White Room 23.11.11. What's left behind?

What's Left Behind? 2011. Hessian, pva glue, wallpaper paste.

What's Left Behind? 2011. Hessian, pva glue, wallpaper paste.

What's Left Behind? 2011. Hessian, pva glue, wallpaper paste.

What's Left Behind? 2011. Hessian, pva glue, wallpaper paste.

This critique was interesting and my work create quite a lively debate. I moulded the hessian soaked in wallpaper paste around various household items - stool, step ladder, bucket- to make the different forms.Suspended by fishing line, I then exhibited them together but not in their original orientation, which I think helped remove them from their practical application. My idea of attempting to show something had past by and left a trail, a set of imprints,  worked. The shapes are easier to interpret without using an extensive range of colours. A departure from colour. The direction of the forms produced also suggests a line of movement.

Studio Floor Tracks

Sanded trails. 2011. Paint dust on studio floor.

Sanded trails 1. 2011. Paint dust on studio floor.

Sanded trails2. 2011. Paint dust on studio floor.

Sanded trails 3. 2011. Paint dust on studio floor.

After sanding black painted plywood boards I shook the resulting dust onto the studio floor I made these works to emphasise the temporary and spontaneous nature of many tracks which anyone could encounter in the world, inside or outdoors. I then took this sanded dust and moved it across a piece of A1 cartridge paper and created a series of images with the intention of of making a video of these shifting sands. The initial results are promising but further editing of timings/ transitions could improve the effects significantly. Add sound?

Sanded 1. - draft 1

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHILjRWyiZQ

Draping one of my previous steel, wire, wood sculptures with pva glue soaked sheet in an attempt to create a skin, a remnant of something that once was there but has moved on. However, just didn't dry outside in the garden -wrong time of year! Not pleased with results- they look like poorly realised damp ghosts! I need to adapt method - try different "setting" agent, maybe different fabric/material. I don't want the supporting structure to remain and be part of the finished work - I'm not aiming purely to wrap things - like Christo - what's important is the imprint, the suggestion of of the shape which existed before. And getting to grips with the materials!

Sheeting/glue over steel/wire frame.

Sheeting/glue over steel/wire frame.

Sheeting/glue over steel/wire frame.

Layering gestural marks. Pastels mixed with paint.

Revisiting Headlines, pastel on canvas this time - attempt to develop -use colours and fragment lines and shapes to emphasise movement. Not totally convinced pastels work applied to canvas (primed with blackboard acrylic paint) The composition remains engaging but the range of colours used could be more considered perhaps restricted.

Headlines 1. Pastel on canvas.(122x80cm)

Black painted plywood ( 122x80cm  ) marks made with sandpaper , nails, black and white pastel. The movement created with the gestural marks I have applied work fairly well but I was looking to produce work with more prominent features. The black and white does work but the impact is more subtle. 

Adding soft pastels, colour range taken from original Headlines piece. Finish still not working, however shapes created by a mixture of hard cut lines and smudged areas do convey a movement of layers.

Reapply sweeps of black paint over pastel with large brush/cloth, then placed more pastel on top, in gaps made by the black  paint brush strokes,. The motion is still there - layers working- create more? Composition in landscape layout not achieving desired effect - try portrait orientation - make a series or sequence of pieces.