Moving Paintings

The Open Gallery

Open are showing a series of 38 works by artists Isabelle Inghilleri, Sanchita Islam and Hilary Lawson titled Rusted Concrete. This series portrays anonymous urban spaces that have taken on a life of their own, outwith the bounds of any intended master plan. The occasionally explored potential of these spaces as canvases is a deliberate link to the rest of the exhibition.

"As Milton first identified, Satan has all the best lines. In the city there is excitement alongside emptiness. These video paintings explore the city labyrinth, it's human contents, and their desires".
                                                                            Hilary Lawson,
                                                                           Open Gallery, 2011

The exhibition was shown in Bristol in the Square Gallery by appointment only. I rang up and booked an appointment to go down and see it in the Easter holidays. When I arrived I was really surprised to find that the 'Gallery' was actually a hotel. The videos were shown in the hotel bar. I was not expecting this and therefore felt slightly disappointed that it turned out to be nothing but a projection on the wall in the hotel bar. I truly do like the idea, but the projection could be displayed in a more interesting way than a hotel bar where you get the feeling of hostility just for showing an interest.

The content of the videos was just average, one example is of a video called Bricks by Sanchita Islam where you are looking through a wooden window frame at two guys stacking bricks. My personal opinion of this was that it was boring. The thing I did like about all the videos was the voyeuristic nature. The people in the videos weren't aware that they were being filmed, this in it's self made you think that something interesting was going to happen but nothing ever did. There was no narrative to  the videos.

Going to Bristol to see these videos wasn't a waste of time, It helped me develop some of my own ideas. For example some of the videos had quite a blurred effect so one idea was to film looking through a piece of glass covered in Vaseline.  One video was looking through the glass of a bus shelter so I had an idea of possibly looking through a stained glass window of a church.

FMP

Hello

For those who are afraid, I am not sitting idle. I have been working in my sketchbook, making sure it is up to date before I start the serious stuff.
I have e-mailed my brief to my tutors and as it has not reappeared in my inbox I assume that means everything is good.

The initial idea I have come up with is to create a piece of video art based on nature. My initial experiment is to film coastal locations in different circumstances, for example, time of day. weather conditions, state of the sea (calm/stormy).  I am hoping that throughout the process my ideas will develop.

I have taken the advise of my tutors on board and I will be doing a wide range of contextual research, not just focusing on video art but looking at artist who work with nature as well, Like Turner.

There is some primary research I will be undertaking on Sunday. There is an exhibition in Bristol showing some work from artists I will be looking at. My mum has kindly agreed to take me on the way to Wales where I will be on holiday for a week. However while I am on holiday I will be scouring the coast to see what locations I can find.

FMP

I have been doing stuff in my sketch book all weekend and making sure everything is ready for the presentations on Tuesday.  I have also been researching my second idea, which is that I might look at doing a time lapse video ( like the flower one below). One concern about this is that it might be boring so the subject would have to be a good one.

FMP

Researching colour in films and how this creates mood and meaning and also symbolism. Looking at one of my favourite films Gone With the Wind which was one of the first films in technicolour.

Looking at pictures of Mondrian for my idea of using colour

''Mondrian began producing grid based paintings in late 1919, and in 1920, the style for which he came to be renowned began to appear.''


I like Mondrian's bold use of colour, it is a simple abstract idea which makes it more interesting to look at as the painting isn't too cluttered and overloaded with information.