The aim for my art work is to get the viewer to contemplate death and relate my work to their own lives. My works aim is to have an ephemeral appearance - as though they will not last long. Using the white rose as a metaphor to life, which will eventually end. The reality of my sculptures is that they may look ephemeral, but in reality they are made out of cardboard; never ageing, staying the same, representing westernised attitudes inability to accept their fate that one day we will die. I want my viewers to come away from looking at my artwork, with a different view on life and the acceptance/ acknowledgement that death is inevitable but that is ok. Once a death occurs; a new life begins.
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With the data I found online to fo with the tiop three cause of death in the UK and Wales, I want to link it in with my rose sculptures; with the 29% cancer, 28% circulatory diseases and 15% due to respiratory diseases. So the largest rose sculpture will represent the deaths due to cancer, the median will represent the circulatory diseases and the smallest will resemble the respiratory diseases.
I'm using the material of cardboard as I like the idea of reusing materials and making them into something else; giving them new life. I like the way its visible how i've manipulated the cardboard with the creases and folds giving it life and character, and the fact I've used roses that are stuck in time show that they are perpetual - unwilling to accept death. Much like my audience.
I came across this artist in my 'Nature Morte' book where "In Greek, hyacinth lay dying - spilling his blood onto the flower. Eros, death, rebirth, and the flower combine to create anew themes often alluded Images from: www.martin-gustavsson.com
My proposed topic for my dissertation next year is to investigate the restoration of dignity toward death and how contemporary artworks help us comprehend attitudes towards it in modern day society. having always been interested in death and the cycle of life, I've gathered an understanding that all things in life will eventually come to an end and death is inevitable, however throughout this process it also became apparent that others seem to be slowly revolutionising against reality that one day it will occur. Having debates with peers and family members on their attitudes towards the subject is what led on to a fascination to investigate further, by exploring Westernised cultures attitudes towards death and how artworks help us comprehend it, from World War II to present day. S omething that was a ritualised event that was universally celebrated and acknowledged has slowly transformed to a forbidden subject, not to be spoken of , in fear opf upsetting someone. I will be looking at theorists such as Ernest Becker and Philippe Aries to help support my project as well as researching books such as Art and Death by Chris Townsend.
To work on my drawing skills I decided to draw/ interpret roses and death in as many materials and techniques through 4 different pieces. The first was a charcoal drawing which was around 30cmX30cm on a plain white board. This was done from observation and I liked how it turned out, looking like it could fade away if someone brushed past it being a perfect example of life's transience. The second was a detailed biro study of a rose that was far into the decaying process - with its petals curled and wilted. This took me a long time to complete, with the details of the flower as well as using the biro softly and overlaying to get the darker tones - producing a beautiful price that I'm very proud of. The third I kept simple. Producing an abstract technique of simply covering the board with a thick appliance of paint and engraving the word 'death' into it. Standing for how we all subconsciously think about death but it never quite gets fully to the surface for people to openly speak about, like the piece. The final piece was created using a real white rose. I compressed the flower to make it as flat at I could and then stick it onto the canvas. Once dry I painted over the flower and the canvas to produce a completely white surface with the pertrusion of the rose coming out of the surface. This for me shows how life and death merge into one and how sticking this flower on the canvas to stay in its present state shows people inability to accept that death will occur. This research was gathered from Office for National Statistics on www.ons.gov.uk = which is a good reliable source as its from the government website. With these statistics I want to somehow link them into my rose sculptures, upping the scale with each sculpture with each bit of information I have. Specifically the chart below on the most common causes of death in the UK and Wales in 2013; 29% of which died of cancer, 28% died of diseases of the circulatory system and 15% died of diseases of the respiratory system. So the smallest sculpture would represent the smallest percentage and vice versa. This painting is the last of the four 'rose' series - representing life coming to an end with the rose at the end of its life, dried out and dead. I'm happy with how the painting turned out, and I must say I had a lot of fun painting expressively! I love that it's not perfect and you can see the imperfections and the large brush strokes; taking the viewer on a journey of how I produced the work. The rose acts as a metaphor to life, helping the viewer contemplate death without looking at it head on. Asking family members what they thought of the paintings and how it made them feel has allowed me to gain perspective in terms of I now know that what I was trying to get across has been achieved. Some saying - it's like life is melting away. This painting is not my favourite of the series, but still portraying my message and theme - as I feel as though the detail is ok but the drips didn't go to plan; not stopping very far down the paper. For the next painting I will produce more drips to create the ephemeral feel that I want the paintings to have. However you can still see how the rose is gradually decaying as the petals expand and curl at the edges. When the Rose starts to decay - it starts to curl around the edges of the petals and they begin to hang loosely from the centre of the rose. This was my favourite of the series purely because of the overall aesthetic portrays the message I want to get across. I want the viewer to think about life - even if it's subconsciously and think how quickly it's over and that when it comes to an end, it's meant to be. It's not something we should frown upon, we should embrace that when a life has come to an end, celebrate it and don't block it out! These paintings I am really happy with, portraying a clear message but being very ecspressive and abstract at the same time, creating an interesting piece of work. |
Ellen HardyThis blog will outline my ongoing artistic practice throughout my second&third year at university. Archives
March 2016
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