it that has built up over time and time. Going back to the everyday wear and tear of such a machine and object. I decided to photograph all of these rusty, corroded and worn locations. In some loverly organic way it is poetic that I bought the bike with me as my everyday mode of transport rather than it being brought as a piece of artwork.
Where could this idea be taken ?
It would be interesting to get a larger sample size. Immediately what springs to mind is what about all of my colleagues bikes. What do they ride to work ? It would be great to get a little story behind the objects that take them on their journey to work everyday. What is their journey to work everyday, how far is it ?
PLAYING WITH THE BIKE
Shadows and Lighting
First Lighting always important. I grabbed some lights from the storeroom to control the lighting in the project room. I could have probably done with some stronger lights but this is all in hindsight. The beauty of lighting is that you can get these mesmerising shadows that just add to the final work. In person there is a whole extra piece of work just in the shadows of the image. If I am to take this idea further I would like to see if I could focus the shadows, rotate and more the lights. All would benefit the artwork.
Movement and Rotation
So I started to look at how I could play with the bike and what things I could do with it while it was suspended. Truthfully looking back at the videos there is soo much more I can do. I am still looking at the bike as a bike… I am only doing bike things with the bike. I need to stop treating it as a bicycle rather a bike shaped object. There is soo much more there !
The first thing I looked at was looking at rotations of the pedal vs the wheel and how only a quarter turn input makes a significant difference – this could possibly be used to demonstrate a small impact turn having a long lasting motion…perhaps like a catalyst ? I think the bicycle could certainly be used as an allegory – I’m not exactly sure what this is yet ?
Section 2 of the videos has me changing gears – life changes gears… sometime we are in the right gear, sometimes we are not ?
I changed the lighting and angle of these works.
The Pack UP
There is something nice about packing up….
Maybe watch in double speed !
THE COMPUTER
This was sparked because I was also thinking about everyday objects. I am also constantly thinking about technology and our reliance on it. What have I always got in my pocket – my phone. It is the one thing that I just never leave without. I am fearful of not having it ! Why do I carry this everyday ?
I am not necessarily happy with these images only one turned out how I envisaged pictured below. It doesn’t not mean that it is a bad idea however. I am envisaging a mound of all my everyday objects piled up on a plinth in the creative arts space at some point. I think that this would be appropriate.
THOUGHTS AND REFLECTION FOR NEXT WEEK
So I really enjoyed getting into the studio space. I need to use it more !!! Possible ideas to explore further :
- Work on the clock idea – purchase a clock take it apart see if you could link it to a bicycle, could you pedal it in an exhibition locations
- Work on the everyday object idea
- Suspend and hang colleagues bikes in the space, gather a story as to where they go everyday…
- Continue to explore the idea of installation work and look at artists now -we need to get some inspiration as you are trying something new !
- Continue to feed off classmates and get excited about their ideas
Things to discuss in upcoming tutorial :
- Is this the best course of action ?
- Is installation going to work for me ?
- I need more depth to my project -currently I am looking at motion and the passing of time. – I think the passing of time is the most valuable and deep idea
- Can it link with my photography work which is about motion and movement
hooray I am looking at ‘thinking through making’ wonderful, wonderful! get into the project room with a light and a thing and things happen, it always does. Do it every week. So its seems to me you do not need a clock because you have a bicycle wheel and a wheel turns and so it tells time, it’s a time teller.. a teller of time. The photos and video’s are strong, clear, well composed, so much more to do with this..how the bike is hung, how it is lit, how it moves, how it is moved, how long is moves, is there one bike, are there more bikes, is a sound piece, a composition, an ensemble, an orchestral piece, the bike wheel ensemble? keep playing..do it again, take a new thing in with you. I don’t respond to the computer and phone images at this point, the bike is too exciting.