June 19, 1-2.30 PM – Synchronous
VIDEOS
Hey everyone! This is our first synchronous meeting for F402I Independent Study. Students will all present work to one another and have an open exchange of thoughts and ideas related to their own artwork and that of their peers. Each will have approximately 15 minutes, each followed by time for comments. Use this link to join the zoom meeting and officially meet each other for the first time.
Armon Means is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: F402I SESSION 2
Time: 1 – 2:30 pm EST / 12 – 1:30 pm CST
Join Zoom Meeting
https://ensworth.zoom.us/j/82523968928
Meeting ID: 825 2396 8928
Artist statement (from last week)
Current artist statement
I am a multi-media artist, currently working with photography, collage, text, and sound. I am interested in the immediacy of these forms, and how they can be combined to develop a visual narrative. I also enjoy abstracting forms to find new meanings.
I work in this media, as I can create work in different contexts, such as commuting, (as I like to create whilst in motion as helps with the thinking process), or the opposite by sitting in a café, (which I find inspiring). The relationship between these formats allows me to combine visual and auditory elements.
I take photos which I digitally manipulate, collage, or abstract. Text and sound are added to these elements, or vice-versa. Each inform the other – a photograph can inspire a song title, or found words may influence what I look for visually to document. I value the sense of layering which occurs.
In my work I abstract elements, to understand or bring new meaning to everyday questions. Mental health and emotional understanding are also foundational to my practice.
I am inspired by being in large spaces, whether architectural, or emotional when exploring the mind via words, music, or experiences. The multi-media elements are combined with a performative or experiential aspect, such as a stage performance which is recorded, or a poem which develops into a song.
At present I am particularly interested in intersectionality and moving image. I explore the use of persona, fictionality and artifact.
My intention is to utilise art to combine my longstanding interest in poetry, music, and sound – to create a path where artistic autonomy and mental wellbeing are at the centre.
Writing of studio progress
This week I took various photos and videos when out and about, in a variety of locations in London, before or after other activities. I wanted to investigate what I would document if it was ancillary to my activities, rather than separate from.
I have been drawn to geographical shapes and forms, yellow lines (i.e., a wire on an external wall on a building site, double yellow road lines, a yellow hose pipe trail in the garden), metal grids and steps. With the yellow lines, this was something I realised when thinking about my work, rather than documenting.
Nature within city spaces was also of interest. Here are some works in progress, which I would like to work on further with digital manipulation, layering, collage, as well as write poetry in response to the pieces, and possibly combine in some way. I’m also interested in joining or merging some of the video pieces or creating titles for the works as a way of initiating and developing a narrative.
“String of thought” statements or words that immediately come to mind as you process your imagery
King’s Cross and Tooting images and video
Plant boundaries
Shadows
Overlapping trapped brick and diamond gridlines
Gated
Archway, glowing hinterland.
1920’s film, gothic foreboding
Painted, graduated shadows
1920’s flowers in film
Shifting in the wind
Granulated steps
Minute foliage
Progressive retrograde steps.
Yellow wires
Double yellow chicane lines
Yellow hosepipe training down the garden.
Masked frontage
Grid upon geometric arch.
Southwark images and video
The doors and windows speak
Shadowed entrance
Poles like a Victorian ship’s hull
Entrapment
Vertical and horizontal interplay
Cloudy sky as extended negative space
Overlapping buildings
Unfinished over-view (reflections).
Crane above the highest point
Leaning into the building beneath
Crane as the head of a building
Scaffolding for legs
Train track for feet.
Thematic ideas
Abstraction
Absence
Transition
Geometric
Abstract
Monochrome
1920’s film
Gradual movement
Meditative
Yellow amongst darkness, hope
Entrapment
Layers
Suspension
Diagonal lines
Arches
Initial thoughts
I really enjoyed seeing what I could find, and looking for current themes. I can see how elements could be combined or further worked on to create narratives, or how some pieces have a narrative within themselves.
What comes to mind when considering your work
Early film footage and photography
Mystery
The unsaid
Connection or disconnection through layers
Opportunity
Closure
Exit
Escape
b a c k g r o u n d | Shift – 2 reasons. I started creating more intuitively/abstractly in January. I found that the direction I was going really wasn’t saying what I wanted to say. Based on feedback from a couple critique groups I did, as well as some personal reflection – Male gaze, selfie-like compositions, too “pretty”, not really representative of real people. Second reason was more practical…I am trying to fit my practice in around motherhood, a day job (graphic designer-which takes a lot of the technical creative energy out of me), etc, and the figurative drawing was taking too much energy/attention/time from some of my other commitments. Trying to find a way that I could work in my studio practice in such a way that would allow me to actually do it.
f l e s h | in some ways I am thinking of the canvas as “flesh” or personhood, and the dying, staining, painting, drawing process becomes representative of the different influences that are the building blocks of who we are/who we become.
b u i l d i n g u p f l e s h | interesting that you mentioned this…the most recent piece I am working on currently I have tried pouring on thick latex house paint to experiment with peeling back pieces and layers. The peels are almost flesh-like
d y e i n g | non-aggression I know some artists that use this connection to motherhood/maternal/women’s work, is this actually an important connection to me? Other connections – Imprinted, created/creation?
c o l o r | Intentionality. Sometimes it feels like I am opening the doors too wide, and my hope is that I will get into a groove with favorite/preferred materials. Color psychology may be a way of both creating a more complex sense of meaning while at the same time adding some parameters for the work.
o t h e r i n f l u e n c e | Helen Frankenthaller who in a way kind of argued against “meaning”, I am intrigued by her process, not so much her philosophy
s t r e a m o f c o n s c i o u s n e s s | weight, transparency, secret/hidden, connection, building up and tearing down, excavation and discovery, what makes us, history, family and personal history, individuality vs corporate beings, connecting as one body or one family, change, redeem, spirit.
c u r r e n t s t a t e m e n t | I am a mixed media artist, working and living in Charleston, SC. Inspired by lineage, nature, and psychology, I draw from metaphysical ideas of inner landscape, memory and personhood, especially physical, spiritual, and social connection. Exploring chance but always internally chronicled personal and corporate history, I begin each work with dyeing the surface, and making quick, chaotic, abstract marks. I then draw out inherent shapes, painting in many thin layers until shapes and figures emerge.
Hey everyone, now that I’ve had time to talk with everyone here are the recordings from our meetings this weekend.
https://youtu.be/pahXzdTP3Zo – Tracy and Kate
https://youtu.be/8YJ4wOpkwDs – Chris
Hi Armon
Many thanks for this.
Discussion
- Tracy Holtham: Hi Armon Many thanks for this.
- Armon Means: Hey everyone, now that I've had time to talk with everyone here...
- Kate Martinez: c u r r e n t s t a t e m...
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