ARTISTS TALKING

# 1 [7 April 2009]

 Here's a bit more information about Absent Masses:

Absent Masses is a contemporary response to Dora Gordine's monumental bronze portraits of iconic figures with their strong physical presence and powerful forms.

Subverting the physicality of Gordine's work, made in the industrial age, Absent Masses, an exhibition made in the age of the internet, will be housed online at www.jaynelloyd.com/absentmasses not in a specific location and will have no physical presence other than its parephenaalii; the catalogue, poster and postcards that will be displayed as part of Thoroughly Modern Dora at BAR.

Responding to the peacefulness of Dorich House, where time appears to stand still, and the blank eyes of Gordine's sculptures, Absent Masses will be a  collection of works developed from images that I am currently collecting through Facebook of people with their eyes closed taking a break from the visual noise of contemporary life.

# 2 [7 April 2009]

After getting the ok on my proposal for Thoroughly Modern Dora from Jolanta, the curator, I got my Facebook page up last Sunday.

 After a bit of tweeking I'm now happy with it and a few people have started to join and upload images.

I put up a couple of examples of how I plan to manipulate the images to give them something of the appearance of photos of bronze sculptures. It's quite amusing seeing how people transform and I have had some flattering and some witty comments from friends, mostly insulting (in a good natured way) Paul, my boyfriend, who I roped in early on  so I had at least one participant.

I need to get at least 50 images for the project to work and my ideal target is 100 so need to keep the momentum up.

I would be really grateful to anyone who would like to upload an image. If you're not on Facebook you can still view the site and email me images at jaynelloyd2003@yahoo.co.uk to upload.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=87861268237&ref=mf

# 3 [8 April 2009]

People are starting to respond to the Facebook page, which is great. Had dreaded not getting any response, but, although still got a long way to go, I have nine photos so far that I can use for the project. 

Loving this one with the Hoegaarden glass.

# 4 [13 April 2009]

Doing things slightly the wrong way round, but these are some of the photos I took on a visit to the Dora Gordine retrospective at Dorich House that formed a large part of the initial research and inspiration for the project. 

# 5 [13 April 2009]

New photos!

Many thanks to everyone who has sent images so far.

They are starting to come in from all over the world. Thomas took his photo whilst in New York for a job interview and Gillian is currently doing a placement in Norway. Other photos have come from friends in Nottingham, Dublin, Aberdeen, Huddersfield, Liverpool and Manchester.

I particularly like the one that was entitled 'Me and Richard Kiel aka Jaws from James Bond films' from Mark who collects photos of himself with minor celebs.

# 6 [13 April 2009]

Realised can only upload five images per post so here's a few more. Please, see previous post for info.

Discovered that only people on Facebook can view the events page I set up on there so I'm trying to upload most images on to my blog as a record of the project.

# 7 [14 April 2009]

I have started working on some of the images. I am trying to keep up to date with them so they don't all pile up at the end and to have some examples up so that people thinking about uploading images can see how the project works.

# 8 [15 April 2009]

One of Gordine's models. 

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/whereilive/sout...

# 9 [21 April 2009]

When I started collecting photos for this project I contacted friends that I knew quite well to send me images so the first batch of images I received were from them but now images have started coming in from people I don’t know that have heard about the project, I presume, through one of the calls for photos that I posted on my blog, Facebook, Freecycle, Gumtree or Twitter. It started me thinking about where artists find their models or, I hesitate to say, muses and what their connection to them is.  

Artists, including Dora Gordine, often work to commission or from paid life models that they don’t have a personal connection to. Most artists do, however, tend to also have friends, relatives, lovers or people they admire who they work with regularly over a period of time. Even the models Gordine didn’t know still sat for her in the flesh and, I would presume, some kind of relationship developed between them through this time spent together. 

Part of this project was always intended to be an experiment to see how I could collect images over the internet and how this would affect the resulting work. It is great to reach a wider audience and it’s always exciting to check my email or Facebook account and find that a new member has joined my group or uploaded an image. Some of the networking sites, if that’s the right word for them, are brilliant. I love Freecycle. There seems to be a lot of good will and a sense of being part of a local community supporting each other even though it’s over the internet. Twitter, however, I am struggling to get in to. Posting on it seems very self obsessed, indulgent, pointless and to signify what’s wrong with these kind of networking site. Would love to be convinced otherwise though, if anyone has a more positive opinion….

# 10 [23 April 2009]

Good manners cost nothing but what are the rules of online etiquette?

The importance of good manners was drummed into me from an early age so having just made my first online faux pas (that I am aware of) I’m feeling very ashamed of myself.

I set this blog up to collect photos for my artwork, Absent Masses. To do that I need to let people know about it by linking in with other sites. Being new to this my postings are sometimes a bit random and clumsy.

I just checked a link that I posted recently to find that it had been ‘frozen’ due, I am interpreting, to me doing the online equivalent of gate crashing a strangers party and demanding someone bring me a drink despite having turned up empty handed, uninvited and not knowing the host’s name, never mind the other guests. For this I got a telling off and a little animated devil symbol.

A fair enough response as I used their site to promote my project without having any other particular interest in it so I do take their point. I did feel, however, like I had been lumped in with the Viagra pushing, breast enhancing, money scamming, pill popping professional spammers that clog up my email.

On the up side I now have nearly 30 people following me on Twitter……maybe it’s not so bad after all.

Any advice on online etiquette much appreciated.