DEGREES UNEDITED

# 1 [19 March 2010]

If you hit a rabbit whilst driving you may initially feel a sense of guilt or compassion towards the animal, unlike with the death of a human, this feeling disappears very quickly.  I have attempted to freeze this moment of guilt by restoring the animals into humanistic poses through the use of taxidermy.  A medium which is more often used to show off trophy killings, I have turned the unwanted kills into prized ones.  Creating a tension between the idea of preserving your prized kills and something which was in fact an accidental killing, causing mixed emotions in the viewer. 

# 2 [19 March 2010]

I've spent far too long this last few days putting together proposals for exhibitions and applying for masters and funding that i haven't really had time for much work, my hands are starting to ache with boredom!  Lets just hope some of this monotony of application after application will pay off in some way!  It has been a good experience though i suppose, makes you realise quite how much filing and sorting has to be done after you graduate, can't just have the fun stuff constantly...

I did get to do something practical though i suppose, i wanted to get some better shots of my installations to use as photographic prints to enter into exhibitions, photographs seem to be a lot easier to accommodate into galleries than installation, especially in the spaces designated for those trying to work up from the bottom of the pile.  You could say photography is a compromise of my aesthetic vision'  but then again I'm not too sure, although you aren't brought face to face with the animals in their physical reality, they are still very intimidating, especially in larger then life prints, and it is probably easier for a viewer to study these photographs, the animals wounds and deformities as they are more likely to get up closer to the artwork, not as repulsed as some people get with the real animals.

Anyway, its a shame that spot of photography is over for the minute, as now, after too many applications and too many emails and phone calls about the degree show, I finally have to stop avoiding that dissertation.  No more practical for a few weeks.  If my hands are aching now, what will they be like by then!

# 3 [2 May 2010]

So now things are starting to take shape for the degree show.  I still have a lot of technical considerations to attend to (more than a lot!) but I now have a clear picture of what my work will look like (but not sound yet) and here is a copy of my completed exhibition proposal for accross the gallery and studio spaces.

"In my solo show I intend to create an installation of approximately 4 m².   The installation will be enclosed in a room with controlled lighting, this will be constructed with a false ceiling above standard studio walls and a door hinged to the entrance.  Inside, the walls, ceiling and floor will be painted black to absorb light.  Within the room will be carefully constructed towers made out of abandoned furniture which appear to sit precariously.  These towers are used as plinths for the main aspect of my installation, taxidermied, road killed rabbits, isolated from each other and raised to human level on top of these towers.  The state of instability of the ‘plinths’ reflects the state in which these anthropomorphised animals lie.

The room will be lit by 3 40watt household light bulbs, suspended from the ceiling, lying at roughly the same height at which the rabbits will sit.  The lighting will cause huge sweeping shadows across the walls and floor, filling the space with the ghostly presence of the animals.  As the viewer enters the space, they will interfere with these shadows, casting across their own shadows, making their own presence highly visible.  Close confrontations will be created with the animal due to the small physical distance between the human and the animal, and with the self due to the shadows.  The viewer is brought face to face with reality.

In the gallery space I will include one sculpture taken as documentation from this installation, a tall tower made of furniture with a single rabbit sat on top at roughly head height.  I would like the sculpture to stand with enough room around it to be walked around and I would like it to be placed away from anything else tall so that it maintains its look of precariousness."

# 4 [2 May 2010]

And my completed statement, hopefully this is OK? I didnt want to influence the viewer too much and over explain the work, when statements do this, give too much description i feel they become a little too bland, hopefully it hasn't but it may have done...

"

If you hit a rabbit whilst driving you may initially feel a sense of guilt or compassion towards the animal, unlike with the death of a human we know personally or a celebrity figure, this feeling disappears very quickly.  I have attempted to freeze this moment of guilt by restoring the animals into humanistic poses through the use of taxidermy.  Using a medium which is more often used to show off trophy killings, I have turned the unwanted kills into prized ones, creating a tension between the idea of preserving your prized kills and something which was in fact an accidental killing. 

My work reflects the human through experimental portraiture, where human thoughts are projected onto the sculpture rather than the work taking on the physicality of human form.  It brings you face to face with something physically real, a dead animal, and something which is the result of human action allowing a direct confrontation with life and our distance from the rest of the natural world. Its manipulation in to an anthropomorphised form allows thoughts of human interference with the natural to be visualised, our inability to live with what we have got and our desires to produce a new more technologically advanced state for living.  My work produces an object of reflection which concerns our own lives and our state of virtual reality."

I have also attached some pictures which i have used towards the degree show proposal, past installation views, some in a gallery setting and some in the more immersive installation setting.  Obviously these dont look as polished as my pictures i have posted before as they are installation views rather than finished photographs which have been derrived from my installation.

# 5 [13 May 2010]

The pressures on now in the build up to the show...  but I seem to be slowing down this week.  I dont want it to be over so if I slow down maybe it will be longer until it is!

Well I say I've slowed down, but I dont suppose I have really, it just feels like im not getting anywhere.  Ive spent the last two days making a documentary video behind the starting points of my work to (maybe) display on the exit of my installation as a sort of alternative form of statement, to make visible my process.  But its still not finished, a bit of bad editing has ruined the video, it will be done soon though if I don't mess it up again!

Another thing slowing me down is constantly loosing my needle!  Constantly managing to incorporate it inside my rabbits!

On the plus side last week I won the NADFAS North West Young Artists Award and so have funding to do my MA next year and to pay for exhibition material.  Great!

# 6 [21 June 2010]

Last few days of the degree show...

OK heres my finished installation, well the best I can get through photos, it really is something which is better appreciated when seen.

The change in lighting to a low ,soft, old-fashioned lighting.

The smell of the old discarded furniture.

Parts hidden away in dark corners that you cant notice until you spend some time in there and your eyes begin to adjust.

The large shaddows cast upon the wall by my single suspended bulb.

The interference of the viewer within the space as they cast their own shaddow as they walk through.

The reduced sound created simply by placing the rugs on the floor.

The perspectives and balance within the room skewed due to awkward placements and subtle near imposibilities.

Transportation from the studio surroundings, another world.

# 7 [21 June 2010]

More images from 'A Fragile State of Mind'

# 8 [21 June 2010]

More images from 'A Fragile State of Mind'

# 9 [21 June 2010]

More images from 'A Fragile State of Mind'

# 10 [25 June 2010]

More pictures of studio installation, 'A Fragile State of Mind, and images of gallery piece 'A Well Balanced Life'